Angry Angry Zoanthid

poomba · Jun 9, 2013

So Im trying to narrow down why my zoas look so lame....closed up most of the time and rather small polyps with limited growth. I think its from limited nutrients in the water, as I have been waging a war against algae which I am finally starting to win.

The tank is a 75 gallon w/ 40 gallon sump. Its lit by an ATI 6X54 hung 18 inches above the water. I run 4 blue+ during the day time and a actinic and purple plus bulb during the off hours. The lights are on for around 8 hours each day, but arent on a regular schedule and sometimes are on for longer due to my controller being down right now. Fish load is a multicolor angelfish who is 3-4 inches and a pair of snowflake clowns who are at about an inch a piece. The only other coral in the tank are a few chalices, who look kinda pale, and mushrooms.

Alk 9.128
Phosphates .05
Nitrates 2
Salinity 1.025

I do a weekly 5 gallon water change. I run an SRO 1000 skimmer and run gfo and carbon for a few hours each week.

I dose aquavitro fuel every day.

Pappy · Jun 9, 2013

Angel nipping would be my guess

poomba · Jun 9, 2013

Never has nipped....Ive had it for two years now and Ive never even seen it sample the zoas.

PaulKreider · Jun 9, 2013

Is there a brownish film covering some of the closed up ones? Other than that my guess would be the angel too :\

Tenor · Jun 9, 2013

Your light setup could be a problem for them. Too much blue and provided nothing for them to growth.

poomba · Jun 10, 2013

No bacterial film on the zoas, the closed one just appear closed and a little shrunken.

Hmmm. I'll change out a bulb and see if that helps.

Could stray voltage be the problem too?

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fishes2889 · Jun 10, 2013

Get a voltameter really cheap at a hardware store like lowes or HD. Thats how i figured out all those crappy koralias i had be thrown away. Now im a Tunze & Ecotech guy

fishes2889 · Jun 10, 2013

Do u see any pests? Try dipping them?

poomba · Jun 10, 2013

I dipped and all I saw were some copepods.

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joshporksandwich · Jun 10, 2013

If you had an algae issue most of the times it's high phoshates. Do you have anyone that can test for you? .05 is perfect in my opinion but very hard to achieve.

poomba · Jun 10, 2013

Its just started coming down as of late...someone else was taking car of my tank for three months and didnt skim or do any water changes so I am just starting to get all that parameters back in line.

Cant figure out why some of these zoas are ****** off though and closed. In the past when something has been wrong its been obvious, like a fungal infection. But this just doesnt make sense to me.

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mnat · Jun 10, 2013

How fast did you swing the params?

poomba · Jun 10, 2013

ehh not that quick...Did a ten gallon change, then a five gallon change every couple days but now I have settled into a a weekly change. The skimmer is pulling gunk well now. I did start running gfo but I stopped after a day and a half when I started getting tissue recession on some chalices.

Also lights were changed, but just too the usual ones.

You think I just changed too many things too fast? If thats the case should I just keep on doing what I am doing and the zoas should adapt?

Some of them are starting to open up a bit more again, but still not where Id like. Super paranoid about the raver mini colony...Love those guys,

joshporksandwich · Jun 10, 2013

I had a fire in my house on nov last year and lost my water changing station. didn't do a water change in 2 months and lost some stuff and almost lost my nicest stuff. Everything was looking horrible and it still hasn't recouped. Water changes are super important.

poomba · Jun 10, 2013

Yeah....it was like 110 days without a waterchange...no skimming. Thank god at the time there was only one fish in the tank.

As you can imagine I had an algae issue to deal with

Half the zoas are happy as can be, the other half are angry angry zoas.
Can you think of any dips I should be doing?

BTW Josh, I love the last line in your signature.

joshporksandwich · Jun 11, 2013

poomba said:
Yeah....it was like 110 days without a waterchange...no skimming. Thank god at the time there was only one fish in the tank.

As you can imagine I had an algae issue to deal with

Half the zoas are happy as can be, the other half are angry angry zoas.
Can you think of any dips I should be doing?

BTW Josh, I love the last line in your signature.

There's no dip or anything that can help you with a malnourished coral. Just start doing what you used to do before and everything should start coming back. My last line was added after so many pms i got tired. I love helping people but telling people no shippi is annoying lol.

Norcalreefer · Jun 11, 2013

How long has it been since the 3 months? It takes time and if you're seeing improvement I think you just need to be patient. I have some zoas that have been coloring up for like 4 months now and still are barely colored lol.