How are my zoas still living...

[cORALfREEK]

These things have been closed for over a month, yet they are still living. I've had them high and low all over the tank, I can't figure out why they won't open. They've been dipped numerous times with nothing coming off of them. My 2 big colonies are like this. All my other frags are ok but none of them open the whole way. The tank is almost a year old, 90 gallon with a 30 gallon sump. Skimmer runs 24/7 and I'm also running GFO. I recently had someone algae from high phosphates, but have since taken care of that. What would cause them to act like this? I bought them a about 2 years ago on a frag with about 5 polyps, they have done amazing up to this point.

SG- 1.0245
Temp- 80
Nitrate- 5ppm
Alk- 8.96dkh
Calc- 420ppm
Mag- 1380ppm
Ph- 8.3

 

[cORALfREEK]

A little bit better pic.

 

[that Fish Guy]

Maybe more Flow.

 

[scooter31707]

I thinking more flow also.

 

[cORALfREEK]

I have so much flow already. An mp40 and an mp10 I had them up as far as half way on both in lagoonal. Montis were loving it but zoas never opened up. I can practically watch everything else grow. They used to be taller and larger diameter, they have gotten close to the rock and smaller in diameter since they started declining.

 

[Grassroots]

Have you added anything new recently? GFO dust can really irritate corals, did you add that to take care of the algae? I would consider dipping the colonies also if you haven't.

 

[scooter31707]

Well, is their any nearby aggressive corals that could sting them? Have you changed lights lately? Also, after light go out you might want to take a flashlight and see if anything pest or anything else is bothering them.

 

[cORALfREEK]

I tried everything mentioned. I've only ever dipped in RO water though.

 

[cORALfREEK]

Other than the zoas, tank is doing awesome. My Montis and euphiylla have soo much growth. I'm also running a reefbreeders photon 32 light. I had it maxing at 40 blue and 13 white. I turned it down about 4 days ago maxing at 28 blue and 7 white.

 

[that Fish Guy]

I tried everything mentioned. I've only ever dipped in RO water though.

Dip in Bayer.

 

[cORALfREEK]

Dip in Bayer.

I'm assuming you mean the insecticide?

 

[JJ650]

I'm assuming you mean the insecticide?

Yup!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2328873

 

[that Fish Guy]

I'm assuming you mean the insecticide?

Yes

 

[cORALfREEK]

Did the Bayer dip. All I got was a tiny bristle worm. Haven't noticed anything different yet. Could I possibly be running too much GFO? I have 5.5oz in a nextreef reactor, changing every week but still have some gha on sand.

 

[cORALfREEK]

It's safe to say all my colonies and frags except one are doing bad. The one that's doing good is an eagle eye colony that's fight for space with button polyps.

 

[scooter31707]

They could be getting too much light

 

[Art13]

I don't think its too much light, if anything with the value's posted i would almost think it's not enough light. i have a photon 48 and my zoas were doing just fine high up and low in the tank and the peak on the led's were 60blue 30 white.

 

[zoafarm]

My bet is on the GFO. I've encounter similar results when I've pulled phosphates out of the system rapidly.

 

[cORALfREEK]

My bet is on the GFO. I've encounter similar results when I've pulled phosphates out of the system rapidly.

It's got to be, I cut down the amount of gfo. Its been 2 days but no signs yet. Every single zoa in my tank is like this except one colony, and I don't understand why that one isn't bothered.

I don't think its too much light, if anything with the value's posted i would almost think it's not enough light. i have a photon 48 and my zoas were doing just fine high up and low in the tank and the peak on the led's were 60blue 30 white.

I had the lights much higher, can't remember I think I had them at 40 blue and 13 white for the majority of the tanks life. Just turned them down when I encountered these issues. The light is 11 inches or so off the water.

 

[cORALfREEK]

This is enough to make me want to tear the tank down. I've had tanks setup for a few years now. In the past you could say I didn't really take care of them, but growth was amazing and never had issues. My husbandry has gotten way better since, but obviously the tanks are doing worse lol.