Zoas not opening. Stumped

[MichaelllHoh]

This is my first post on here and I was hoping I could get some help. I have had this tank for about a year and I have a variety of corals. Hammers, a torch, gsp, mushroom, Xenia, a sps coral, an anemone and another lps. And lastly zoas. Everything is doing great I’m seeing good growth great polyp extension and I like to think my tank is doing great. Except for my zoas they have never done well the whole time I’ve had the tank. I’ve moved them all over and they just stay closed. They even grow but slowly. I’m stumped on why I can’t keep beautiful zoas. I’ve dipped them looking for pests and no sign of any and checked at night.
Any suggestions?

I have them in low flow and low light currently next to my mushroom.

alk 8
Calcium 460
Magnesium 1400
Phosphate.05 gfo reactor to keep at this level
Nitrate usually 0 recently tested .25 ppm
Salinity 1.024-1.025
Temp 79 degrees

 

[BoneDoc]

You can try feeding them with chilly or roids if they at least open up a bit

 

[anthonygf]

This is my first post on here and I was hoping I could get some help. I have had this tank for about a year and I have a variety of corals. Hammers, a torch, gsp, mushroom, Xenia, a sps coral, an anemone and another lps. And lastly zoas. Everything is doing great I’m seeing good growth great polyp extension and I like to think my tank is doing great. Except for my zoas they have never done well the whole time I’ve had the tank. I’ve moved them all over and they just stay closed. They even grow but slowly. I’m stumped on why I can’t keep beautiful zoas. I’ve dipped them looking for pests and no sign of any and checked at night.
Any suggestions?

I have them in low flow and low light currently next to my mushroom.

alk 8
Calcium 460
Magnesium 1400
Phosphate.05 gfo reactor to keep at this level
Nitrate usually 0 recently tested .25 ppm
Salinity 1.024-1.025
Temp 79 degrees

Nitrates too low maybe, I was consistent with 5ppm and now at 25ppm and they look a little better now, they were good before, maybe just a coincidence. Don't move them too often, let them settle in. I have mine placed in all locations of flow and light, they do well in all areas of my tank. What do you feed your tank?

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I might be wrong, but aren't most modern LED systems considerably brighter than MH? I was warned several times when I installed steves leds in my biocube that if I went full intensity right away, I risked burning the coral. I'm still new so I generally don't know, it's just what worked for me.

I'm not sure that they're brighter, but they definitely have a narrower "beam." I'd compare them to say, a flashlight and a laser pointer. Laser pointers aren't brighter than flashlights, but the narrower beam concentrates the light into a beam strong enough to light stuff on fire. lol I've never written the word "beam" so many times in my life

 

[anthonygf]

I'm not sure that they're brighter, but they definitely have a narrower "beam." I'd compare them to say, a flashlight and a laser pointer. Laser pointers aren't brighter than flashlights, but the narrower beam concentrates the light into a beam strong enough to light stuff on fire. lol I've never written the word "beam" so many times in my life

That is not always true about the narrow beam, some LED lights have a wide angle lens and light is not so concentrated, the narrow lens and you do get a narrow beam so you can place the fixture higher or concentrate the light on a certain area of the tank. You have to be careful of knowing what light you have, the Kessil's 360we is a wide angle and the 360ne is a narrow angle or beam if you will. Some people may not realize this.

 

[anthonygf]

This is my first post on here and I was hoping I could get some help. I have had this tank for about a year and I have a variety of corals. Hammers, a torch, gsp, mushroom, Xenia, a sps coral, an anemone and another lps. And lastly zoas. Everything is doing great I’m seeing good growth great polyp extension and I like to think my tank is doing great. Except for my zoas they have never done well the whole time I’ve had the tank. I’ve moved them all over and they just stay closed. They even grow but slowly. I’m stumped on why I can’t keep beautiful zoas. I’ve dipped them looking for pests and no sign of any and checked at night.
Any suggestions?

