zoa help

[drpo21]

my frag of eagle eyes are really looking bad, they are starting to "whither" away just like my green zoas did a year ago. i know this just happens, but i need to know what all u crazy zoa people do when this happens. vitamin C?

i would give a pic of this but i believe my cleaning lady keeps stealing all my electronics; my camara, ipod, etc..

im sure you know what im talking about, they shrivle up and have white specs on them, zoapox?

thanks
Aaron

 

[lilfishbigreef]

we recently had the same problem with the same type of zoa, no reason, could not understand why, it just happen as you said. zoos grow like crazy in the tank but these just died with no trace of them again

the only thing i could think of with our eagle eyes is that they were too high in the tank and were getting blasted by T5's and they did not like the bright light

 

[cbrownfish]

Many SPS lovers think of zoanthids as "basic" corals. On the contrary, attaining a mature zoanthid garden can be very difficult. Typically, IME, it comes down to a few things:

1. Pests? Sundial smails, nudibranchs, predatory asterina stars, fish nipping, hydroids, etc. These pests can cripple a frag or even a colony of zoanthids. Examine your struggling zoas closely under a bright light.

2. Allelopathy? Is chemical warfare going on? Try moving the zoas around so they are not directly "downstream" from an agressive coral like leathers, encrusting gorgonian, etc, etc

3. Lighting? Is the light too high or too dim? Move the zoanthids up or down or even into a shaded area if necessary. What lighting was the frag under prior to pirchasing it? Wild with bright sun, someone's frag system under PC's, high under halides, low light under an overhang? Acclimation to bright lighting can be critical.

4. Nutrients? Are you running a ultra low nutrient environment? Do you feed regularly or could you be starving the zoanthids? many zoas do not show any feeding response when target fed but they do like a fairly moderate level of dissolved organics and nutrients.

 

[drpo21]

cbbrownfish,

1. im not seeing any pests on it, though little white spots do appear on some. maybe some sort of zoa pest?

2. i think this is the one, it is directly down stream from a leather and a frogspawn. i moved the frag and i think it might be doing a bit better.

3. lighting is fine, under pc's and on the sandbed, the frag is not really that new, got it in november

4. nutrients should be good, i do waterchanges ever couple weeks and there isnt a skimmer. only one fish and lps, i feed every other day just a little bit so the fish can eat something. i add calcium every other day and strotnium every 4 days.

thanks for the pointers to look for, im really wanting to set up my 112g so i dont have to worry so much on this 24 gallon. i have everything for it, i just got to start it up. maybe the zoas will do better in it (its gonna have t5s, theyre currently under pcs) and its a tall tank so they will like the bottom as well. ill let you know how the moving of the frag works out. i really believe it might have something to do with the powerhead aiming strait at the leather and frogspawn and into the zoas.
thanks for the response.

 

[NanoKat]

You know, my favorite zoas in my tank are my safecrackers and recently there's been some poisonous warfare going on. I had to nuke (kalk paste) some majanos last week because they were infringing on the zoas. I also had some star polyps which I think sting the zoas that I had to peel away from them. After I took these measures I can see where they were stung because there's white spots all over the ones that stay closed right now. They seem to be perking back up now that those pests are away, but now I have some hydroids that are trying to infringe on their turf....the saga continues!

 

[drpo21]

why do the saltwater animals and corals that come in the most beautiful colors always have to be such a pain in the arse. ie..zoanthids, sps in general, manderins, angel fish, carnations (i think they look awesome, they just dont live too long)..etc..

 

[Pufferpunk]

It never hurts to try vitamin C with zoanthids that are "melting". There is a huge thread on this in the Zoa forum.

 

[bgdiving]

drpo21, I noticed you said you "add calcium every other day and strotnium every 4 days." but I didn't see any mention of alkalinity, if your adding calcium you need to be doing something to keep the alkalinity in balance.

As far as lighting I have hundreds of eagle eyes under 400 halides all the way from near the surface to the bottom of the tank. I also have them growing from top to bottom under 4 110 VHO's and a few eagle eyes growing under normal out put floresents. They take a little while to get use to bright light but do well under it once adjusted.