Having trouble getting zoa/paly to open fully

JamesHolt

JamesHolt

Active member
Got this rock from Triad Reef Critters two weeks ago, cant seem to make it happy. Anyone know what type these are??
todays3_zps2ce9f5d1.jpg

IMAG0050_zps3744f238.jpg

they look messy in the second pic, my turbo just ran them over

Water is fine, everybody else is happy and opens fully, just cant get these to open fully
Running twin 175 MH 20k 4-5 hours a day, two 10k,two actinic T8 for the rest (total 10 hours)
 
J

Joesvwbora

New member
I've had this problem with some Zoas they sometimes stay closed for a day or so and the back to normal. I would get that bubble algae out though
 
JamesHolt

JamesHolt

Active member
Joesvwbora said:
I've had this problem with some Zoas they sometimes stay closed for a day or so and the back to normal. I would get that bubble algae out though
Click to expand...
Guess thats why my turbo's have had a fixation with this rock..
Just finished scrubbing the rock and polyps..Got all the bubbles I could see..
Several polyps came off so I scattered them in the tank to see if is a light issue..
Got one up really high and several in med and low light.. Also noticed there is no connecting tissue between the groups of polyps.
 
FraggledRock

FraggledRock

New member
JamesHolt said:
Guess thats why my turbo's have had a fixation with this rock..
Just finished scrubbing the rock and polyps..Got all the bubbles I could see..
Several polyps came off so I scattered them in the tank to see if is a light issue..
Got one up really high and several in med and low light.. Also noticed there is no connecting tissue between the groups of polyps.
Click to expand...

Whats the verdict?

I too am having zoa polyp issues not opening. been 4 days. i have one set high one mid and one low.

only 3 polyps open in the mid range =/
 
JamesHolt

JamesHolt

Active member
No verdict yet, I have been messing with it for two weeks. If I could find out what kind it is it would help, but I havent had any luck with that..(me being colorblind doesnt help at all)
If I had a saw I would just cut off the ones that open fully, and toss the rest
On the other hand I have a candy apple polyp I got from reefs2go 3 months ago that just now started to open up when I started using MH lighting..
Slow and steady I guess. Been in this less than a year so I still have lots to learn
 
K

KAMIKAZE0214

New member
JamesHolt said:
No verdict yet, I have been messing with it for two weeks. If I could find out what kind it is it would help, but I havent had any luck with that..(me being colorblind doesnt help at all)
If I had a saw I would just cut off the ones that open fully, and toss the rest
On the other hand I have a candy apple polyp I got from reefs2go 3 months ago that just now started to open up when I started using MH lighting..
Slow and steady I guess. Been in this less than a year so I still have lots to learn
Click to expand...

Yeah, stop messing with it. Put it at the bottom of your tank and leave it alone. Make sure there is no direct flow on it.

Let it get used to your tank. If you want put half of it in shade to see if that causes it to open fully. STOP TOUCHING IT!
 
JamesHolt

JamesHolt

Active member
KAMIKAZE0214 said:
Yeah, stop messing with it. Put it at the bottom of your tank and leave it alone. Make sure there is no direct flow on it.

Let it get used to your tank. If you want put half of it in shade to see if that causes it to open fully. STOP TOUCHING IT!
Click to expand...
by messing i meant dealing,, wrong word choice,,, my bad
I put it in tank 2 weeks ago, after a week looking like it is I moved it to the center (4-5 days ago). Last night I took it out and brushed all the loose stuff off of it, rinsed it off and put it closer to the big rock in the center (1/2 in indirect light)

current tank pic,, if it will help..... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/blog.php?b=778

doing water test now
 
Last edited:
JamesHolt

JamesHolt

Active member
Water test done this morning

Nitrite 0-.25 (API)

Nitrate 0 (API)

Phosphate between 5.0 and 2.0 coming down now (API) running GFO since Sat.

