Most Hard To Keep Zoa/Paly List

[revhtree Verified Admin]

List so far:

PPE's (Purple PE)
Redwines
Vols Orange
Caribbean Blue
Armageddon (true)
Darth Mauls
Happy Samhain
PPRPE (propagators Purple Rimmed PE)
GPE (Green PE)
RPE (Red PE)
PRPE (Pink Rim PE)
Desert Fox PE
Milky Way PE
Chameleon PE
Pink Elephants
Alien Eyes
Jokers
Most Pinks

 

[mfinn]

I've had bad luck with Red Wines and Chameleon People Charmers, too.

I had a large colony of the Chameleon People Charmers and they melted back to just a couple polyps.

 

[fishes2889]

armageddons and caribbeans... :mad:

 

[ZOABOY]

Tubbs blue, kedds Reds...

 

[Lytehouse]

I seem to be odd man out, I just have a terrible time with
Nuclear greens.
They don't die. They just don't look good and don't grow.

 

[gflat65]

I had a large colony of the Chameleon People Charmers and they melted back to just a couple polyps.

I got three different colonies from the same LFS (at different times) that looked great for a couple of months, shrinking continually. They before I knew it there were none...

I've not had horrible luck with Caribbean zoas. I've only ever had 2. I got one from rev at a Chattanooga swap (may have been the left over stump:)) and one from a guy in Memphis. I moved them into my wifes new tank and one seems to have fewer polyps now, so I'll have to keep an eye on that.

 

[FateX8]

i would like to try armageddons to see how hard they really are because i havent heard a single person saying theyre easy, not one!
so how does it even still exist if theyre such crappy melters?
only one ive really had trouble with are tutti fruitis but those are a carribbean morph

 

[Stixbaraca]

Am I the only one who has had continued success with the Armageddon?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Am I the only one who has had continued success with the Armageddon?

I have kept them for 3 years and then my tang got a hold of my frag and ended it. I had fragged that frag many many times and never lost it. I had a 12 polyp frag from another source but it melted quickly..

My buddy still has a small frag of one I sent him so I will get a polyp soon I hope from the strong line I had.

 

[fly guy]

Good thread.

agree on darth mauls

agree on the atlantis triple red type......happy samhain is very similar I think. I ended up with a cpouple of nice little 30 polyp colonies from different sources and lost them both after a few months. slow meltdowns. i did sell a few frags. I would be interested to see how the ones I sold are doing.

PE's of any kind have never been a problem with the exception of those dang little (or not so little) amphipods chowing down on them as a favorite....espeicaly rpe's which may be coincidental as I have had more of them than anything else....they seem to like all the PE's for midnight snacks though ime.

red wines- I only have experience with one little 3 polyp frag that I have had for 6 months now. came in healthy as could be from todd at cherrycorals and after a couple of weeks it looked like it was going to die for the first 4 months....all shrunken up...you know the drill. then it spit out a baby...then the three polyps shrunk some more along with the baby and is till have them. they could disappear at any minute still though. haha

It would be nice to somehow get the ones that are agreed on to be the worst and see what people are doing who can keep them...maybe come up with a few tricks.......I imagine that was your thought though eh Rev.??

 

[Ike]

Kinda happy to see I'm not the only one to have problems with PE's. I've had the pretty maricultured milky way type, I've had two PPE frags that melted (though I blame this on shipping stress), a few different green type PE's, and RPE's that all slowly go down hill. I've tried target feeding regularly, I've tried not feeding them, I've tried higher nutrients, lower nutrients, higher light, lower light... and they rarely do well.

I have one colony that has been struggling for nearly a year, slowly losing polyps and had recently mostly closed up. There's another 15 polyp frag that was closed and waxy looking. Recently I've been doing heavier and more frequent water changes than usual and they've perked up quite a bit. I don't think it's something I'm taking out of the tank nearly as much as something that's being depleted and replenished by the water changes (well that narrows it down, doesn't it :eek:). I feel that way simply because I have a wide variety of other corals far more sensitive than zoanthids are considered to be and they do great and grow like weeks. My polyps on all my zoanthids tend to be a little smaller than usual as well. Have others with problems with PE's noticed this?

