Can't get Zoas to open to save my life. What am I doing wrong??

[Schreiber]

Any possibility of a cracked magnet?

Ohhhhhh. Yes. 100%. This was in my tank for a few weeks (there's a magnet inside & it definitely rusted).

However, this was only about a month ago, which wouldn't explain my previous issues. However, this last frag has done even worse than normal. Would a magnet affect the zoa & none of the other corals though?

 

[Jamesrup0411]

I would second on adding some nitrate, zoas like dirty water

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

corals react differently to contamination, I would recommend some Seachem cuprisorb to absorb the metal traces in the water. The effects of metal in the water could last a while if not treated specifically.

 

[AZMSGT]

High iron from magnet, do a good size set of water changes. Raise Nitrates to 10. Get Alk to 8.
Last thing and this worked for me, raise salinity to 1.026 or 1.027. My Zoas opened right up.

 

[Bpfor3]

You have any fish? Mine looked
Like this during a fallow period, but once I added fish viola! Open zoas. Obviously due to nutrient levels

 

[tsouth]

Have you ever tried just stopping? There's so many things going on which is just so many variables and changes all at once.

What if you just stopped dosing, stopped adding, stopping removing, stopped touching and just left everything alone and kept it simple?

10% water change a week, feed twice a day (mildly), and just let your tank create a baseline and start from scratch.

 

[Schreiber]

corals react differently to contamination, I would recommend some Seachem cuprisorb to absorb the metal traces in the water. The effects of metal in the water could last a while if not treated specifically.

I'll order some of that right now. Even if that's not the only issue, it definitely can't hurt.

High iron from magnet, do a good size set of water changes. Raise Nitrates to 10. Get Alk to 8.
Last thing and this worked for me, raise salinity to 1.026 or 1.027. My Zoas opened right up.

I'm definitely planning on raising the salinity to 1.026 over the next few weeks & Nitrates to ~5. For the dKh though, 8 is on the absolute bottom end of recommended levels of 8-11. My goal is to maintain at 10, for the growth of my LPS.

I've done multiple pretty large water changes since I found that, but I'll do another 15g tomorrow, then run cuprisorb to catch anything that may be left.

You have any fish? Mine looked
Like this during a fallow period, but once I added fish viola! Open zoas. Obviously due to nutrient levels

Yep- Got a pair of clowns, royal gramma, sailfin blenny, watchman goby, & pistol shrimp. It's definitely lighter stocked than a lot of other 55 tanks I see, so it may be lacking nutrients for the coral.

 

[Schreiber]

Have you ever tried just stopping? There's so many things going on which is just so many variables and changes all at once.

What if you just stopped dosing, stopped adding, stopping removing, stopped touching and just left everything alone and kept it simple?

10% water change a week, feed twice a day (mildly), and just let your tank create a baseline and start from scratch.

Definitely. I typically do one change at a time & give it at least a month before changing something else. But at this point, there's definitely a multi-year long issue that needs to be corrected that isn't going away with just water changes & normal maintenance. I went for over a year with absolutely no changes, dosing, or additives & still no luck. Tank is about 4 years old at this point.

 

[sixline]

Watching this thread, because I have similar issues in my tank.

 

[Bpfor3]

I'll order some of that right now. Even if that's not the only issue, it definitely can't hurt.



I'm definitely planning on raising the salinity to 1.026 over the next few weeks & Nitrates to ~5. For the dKh though, 8 is on the absolute bottom end of recommended levels of 8-11. My goal is to maintain at 10, for the growth of my LPS.

I've done multiple pretty large water changes since I found that, but I'll do another 15g tomorrow, then run cuprisorb to catch anything that may be left.



Yep- Got a pair of clowns, royal gramma, sailfin blenny, watchman goby, & pistol shrimp. It's definitely lighter stocked than a lot of other 55 tanks I see, so it may be lacking nutrients for the coral.

I suspected a few of my hermits aggravating them too, but I think it was mainly too clean water. Good luck!

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Would it cause them to just stay completely closed though? My understanding was that they'd slowly starve to death if not fed, but they'd be open trying to get at food.

My struggle is feeding enough to raise nitrates, but not so much I encourage the algae.

Corals do very poorly without nitrates and phosphates in the water column this is basically their food. Zoas do like some flow to keep detritus off of them so they do not catch a bacterial infection. The second picture almost looks like they could be melting do you happen to know what par they are in?

 

[Glauber]

Send an icp test , and do a chemical treatment it has worked for me lot times

 

[Schreiber]

Watching this thread, because I have similar issues in my tank.

Read through your thread, thankfully I haven't been running at 90 degrees, lol. I even calibrated my temperature probe in an ice bath to make sure it wasn't just broken.

I suspected a few of my hermits aggravating them too, but I think it was mainly too clean water. Good luck!

I've got some hermits that will walk over them every once in a while, but I've never noticed them intentionally picking at them thankfully. I've upped my feeding & hopefully that will help.

Corals do very poorly without nitrates and phosphates in the water column this is basically their food. Zoas do like some flow to keep detritus off of them so they do not catch a bacterial infection. The second picture almost looks like they could be melting do you happen to know what par they are in?

I'd have to get our club's PAR meter again to check the specific spot they're currently in. But Based on my previous readings, I'd guess between 120-200. In the picture I posted, they were only ~2 inches off the sand bed, definitely less than 100 PAR, so I highly doubt too much light was the issue.

