New Frag / Moving to my tank help.

[Neogenocide]

Hey everyone,

I'm in a dilemma here and I'm looking to you for advice on what to do. I just recently setup my tank 46G bow and it's cycled, in a heavy diatom bloom, but otherwise all the parameters are stable. When setting up my tank, I traded for some equipment and the person gave me three zoa frags which my sister agreed to keep until my tank was ready. Here is my dilemma.

My sisters 180G tank has been experiencing some problems as of late which they have not been able to pinpoint or solve. They have lost half of their livestock and if they haven't lost their SPS already, they are not looking healthy. The zoa frags were put in when they thought they had it solved, but things are not looking good in their tank again. From what she is telling me, 2 look ok, but the third which is supposed to be Purple Death just hasn't looked right since it was put in her tank, which was 1 week ago.

So, my question is this. Would it be possible to put the frags in my tank and keep them alive? I'll be up there Sat and wonder if I should bring them home with me.

Specs and Build:

46G Bow
2 - 175w Halide Pendants
41 lbs base rock, fully cured.
Heavy Diatom Bloom
No CUC or fish yet.

Salinity - 1.024
PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 2

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[mikersx02]

Your tank looks very sterile. Whats your phosphate, calc, alk, and mag at? Nitrates are a no-no with coral... as well as phosphates.

I wouldnt risk putting them in your tank until you get something putting a bio load in your tank. (ie fish...) But then again- sounds like the other tank isnt doing soo hot.

 

[Neogenocide]

Your correct, my tank is very sterile yet. I'm waiting for the green algae to come in that I keep reading about. I have not tested calc, alk, or mag yet, guess I need to go buy those kits.

I'll follow your advice and wait until I get a bio-load in the tank. I plan to start adding a CUC later this week, with a pair of clowns to follow in another week or so.

I didn't know how hardy zoas really were and if I could keep them alive even if it meant spot feeding a few days a week until the tank got some age on it.

Thanks for the reply,

Scott

 

[Neogenocide]

Well,

The decision was made today to bring home my zoas. I'll be picking them up tomorrow as my sisters tank is still heading down hill. It's sickening to watch their 8 year old tank wither away with no hints as to why. They did find some stray voltage in the tank, but things haven't perked up yet since the offending device was removed.

Anyway, what can I do to help ensure the survival of my frags. The CUC went in yesterday and I'll get the bio-load covered this weekend hopefully as my LFS usually gets tank raised Oscelaris Clowns in weekly. I'm hoping that it won't be too much introduced at once to throw things out of balance.

Thoughts, Recommendations?

Scott

 

[Neogenocide]

nvrmind. Their tank was looking better today....the best it's looked for quite some time in fact. 2 of the three look a LOT better, the other one looks poor yet, but with everything else looking better, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will come around. Obviously I left them up there.

How long can purple death zoas stay closed before they should be considered a lost cause?

Thanks,

Scott

 

[PokerReefer]

Until there is absolutely no flesh whatsoever left on the rocks. And even then I would wonder. I have seen all kinds of comebacks from corals. I once bought a 4-5 polyp plug of zoanthids from my lfs They started to wither and die after about a month. When I first got them I dipped the fw dip and lugols for over 20 minutes. I was taking no chances with them. They opened and were doing great for the first couple of weeks. Then it happened. I noticed something growing under the polyps . I noticed it had polyps on it. I waithed and after a few weeks noticed it was an encrusting monti of some sort. It was an ugly color for a long time. It eventually killed the zoas and took over. After two months of adding it to my tank it started to color up. Turns out it was superman montipora = )

 

[richpoolboy]

that tank looks waaay to clean for zoa's to me, they seem to like the dirty water IMO