Help!

[TitanVA]

I have a small rock with various types of zoos on it. One end has about 15 orange polyps on it that were all doing well until a few days ago. I noticed that that the ones on the end have turned brown. They are open but they look horrible. It also looks like one melted. This is the best I could do for a pick. Any advice?

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[mfinn]

Tough to see anything from your picture.
A couple things come to my mind when I look at the picture.
First, how new is your tank?
How long have you had the zoanthids?
Did they come from a store or friends tank and what kind of lighting were they under and what kind now?

 

[TitanVA]

My tank is fairly new. It cycled about 2 months ago. I have only had the zoos for about a week and they came from a LFS in Richmond. He is an active member here. I believe he said they were under a 250 or 175 mh and I have them under a 250 MH and 2 24W T5's now. I know it's hard to tell from the pics. Any closer and the pic got real blurry. I am trying to figure out macro on my camera. The zoos I am talking about are to the left of the orage ones. They looked like the orange ones and then over a few days turned a browninsh maroonish color. Do you think it is too much light too soon or something else?

 

[mfinn]

So it sounds like they didn't like the change from the stores tank to yours.
Are you absolutely sure you have 0 nitite and 0 am?

If the stores bulbs were old and yours are new, one problem may be the increase of intensity of the lighting.

Maybe shade the in the overhang of a rock.

Also look for any preditors. If they are open and just the color is affected, not much you can do, but if one is "melted", then there is something bothering it.

 

[TitanVA]

Thanks,
I will test everything tonight to be sure. I have seen a small clear looking crreature crawling in andout underneath them, but could not identify it. It looked like a little crustacean of sorts, maybe 1/4 inch long.

 

[mfinn]

Most likely a pod of some sort.