Zoanthid grow related to sand?

[-Logzor]

Around 2 years ago I received a 4 polyp frag of Tyree AOG II through a trade, they did not grow a single new polyp in that entire duration.

For their first year, they were in my old 90g system, which was bare bottom. The second year they were in my stock tank system (awaiting transfer while I was building my new tank), which was also bare bottom.

Now that they are in my new system, which has a nice sandbed, they have sprouted 5-6 new babies, they've only been in there for a month.

What's the deal? I've been running all of the same equipment on all three systems (90g, stock tank, new tank). Could it be the sand that is making the difference. I had heard years ago that zoas use sand in some way to build their bodies.

The only other issue I can think of is this short red algae that was surrounding the frag, it was very minor, so I didn't think it was a problem. The thing is that this algae was not present in my 90g system.

The zoas are also under much lower PAR than in the stock tank, but probably about the same as it was in my original 90g system.

 

[swannyson7]

The Palythoa species takes up sand to build their matte, but not zoanthids. This brings up the question whether AOGs are actually Palythoa or Zoanthids.... no idea here.

 

[PR_Reefers]

intresting maybe it could be bc your bare bottom tanks were ULN and the zoas didn't have the necessary nutrients to thrive.... they're not known imo to love ultra clean water and now the sand might be aiding in storing and providing some nutrients....not sure... just a thought though:tongue:... have you had relatively the same waterflow in all 3 tanks?

 

[Supreme Reefs]

Its the protopalys that actually takes up sand, AOGs are palythoas.

 

[swannyson7]

Its the protopalys that actually takes up sand, AOGs are palythoas.

So just the protopalys take up sand, but zoas and palys do not?

 

[Supreme Reefs]

So just the protopalys take up sand, but zoas and palys do not?

Nope zoanthus and palythoas types do not.

 

[Aloha Corals]

Nope zoanthus and palythoas types do not.

I think you are commenting on the common misrepresentation of zoanthus. Too many people are using the word palys for zoanthids.


Palythoas and protopalythoas both have sand embedded in their tissue.

Zoanthids do not.

Kevin

Sent from my Droid before the battery died.

 

[zoodood]

I've noticed similar benefits from placing them in the sand...i have a theory...there is a greater quantity of bacteria on the substrate allowing for sufficient degradation of food for them to intake...the nutrients settle at the bottom and flow across the substrate...last week i took a healthy but sensitive 3 polyp frag of a zoanthid, removed it from the substrate and glued it about 2 inches up onto a rock...that zoanthid began degrading after a few days...not exactly a scientific experiment so i can't say for certain the cause, but I never have problems like that when they are in the sand bed

 

[caudill187]

I have noticed that many of my zoanthids (Zoanthus sp. , Palythoa sp., and Protopalythoa sp. ) started doing better after I added some fine-grain sand to my 120g reef. I have read different opinions in published papers about which ones do or do not incorporate sand into their tissues so I'm not sure on this specifically, but all of mine seem to like their tank more with sand. I think that the issue that results in different opinions on sand incorporation within the published literature is that the Taxonomy of the Zoanthids (Zoanthus, Palythoa, Protopalythoa, etc..) (ie. which are which?) is not entirely agreed upon in the scientific community and corals within the order Zoantharia (Zoanthids) are regularly being reclassified. To me, the protopalythoa are easily distinguishable from the other orders but not so much with Zoanthus vs. Palythoa.

 

[-Logzor]

I've noticed similar benefits from placing them in the sand...i have a theory...there is a greater quantity of bacteria on the substrate allowing for sufficient degradation of food for them to intake...the nutrients settle at the bottom and flow across the substrate...last week i took a healthy but sensitive 3 polyp frag of a zoanthid, removed it from the substrate and glued it about 2 inches up onto a rock...that zoanthid began degrading after a few days...not exactly a scientific experiment so i can't say for certain the cause, but I never have problems like that when they are in the sand bed

Pretty cool theory! I could see something like that being true.

 

[bluepit]

mine grow like weeds and I have a bare bottom tank.They just dont like ULNS