Help with Zoa

[Ratkiller]

I've been having trouble with my Zoa. Actually I have never had great success with them. Let me explain; after purchase, they always open up and look great, their stems usually always extend an inch to a half inch, but they never spread or I should say grow more heads. And this is in a 55s with 5g fug, 20g sump and has been established for 3 years. All my parameters are in normal ranges and I do 5g water changes every week. I looked at some pics from about 6 months ago and my Zoas looked great dense. But now they are looking very sparse. Please take a look at this picture and tell me what you think. In the red is legs. they look like tiny serpent star legs. Could this be a Zoa Spider every talks about? And in the yellow the mantel or matte in-between is turning dark purple. I don't know if that's normal but I though it is worth mentioning.

Any input would be appreciated.
http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/Ratkiller007/?action=view&current=close.jpg

 

[killingseed]

i would look for preditors at late night and also do you have any fish or crabs that might eat zoa's? what lights are you running them under.


you might also want to look here.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1252294

 

[Ratkiller]

I've used a flash light at night to look for predators or anything crawling on them and don't see a thing, except for those tiny legs. For fish I have 1 orange percula Clown, 1 yellow tail Damsel and 1 Sunburst Anthiaist. I do have a couple of emerald crabs to help with a bubble algae problem. And as for lights I have 4, 65 watt PCs. 2, 10K and 2 blue Actinic.

And yes I've been reading that Vit C thread. Very interesting.

 

[killingseed]

emerald crabs, is another thing to look at.

 

[Ratkiller]

Is there any good theads or pictures you can recommend of Zoa predators, i.e. spiders?

 

[otiso777]

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=384

 

[Ratkiller]

Thanks otiso. Those pics give me a better idea what to look for. So besides eggs will the "fresh dip" procedure work on all these?