New Zoa frag not opening

[shocker8786]

Hello everyone,

I posted this in the general discussion but some people recommended I post here as well. Hopefully the frag is just stressed but it’s my first time putting coral in my tank so just want to make sure there’s nothing else I should be doing besides giving it time.

I have a tank that has been up and running for about 4 months now, and I just got my first coral frags about 6 days ago. The candy cane and 1 of the zoa frags look great, but the smaller zoa frag hasn't opened up since I brought it home from the LFS. I have it on the sand in a lower flow area, not sure if I should try moving it to a shadier spot or adjust the flow, or just leave it be and give it time. I attached a photo of the frag I'm struggling with. It does have something green and hard around some of the polyps. Not sure what that is, but the frag was open and looked ok at the LFS so hoping it's not a concern.

I don’t know the morph, but it’s red in color. Also my tank parameters are within normal ranges except nitrates are undetectable with the Red Sea test kit. I know people say zoa prefer higher nitrates, but the other frag looks great so hoping it’s just stressed. I did a hydrogen peroxide dip and the hair algae has been going away, but the harder green stuff is still there.

Any advice?

 

[shwareefer]

Looks like some algae on that frag plug. If it moves in the current it will bug them and keep them closed. See if it blasts off with a turkey baster or you may need to tweezer it out.

 

[littlebigreef]

Looks like the zoas have 'flattened' out a bit. Depending on the lighting I might suggest lower light and leaving it alone. IME peroxide dip, while useful for killing nuisance algae, can be harsh on zoas even in weaker concentrations.

 

[Atrumblood]

They are not opening because of the algae most likely.

Zoas can take some punishment when it comes to H2O2. I dipped my bam bams in a 1:3 of 3% peroxide and they were ticked off for about a week but then returned to normal. You can also take a soft toothbrush and gently brush the algae away.

 

[Tenor]

Just give it time as long as polyps still healthy.