New to Corals...help please

[hardimanm]

Well...
I have had my setup for about 1 years now. It is a 42 gallon hex tank. I have about 75lbs of live rock in it. I have a overpowered skimmer, a coralia 2 powerhead, and now a 130 wt light on it now. My levels are all in norms except 0.25 on the nitrites(due to a dirty canister filter...fixed now).

I decided to get some corals now. I have a 2 part calcium/alkalinity sup, an idoine sup, and strontium and Molybdenum sup. Do i need anything else?

And the coral i was directed to buy was some type of zoanthid. It is a lime green and lilac purple kind.

I put it in the tank last night about halfway down in the tank...which is about 12-14 inches from the light. It has a low water flow over most of the rock with the polyps. Yesterday about 1/2 of the poylps were most of the way open. But today none are open.

Is this normal for a colony that has been moved? Is it under some sort of stress...ie: Too much/too little light or water flow. Is there a better place to put such a colony?

And finally...is there a good website anyone would suggest for learning about zoanthids. I did a google search but it mostly came up with junk sites with little to no real information.

Sorry for so many questions...
Michael

 

[RUGDOG]

What kind of light Michael? I am guessing Power compact with that wattage. which should be ok for zoas. I dont know why you should need to dose what you are. If you are doing frequent water changes then all you should need would be 2 part and without sps and clams that isnt really needed. All of that said they could be fine. I have seen them not open good after moving. what kind of light did they come out from under?

 

[zaozao]

Sometimes corals just need to adjust, however some fish and inverts can pick at coral.
What else is in the tank?

 

[hardimanm]

yeah...its a power compact.

As for what im dosing...it is just what i was told i needed to use.


As from what kind of light they came from. Not really sure. They seemed to be under a pretty average light.

As for what else is in the tank... a 6 line wrasse, p. clown, a royal grammas, and a firefish goby. A handful of hermit crabs, and a banded coral shrimp. Nothing seemed to even notice that the new rock or corals were even there.

How long should i leave them in there current posistion before moving. They are not goin to die off really quick if they are not happy will they? I was hoping they were pretty hardy

 

[zaozao]

Nothing in that stock list is usually a coral nipper, but you never know. My clean up crew usually knows as soon as I put something new in the tank and gives it a good cleaning, which can cause the coral to not open.
Zoas can stay closed for a while and be fine.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I agree with the others about your zoanthid. If you would like to learn more about zoanthids, you can visit zoanthid forum on RC and also this site for id'ing.

If you do weekly or bi-weekly small water changes, you don't really need to supplement anything except for maybe alkalinity supplement (= baking soda.) Iodine, Sr., and Mb are not necessary. Do you measure kH or alkalinity? If you dose alk supplement and raise the level too quickly, zoanthids may pout a bit.

I also noticed that my cleaner shrimp sometimes walk all over on my zoanthid colony (especially when they are fed) and get the zoa to closed up for a few hours. They will open up after a few hours, though.

You can move your zoanthids around in your tank without any problem. They don't like very strong current, but they can take high light or low light. In very high light zoanthid polyps tend to be smaller whereas they get larger in low light trying to stretch/extend to receive as much light as possible.

By the way, why are you using a canister filter?

 

[hardimanm]

update day 2 and 3

update day 2 and 3

Well...the little guys are still closed up. I put a little more flow on them hopefully that will hekp.

how much longer till I should really be worried? Should I move them up or down in the tanks for more or less light?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Zoanthids should do fine at 12 to 14 inches from the light source. They should be open by now if no one is bothering them. Do they look slimy or covered with some whitish goo? Do they have any small bump on them? Have you touch them to see if they are still firm and not mushy? You can dip them in Seachem Coral Dip, ReVive, CoralRX or Furan-2 to disinfect them just in case it has bacterial infection.

You mentioned a dirty canister filter earlier. There is no need to run a canister filter for a reef tank especially since you have enough live rocks. A canister filter or a power filter does not hurt anything as long as you keep it clean, but it is just another thing that you have to clean. Unless you are running carbon or phosphate remover in it, I'd consider removing it.

 

[hardimanm]

As for the canister filter. I use it kind of like a sump. Tank is too small for a sump to be placed underneath. The filter contains nothing but some rock and bio media now. It is also mainly used for water circulation. Pulls water from one area and high flow rate at the other side of the tank

 

[hardimanm]

As their appearnce goes they look fine. No bumps, slime or discharge that I can see. As if they are firm or mushy I have not touched them...afraid it would hurt them. But they appear full and round.

Could this just be light shock? They are under a good bit more light than the tank they came from. If so...should I move them down a bit?

Thanks all

 

[hardimanm]

hmmm.... Guessing this is bad news...Looked at the colony this morning...and some are starting to loose their color and turning pale purple and whitish. No oozing or discharge that i have noticed. Found a bristleworm in the colony and removed it.

So...i guess somehow i am killing the coral. Amazing...leave it to me to kill the most forgiving type of coral in record time. Guess my first jump into reef keeping may be my last and only...
Oh well...this sucks

Michael

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Don't be discouraged. Some zoanthids are not the easiest corals to keep while other types of zoanthids may become weeds. I suggest trying leather and mushroom corals.

Come to our meeting this weekend and you will find some good freebie corals. Coral frags from other hobbyists are usually very healthy and accustomed to living in an aquarium.

 

[wpecoul]

+1
I would definitely not call zoanthids the easiest coral to keep. Mushrooms and some leathers seem almost indestructible, but zoas can be problematic on occasion.

 

[gflat65]

Are they disintegrating, or just still closed? Don't give up until they start to literally fall apart. As everyone has said, zoas can be problematic. Ricordea florida's do very well for some (I have luck with them), but not others. Same on Ric yuma's (I can't grow them, generally).

 

[atlantisaquari]

well. they dont like being fiddled with too much. but you did mention nitrites. my understanding is that any nitrates at all is not good. but yea. there are some zooanthids that are just not easy at all. could also be pests... like zoa nudies.

 

[kennedy450r]

Try moving them higher you are not going to hurt the zoas with that light, I have a 250w mh 10" over superman zoas and they grow like weeds.

Dont dose unless your levels are low calc alk etc

If you use a good salt mix and do regular water changes, you shouldnt have to add anything but alk


What are you testing for?

 

[hardimanm]

I moved them up higher before I left for work.

As for what I'm testing for. pH: 8.4. Nh4 and nitrites:0. Nitrates: 5-10 sp:1.023. AlkH ~8meq. Cal: 400

Its just frustrating...don't know why they are dying...but at the current rate of decline they will be dead in a few days

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Your alk is way too high. Zoanthids do not like such a high alk. It should be around 4 meq/l or 8 - 10 dkH. 8 meq/l would be like 22.4 dkH. Are you dosing with some sort of buffer? Your salinity is a bit low for a reef tank.

 

[hardimanm]

Opps. My bad. My readings are in dKH not meq. I thought they were interchangable.

 

[gflat65]

Sometimes, it just be's that way sometimes. Zoas from healthy colonies can crash overnight with no apparent symptoms. It seems like people begin to experience zoa pox around this time of year (and in the fall), too, since the weather is starting to change (in some parts, anyway). Not to say zoa pox can't happen any time, but the boards seem to light up around seasonal changes. No one is really sure why it is or how to kill it, but some have used vitamin c added to their tanks to boost immunity. Not sure how much science is behind it, but at least anecdotally, people seem to see results.