I have them in low flow and low light currently next to my mushroom.

alk 8
Calcium 460
Magnesium 1400
Phosphate.05 gfo reactor to keep at this level
Nitrate usually 0 recently tested .25 ppm
Salinity 1.024-1.025
Temp 79 degrees

I have never used GFO, if my Po4 is high I will use a different method of lowering them. My reef is running fine with po4 at 0.131ppm and No3 at 25ppm.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

That is not always true about the narrow beam, some LED lights have a wide angle lens and light is not so concentrated, the narrow lens and you do get a narrow beam so you can place the fixture higher or concentrate the light on a certain area of the tank. You have to be careful of knowing what light you have, the Kessil's 360we is a wide angle and the 360ne is a narrow angle or beam if you will. Some people may not realize this.

That's true, and manufacturers that do have lenses on their lights are combating the issue of the narrow beam caused by LEDs. I'd say that wide angle lenses on LED lights aren't very common outside of the Kessils though

 

[anthonygf]

That's true, and manufacturers that do have lenses on their lights are combating the issue of the narrow beam caused by LEDs. I'd say that wide angle lenses on LED lights aren't very common outside of the Kessils though

True. I have a Cobalt C-Ray 200 which is similar to kessil AP700 and they have two different lens for this also, I think 180 degree and 120 degree. I have the wide angle and have my lights so close to the water like 7 inches. I dislike the light spill if the fixture is too high, if you see light spill on the wall that is lost light you can use in your tank.
I got rid of those stupid goose necks.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

True. I have a Cobalt C-Ray 200 which is similar to kessil AP700 and they have two different lens for this also, I think 180 degree and 120 degree. I have the wide angle and have my lights so close to the water like 7 inches. I dislike the light spill if the fixture is too high, if you see light spill on the wall that is lost light you can use in your tank.
I got rid of those stupid goose necks.

completely off topic, but would multiple goose necks be called geese necks? lol

 

[Dom]

Just for another view point. I've never had any luck with zoas. I've left them alone for months and months, moderate flow, good lighting...they've just never done well in my tank. Closed at times and with very small heads and sporadic growth. I've heard some tanks just don't do zoas well. Not sure I buy that but I've yet to figure out their needs adequately. I doubt it's as easy as "just leave them alone" but good for you if it is. I think my issues might have to do with nutrients almost always being very low (<3/.03) from day one but that's just a guess. No solutions here for you, just sharing difficulties with an "easy" coral. Good luck!

And yet, my experience with Zoas are that of weeds... they grow like crazy in my tanks. It has come to the point where I consider them to be pests.

They grow everywhere:

On glass and plumbing. They blanket rocks and they sprout up from my substrate.

Be patient. Place them and LEAVE them.

 

[anthonygf]

completely off topic, but would multiple goose necks be called geese necks? lol

Haha. Off topic also, I used to camp out in the White Mountains so often when I lived in R.I., I especially liked camping in the winter with 2 feet of snow. One day we woke up and we were trapped in one of the campsites off of Kancamagus Highway after a heavy snowfall. We had to walk down to the freeway and got lucky, as soon as we got to the road a highway patrol officer was driving by. We flagged him down to ask for a tow truck to get us out. He laughed at us and stated why didn't you park at the entrance closer to the road, I said that is no fun. Well we got a 4x4 tow truck to help us. Lots of good memories of your beautiful state.

 

[Borat]

I grew these zoas initially in a frag tank, 5cm near surface , the led fixture was another 10cm away from surface - basically blasting light at them. Light fixture was 50w, 25 leds. Zoas never minded bright light, in fact the colony grew very quickly..

 

[MichaelllHoh]

Nitrates too low maybe, I was consistent with 5ppm and now at 25ppm and they look a little better now, they were good before, maybe just a coincidence. Don't move them too often, let them settle in. I have mine placed in all locations of flow and light, they do well in all areas of my tank. What do you feed your tank?

I’ve always had low nutrients. I think I may still be lightly stocked for my size of tank. I think I feed quite heavily. Recently I’ve started feeding Red Sea ab+ every other day sometimes 2 days in a row. I feed flakes, nori, rods original, reef frenzy, and rods herbivore blend.

I usually feed a half a piece of nori every other day and about the equivalent of 2 cubes of frozen and a pinch of flakes a day.

