What's wrong with my zoas?

[rdaled]

I first added them about 6 months ago.

Here they are a couple of days after I added them...

About a month later...

And now...

I have moved them to different lighting and flow areas of the tank with no apparent changes. I have 390W's of VHO. All parameters are normal excpet for an apparent phosphate problem causing my HA bloom. The test for phos read 0 but I guess that's because it's all absorbed into the HA.

The zoas have spread and multipied but just don't look anything like when I first added them. Any ideas why?

 

[MJAnderson]

Well since they are spreading I would say they are healthy, just not getting the color you want. Have you tried getting in touch with the person you got them from to see what kind of lights they used to be under? I have some blues that I just can't keep blue anywhere in my tank but the greens I got from the same person at the same time have kept 100% of their color.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Been there, done that. How old are the bulbs? What are your water parameters besides Phosphate?

 

[rdaled]

Bulbs are 10 months old.
Amon - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Salinity - 1.026
pH - 8.1-8.3
temp - 78
mag - 1410
KH - 8.3
Alk - 2.97

 

[rdaled]

And it's not only that they lost their color, but they are about 1/3 of their original size.

 

[northbay-reefer]

the color of the zoos are most likely having to do with your lighting and excess nutrient in your tank.

 

[CHAOSTACTICS]

how high up in the tank are they and when was last time the lighting was altered?

 

[trippyl]

zoos when first placed in the tank tend to be smaller and tighter. As they become more used to the environment, they tend to relax a bit and stretch out. Their color may slightly change as a result of this. I have a good 7 typs of zoos in my tank, all look different now as opposed to when I first put them in. Most have gotten larger (per polyp) and some have either become more or less colorful. I would agree that since they are growing and reproducing, there isn't likely anything wrong with them.

However, the hair algae that has sprung up in the last photo is concerning and is likely a symptom of excess nutrients. At the very least, it's possible that the HA is irritating the zoos given that it is intermingled with the zoos.

 

[rdaled]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8357876#post8357876 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by northbay-reefer
the color of the zoos are most likely having to do with your lighting and excess nutrient in your tank.

All my test are negative. I use new Salifert test kits.
So maybe 390W's of VHO aren't enough lighting for them?

 

[rdaled]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8357962#post8357962 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CHAOSTACTICS
how high up in the tank are they and when was last time the lighting was altered?

I have had them mostly in the middle of my 21" high tank. The lights are approxiamtely 4" off the surface of the water. I also tried them on the bottom to see if they were getting too much light. I haven't changed my lights since I got them 6 months ago.

 

[trippyl]

390 watts is MORE than enough for this type of coral. I use 265w of PC lighting and have 7 types of zoos as previously mentioned in my 3 year old 75 gallon reef. Here are some pics:


My favorite Red and Blue Zoos

3 types of Zoos

Another shot of the red and blue (with other zoos in the background).

 

[trippyl]

As you can see, zoos do fine under PC lighting. 390w is more than enough, you could probably keep them under less than the 265w that I am running. In the big scheme of things, zoos are one of the lower light corals. If you had acroporas or other SPS types, then maybe 390w wouldn't be enough, although I'd bet you could probably do SPS as well from a purely lighting standpoint.

This particular zoo you have is an easy one, not some high color zoo. Most likely the HA is bothering them, or the excess nutrients feeding the HA is bothering them. Or, nothing is wrong at all. They do change shape and color in different environments. Flow, lighting and placement all impact the way a zoo might look in your system. In the middle picture of my post, those orange and yellow zoos were really tiny when i first got them. Now each polyp is huge, some as large as half and inch across!

 

[Tstaub03]

Bulbs are 10 months old.
That could be some of the color problem.

 

[dippin61]

your vho's are long overdue for a change.. i like to go about 6 months then changing. i just changed mine last night, and you wouldnt believe the difference... i never noticed the light shifting and dimming, but once my new lights went in,, like whoa.. my tank hasnt been this bright in a long time. (went closer to a year before changing them)

and that might be a contributing factor to your HA problem. your lights shifting spectrum..

fwiw