What causes morphing in Zoas?

[AdamNC]

I bought some basic Eagle Eye Zoas and there was a clump that was just barely hanging on. So I placed the clump on a frag plug and when it opened up they looked identical to the larger frag. This was last week and today I notice the new frag is morphing it’s colors. I don’t mind it but what causes it? No other Zoas have morphed.

Original

Morphed

 

[Matt1997]

Light, flow, nitrates, phosphates, trace elements, salinity, the change in earths obliquity, eccentricity, and precession

 

[andrewey]

I don't know the exact answer to your question, but I can tell you that the coloration of zoas is pretty dependent on their local conditions (flow/light/chemistry,etc). Even moving a colony up or down a few inches can produce some pretty fascinating changes in their coloration. I've read reports where a colony was moved between tanks and changed the coloration of their mouths. Oftentimes this change is temporary and usually goes away in a few months or a year. It is theorized that true morphs are attributable to "stress" events, but I haven't seen anyone try and prove this one way or another.

 

[Tahoe61]

Lighting

 

[AdamNC]

When new polyps form will they be like the original or morphed?

 

[Tahoe61]

I have Utter Chaos, polyps under direct more intense lighting that appear more speckled. The same can be said for Space Chaos, .....too many to name. Polyps shaded do not display the intense coloration or variations to skirt coloration.

 

[ForTheLoveOfCoral21]

There is a million and on factors that can cause this.

Just switching tanks. LED to T5 To MH
Flow
Light intensity
Growth mode vs color up mode
Water quality or lack of
direct flow/direct light
Feeding vs not feeding

 

[littlebigreef]

What you're seeing is a known morph with eagle eyes/watermelons. I suspect you'll see that green tint in the center go away as they mature. Not all, but some zoas change as they mature, most notably hallucinations, but also the other two I've mentioned.