Why do some zoas thrive and others melt away? (zoa pros we need your help)

Have you ever had problems with zoanthids "melting" in your tank?

  • YES but only with certain zoanthids

    Votes: 130 41.4%
  • YES with a lot of different zoanthid types

    Votes: 80 25.5%
  • No not at all

    Votes: 68 21.7%
  • I don't keep zoanthids

    Votes: 31 9.9%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 5 1.6%

  • Total voters
    314

revhtree

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It's hump day and we're still talking about those little aqua polyps of color, zoanthids! Zoas grow relatively fast, are pretty easy to acclimate and can stay healthy for a long time. Well...MOST of the them, but not all of them and not all of the time! When it comes to zoanthids most thrive, but the others just "melt" away as we like to say. Let's talk about it today!

Why do you think some zoas thrive and others just melt away?

What's one zoanthid you've had trouble keeping alive?

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jfoahs04

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Just posted this in another thread, but I can't keep Orange Oxides. I've tried 3 different frags from 3 different sources and placed them in different locations in my tank and they've all melted away. I have a ton of zoas (to the point I have to trim them back) and coral that's "harder" to keep, but the Oxides are the only ones that really just won't take.
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MONTANTK

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If I had to guess I’d say it’s because the strain that was collected from the wild was probably a week strain or already going through stress, therefore the others that were grown from it and were circulated in the hobby were not as hardy immediately
 

littlebigreef

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Hahahahhaaaa. Yes. Stuff melts.

Number one reason is high par. Some of the ‘most difficult’ to keep zoas just need low par (~80) and high nutrients (wolverines, halls, Mohicans, etc). My trough maxes out around 150par with all lights on but some areas in the edges are 70-80par.

A very close second is bacterial and protozoan infections. I believe it’s grossly under estimated just how often people lose frags or colonies to stuff that gets introduced via new acquisitions.

Finally there’s a good old fashion ‘group melt.’ It’s almost like a pheromone a specific strain will put out there to either stall or full melt.

In a larger sense zoas parallel tangs. Both Achilles and naso tangs are grouped together as ‘tangs’ but their diets and ecological niches couldn’t be more different. Just so utter chaos and bam bams are both ‘zoas’ but their morphology and tolerance for different conditions vary. Needless to say not all zoas are created equally and our superficial classification of ‘zoas’ or ‘palys’ fails to capture the nuance of just how different some strains are from each other.

My stumbling block for the longest time was as#kraks. I finally got those and wolverines sorted out.

I am, however, done with trying bloodshots. There’s pirates blood and enough similar ones to make it just not worth trying. Occasionally you hear about a ‘bullet proof’ strain but I have see/had long term success with one yet.

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revhtree

revhtree

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kevgib67

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I got Kedd’s reds as a bonus with an order. On the same rock island as 17 other types of zoas. The spread apart on the plug and got smaller and smaller until they were no more. The rest growing and happy. Still scratching my head.
 

Calm Blue Ocean

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I had WWC Superstar zoas mysteriously close up and vanish on me. I still have the piece of rock they were on with the fantasy that they will spontaneously come back. Actually, my pistol shrimp is currently using the rock as a door and it's probably been a year since they melted, so...

Currently I'm begging some Purple Hearted Emeralds to reverse course. They just keep getting smaller every day. I will keep that rock too. Might make a good pistol shrimp door.
 

Cheezle

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I had some melt .. because my pistol shrimp buried them. Haven't had them melt on their own .. yet.
 

Reefer Matt

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GMKs and a couple others. But if you can get some from a source outside of your region, you may have better luck.
There are different strains of the same color morph that seem to do better than others.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 68 37.4%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 61 33.5%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.7%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 15.4%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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