This is why I hate zoas

[Capt_Cully]

One minute awesome! One minute melting. There will be questions on parameters and I'll tell you, I check them weekly. They have very little variation. I don't have a phosphate test or checker. But, some zoos are spreading like wildfire. These have been phenomenal growers but as of a week ago they've stopped. Poof! Gone. This isn't a help me thread. It's a Maury Povich battered woman thread. He punched me in the face but I stay "BECAUSE I LOVE HIM!"

Can't stop buyin zoas, can't stop em from inexplicably melting.

 

[Jacwil]

It's just the one morph?

 

[Jstn]

I had the same problem for a while, it seems (im not sure how related this is) upon starting phyto dosing it stopped. But it is annoying when you can keep "delicate" sps and your "beginner" zoa decide to die off. One zoa that really suck ime are campfires, they are so nice, grow well then bam melt away.

 

[teamdulski]

Zoa nudibranchs, dip the colonies in some sort of dip for a while then shake vigorously, come back and tell me what was in the bottom of the dip bucket.

 

[pascal32]

agree on the dip - see what's cooking in there!

on the other hand some zoos just vanish, even to the best keepers.

 

[Gravesj1s]

I don't know why either but there are some I find problems with consistently. I've long felt it had something to do with how much rox carbon i was using I've got a post over in the chem forum mainly for this reason.

-Steve

 

[Capt_Cully]

on the other hand some zoos just vanish.

Indeed sir.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

go figure

go figure

while neglecting my aquarium (late last year) one of the things that suffered most were my zoanthids

 

[josepha]

I feel your pain Cully. I had two zoas in a section growing great, died off and two other colonies just 5 inches away... NEVER AFFECTED!!! Snails? Bugs? I don't think so, unless they go hmmm I really like those eagle eyes, but I'll pass on the bam bams

 

[reefjunkie42]

i honestly think zoos die becuase we CAN keep SPS. everything in nature needs a certain amount of N and P to survive. so the fact that most of us have impeccable systems prevents some from keeping them. just my 2 cents

 

[tmz]

Mine like vodka and vinegar. The extra organic carbon helps meet their heterotropic needs.
A dip in 4 parts tank water and one part 3% hydrogen peroxide for 5 minutes is helpful if they are stressed. I've even gone 50 /50 water to hydrogen peroxide without harm. This also kills algae including redturf gowing near them and knocks of any pests. Chris( supressivefire) and I have both noticed that they open more after this type of dip.

 

[tmz]

i honestly think zoos die becuase we CAN keep SPS. everything in nature needs a certain amount of N and P to survive. so the fact that most of us have impeccable systems prevents some from keeping them. just my 2 cents

I understand why you would think so but zoanthus are high reef animals often taking over montipora colonies on reefs.. They thrive in low nitrate.2ppm and PO4 .005ppm on the upper reef. They do need some organic carbon to supplement photosynthesis .

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

i honestly think zoos die becuase we CAN keep SPS. everything in nature needs a certain amount of N and P to survive. so the fact that most of us have impeccable systems prevents some from keeping them. just my 2 cents

I agree with tmz. The fact that my Zoanthids suffered during several weeks of aquarium neglect seems to indicate to me certain species might be MORE sensitive than Acroporiids.

 

[madbomber]

Cully, Have you had any alk swings? I suspect that to be the cause of my loss for certain zoas/palys from time to time.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I agree with tmz. The fact that my Zoanthids suffered during several weeks of aquarium neglect seems to indicate to me certain species might be MORE sensitive than Acroporiids.

IME it just boils down to certain varieties having narrow "happiness" requirements - not all varieties seem to have the same requirements, but many seem to have very narrow tolerances.

Just in the short life of my big tank so far I've noticed trends among different groups of zoanthids. I've never had huge or diverse collections of zoanthids, so the ~10 - 15 varieties I have right now represents the highest diversity I can remember keeping. When things swing in one direction, one bunch are happy. When they swing in another direction, a different bunch are happy. I'm talking really small changes, like nitrate going from undetectable to 5 ppm over the course of several days. Nothing else in my tank has reacted as much to any of these swings. I've already lost two or three colonies so Mark, I think we're in the same boat...

 

[block head]

The boogie man steals mine in the night. Don't think there's a coral that gives me more fits.

 

[tmz]

Observations:
Gererally, I have no trouble with palythoa and protopalythoa. They eat and grow . Most of the zoanthus grow consistently ;some of the zoanthus will grow and then sl diminish in numbers or just stop spreading from time to time ;notably the small 14 karats , and magicians are boom and bust but I still have them, in lesser numbers right now. .
Usually, a dip helps and or fragging giving them more space to grow .

I think some nutrient or trace element deficiency is at the root of it ; maybe some unseen predatation or iirtiant or toxin ,allelopathic or otherwise,or a combination of things. . The organic carbon seems to give most of them a boost as does the H2O2 dip. I've tried dosing,vitamin C iodine, iron and potassium in the past without discernible changes.
No easy answer to optimizing growth and health for the whole group of zoanthidae as far as I know. We'll have to keep poking around until we find the right path , I guess. Pristine water ,ie NO3 at .02 and PO4 at ,.05 seems to be to all their liking as does carbon dosing.So it looks like we have two bricks in the yellow brick road anyway.

 

[Gravesj1s]

I wonder if anyone has a pic on hand of a (sps) Losiette that has kept the true sky blue color and a growing colony of magicians or PPE in the same tank for over 6 months?

Personally, Ive tried and find its one or the other so far.Though it could just be a balance I just haven't found so far.

-Steve

 

[pascal32]

I wonder if anyone has a pic on hand of a (sps) Losiette that has kept the true sky blue color and a growing colony of magicians or PPE in the same tank for over 6 months?

Personally, Ive tried and find its one or the other so far.Though it could just be a balance I just haven't found so far.

-Steve

What a strange combo. I would chuckle, however thinking back I started loosing magicians around the time I put in the loisette

 

[MAVX]

I had a similar problem and dipped 2 of my zoa colonies last night.

What are those super tiny critters that are white but have 2 dark spots?