Pink Zoas wont expand

[shandy_say]

Hi! I noticed last night that just my 2 colonies of pink zoas wont expand. Every other colony i have that arent pink are doing fine. Any ideas why? I don't see any bugs, fungus or anything for that matter that may be affecting them. They have been with me for several months now and only last night did i see them closed up. Should i be worried? Polyps seem to be plump and healthy even if they are closed up. They just won't expand.

Ive been vodka dosing to bring down my nitrates and it has already gone down to less than 5ppm but still not undetectable. But just to be safe I cut the dosing amount to half today.

I checked the parameters last night and so far everything seems to be normal. I havent changed anything except that I added a couple of zoas a few days ago and those are doing ok as well.

Here are my parameters as of last night:

Salinity: 1.026
Nitrates: less than 5
Phosphate: 0.01
Calcium: 420
Magnesium: 1300
Alk: 7dkh
temp: 25-26C

Hope you can give me some advise.

 

[Akwarius]

Carbon consuming bacteria can rapidly deplete the dissolved oxygen in your water. Be sure to use a powerful skimmer and possibly even an airstone in your sump. This could be the diagnosis to your problem or it could be something else, such as a bacterial or fungal irritant.

 

[shandy_say]

Thanks. i have an oversized skimmer for my tank and low ph has never been a problem since i built the tank. Will check for bacterial/fungal irritant but i didn't see any lesions or weird growths on my zoas last night. Hopefully they open soon.

 

[Akwarius]

People on this forum might disagree, but sometimes colonies will become spontaneously ill. I am convinced that there are bacterial infections or inflammations that we have not yet identified. Occasionally, part or all of a colony will close up. Sometimes they bounce back and sometime they dont. Because of this, I will try to have at least two colonies of a particular color morph growing in my system at one given time. That way if one goes poof, then you have another to fall back on. You can try dipping in an iodine or coral cleanser, but this may just irritate them more. Good, clean water and moderate, random flow is always good. Sometimes the best solution is to just wait it out. I wish that I could give you a more sure-fire cure. Good luck!

 

[Reef Bass]

I agree that there are infections which haven't been identified yet, whether bacterial, fungal or parasitic. Keeping two frags / colonies is a good idea.

Mucho Reef compiled an excellent list of possible reasons why polyps won't open:

closed up polyps

 

[shandy_say]

People on this forum might disagree, but sometimes colonies will become spontaneously ill. I am convinced that there are bacterial infections or inflammations that we have not yet identified. Occasionally, part or all of a colony will close up. Sometimes they bounce back and sometime they dont. Because of this, I will try to have at least two colonies of a particular color morph growing in my system at one given time. That way if one goes poof, then you have another to fall back on. You can try dipping in an iodine or coral cleanser, but this may just irritate them more. Good, clean water and moderate, random flow is always good. Sometimes the best solution is to just wait it out. I wish that I could give you a more sure-fire cure. Good luck!

Thanks! Its just hard to acquire 2 colonies of the same morph as it can become quite expensive. I checked them out last night when i got home and they seem ok. Still couldn't see any visible parasites or infections. I however have yet to see them during lights on as I got home pretty late last night and the lights were already turned off then. As for the water i have, i think its safe to say that I have pretty clean water as i have a predominantly sps tank which requires good quality water to survive. Hopefully they are already ok. Will check my parameters again tonight.

 

[shandy_say]

I agree that there are infections which haven't been identified yet, whether bacterial, fungal or parasitic. Keeping two frags / colonies is a good idea.

Mucho Reef compiled an excellent list of possible reasons why polyps won't open:

closed up polyps

Thanks! I saw that post and the only reason i could find was the last reason mucho reef enumerated. I really hope that is just the case.

 

[Reef Bass]

Ideally, one needn't acquire two colonies at once, just frag one when it is ok to do so.

If you really want to be careful, put a frag in another tank or even give a frag to a friend so that there is some of it elsewhere just in case...

 

[shandy_say]

I agree that there are infections which haven't been identified yet, whether bacterial, fungal or parasitic. Keeping two frags / colonies is a good idea.

Mucho Reef compiled an excellent list of possible reasons why polyps won't open:

closed up polyps

Ideally, one needn't acquire two colonies at once, just frag one when it is ok to do so.

If you really want to be careful, put a frag in another tank or even give a frag to a friend so that there is some of it elsewhere just in case...

Im actually currently cycling a nano tank which I will most probably put some frags of my zoas just so i can have a backup in case things go wrong in my main. However its not yet done cycling. I have another 2 months to go as i cycle my tanks for 3 months.

 

[shandy_say]

Btw, i forgot to mention i think i have a lot of pods in my tank. You guys think those are the culprits? Ive seen some crawing over the rocks, sand, and even on the zoas at night. Comments?

 

[Akwarius]

Btw, i forgot to mention i think i have a lot of pods in my tank. You guys think those are the culprits? Ive seen some crawing over the rocks, sand, and even on the zoas at night. Comments?

Pods won't attack the polyps unless they are already melting. You better believe that if those polyps die, they will be picked clean the next morning!

 

[shandy_say]

thanks! They have actually opened up as of today! Whew! Takes a load off my chest! hehe!

 

[Akwarius]

Welcome to the emotional rollercoaster of zoanthid husbandry!

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Btw, i forgot to mention i think i have a lot of pods in my tank. You guys think those are the culprits? Ive seen some crawing over the rocks, sand, and even on the zoas at night. Comments?

Glad they opened back up or you. Having just 2 colonies, both pink and both retracted, I was sure when I saw this the other day that it was # 25.

In fact, it is true, there are some pods who can, will and have eaten perfectly healthy polyps. It is well documented. Trouble is, no one has every identified which ones are the culprits. Good luck and glad they're expanding again.

Mucho Reef

 

[shandy_say]

Glad they opened back up or you. Having just 2 colonies, both pink and both retracted, I was sure when I saw this the other day that it was # 25.

In fact, it is true, there are some pods who can, will and have eaten perfectly healthy polyps. It is well documented. Trouble is, no one has every identified which ones are the culprits. Good luck and glad they're expanding again.

Mucho Reef

Thanks mucho reef! Upon inspection of my fuge ive seen some huge pods living and thriving there. I really hope these are the good kind and they will behave themselves. Otherwise, i will have to add a mandarin for population control. hehe! Im actually looking into getting either a mandarin or a pair of pipefish. hehe