KH 10-12 (API)

Calcium 400-450 ish (API)

MG (Salifert)not sure the sample turned blue as soon as i added Mg-2 (powder) color didnt change from blue even after adding the full syringe of Mg-3

PH forgot to pickup distilled water on my way home this morning,, cant calibrate

water not as fine as I thought,, only been testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate lately
 
Last edited:
ReefsandGeeks

ReefsandGeeks

New member
The KH seems a bit on the high side, Mine is usualy 8-9 KH. You might want to consider slowly bringing that down. Are you adding pH buffers to the water? pH buffers are the devil (in the waterboy voice). KH is much more important than pH and when you add buffers it jumps up the KH. I originaly got a pH probe but after I realized that KH was much more important i've all but stopped using it. Haven't checked my pH in months. Also, any Nitrite is bad, but with such a low reading it could just be a reading error on the API kit. those colors aren't the easiest to read.

I've been having a similar issue with my zoas the last few weeks. I tried seemingly everything to get the to open, but at best a couple out of the 15 or so polyps would half open. What finaly seems to have gotten them to open fully is spot feeding them vs broadcast feeding. Might seem silly, but I swear I spot fed them with some oyste feast (as well as all of my other coral) instead of just putting the food in the water and within 2 or 3 days everything's polyps are way more extended. I've also been spot feeding every other day to every day. It's worth a try. Even if the polyps woun't open just squirt some food on them. some may get in, or they may smell it or however they find food, and open up. When I did it, only a couple polyps were even a little open, but the next day they were probably half open. then the next day all open.
 
Mark9

Mark9

New member
I didn't think the paly's looked that bad.
Maybe just give them some more time?
As others have said, remove that bubble algae.
I'd do it out of the tank in old water change water.
 
FraggledRock

FraggledRock

New member
devastator007 said:
The KH seems a bit on the high side, Mine is usualy 8-9 KH. You might want to consider slowly bringing that down. Are you adding pH buffers to the water? pH buffers are the devil (in the waterboy voice). KH is much more important than pH and when you add buffers it jumps up the KH. I originaly got a pH probe but after I realized that KH was much more important i've all but stopped using it. Haven't checked my pH in months. Also, any Nitrite is bad, but with such a low reading it could just be a reading error on the API kit. those colors aren't the easiest to read.

I've been having a similar issue with my zoas the last few weeks. I tried seemingly everything to get the to open, but at best a couple out of the 15 or so polyps would half open. What finaly seems to have gotten them to open fully is spot feeding them vs broadcast feeding. Might seem silly, but I swear I spot fed them with some oyste feast (as well as all of my other coral) instead of just putting the food in the water and within 2 or 3 days everything's polyps are way more extended. I've also been spot feeding every other day to every day. It's worth a try. Even if the polyps woun't open just squirt some food on them. some may get in, or they may smell it or however they find food, and open up. When I did it, only a couple polyps were even a little open, but the next day they were probably half open. then the next day all open.
Click to expand...

Hmm interesting. it appears many people are having this almost dormant Zoa polyp issue?

Is it some kind of pre-mating / pre spore release season for them?
 
JamesHolt

JamesHolt

Active member
Found my new timers, put then on tank so Actinic comes on two hours before and after MH..

Rock in question is on right side of tank. that side gets 3 hours of MH..
Turned that rock just enough so my tiger conch will miss it when he wakes up and starts doing laps.. (he is a bulldozer)
Swapped the biggest rock with the one the Ricordea and candy apple are on, they are on the left side now which runs most of the day..

So the rock in question should be in indirect light mostly..

Got all this done before the lights came on... Only thing that has changed from their viewpoint is not as much light and they got scrubbed last night..

Tank looks like this now..(both MH running)
IMAG0060_zps3250b9ba.jpg


They opened very quickly when the lights came on and look like this.
IMAG0058_zps4d0c4a7b.jpg


KAMIKAZE0214 how long should I leave them before trying anything else.. 2 weeks should be long enough to see if they improve anymore shouldnt it???

Now to figure out how to catch the damsels and put them in the sump.. to bad lionfish would eat my shrimp :)
 
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