I need help...having diffeculties with my zoa's!

R

roadrunner1659

New member
About 2 months age i bought my first set of zoa's, yellow with green skirts. There color is brilliant and they were doing and looking fantastic for the 1st 3 weeks. I have them about halfway up in my tank under 2x65 watt PC lights. The tank is a 26 gal with about 400 gph. The zoa's are in a good flow area with a return line blowing about 75 gph or so on them from about 5-6 inches away. Like i said they were doing fantastic for about 3 weeks and then i did about a 35% water change due to silicates. Everything went well with the water change and i was actually worried about my pompom xenia b/c they didn't take the big change to well, but they came around and they are perfectly fine now. around that same time the zoa's closed up and haven't opened since (atleast a month now). About 2 weeks ago i did a dip with the zoa's and still nothing...the only improvement i've seen is that a few peek there heads out but they never fully open.

Do you guys have any ideas as to first what this could be and then as to what course of action i need to take to correct it!?!

Thanks
 
just a thought, get them closer to your lights

give them some light, unless theres somthing sieraly wrong in your tank that should work
 
i cant get them to much closer because at the momment my rockwork only goes about halfway up my tank but i will be changing very soon...you really think that it could be lighting? i didn't think that they needed that much lighting? and i dont think that anything is seriously worng with my tank b/c the xenia, gsp, and mushrooms all look great!

thanks
 
salinity - 1.025-1.026
ph - 8.3
am - 0
trites - 0
trates - trace

cant remember the results of my last alk and ca test but i not there not were they should be...trying to raise both of them...

i do a weekly 10% 4 gallon water change...

any other info u guys need to help?

thanks
 
I can tell you right now that zoanthids do not like silicates, I just had a month long battle with silicates(1-2ppm) and most of my zoanthids didn't open up for weeks and I began to worry they were going to die. There was also the diatoms that would grow over them each day that I blew off them with a turkey baster. I since have purchased some Phosgaurd and the silicates are at zero and all of my zoanthids have returned to the pre-silicate state. I even had a colony that hadn't opened in almost 4 weeks that is completely opened now and growing like crazy. I can't tell you for scientific fact that they don't like silicates but from my latest experience I can only conjecture that they don't. Looking from where I was to where these zoanthids are at now is 180 degree difference.
 
i got the silicates from the old LFS i guess they didn't change some things...and i've heard some other stories about LFS and there RO/DI water so i ended up getting my own RO/DI unit that i just began running and will use my new water this week and from now on!

but for about a month maybe 2 i was battling silicates...they were awful and it covered everything, but i've fought them and now they are on there way out hopefully! i run phosguard in my canister right now and i try to replace it about every 4-5 days so that nothing leaches back into my tank...
 
One of the most common problems with reef tanks is low buffering capability. Try to get your alk and cal in check. Your ph might be taking a nose dive at night if your alk is too low.
That would cause the colony to close.
Also, have you tried giving them more (or less) current?
Current can play a huge part in a colony's success or demise.;)
 
i am working on my alk and ca right now...and im not too worried about my ph dropping to low at night b/c i top off at night about 1/3 of a gallon and i have kalkwasser mixed into it...i also dose
b-ionic after the lights go out too! i haven't thought of moving them but tomorrow i will move them into a location that doesn't have diret flow on it...
 
Ah, you might have just described your problem right there.

If you're dosing B-ionic, don't dose kalk. B-Ionic in itself is sufficient to keep your cal/alk where you need it. The kalkwasser can (and will) throw your levels out of wack. It's an either or thing.

I've used kalk for years and it never gave positive results like b-ionic or a reactor would.

Take this equasion out of the picture and see what happens.
 
ok well i guess i'll give that a try too...but even when i didn't dose the kalk they still wouldn't open...and if im gonna use either or u think i should use the b-ionic?
 
Just dose the b-ionic.
Try dosing it then test your levels about 1/2 hour later. If they're still boarderline 200's cal/2.5 alk, then try dosing a little more.
10-15 mls of each should be sufficient.

Next, you're going to do some small water changes. Maybe 5 gallons twice a week for a month should be sufficient.

Do you suspect contamination? Even though the xenia would probably let you know first, sometimes other animals react first. If you're not using filtered water, try throwing in a poly pad to see if there are any heavy metals in the water.

Finally, inspect the heck out of the colony, see if anything is irritating it.

See if you can a picture.

Bill
 
my ca and alk aren't that low...last time i checked the ca was around 320 and im not sure what the alk was??? when i dose i usually dose 6 1/2 ml of each and thats it.

i already do a weekly 4 gal 10% water change with RO/DI water! always!

and no i dont feel i have any contamination...

tomorrow i will look over the zoa's very closely and i will put them into an area that has less flow...

any other suggestions?

Thanks
 
Awesome, so you're a lot further ahead of the game then most.;)

Zoas are tricky, if there aren't any apparent predators on the colony, then it gets trickier. Predators are easy to deal with. They sometimes take a while to erradicate, but you have a clear cut task.

You can also try moving them to another part of the tank. Maybe more, maybe less flow/light. Temp seems to play an important role with zoas. I've seen my zoa colony's recede in the winter months when the temp dropped from 82-80. I usually run between 82-84 summer, 78-80 winter.

Finally, the best thing to do after inspecting them is not to touch them. The more they're handled, the more they will remain closed.

Do you know anyone with a digi cam that can take a pic?
 
i have a digi cam and well see how the shot turns out...

today when i got home from class i moved them into a different location that will give them less direct flow and a little less light b/c its lower in my tank...

i tested my ca and dkh... ca 360 and dkh 7

are my levels are they dont seem that bad? all the rest of my levels are either 0 or trace...ph is 8.3...salinity is 1.025...and my temp is around 80.

i checked me over really well and i can seem to find anything, but i will try to take the best pic possible...

Thanks for the help ReefJunkie and everyone else!
 
ok well i went upstairs to try and take a pic of my tank...needless to say, but that didn't work (photos don't come out to well with a bow...

anyway, i desided to take my zoa's out and do another thorough look and i found this thing sticking out that was hard (unlike anything else, so i desided to tug it...then it poped out and it looks like a very tiny snail? i dont know? but after doing so i desided that i would give the zoa's a dip and after the dip i'll put the actinics on and i will see what happens...
 
No problem, that what we're here for, oh and to show pictures too. :lol:

Your alk is a little on the low side. I think it's around 2 and it should be comfortably at around 3.5. 4-5 alk is optimal.

Bill
 
anyway, i desided to take my zoa's out and do another thorough look and i found this thing sticking out that was hard (unlike anything else, so i desided to tug it...then it poped out and it looks like a very tiny snail? i dont know? but after doing so i desided that i would give the zoa's a dip and after the dip i'll put the actinics on and i will see what happens...

the zoa's are back into my tank...do you know what that snail thing might have been and could that have been my problem?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

DjPhato
Zoas feasting on my torch? 😒
Replies
2
Views
103
Reefing102
Reefing102
mrpet
Help please whats growing in my zoas ? How to kill it
Replies
1
Views
375
Reefing102
Reefing102
M
Zoas and gsp not growing but anemones and leathers are happy and growing fast.
Replies
4
Views
832
griss
griss
S
Palytoxin question.
Replies
3
Views
682
jrill
J
F
Icp high iron phosphate and iodine help
Replies
4
Views
183
wvned
wvned
Back
Top