Zoa's getting "wavy" and "curling"

[Aeiyr]

So I have 4 zoa frags acquired from the last 2 weeks. I can't QT them, but I did dip them in brightwell koralMD with the other corals I've gotten in that time. One zoanthid had a "swirl" on its stem, but I could not get it off without feeling like I was going to rip the coral, and the swirl wasn't moving so I left it, as the zoa was open and happy. Been two weeks, whatever that swirl thing was disappeared.

The last two or so days my zoas have all been kind of "wavy". Not flat and open like normal. The rims/tentacles also seem curcled or irritated as well. I will post pictures as well as the last 24 hours of parameter logs from my Hanna Master tester.

 

[douglasbnyhof]

Looks good to me… dkh a little low but
I don’t snow how that would affect them.

 

[Aeiyr]

Looks good to me… dkh a little low but
I don’t snow how that would affect them.

Yeah the dkh has been down about .4 to .6 per day, I guess my lps and clam are sipping on it a bit harder than I thought they would. I use AF Reef Salt which I believe mixes at 8dkh. About to do a WC tonight and I have some Brightwell NanoCode A & B on the way to help reduce how much I need to swap water for elements and alk. Ideally I'd like to get my dkh around 9, maybe 9.5 to give me a bit more buffer and ph stab.

These are my first corals so I'll just observe. They've just been opening and closing a lot more frequently throughout the day than they were the first couple weeks.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

perhaps your light is a little low? They are sort of doing the satellite dish thing

 

[Swbvegas]

They look like they're reaching for light.

 

[Aeiyr]

perhaps your light is a little low? They are sort of doing the satellite dish thing

They look like they're reaching for light.

Just hooked up my PARwise meter and checked. The spot they were in was way high actually. Didn't know why I didn't think of light. I've adjusted things a bit to give them no more than 150 at peak where they are at. It's a small tank, IM 14g peninsula. So water depth is maybe 12 inches tops I think. I have a BTA center top and 2.5 inch Macima clam a little higher in a shroom box while it attaches so that's why I had the lights set that way. I've adjusted now and the BTA and clam will still get low/mid 200's.

I'll observe for the next few days to see if behaviour changes, maybe they were just being cooked a little. My shrooms, and various euphyllia don't seem to mind, they get real happy at 150+, which I would have thought would upset tthem.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Just hooked up my PARwise meter and checked. The spot they were in was way high actually. Didn't know why I didn't think of light. I've adjusted things a bit to give them no more than 150 at peak where they are at. It's a small tank, IM 14g peninsula. So water depth is maybe 12 inches tops I think. I have a BTA center top and 2.5 inch Macima clam a little higher in a shroom box while it attaches so that's why I had the lights set that way. I've adjusted now and the BTA and clam will still get low/mid 200's.

I'll observe for the next few days to see if behaviour changes, maybe they were just being cooked a little. My shrooms, and various euphyllia don't seem to mind, they get real happy at 150+, which I would have thought would upset tthem.

the clam might suffer at that low par, I would feel better to give it at least 300-350+, mine is in higher par than that

 

[Swbvegas]

Just hooked up my PARwise meter and checked. The spot they were in was way high actually. Didn't know why I didn't think of light. I've adjusted things a bit to give them no more than 150 at peak where they are at. It's a small tank, IM 14g peninsula. So water depth is maybe 12 inches tops I think. I have a BTA center top and 2.5 inch Macima clam a little higher in a shroom box while it attaches so that's why I had the lights set that way. I've adjusted now and the BTA and clam will still get low/mid 200's.

I'll observe for the next few days to see if behaviour changes, maybe they were just being cooked a little. My shrooms, and various euphyllia don't seem to mind, they get real happy at 150+, which I would have thought would upset tthem.

When was your last water change? Have you measure your PAR in that area of the tank? 3 things you need to rule out are... too much/little light and a possible chemistry change.

 

[Aeiyr]

the clam might suffer at that low par, I would feel better to give it at least 300-350+, mine is in higher par than that

Yeah I was worried about that too. But I'm having a hard time finding a place where it's high PAR at the top and drops off well at the mid part. FWIW it's an ORA cultured clam and the vendor - Queen City Corals told me they keep them around 150 very well.

I do dose 10ml Ocean Magic plankton every day, and there are pods living in my rocks as food also. Would the photo offset a lower PAR?

