Should I be worried?

[48hughey]

How did it go

They opened up this morning for a couple hours but for the last 7 hours or so they have been closed up again.

 

[48hughey]

It’s always the same group/area.

 

[A. grandis]

Turn off all the flow and blow little bit (~0.5ml) of Lugol's sulution on them very slowly over the area that has the polyps closed.
Leave for a minute or 2 and then turn on the flow again.
Make sure you have a skimmer.

That could also be light too strong. Try to reduce the light before you try the Lugol's..

I think it's the light..
Grandis.

 

[Sterlingg]

Make sure nothing is eating at them! If possible, re dip.

 

[Sterlingg]

I think I might see a hydroid, I circled it here in your pic. They can put out a web of sorts that can irritate zoas and cause them not to open. It'll be a spiral at the base with a hard tube if it is. Check that before you start moving it around.

I would not move it and irritate it more. I do not believe it is a lighting or flow problem due to the fact only part of the Zoa colony is closed & not the either thing.. my two cents.. I hope that helps.

 

[A. grandis]

I would not move it and irritate it more. I do not believe it is a lighting or flow problem due to the fact only part of the Zoa colony is closed & not the either thing.. my two cents.. I hope that helps.

I would try reduce the light just because they were open in the morning..
Doesn't hurt to try that at all..
Then, if not, Lugol's.
That's a nice colony right there!
Goos luck!
Grandis.

 

[A. grandis]

I would not move it and irritate it more. I do not believe it is a lighting or flow problem due to the fact only part of the Zoa colony is closed & not the either thing.. my two cents.. I hope that helps.

I looked at the picture again. Yeah, they look like hydroids!!
Try remove them out.
Get a better picture of that for us, please...

If they are hydroids that should be it!!!
Grandis.

 

[48hughey]

I looked at the picture again. Yeah, they look like hydroids!!
Try remove them out.
Get a better picture of that for us, please...

If they are hydroids that should be it!!!
Grandis.

Which picture? The one circled?

 

[A. grandis]

Which picture? The one circled?

Yes.
Could you look there and take a better picture of what's in that circled area?
Grandis.

 

[48hughey]

Yes.
Could you look there and take a better picture of what's in that circled area?
Grandis.

I can’t. The shot gets too blurry from that angle, and going straight through the glass hides the area out of view. I don’t see anything there, though. Just the feather duster in the center of the colony.

Can you post a picture/link of something similar to what you are seeing? Maybe I’m just ignorant to what I should be looking for.

 

[48hughey]

This is a bit wider and shows the GHA that is in the background of the shot you circled. Is this helpful?

 

[A. grandis]

http://www.diverkevin.com/NorthAmer...rn-Pacific/Inertebrates-Cnidaria-Es/i-7Zhz43p

Grandis.

 

[A. grandis]

This is a bit wider and shows the GHA that is in the background of the shot you circled. Is this helpful?

I see only algae there...
Remove the hair algae using a tooth brush and syphon it out or place the frag away fro the algae to see what happens...
That could be irritating the zoas..
Did you try to lower the amount of light a bit?
Grandis.

 

[48hughey]

Did you try to lower the amount of light a bit?

I did. We will see how they react tomorrow morning/afternoon.

 

[A. grandis]

What type of light do you have?
Tell me the schedule, spectrum and more details, please..
Did you move the plug away from the algae or removed the algae?
Grandis.

 

[laverda]

Phosphate 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
Calcium 380ppm
Carbonate 10dKh
1.026
77.8*F

A couple things no one mentioned.
With that much hair algae you clearly have more nitrate and phosphate then your tests are telling you. An ATS works very well at reducing both and can be made very inexpensively. You can also dose vinegar for the nitrate and iron for the phosphate if you prefer. A quick Hydogen peroxide rinse will kill algae on the rocks and not bother most corals too much. Although I would try to just put it on the algae.
Zoas are not as fussy as orher corals, however your Ca is low and ALK a little high, very out of balance. Raise you Ca and you ALK will drop over time.

 

[debby]

I would do a time-lapse camera clip with a tripod- it's how I found my zoa-eating nudi's - use a 60 or 105mm lens if you can. Requires a decent camera (I don't know if you can do it with the iPhone but you need to be able to manually focus and lock it (so it doesn't refocus if a fish swims between the lens and the coral)

 

[dsh92056]

Could be some sort of zoa eating nudibranch In there if so get a wrasse that eats those pests.

 

[48hughey]

What type of light do you have?
Tell me the schedule, spectrum and more details, please..

Current Orbit Marine LED
60% Blue / 30% White 7hrs, plus 2 hrs moonlight

Crappy light, I know, but shallow tank, rockscape with high coral placement options, and no desire for SPS, so should get the job done.

Did you move the plug away from the algae or removed the algae?

I removed algae, no change in zoa behavior (if anything, getting worse). Opens in the morning, but within a few hours, half of the colony is closed up.

 

[48hughey]

A couple things no one mentioned.
With that much hair algae you clearly have more nitrate and phosphate then your tests are telling you.

Zoas are not as fussy as orher corals, however your Ca is low and ALK a little high, very out of balance. Raise you Ca and you ALK will drop over time.

Possible, but consider: 29 gallon tank, 20 lbs rock plus sand bed. Current inhabitants include a lawnmower blennie, 2 scarlet legged hermits, a tiger conch and a handful of astrea snails. That’s it (plus the zoa in question).

Feeding schedule is one Hikari algae wafer every 2-3 days (the blennie was losing weight, but has taken to these as a supplement to what it eats off the back wall of the tank).

5 gallon water change EVERY week (based on rock displacement that’s at least 20%). RO/DI water testing 0 TDS.

Protein skimmer. No dosing. Instant Ocean salt (using up initial purchase before switching to salt with higher trace elements...likely the reason for low Ca).

That said, I wouldn’t expect phosphates and nitrates to be high with such a light bioload and consistent water changes, but I cannot explain outbreak of hair algae either. Seems to be getting better as of late though.