My Zoa's will not open.

[chrisalmand]

Its been 4 days. I checked the parameters yesterday and it was nothing out of the ordinary, just to be safe I did a 25 gallon water change. Any ideas?

 

[MinibowMatt]

Alkalinity is my number 1 check for closed zoas... followed by pests, then disease... rule them out one at a time... odds are it will be one of these...
When you say "nothing out of the ordinary" what does that mean? post your ACTUAL readings, and we can help you.

If you see asterina stars, i would put money on them being *part* of the problem.

 

[Ladipyg]

I HATE Asterina stars...I regularly turn over all my colonies and any stars I find get dumped into the round file with swirling water.

 

[InADream]

How long have the zoos been in your tank? If there are a new purchase dont do anyting give them time, if they have been there awhile, check for pests...

Dream

 

[Reefer07]

Ya, they can close up for a couple weeks for no reason.

 

[Reef Junkie]

I just posted this on another post.
This time of the year is notorious with the arrival of the zoa pox.

Make sure you don't have it.
Here is an article that outlines what it is and how to cure it.
http://www.zoaid.com/articles004.php

 

[Reefer07]

Has anyone tried that Furan-2. My zoos still won't open and I think it is the pox. I have already tried an iodine dip which didn't work.

 

[bpd964]

If it's disease free, give it time.. especially after moving it from one tank to another..

 

[Reefer07]

I've had them for over a month.

 

[InADream]

Whatever you do dont do a furan dip until you have come to the conclusion there is no other way... Check to make sure there is nothing bothering the zoos at night and stressing them out... If it was zoo pox it would be clear...


Dream

 

[Indermark]

I have some blue zoanthids that I shot across the room with a dremel tool. The polyps were very upset for about 2 days. two out of the 12 polyps finally opened back up. I had trouble with them and they started to turn white and would never open all the way. In a last ditch effort I dipped them in Seachems Reef Dip for 5 minutes. The next day they are open and now the color is slowly coming back. Maybe worth a try.

Ryan

 

[reefturkey]

I just noticed mu blue zoas have been closed for 3 days now!!! Maybe I'll give the reef dip a try.
Everything else in the tank is normal.

 

[rickyscuba]

Seachem reef dip with Fresh or saltwater?

 

[phannay]

can someone tell me how to make an iodine dip?

is it a cup of R/O water and 2 drops of lugol's?

 

[johnny1]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=451720



Check this out for the answer about a good dip for the zoas.

 

[Indermark]

I just followed the directions on the bottle of Seachem Reef Dip. The water I used was saltwater. I'm not a fan of freshwater dips. Lost everyone I to freshwater dips. I'm not saying that its i'll never try it again but not my first choice.

 

[happyface888]

I seem to be on the same boat, but I also have another question
I have a 45gallon bow and I was using a 96watt pc back than then switched to 2x24 t5s and the zoas dont look as good. The height of the tank is 18 and I read that zoas dont need much light so could the switch of lights cause any problems? From what I understand the t5s should be better than pcs right?

 

[rickyscuba]

Last week followed the directions of the FW dip as Mucho Reef described previously. My zoas are now full recovered and open at @ 100% . Thanks Mucho Reef

 

[Ladipyg]

I had a colony I paid good $$$ for that never opened up after getting them...I did a FW and Lugols dip for predators, just looking worst everyday...I came to the conclusion that they were getting brown slime on the stalks...actually, the came with it but you never know the true color on the stem of zoas, so I waited to be sure. Yep, it was brown slime. Finally I dipped them for 15 minutes in 2 cups of tank water and about 1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide..Kind of blasted them with a turkey baster while they were in there and used a soft baby tooth brush to clear the stalks. They began opening the next day and seem to be slowly recovering. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Lytehouse]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11180412#post11180412 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ladipyg
I had a colony I paid good $$$ for that never opened up after getting them...I did a FW and Lugols dip for predators, just looking worst everyday...I came to the conclusion that they were getting brown slime on the stalks...actually, the came with it but you never know the true color on the stem of zoas, so I waited to be sure. Yep, it was brown slime. Finally I dipped them for 15 minutes in 2 cups of tank water and about 1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide..Kind of blasted them with a turkey baster while they were in there and used a soft baby tooth brush to clear the stalks. They began opening the next day and seem to be slowly recovering. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I've had a similar brown, slimey stuff on zoa's and they would quit opening. I posted here with a pic and got several people's feedback that was similar and similar to what you did. Start by trying to blow it off with powerhead and/or turkey baster and manually remove the rest--- very gently. The final statement by all was that not enough flow over the colony let this take over. Sure enough adjusting my flow in the tank removed the dead spot and they are fine now.

Congrats.