180 gallon
Yellow tang, yellow eye kole tang, 2 clowns, melanarus wrasse, yasha goby, fire fish, flame hawk fish, fox face, 3 chromis, royal gramma.

I just recently read .25 nitrates that is the highest it’s ever been

 

[MichaelllHoh]

And yet, my experience with Zoas are that of weeds... they grow like crazy in my tanks. It has come to the point where I consider them to be pests.

They grow everywhere:

On glass and plumbing. They blanket rocks and they sprout up from my substrate.

Be patient. Place them and LEAVE them.

I wish mine did! What are your parameters? And do you have any corals that don’t do well?

 

[mindme]

This is my first post on here and I was hoping I could get some help. I have had this tank for about a year and I have a variety of corals. Hammers, a torch, gsp, mushroom, Xenia, a sps coral, an anemone and another lps. And lastly zoas. Everything is doing great I’m seeing good growth great polyp extension and I like to think my tank is doing great. Except for my zoas they have never done well the whole time I’ve had the tank. I’ve moved them all over and they just stay closed. They even grow but slowly. I’m stumped on why I can’t keep beautiful zoas. I’ve dipped them looking for pests and no sign of any and checked at night.
Any suggestions?

I have them in low flow and low light currently next to my mushroom.

alk 8
Calcium 460
Magnesium 1400
Phosphate.05 gfo reactor to keep at this level
Nitrate usually 0 recently tested .25 ppm
Salinity 1.024-1.025
Temp 79 degrees

I would get a water test done. It's $40, but compared to the price of a coral, it's not that much. I'd say about 95% of my coral were doing great, but I had a monti for example that was getting pale/brownish. I had an acro that wouldn't extend at all and was slowly bleaching from the bottom. My hammer coral was still extended, but it wasn't as full as it had been at times. A sponge wasn't looking the best either, still alive but not really growing.

Like you, I had no problems with all the parameters you are citing, didn't know what to do. So I sent in a water test, and it came back that some of my trace elements were 0. Iodide was the big one, I'm dosing it weekly now. I also increased the trace elements in my 2 part, and also dosed some trace elements to get them back up. It also mentioned that I had high amounts of other metals like aluminum. So I added in some cupisorb and another thing like that to remove those metals.

Within a week, the monti's color came back, the hammer is more full, the polyps have started to extend on the acro, and I didn't even realize it, but my acans also look a little more plump. Sponge still looks the same so far.

So that's my recommendation. All my zoa's stayed open during this time, so I'm not sure what exactly would cause them to stay closed up. But a good water test can help solve problems that may contribute.

I would be surprised if nutrients are the issue. The lack of them might make them grow slower, but not close up.

 

[anthonygf]

I’ve always had low nutrients. I think I may still be lightly stocked for my size of tank. I think I feed quite heavily. Recently I’ve started feeding Red Sea ab+ every other day sometimes 2 days in a row. I feed flakes, nori, rods original, reef frenzy, and rods herbivore blend.

I usually feed a half a piece of nori every other day and about the equivalent of 2 cubes of frozen and a pinch of flakes a day.

180 gallon
Yellow tang, yellow eye kole tang, 2 clowns, melanarus wrasse, yasha goby, fire fish, flame hawk fish, fox face, 3 chromis, royal gramma.

I just recently read .25 nitrates that is the highest it’s ever been

Feed you fish twice a day, or you can dose for nitrate, or do less frequent water changes but you may have to dose for other elements a little more

I would get a water test done. It's $40, but compared to the price of a coral, it's not that much. I'd say about 95% of my coral were doing great, but I had a monti for example that was getting pale/brownish. I had an acro that wouldn't extend at all and was slowly bleaching from the bottom. My hammer coral was still extended, but it wasn't as full as it had been at times. A sponge wasn't looking the best either, still alive but not really growing.

Like you, I had no problems with all the parameters you are citing, didn't know what to do. So I sent in a water test, and it came back that some of my trace elements were 0. Iodide was the big one, I'm dosing it weekly now. I also increased the trace elements in my 2 part, and also dosed some trace elements to get them back up. It also mentioned that I had high amounts of other metals like aluminum. So I added in some cupisorb and another thing like that to remove those metals.

