Zoas stretching for light...

[dublo8]

I remember a while ago there was a thread about why we thought zoa's were stretched out or elongated. The common consensus was the light source. Now get this. My tank has been running for some time and I recently had a small crash. My son dumped an entire jar of reef roids in my tank... lost all my sps but everything else seems fine. However my zoa's are stretching out like they need more light. I have never seen them do this before. Now that the tank is stable again they are still doing it. What are your thoughts? Params are spot on so no need to post them, equipment is listed in my sig. I can't figure it for the life of me. I even lowered my light a couple inches to see if it made a difference, but it didn't.


Sent from my who cares they all do it now.

 

[Red_Blenny]

Tagging along; I have the same problem too. Mines seem to stretch out longer than before and at the same time, I noticed a couple of zoas are a bit transparent so I upped the lighting... however, some are still acting like they're 'trying to reach for the light". I'm a bit confused too...

 

[cloak]

Maybe it's just a phase. You would want them to be at full glory all of the time, but that doesn't necessarily happen. A glich every now & then is what makes the world go round. As long as your parameters check out, just give them some time.

 

[rysher]

feeding perhaps?

 

[dublo8]

Sorry I didn't update this. they are still doing it. It's the damnedest thing. In almost 2 years I have never seen this happen before, except with light deprived zoa's. I'm sure the crash had something to do with it, but for them to still be reacting this way several weeks after just boggles my mind.


Sent from my who cares they all do it now.

 

[Red_Blenny]

Curious... was your water murky and dark during the crash? Maybe the sudden clarity of clean water caused a light shock?

 

[dublo8]

Curious... was your water murky and dark during the crash? Maybe the sudden clarity of clean water caused a light shock?

You better believe it lol. I thought about that as well, but I never turned the lights off and IMO they would have bounced back to normal after the water cleared. Only took a day or two. Obviously ammonia was present.(over 4.0) nitrates, nitrites etc. Pretty much re cycled the tank with livestock in it. Fun times.

It's a funny occurrence. Not sure what to think about them doing this. Especially since it's been a couple weeks now. The only ones not doing it is my radioactive dragon eyes. Odd huh?


Sent from my who cares they all do it now.

 

[piusma]

i have a couple colonies of zoes that does the same thing and i can testify that it is not a light related. My two colonies that are directly under my 250w MH lighting does that but not the others that's in the shade.

i believe it might have something to do with flow / food and mine has been elongated for many months. I don't expect that it'll revert back however i have not moved them or change anything to make any difference.

 

[A. Grandis]

I remember a while ago there was a thread about why we thought zoa's were stretched out or elongated. The common consensus was the light source. Now get this. My tank has been running for some time and I recently had a small crash. My son dumped an entire jar of reef roids in my tank... lost all my sps but everything else seems fine. However my zoa's are stretching out like they need more light. I have never seen them do this before. Now that the tank is stable again they are still doing it. What are your thoughts? Params are spot on so no need to post them, equipment is listed in my sig. I can't figure it for the life of me. I even lowered my light a couple inches to see if it made a difference, but it didn't.


Sent from my who cares they all do it now.

You probably need to change the bulbs. :spin1:


Sent from my they care and that's why they're stretching now.

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

i have a couple colonies of zoes that does the same thing and i can testify that it is not a light related. My two colonies that are directly under my 250w MH lighting does that but not the others that's in the shade.

i believe it might have something to do with flow / food and mine has been elongated for many months. I don't expect that it'll revert back however i have not moved them or change anything to make any difference.

Yes, temperature, flow and spectrum could do that.
I had some experiences in the past with MH.
Hard to revert, not impossible.
Some species are found in nature like that, so it's normal.

Playing with the light/temp will have them bleached most of the time.
Some times they look cool like that. If they are under quality light they are fine. They really stretch only for low light.

Grandis.