Could Amphipods be the reason my Zoas arent opening?

[dcrabb80]

I have a nice Zoa rock with a few clonies of different tpyes....I noticed the week or so that they arent all opening? I have also noticed some rather large amphipods crawling all over. Could they be bugging them? And if so how do I get rid of them? I have a 10g topless JBJ desktop so I cant really put any jumpers in there. Only one clown which I have had for 9 years and wont jump and I have a Mandarin Goby who pretty much stays at the bottom. Cant really get a wasse or anything as I know they would leap out overnight.

This is what the rock used to look like.....havent changed lighting source, moved anything, feeding schedule...nothing. Water quality is good... phos .1, Nitrate 3.2, alk 8, cal 501....been stable for a year or so.

 

[Dakota_reef]

I'm almost positive an amphipod wouldn't be the reason for that. Those little crustaceans are a huge benefit to the tank. Calcium looks a tad high.

What is the tank's pH?

 

[dcrabb80]

I'm almost positive an amphipod wouldn't be the reason for that. Those little crustaceans are a huge benefit to the tank. Calcium looks a tad high.

What is the tank's pH?

dont know. Honestly the tanks always been stable, the last time I tested was about a month ago. I tend to fall into the trap of "the water is crystal clear, things are probably fine".

 

[Dakota_reef]

dont know. Honestly the tanks always been stable, the last time I tested was about a month ago. I tend to fall into the trap of "the water is crystal clear, things are probably fine".

I'd check your vital paramters like pH, salinity, nitrate, phosphates. Zoas are usually pretty hardy, but no coral likes the parameters too far astray. Any changes at all to the tank recently? Even replacing bulbs can cause corals to need to re-adapt.

 

[taricha]

Years ago I had amphipods that were predatory on some zoas I had.
With zero predator fish in the system, they will munch corals. Many fish will eat amphipods, there are many options other than a wrasse.