Help! Zoas under attack!!

[cherith]

My beautiful Zoas have been attacked. What to do?

 

[Nate Chalk]

My beautiful Zoas have been attacked. What to do?

Uhh that looks like a favia not a zoa

 

[VintageReefer]

Those don’t look like zoanthids. Zoas have lashes and don’t have a skeletal structure

That looks like blastos or a favia that are deteriorating from starvation or parameters

 

[twentyleagues]

My beautiful Zoas have been attacked. What to do?

????
Thats not zoas. But yeah something happened to it for sure.

 

[cherith]

Those don’t look like zoanthids. Zoas have lashes and don’t have a skeletal structure

That looks like blastos or a favia that are deteriorating from starvation or parameters

Oh. So it’s great to know what they really are! What do they eat? I include brine shrimp and fish eggs 3x week. I dose with a copepod mix after water changes, and feed phytoplankton 3x week. I feed “dry coral food” mixed with RO, and sprinkle a little Thera+A for the clown fish and bottom feeder food for the crabs 3x week. I dose Reef Fusion 2 and “Fuel” per instructions. I try to cover enough to make up for what I don’t know (which is a whole lot).

My ammonia is zero and salinity right on target. Haven’t measured the other stuff in a while.

What am I missing? Good to know the names now so I can look up appropriate care. Thank you so much for responding.

 

[Dom]

My ammonia is zero and salinity right on target. Haven’t measured the other stuff in a while.

What am I missing? Good to know the names now so I can look up appropriate care. Thank you so much for responding.

Post your chemistry numbers. I'd be willing to bet you are looking at low Alkalinity and Calcium.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

My beautiful Zoas have been attacked. What to do?

Those are favia or some other LPS, zoas don't have a calcified skeleton

 

[cherith]

Post your chemistry numbers. I'd be willing to bet you are looking at low Alkalinity and Calcium.

Thanks will do!! Some in there are doing ok.

 

[Dom]

Thanks will do!! Some in there are doing ok.

Wow... nice tank!

 

[blecki]

What do they eat? I include brine shrimp and fish eggs 3x week. I dose with a copepod mix after water changes, and feed phytoplankton 3x week. I feed “dry coral food” mixed with RO, and sprinkle a little Thera+A for the clown fish and bottom feeder food for the crabs 3x week. I dose Reef Fusion 2 and “Fuel” per instructions. I try to cover enough to make up for what I don’t know (which is a whole lot).

So, unless you're sticking it right on the favia while the feeders are out, they aren't getting anything out of the large solid foods. The rest - actually, you should go test nitrate. Because you're feeding a lot. I'd bet it's way up based on that and the fact that the ones in your picture that actually are zoanthids are looking great.

 

[twentyleagues]

Thanks will do!! Some in there are doing ok.

The ones at 11 and 9 are zoas or palys.

 

[VintageReefer]

Oh. So it’s great to know what they really are! What do they eat? I include brine shrimp and fish eggs 3x week. I dose with a copepod mix after water changes, and feed phytoplankton 3x week. I feed “dry coral food” mixed with RO, and sprinkle a little Thera+A for the clown fish and bottom feeder food for the crabs 3x week. I dose Reef Fusion 2 and “Fuel” per instructions. I try to cover enough to make up for what I don’t know (which is a whole lot).

My ammonia is zero and salinity right on target. Haven’t measured the other stuff in a while.

What am I missing? Good to know the names now so I can look up appropriate care. Thank you so much for responding.

Ok so the other ones in your tank are zoanthids. This looks more like favia. At night time, after lights go out, check with a flashlight for clear feeding tentacles. They should come out after the tank is in complete darkness. Give them pellet food, or mysis, or even some flake food. It should grab the food and retract. If the tentacles aren’t out, it’s not getting any food.

Here are my acans, which have a similar feeding method. To show what the feeding tentacle look like (zoom in you will see them, they are clear)

 

[cherith]

Ok so the other ones in your tank are zoanthids. This looks more like favia. At night time, after lights go out, check with a flashlight for clear feeding tentacles. They should come out after the tank is in complete darkness. Give them pellet food, or mysis, or even some flake food. It should grab the food and retract. If the tentacles aren’t out, it’s not getting any food.

Here are my acans, which have a similar feeding method. To show what the feeding tentacle look like (zoom in you will see them, they are clear)

Yeah. I’ve never, ever, seen any feeding tentacles from those guys. Starvation must be the issue. I’ve had issues with others accepting my meaty meals. True. If they don’t respond, the stuff just floats away. And yes, I’ve worried about the huge amount I feed and I have been shocked that the ammonia levels stay 0-to-goid. This tank is about 6 months old—and I’ve had significant attrition with my corals. I can’t keep a leather coral alive to save my soul. I’ve lost several frags of green polyps—and my carpet anemone just shriveled up and disappeared into the rocks—he did eat some though. He would curl up on it, so I was surprised he didn’t make it.

I’ll do the chemicals as soon as I get home.

Please, what’s this green thing

?

 

[twentyleagues]

Cynarina of some sort.

 

[blecki]

The bacteria are very good at consuming ammonia. Nitrate is of more concern once the bio filter is in place.

My advice, if you want to stop losing coral, is to stop buying things that you don't know what are. Even 'hardy' corals like GSP are very delicate compared to things that aren't coral. Enjoy the pieces you've got that are doing well and let the tank mature for another 6 months to a year.