Zoa moved?

[steveo9043]

Ok so I'm new to corals and to aquariums. This frag is one of the first 3 I got.

It's almost the size of the tile it's on.

I was on vacation for a week and came home to find half of it gone. Later find out half of it moved?



You can see in the picture the tile and the other half below (pointed at with the arrows)

Is this normal?

 

[A. Grandis]

Not normal.

Could be couple things there.
1) Sometimes while shipped/handled some of the zoas are damaged on their bases and fall from the colony after a while in the tank, with the good water flow... If the polyp is healthy, it could easily survive in another location where it settled.
2) I've had that happening in one of my systems when there was a fungus infection. It affected only the bases of some of the Zoanthus gigantus (called People Eaters by any) and they used to fall one by one. Some of the polyps could survive and they became new colonies.
3) Another time there was an old colony that "released" some polyps and they ended up on the other side of the tank. They survived and had new polyps forming another colony also.

That could have other reasons to happen, but that's all I remember for now.
I would say that if the polyps don't have any white film (fungus) on their bases that should be fine and just enjoy them growing.
Make sure there is no predators. Check at night.

Good luck!

Grandis.

 

[steveo9043]

No fungus or anything that I can see. I have had these for almost 2 months if i remember correctly. I reworked the aqua scape 1 month ago and moved the tile then. The week of thanksgiving is when they "moved". I keep saying moved because it looks like the whole thing shifted left (maybe there was a shadow and they wanted more light) whatever was on the right side is now on the left and whatever was on the left is now below it.

 

[A. Grandis]

By your first post I'm assuming that the polyps on the bottom of the 2nd picture were together and part of the same colony shown above, on the same picture. First picture was showing them together, before separation, right? Therefore they were disconnected from the mother colony somehow.

That normally doesn't have anything to do with being shaded by other polyps.

I would think that if they're doing fine and there is no infections just let them grow.
But, yeah, that doesn't happen all the time...
Are you sure there is no predators in the system?

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

By your first post I'm assuming that the polyps on the bottom of the 2nd picture were together and part of the same colony shown above, on the same picture. First picture was showing them together, before separation, right? Therefore they were disconnected from the mother colony somehow.

That normally doesn't have anything to do with being shaded by other polyps.

I would think that if they're doing fine and there is no infections just let them grow.
But, yeah, that doesn't happen all the time...
Are you sure there is no predators in the system?

Grandis.

 

[steveo9043]

no predators that I know of. I have never seen any fish or invert bother them or any other coral in my tank. Maybe a hitchhiker I haven't found yet?

I keep leaning towards it moving for the simple fact that if you look at the second picture, it looks like the top frag is leaning over the side. Maybe I will setup a camera and record for a few hours to see what I can find.

 

[cjk76]

Urchins, crabs, or shrimp in the tank? Large snails?

 

[rworegon]

Turbo snails will move anything thats not nailed down. Also hermits will sometime move things. The separation from the mother colony is the mystery though.

 

[A. Grandis]

no predators that I know of. I have never seen any fish or invert bother them or any other coral in my tank. Maybe a hitchhiker I haven't found yet?

I keep leaning towards it moving for the simple fact that if you look at the second picture, it looks like the top frag is leaning over the side. Maybe I will setup a camera and record for a few hours to see what I can find.

LOL! No, zoanthids don't move. If they're attached they will be there until something happen so they can be detached from the rock.

Grandis.