New to ZOA, new to this problem

[PediatricNemo]

Hey there,

Super excited to get to chat with you all. I am new to the hobby, but I come from a background of biochemistry and aqua culture during my undergraduate.

I currently own a 10G tank with live rock, live sand, x6 snails and an oscellaris clownfish.

I’m running the Fluval marine Nano-LED light with Bluetooth settings simulating a natural sleep/wake cycle.

I added x2 frags of Zoanthids into my tank around 17 days ago (Pinwheel & blowpop). For the first two weeks, fantastic results. Although they are small, roughly 1/8”-1/4” in diameter, they immediately opened when placed into the tank, and started growing new heads during that period (from 4-5 per frag, to 7-8 per frag).

Recently my girlfriend whom I share my space with left a curtain open in the aquarium room, and direct, hot sunlight shone onto the Zoanthids for roughly 5-6 hours. I came home, realized, and immediately closed the curtain. The Zoanthids reacted by closing up, and aside from 1-2 random polyps, they have not opened since. They’ve began stretching noticeably, around 3/4” in length and cupping since. Just see small tentacles coming out.

Essentially, I’m wondering if I’m absolutely hooped, or if this is natural and they should resume their normal behaviour once readjusting to the light in the aquarium? Or did they get a taste of the sun, and will never be the same? Haha.

Thanks very much for your time and I look forward to your expert responses.

Kindest regards,
Pediatric Nemo

 

[BryanM]

Hey there,

Super excited to get to chat with you all. I am new to the hobby, but I come from a background of biochemistry and aqua culture during my undergraduate.

I currently own a 10G tank with live rock, live sand, x6 snails and an oscellaris clownfish.

I’m running the Fluval marine Nano-LED light with Bluetooth settings simulating a natural sleep/wake cycle.

I added x2 frags of Zoanthids into my tank around 17 days ago (Pinwheel & blowpop). For the first two weeks, fantastic results. Although they are small, roughly 1/8”-1/4” in diameter, they immediately opened when placed into the tank, and started growing new heads during that period (from 4-5 per frag, to 7-8 per frag).

Recently my girlfriend whom I share my space with left a curtain open in the aquarium room, and direct, hot sunlight shone onto the Zoanthids for roughly 5-6 hours. I came home, realized, and immediately closed the curtain. The Zoanthids reacted by closing up, and aside from 1-2 random polyps, they have not opened since. They’ve began stretching noticeably, around 3/4” in length and cupping since. Just see small tentacles coming out.

Essentially, I’m wondering if I’m absolutely hooped, or if this is natural and they should resume their normal behaviour once readjusting to the light in the aquarium? Or did they get a taste of the sun, and will never be the same? Haha.

Thanks very much for your time and I look forward to your expert responses.

Kindest regards,
Pediatric Nemo

Welcome to R2R!

I've not had this experience, what I will say is you should just monitor them, and I imagine they will come back around. They are probably just annoyed.