Lastly, I consider dosing iodine to be passe and mostly a bunch of hooey but there's anecdotal evidence that it could be beneficial and it's certainly depleted quickly. Any comments on iodine use for from people either having poor success or great success with PE types?

Side note: Red wines just slowly waste away on me as well. Would be really nice to figure out what type of location they're collected from.

 

[stoneroller]

Armageddons
RPE

 

[Russellaqua]

One thing that I think makes growing zoos difficult is the lack of scientific study that has been done on them. There are likely a great many species, but we get them all as Zoanthus sp. Maybe PE types are different species that don't adapt as well to captivity. The same thing happens in other genera. I find Acropora efflorescens (I've literally had it thrive in a brand new tank, set-up 1 week) to be extremely hardy, although many other species of acro are much more sensitive.

 

[scp443]

acrozoanthids "stick polyps" .. have not had luck keeping these long term

 

[Christel Mei]

Sure they have different levels of tolerance to poor conditions if thats the true definition of "harder to keep".

I havent found one type to be any hard that another if you provide good lighting, water quality, and understand how to treat diseases.

 

[treylane]

alternating flow seems to be pretty key on the DM's.

 

[MikeB]

Darth Mauls and PPEs

 

[amore169]

PPE'S they melted on me, went from 3 polyps to 11 in 3 months then I moved the frag to see the new babies coming out wrong idea they started melting, on the other hand my Sopranos are having babies and seem pretty healthy that's a big plus.

 

[flricordia]

Caribbean blue/african blue/AIO-whatever you want to call them.

 

[flricordia]

I use iodine daily and have great success with most of my zoas with a few exceptions. PEs do OK for me and most all zoanthus and palythoas. There have been times I have had trouble but that was when my salinity falls from a top off going whacky. finally trashed it. I have also found that low calcium levels don't go over well with zoanthids though they are not stony/hard corals. Don't figure. Same way with rics.
but iodine can go a long way in the care of zoanthids. i dip all my fragged zoas in it and they recover healed within a day or two. I frag zoas, dip them in iodine straight (kent's Super iodine-only one I have used so cannot comment on any others) and ship 2 days later min with happy recievers. most everyone says the zoas are open in the bags or open soon after placement in the tank. Just my opinion though and everyone has their own method so i am not by any means saying this is the way to go.

Kinda happy to see I'm not the only one to have problems with PE's. I've had the pretty maricultured milky way type, I've had two PPE frags that melted (though I blame this on shipping stress), a few different green type PE's, and RPE's that all slowly go down hill. I've tried target feeding regularly, I've tried not feeding them, I've tried higher nutrients, lower nutrients, higher light, lower light... and they rarely do well.

I have one colony that has been struggling for nearly a year, slowly losing polyps and had recently mostly closed up. There's another 15 polyp frag that was closed and waxy looking. Recently I've been doing heavier and more frequent water changes than usual and they've perked up quite a bit. I don't think it's something I'm taking out of the tank nearly as much as something that's being depleted and replenished by the water changes (well that narrows it down, doesn't it :eek:). I feel that way simply because I have a wide variety of other corals far more sensitive than zoanthids are considered to be and they do great and grow like weeks. My polyps on all my zoanthids tend to be a little smaller than usual as well. Have others with problems with PE's noticed this?

Lastly, I consider dosing iodine to be passe and mostly a bunch of hooey but there's anecdotal evidence that it could be beneficial and it's certainly depleted quickly. Any comments on iodine use for from people either having poor success or great success with PE types?

Side note: Red wines just slowly waste away on me as well. Would be really nice to figure out what type of location they're collected from.