Zoas dying

Glenng78

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I’m having some issues with my tank. A few weeks ago I did a 40% water change, and I vacuumed out a good amount of the shallow sandbed that was covered in what I thought was some type of turf algae. Ever since, I have had super cloudy water, and I lost a bangai cardinal that I have had for like 4 years. He was my oldest fish. Anyway, my zoas all look like crap and are losing all their color, if not shriveling up all together. I was using vibrant for a few weeks before that to try to deal with the algae. Anyway, I have since done 2 more big water changes, and have been running a carbon reactor. The water is still super cloudy, and my favorite zoa colony seems to be dying off (pics). Any advice is greatly appreciated, as I am very upset about this. Thank you.
also, I added some chaeto about a week ago, and it seems to be dying off too. Looks all brown and slimy.
if you look at the pics you can see some type of crud looks like is on the stalks of the zoas.

56852D8D-04DB-471A-B295-95E90332ACE3.jpeg
 
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Glenng78

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I’m not by the tank right now for those measurements. Would that explain cloudy water too ?
 
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Glenng78

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I imagine the nitrate and phosphate are high enough , as I am still growing decent algae on the glass and rocks
 

Jamesrup0411

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I don’t believe the nutrients would cause the cloudy water. Depending on how much sand you mixed around could have caused a bacterial bloom
 
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Glenng78

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What do we do about a bacterial bloom ? Just try to ride it out ?
 

blasterman

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When you pulled the sandbed you removed a good chunk of beneficial bacteria. So, competing bacteria in the water column are going crazy.

You've essentially sent your tank back to ground zero in terms of cycling.
 

Jamesrup0411

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Running carbon is good idea but the excessive water changes didn’t help. When you get a chance text your po3 no4
 
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Glenng78

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When you pulled the sandbed you removed a good chunk of beneficial bacteria. So, competing bacteria in the water column are going crazy.

You've essentially sent your tank back to ground zero in terms of cycling.
Thank you for your insight. I didn’t remove all of the sand. Just the surface layer that was covered in turf. Is your stated scenario still likely ?
 

vetteguy53081

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Likely ammonia has shot up hence the loss of the Banghai cardinal. Some of the number are off also.
First to say, buying quality test kits are not just a must but should be a priority as it seems things go wrong on a Sunday night when all stores are closed and the first thing we do when issues arise is to test water. If it API kits you are using- there is a high likelihood you ARE GETTING FALSE READINGS. So lets skip the speech on water and talk about zoas. Zoas must have iodide, not iodine in their water and under moderate light and water flow. They seem to do best in the lower half to third of the tank in an area of low-medium to medium-high flow. Too much flow may make it hard for the polyps to open. You will know your zoanthids are ‘happy’ if they open up and are fully extended without seeming to stretch so far upright.. The majority of zoanthids have symbiotic photosynthetic zooxanthellae (I dare you to try and say that three times quickly) and are therefore best kept with at least moderate aquarium lighting as mentioned for production of zooxanthele.
Zoanthids require the standard water parameters that are good for keeping just about any of your corals healthy. You’re aiming for water temperature about 78 F, salinity somewhere around 1.025 specific gravity) and normal hardness 8-11 dKH) and a pH around 8.1-8.3.
However, if your polyps were previously open and have recently closed up, this should be taken as a serious sign of a water parameters issue. The first things I would check are ph and salinity. In my experience, zoas will close up if there are swings in salinity.

Moderate light and water flow
Temp 77-79
ph 8.1-8.3
salinity 1.025
nitrate < .4
phos < .04
Ammonia < .03
mG 1300
Alk 8-9
CA 440
 

IslandLifeReef

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My guess is that you have a bacteria bloom that is reducing the oxygen level in the tank causing the death of the cardinal an anything else. Get more air in the tank. Find the source of the bloom. Try running UV to get rid of the bloom.
 
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Glenng78

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Hey guys - time to revive the old thread. So far I have been doing pretty decent water changes , and I am having what I think is a cyano outbreak at this point. I have red slimy stuff all over my rocks and corals. I am going to dose some chemiclean tonight.
also, I used a toothbrush to brush the stalks of my biggest Zoa colony that had what looked like a calcified skeleton growing around the stalk. It came off decently easy, but those polyps still haven’t opened.
 
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