Within a week, the monti's color came back, the hammer is more full, the polyps have started to extend on the acro, and I didn't even realize it, but my acans also look a little more plump. Sponge still looks the same so far.

So that's my recommendation. All my zoa's stayed open during this time, so I'm not sure what exactly would cause them to stay closed up. But a good water test can help solve problems that may contribute.

I would be surprised if nutrients are the issue. The lack of them might make them grow slower, but not close up.

I don't know. I think lack of nutrients may weaken a coral to the point of it not having the energy to open, just my thoughts.

 

[anthonygf]

I’ve always had low nutrients. I think I may still be lightly stocked for my size of tank. I think I feed quite heavily. Recently I’ve started feeding Red Sea ab+ every other day sometimes 2 days in a row. I feed flakes, nori, rods original, reef frenzy, and rods herbivore blend.

I usually feed a half a piece of nori every other day and about the equivalent of 2 cubes of frozen and a pinch of flakes a day.

180 gallon
Yellow tang, yellow eye kole tang, 2 clowns, melanarus wrasse, yasha goby, fire fish, flame hawk fish, fox face, 3 chromis, royal gramma.

I just recently read .25 nitrates that is the highest it’s ever been

Feed you fish twice a day, or you can dose for nitrate, or do less frequent water changes but you may have to dose for other elements a little more. I do 10 gallon water change on my 75 every seven days.

 

[mindme]

Feed you fish twice a day, or you can dose for nitrate, or do less frequent water changes but you may have to dose for other elements a little more

I don't know. I think lack of nutrients may weaken a coral to the point of it not having the energy to open, just my thoughts.

I guess over time that is possible. Never had that problem myself.

Dosing some amino acids might be a good idea if it is a nutrient issue.

 

[Dom]

I wish mine did! What are your parameters? And do you have any corals that don’t do well?

No... everything does well.

Don't over-complicate things. Zoas are one of the easiest corals to care for. They are considered entry level.

Place them and let them be. In addition, just do FAITHFUL weekly 20% water changes and you will likely see an improvement.

 

[MichaelllHoh]

No... everything does well.

Don't over-complicate things. Zoas are one of the easiest corals to care for. They are considered entry level.

Place them and let them be. In addition, just do FAITHFUL weekly 20% water changes and you will likely see an improvement.

This is why I’m stumped. They are considered one of the easiest corals. But the worst in my tank. When more “difficult” corals are thriving. Very odd. I do monthly water changes. And I dose brs 2 part to stay stable. I suppose I could try more water changes but I’m not sure why it would be necessary if my parameters are stable. I’m not trying to over complicate. I’m trying to understand. If more water changes are the answer do you suppose it’s trace elements?

 

[MichaelllHoh]

I would get a water test done. It's $40, but compared to the price of a coral, it's not that much. I'd say about 95% of my coral were doing great, but I had a monti for example that was getting pale/brownish. I had an acro that wouldn't extend at all and was slowly bleaching from the bottom. My hammer coral was still extended, but it wasn't as full as it had been at times. A sponge wasn't looking the best either, still alive but not really growing.

Like you, I had no problems with all the parameters you are citing, didn't know what to do. So I sent in a water test, and it came back that some of my trace elements were 0. Iodide was the big one, I'm dosing it weekly now. I also increased the trace elements in my 2 part, and also dosed some trace elements to get them back up. It also mentioned that I had high amounts of other metals like aluminum. So I added in some cupisorb and another thing like that to remove those metals.

Within a week, the monti's color came back, the hammer is more full, the polyps have started to extend on the acro, and I didn't even realize it, but my acans also look a little more plump. Sponge still looks the same so far.

So that's my recommendation. All my zoa's stayed open during this time, so I'm not sure what exactly would cause them to stay closed up. But a good water test can help solve problems that may contribute.

I would be surprised if nutrients are the issue. The lack of them might make them grow slower, but not close up.

Definitely going to do this. Will definitely give me a better understanding of my tank as well.