Zoos never make it in my tank.

I would think that 6 polyps of PPE should be a pretty safe frag, especially since fragging PE type zoas often does not require the cutting of tissue. I do agree with Mucho that there is an explaination, and providing us with the info he requested can help us help you solve the problem.
 
I've tried 3 times to get Zoas to work. The first batch was from a private trade. The next was bought from Dr Mac's and the most recent is from a LFS.

Most of the time the frags were between 4 - 6 heads.

There was never any "shipping" involved with my frags. I picked them up myself and drove home with them. In the case of the frags that came from Dr Mac's it was a 6 hour drive home.

I temperature aclimate them for 15 minutes in their closed bags floating on the water. Then I will remove 1/2 of the water in the bag and replace it with tank water over the course of 15 minutes. Then I will take them out of the bag and place them on the sandbed in the tank for the first 24 - 48 hours. In the case with my first frag they sat on the sandbed until they detached and disappeared from the frag disk. The ones from Dr Mac's were on a rock, I didn't place them on the sandbed because he had them under halide in his shop they turned to goo. This final frag started on the sandbed for a few days then I moved it to a darker spot, then finally up to a high light/flow area. At this point they are still attached to the frag disk but they haven't opened at all and just look like shiny marbles on the disk. I did see them open @ the shop when I bought them so I know they were ok at the time of purchase.

My test kits were all replaced in January. I routinely test SG, PH, Alk, Mag, Ca, Nitrate and Phosphate. I monitor Temperature continually with a digital thermometer and right now the tank is 79 degrees +/- 1 degree.


Then I talked about turnover maybe I'm not clear.. I have 2x Koralina 4's in the corners of the tank aimed diagonal from one another they mix in the mid of the tank. There's a 3rd powerhead in the front right corner of the tank blowing across the front proving another intercepting flow. The return pump from the sump is a Mag 7.

My skimmer is a Coralife Super Skimmer 220. My lights are 2x 250W Metal Halide 15K. I don't run Actinics because of the color temperature of the MH. The bulbs are new as of October of last year. The fixture itself was purchased then, as I previously had PC lighting.
 
Today I notice that it appears they are beginning to flatten out. Almost like they are deflating. Some of the smaller heads are still round but the larger ones are flattening out.
 
The Zoas are still here, still not open. I've got them in a in-tank refugium to prevent potential predators from getting to them but still not opening. I'm still thinking it's something in the water. I'm hoping to buy small tank (< 5 gallons) and put new water in there and a light and see if they open then.
 
a buddy of mine had the same problem and for years we couldnt figure anything out. much like everyone else all parameters were good and handling was tip top. one day were both sitting in front of his tank and low and behold we saw an astrea star munching on a zoa. dont know why, maybe there were just so many they had to find something to eat. the following week i ordered him a pair harlequin shrimp and 2 months later when the population had dwindled (250+) and they werent as noticeable the zoas started reproducing again. that was the only factor over the 2 years we tried figuring this out. so if you have them maybe thats it.
 
I do have asterinas but I've never found them near the zoas. I still have them in the refugium and there's no asterinas in there at all. They still havent opened. And since SO many people asked how old my bulbs were I decided to change them to make people happy. So they are < 1 week old.
 
Reef Bass said:
distilled water is not the appropriate calibration fluid for refractometers. search or google it.

In my case, I also calibrated with ro/di and after recalibrating with calibration fluid at a known level, I was off by 0.001. Not much, but I think I was fortunate.

I suspect toxins being released by the softies are making the zoos grumpy. I'd be running carbon 24/7.
Click to expand...

i talked to a guy at Milwaukee instruments, sorry can't remember his name be we talked extensively about him testing their refractometer in the caribbean and south pacific. and he specifically told me to use distilled water to calibrate. he told me NOT to use solutions or anything else. he said ro/di water unless you know for a fact is 0 TDS can have stuff in it that throws the calibration off. i buy my water at the LFS since my tank is so small but if you make your own water it may be a safe bet to use ro/di...

also, i have had asterinas eat my zoas, they sit there for quite a while and munch it down. if youre checking for them, it'd be hard to miss unless you have hundreds of polyps, at least in my experience (I observe my tank for at least 1-2 hours per day). ive always caught them before they got too far. the mat where it was eating it was white for a while but slowly recovered. on another part it ate right thru the mat to the live rock but both halves of the colony survived and slowly began to grow again, one a lot smaller than the other since it was the leading edge of the colonies growth.
 
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I can keep zoas, I just cannot ever get xenia to stay alive in my tank! I have tried over and over and over and after a few days to a few weeks.... deteriorate and die. I would much rather have the zoas though, sorry about your luck man.
 
It really sounds like chemical warfare to me. Any zoas I've had open within the first hour, nothing taking longer than to the next lighting period.

For your zoas to never open... that isn't just imperfect lighting or flow. That is something irritating them enough to cause them to stay closed. If it happened with a colony or two that'd be something... but repeated attempts clearly points to an irritant.

My tank is and always has been pest-free so I'm not sure about the mini stars or whatever else. I doubt it's something like stray current or incorrect salinity, or you'd see other signs. It has to be something irritating the zoas specifically. That means predator (pests) or chemical warfare. At least that's all I can think it could be.

The issue with just placing them in a second tank is that that is going to remove all potential problems so it won't narrow it down any. I'd try running heavy on carbon for a while to see if that helps.
 
I have seen asterina eat mine, same happenend to a friend of mine. This happens mostly at night.
Also saw my foxface nibble on them.
 
I have little blue asterias eating mine I found out so I have eradicating them one at a time I still dont know where the dang little badwords came from I have never seen them in my other system and everything came out of it or was dead and cooked before putting in solana.
 
I had successfully kept all of my zoanthids when I had my tank with mostly LPS. Since the day I introduced SPS into my tank, the zoas had the sign of retreating. Some could not sustain with the chemical warfare and died. I lost the Lunar Eclipse, PPE, Candy Apple Red. The others still were doing OK with the warfare (RPE, AOG, Devil's Armour, Rainbow palys, Dragon eye, Eagle eye, Darth Maul etc). They are now still doing very well. However, I recognize that if I introduce the same zoa species (that I had and it was doing well in my tank) from another source into my tank, it can not sustain and die within a week.

My conclusion is chemical warfare is one of the cause; however, it you obtain a zoa that is immune with those chemical you can still keep it.
 
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