My zoanthoids are closing not sure why

[Jyetman]

I've had colonies all but the greens slowly close polyp by polyp just a few here and there very irritating. I've dipped them and nothing comes off predator wise. Are there predators that borrow in them? I bought a AOG single polyp several weeks ago he open for a few days and closed then after a few weeks he opened for one day but closed again. My palys all seem fine except I did notice a few polyps died that colony I had for three years never a problem. It seems the ones that close eventually open or eventually die but new growth sprouts new heads? This has been going on off and on for a few years now. The only thing I've done differently is increased water changes, changed both RO filters and switched over to seachem matrix carbon. Is something going on with my water? I have lots of cheato could this be causing problems? I even tried poly filters to make sure it wasn't copper. All test show normal including phosphates and nitrates both read zero - Alk at 10, ph at 8.2 normal. Tank is four years old, using red sea coral pro salt, salinity at 1.025, maxspect razor LED 160 Watts and no dosing. One thing I don't do is vacuum the sand bed was told a four inch depth undisturbed is beneficial? Not sure what to do now?

 

[Jyetman]

So what nobody has any ideas!

 

[Jyetman]

bump

 

[Ajskennels]

maybe your water is to clean, in my experience zoas and palys like higher nutrients, i have a 29g biocube i haven't done a water change on in probably 2 years and it is packed wall to wall with zoas and palys, i put them in my sps tank and within a few days they close up and a few weeks there gone

 

[Jyetman]

maybe your water is to clean, in my experience zoas and palys like higher nutrients, i have a 29g biocube i haven't done a water change on in probably 2 years and it is packed wall to wall with zoas and palys, i put them in my sps tank and within a few days they close up and a few weeks there gone

Interesting might be on to something if I lapse on water changes everything looks better even my candy canes start feeding at night without adding food. I'll just wait it out and see if feeding heavier fixes problem.

 

[reefcoco]

Ajskennel is right looks like your water is too clean, try feeding your fishes more than usual. For a couple of weeks and see if the zoas open up.

 

[Jyetman]

I read some zoas thrive in the wild near sewage dumping areas so that makes sense.

 

[Jyetman]

bump

 

[Jyetman]

So I tried a poly filter and after a few days it turned dark brown which indicates Tannins/Humic acid so what is this and what causes it? Most of my zoas are starting to open back up even the ones that were closed for couple months.

 

[Jyetman]

Just in case my plenum is causing issues I took the advice and did a little vacuuming see if that helps. To get at those tight spots I made a nifty sand vacuum it worked quite well ha.

 

[Jyetman]

bump

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

If you have a 4" sandbed you definitely don't want to disturb it. You'll release S04 and H2S thus killing everything in your tank.

As I find stability is the key to any success in this hobby. Making big changes are only going to compound the problem and make things worse.

truth is, some zoas grow fast and some grow slow, and the ones that grow fast in your tank will grow slow in mine, vise versa.

after some time in the hobby this info shouldn't be news to you just maybe a a refresher.

However, if a poly filter is making things better and water changes are making things worse. Some things that I would look at is ensuring that your refractometer is calibrated properly with 1.026 calibration fluid. I also read that you replaced your "RO" filters. Do you mean RO or RODI? Hopefully RODI, I would also check your final TDS coming from the RODI making sure it's under 2 tds.