The only other thing I can think of is that I run two AI Blade grow 12's parallel. So maybe I could set them on two "tanks" in mobius, and turn the far one up high so it will blast the top scape and the side of the tank I don't view while I turn the other light lower for the front of the scape. I'll post pics to give an idea of scape shape and light config.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Yeah I was worried about that too. But I'm having a hard time finding a place where it's high PAR at the top and drops off well at the mid part. FWIW it's an ORA cultured clam and the vendor - Queen City Corals told me they keep them around 150 very well.

I do dose 10ml Ocean Magic plankton every day, and there are pods living in my rocks as food also. Would the photo offset a lower PAR?

The only other thing I can think of is that I run two AI Blade grow 12's parallel. So maybe I could set them on two "tanks" in mobius, and turn the far one up high so it will blast the top scape and the side of the tank I don't view while I turn the other light lower for the front of the scape. I'll post pics to give an idea of scape shape and light config.

if your clam is doing well, it will have a fine white line of new growth at the top of the shell. You should always see a couple millimeters of new white growth. If you don't see the white growth, then its not growing, and if its not growing, then its dying. I check my clam every day for that white line lol

 

[Aeiyr]

When was your last water change? Have you measure your PAR in that area of the tank? 3 things you need to rule out are... too much/little light and a possible chemistry change.

Today makes day 4 since last WC. I'm actually filling my mix bucket with RO as I type this. I usually do 40%WC (5gal) par in that area was around d 200. I e dropped it to no higher than 150 now. I currently do not dose, but I will be looking to dose Brightwell Nanocode A&B soon. Mostly B for alk as my clam and lps seem to sip heavy on what my salt mixes at (mixes at 8dkh)

Tank inhabitants are:
2 mocha clowns.
1 tiger conch.
1 fire shrimp
1 small BTA
1 2.5" ORA Maxima clam
14 or so hermits. Blue leg, scarlet, and one white speckled (not reef safe) that was misplaced in my scarlet order. Trying to remove him.
6 or 7 banded trochus snails
15 or more small astrea snails.

Cuc is heavy I know. But twice I've ordered cuc in specific amounts, and both times I have been sent more than I ordered from two vendors. Dr. Reefs and WWC.

As a result I've had nitrate problems. The coral have helped nitrate consumption, but I still have to WC more often than a week to offload nitrates specifically. All other elements seem to be in balance aside from needing an alk bump.

 

[Aeiyr]

if your clam is doing well, it will have a fine white line of new growth at the top of the shell. You should always see a couple millimeters of new white growth. If you don't see the white growth, then its not growing, and if its not growing, then its dying. I check my clam every day for that white line lol

Is this the white band you're referring to? On the outermost/newest scute?

 

[Aeiyr]

the clam might suffer at that low par, I would feel better to give it at least 300-350+, mine is in higher par than that

if your clam is doing well, it will have a fine white line of new growth at the top of the shell. You should always see a couple millimeters of new white growth. If you don't see the white growth, then its not growing, and if its not growing, then its dying. I check my clam every day for that white line lol

Just found the setting on mobius that allows me to split the light controls. The light directly above the clam is now much more intense and casting over 400 PAR on the clam. My deskside viewing panel of the tank is now much closer to 100-120 a few inches above the sandbed where that rack is at. I should have played with this app much sooner!

 

[douglasbnyhof]

Yeah the dkh has been down about .4 to .6 per day, I guess my lps and clam are sipping on it a bit harder than I thought they would. I use AF Reef Salt which I believe mixes at 8dkh. About to do a WC tonight and I have some Brightwell NanoCode A & B on the way to help reduce how much I need to swap water for elements and alk. Ideally I'd like to get my dkh around 9, maybe 9.5 to give me a bit more buffer and ph stab.

These are my first corals so I'll just observe. They've just been opening and closing a lot more frequently throughout the day than they were the first couple weeks.

I like to dose dkh with Red Sea part C- I little goes a long way! But I need a hanna tester- I’m stuck with paper strip testers.

 

[Aeiyr]

I like to dose dkh with Red Sea part C- I little goes a long way! But I need a hanna tester- I’m stuck with paper strip testers.

Does redsea part C do only dkh and nothing else? If so I'll look into it. I wanted to try Brightwell nanocode because it's the same as their reefcode, but it's in a ratio that makes it very easy to dose for a small (14 gallon, 11.5-12 gallon after rock and sand) nano like mine. I figured it would give more room for error/be harder to screw up since it's 5ml per 10 gallons for A and B.

My element levels hold pretty well, but since the lps and clam, dkh gets eaten up pretty good, plus I added like 20 more snails last weekend so I'm sure their needs factor in too.