Send an icp test , and do a chemical treatment it has worked for me lot times

I've considered it, but the more research I do on ICP testing, the less confident I am in the accuracy & use of them. Even the "gold standard", Trition, seems to be pretty hit & miss.

 

[Retro Reefer]

As others have mentioned get your alk down to 8 and nitrates up.. what's your PO4 levels?

 

[EMeyer]

I've never seen any coral that was happier at an alk above 7-8 (the range of natural seawater). I've seen zoas melt when placed in unnaturally high alk. Step 1, I suggest getting alk down to natural range (7-8).

It sounds to me like you're feeding plenty. They dont take much food to stay open.

If after 2 weeks at natural alkalinity they are not open, I would dose iodide. I don't bother testing it because (a) its the worst test in the hobby IMO and (b) I dose it only to levels that are still undetectable and it is rapidly depleted in aquaria. Dosing iodide has made a noticable difference in zoas for me at times.

 

[Schreiber]

As others have mentioned get your alk down to 8 and nitrates up.. what's your PO4 levels?

That's super interesting I've had multiple people recommend lowering the alk to 8. Every article I've ever read has a dKh of 8 at the absolute bottom end of safe ranges. I can definitely get it lower though, I have kalk in my ATO resvoir (3 tsp per 5 gallons) that I can just stop adding to have it slowly lower.

Unsure of my phosphates, I need to get them checked.

I've never seen any coral that was happier at an alk above 7-8 (the range of natural seawater). I've seen zoas melt when placed in unnaturally high alk. Step 1, I suggest getting alk down to natural range (7-8).

It sounds to me like you're feeding plenty. They dont take much food to stay open.

If after 2 weeks at natural alkalinity they are not open, I would dose iodide. I don't bother testing it because (a) its the worst test in the hobby IMO and (b) I dose it only to levels that are still undetectable and it is rapidly depleted in aquaria. Dosing iodide has made a noticable difference in zoas for me at times.

For iodine, my tank is at 0.06, dead on the recommended level. I'd be scared to dose any higher, as I have a lot of invertebrates.

 

[Retro Reefer]

That's super interesting I've had multiple people recommend lowering the alk to 8. Every article I've ever read has a dKh of 8 at the absolute bottom end of safe ranges. I can definitely get it lower though, I have kalk in my ATO resvoir (3 tsp per 5 gallons) that I can just stop adding to have it slowly lower.

Unsure of my phosphates, I need to get them checked.

Running higher Alk is ok but you need lots of nutrients My tank runs ULN (not by choice) and if my alk gets above 8 things get angry quick.. try to keep mine between 7.4-7.8

some of my zoa's currently @ 1ppm NO3, .03 PO4 and 7.4 Alk *As tested last night

 

[ScottB]

I am a little late to this thread but I will pile on anyway.
Nutrients are too low for DKH that high. Natural sea water is 7. Most of the major coral vendors run 8ish, and they ALL have measurable NO3 and PO4. If a coral sense the absence of nutrient, they close up and hunker down in hibernation mode hoping to hold on until nutrients come back.

I would encourage you to get a Hanna ULR phosphate checker and run .04 to .1
Get a NYOS Nitrate test kit and keep 5-10
You can increase your feedings or decrease export. Or just dose nitrates and phosphate as necessary.

That picture of a rusty magnet... could've been rusting for quite a while. That would certainly prompt me to send out an ICP and run some polyfilter & or 'Sorb.

 

[Schreiber]

I am a little late to this thread but I will pile on anyway.
Nutrients are too low for DKH that high. Natural sea water is 7. Most of the major coral vendors run 8ish, and they ALL have measurable NO3 and PO4. If a coral sense the absence of nutrient, they close up and hunker down in hibernation mode hoping to hold on until nutrients come back.

I would encourage you to get a Hanna ULR phosphate checker and run .04 to .1
Get a NYOS Nitrate test kit and keep 5-10
You can increase your feedings or decrease export. Or just dose nitrates and phosphate as necessary.

That picture of a rusty magnet... could've been rusting for quite a while. That would certainly prompt me to send out an ICP and run some polyfilter & or 'Sorb.

Definitely not late, changes take time

I'm going to get my phosphates checked this weekend to see how my changes play out.

The magnet was only in there for about a month, it was a faulty print that had gaps. I feel like any issues I caused with it have been taken care of by water changes by now, plus I did add in a polyfilter. It never changed color, so I think I'm OK.

Running higher Alk is ok but you need lots of nutrients My tank runs ULN (not by choice) and if my alk gets above 8 things get angry quick.. try to keep mine between 7.4-7.8

some of my zoa's currently @ 1ppm NO3, .03 PO4 and 7.4 Alk *As tested last night

Ahhh, that sounds like the secret I've been missing. I just did a lot of reading on ULN & alk. I'm cutting out my kalk dosing all together starting today. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

I've already stopped my skimmer & doubled my feeding.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Ahhh, that sounds like the secret I've been missing. I just did a lot of reading on ULN & alk. I'm cutting out my kalk dosing all together starting today. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

I've already stopped my skimmer & doubled my feeding.

Go slow and watch your tank, It's easy to bring on a algae explosion if your not careful raising nutrients. Get yourself a Ultra low Range Phosphate checker it's well worth the investment in the long run.