New Zoa’s not opening

[tanooki]

Just bought some Zoa’s (and a Duncan) yesterday and the Zoa hasn’t opened yet. I’m guessing some of this is just stress and the fact that my tank is too clean.

My nitrates are 0 and my phosphate is zero so I removed my carbon. Just running filter floss and skimmer. It’s a 40b with two Kessil Tuna Blue 360s. I have lights set with max intensity of 40%.

Does the placement of my Zoa look ok? I’m going to do some heavy feeding to so the water gets “dirty.”

 

[puckstopshere]

Post a photo?

 

[tanooki]

Post a photo?

Sorry for whatever reason they didn’t attach the first time.

 

[kevgib67]

Common when introduced to a new tank. You obviously know you need to get your nutrients up, phosphate.05-.1 and nitrates 10-15. Although they will be happy with them much higher. Turn off the skimmer, decrease or stop water changes and either increase feeding or dose the bottle nitrate and phosphate. Placement looks fine.

 

[puckstopshere]

Just to clarify, have they ever opened since coming home? If they haven’t opened yet at all, I think stress of travel is most likely. If they opened and then closed up, then I would put more focus on irritants in your tank (light, nutrients, flow, salinity, etc.)

 

[tanooki]

Just to clarify, have they ever opened since coming home? If they haven’t opened yet at all, I think stress of travel is most likely. If they opened and then closed up, then I would put more focus on irritants in your tank (light, nutrients, flow, salinity, etc.)

They haven’t really opened since I dipped them. A few heads are open right now but most of them are closed up. My Duncan however seems to be happy.

 

[tanooki]

Common when introduced to a new tank. You obviously know you need to get your nutrients up, phosphate.05-.1 and nitrates 10-15. Although they will be happy with them much higher. Turn off the skimmer, decrease or stop water changes and either increase feeding or dose the bottle nitrate and phosphate. Placement looks fine.

Thanks for the advice. I’ll be patient and try to raise my nutrients.

 

[puckstopshere]

Just to clarify, have they ever opened since coming home? If they haven’t opened yet at all, I think stress of travel is most likely. If they opened and then closed up, then I would put more focus on irritants in your tank (light, nutrients, flow, salinity, etc.)

They haven’t really opened since I dipped them. A few heads are open right now but most of them are closed up. My Duncan however seems to be happy.

I think the most likely culprit here is just the stress of travel, dip, placement, etc. It’s not weird for zoas to close for a bit after that, and you should see them start to open within a week.

My vote for raising nutrients right now is to dose nitrate and phosphate while sorting out your feeding regimen and skimming level. I don’t like turning my skimmer off for long periods of time due to oxygenation benefits. You can more quickly and accurately dose your way out of zero than you can with feeding.

 

[slingfox]

Get those nutrients up and pray Dino’s don’t come to wreak havoc. They may already be there.

 

[higher99]

Did they ever open up? I have new zoas that only open halfway. I’ve been getting dino’s on my sand bed too