zoas havent opened in 3 weeks but the arent dead

Bradshaww

Bradshaww

New member
I have a small colony of neon orange zoas that I've had for about 3 months. About 3 weeks ago they closed up and haven't opened back up. All of my water parameters are normal except nitrates which are 20 ppm but I have been doing 30-40% water changes weekly. I don't have a test for phosphate. Salinity is at 1.023-1.024. They are in a 7 gallon tank with 2 18watt t5s on a 10 hour photo period. The thing is they just started opening up the tiniest bit to were I can see a tiny speck of orange. Is there anything I should do for them, or should I just wait it out and see how they do. Forgot to mention I have a few mushrooms a single Duncan polyp and a small frag of a different species of zoa and they are all doing fine
 
I would just wait if there is no excessive algae, film nor signs of any infection on them.
If they were fine for the first 3 months there is nothing to worry about the lights.
Make sure there is no predators. Take a look at night.

Grandis.
 
Maybe there is some kind of bug on the zoas. Did you change their placement or recently add them to the tank?
 
I think if there were bugs on them, they would have been dead by now and not still alive after 3 weeks.

As long as there is no algae or infection on them, you should be good like Grandis stated. Sometimes they just close for no reason and open up weeks later. Hope it opens up soon though!
 
I will keep on eye on this also to see how yours do as I have a decent sized group of eagle eye that has been closed up for about a week. We lost power during a bad storm just before this and had no power for 2 full days- which means no circulation and no lights. Tank temp stayed in the 78-82 range luckily throughout this. I have been reading a lot on here the past few days about Zoas that close for a while and dont open back up for an extended period of time. They look healthy (best I can tell!) just wont open. I have changed light settings a bit to see if it effects any. I have a few other smaller groups of other zoas and they seem ok so I am going to try to be patient and hope for the best
 
Thank you all for your responses. I will be sure to check them out at night and look for any signs of predation. Also they havent been moved. Might try placing them in more direct flow to see if that helps at all, however, Im not sure if this is the problem because they are in a pretty decent flow right now. I will keep you guys updated.
 
My zoas get fussy when my alk is too low and will close up and take a while to recover... What is your alk? "fine" doesn't really tell us anything at all...
 
alk is at 10. and all I have right now is my crappy cellphone, but ill try to get my girlfriend to bring her camera over and ill post a pic.
 
do a 5 min dip with Hydrogen peroxide or coral RX pro .. but peroxide works great too they should open in a few hours after the dip . sounds like you have some kind of bug or even zoa spiders on them ..
 
I had some blue tubbs that wouldnt open for 2 months. So I put them up higher with more light and now they are happier. They like more light than most of the other zoas ive had.
 
pallobi, yeah she came for the camera all right ;) haha but no still no pics but i wanted to update you guys, one polyp has finally opened up and the others are opened a tiny bit more than they were a few days ago so I think its finally coming around. Would you guys suggest still dipping them even though they are starting to open?
 
I wouldnt dip them unless you need to. It does irritate the corals.

Just wait it out and if you see the colony start to shrink, then thats when I would begin to worry.
 
Bradshaww said:
pallobi, yeah she came for the camera all right ;) haha but no still no pics but i wanted to update you guys, one polyp has finally opened up and the others are opened a tiny bit more than they were a few days ago so I think its finally coming around. Would you guys suggest still dipping them even though they are starting to open?
Click to expand...

If they are coming around I wouldn't dip.
There is no need to stress the colony if they are really getting better.

Grandis.
 
Bradshaww said:
alright good to know. ill post back in a day or 2 and let you guys know if they are doing even better
Click to expand...

Do you have Reef Roids or other coral food on hand?
Try turn off the pumps and target feed them small tiny amounts once a week and see what happens.
Keep a good maintenance schedule and a nice skimmer running.
Water changes will help you with the nitrates.
Get a phosphate test kit and manage that as well.
By the time she brings the camera they will be doing fine!! LOL!
Good luck!!

Grandis.
 
just wanted to let you guys know that most of the zoas have opened back up. they are pretty small from being closed for so long. Im going to feed them every 2 days or so and see if that helps at all. its good to see them open again though. quite a relief lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

mrpet
Help please whats growing in my zoas ? How to kill it
Replies
1
Views
85
Reefing102
Reefing102
G
Zoa question
Replies
2
Views
318
Dustin07
D
Brian60077
Cannot believe it is going on 3 weeks already.......
Replies
2
Views
130
griss
griss
J
Calcium very elevated
Replies
3
Views
190
jcarlilesiu
J
S
Duncan issue
Replies
8
Views
288
Spectorman
S
Back
Top