Zoas won't open no matter what I try

[bartikus]

Hello!

Wondering if anyone has any new ideas for me. I currently have 4 different zoa frags at various degrees of... health? Happiness?

My tank has been up since June. I bought the first zoas from an LPS. Nothing special in terms of name or color. They were looking extremely happy, doubled in polyp size, and maintained coloration, so I bought 3 new zoa frags from a reputable online dealer back in November. When they all arrived, they opened right away and were extremely vibrant. This lasted for about a week.

After a week, one frag is totally closed up tight. Like, can't even see the color of the polyps. I know its still alive because just about a week ago they all opened just a sliver, and they are now back to being closed up super tight. The second frag has one head that doesn't seem to have a care in the world and has stayed wide open, while the others are all closed up tight like the first frag. The third frag had significantly larger heads, which have remained open but have reduced in size about 60% and don't extend as far as they did originally.

Where I may have messed up was not dipping them initially. I dipped them maybe a week after they all retracted. Nothing came off of them. I have tried moving them to different regions of the tank with higher/lower flow, higher/lower light, etc. Nothing.

I dipped them again out of desperation 2 weeks ago, when I received more new corals. Again, everything clean.

I will admit my parameters have not been as stable as they should be, given it is my first tank and I am still learning how and what to dose, or not dose, and how everything affects each other. I have incredibly healthy other softies, LPS, and recently added some SPS to see how those fare, and everything else is happy, just not the zoas.

Knowing that my Nitrates and Phosphates were high, and Alk low (slowly bring it up over the last month), my current parameters are
80.6F
8.0-8.1 pH
NO3 12-16 ppm
PO4 0.08 ppm
Salinity 1.024
7.9 DKh
Ca 443 ppm
Mg 1400 ppm

The only things I dose are ESV Alkalinity buffer, MicroBacter7, Reef BioFuel (Mb7 and BioFuel on "low dosage" according to instructions). The reasons I believe Ca and Mg are a little high is I use Red Sea Coral Pro.

My system is 60 gallons (about 55 gallons estimated after accounting for rock) and I do a weekly water change every Sunday of 5 gallons, and test params every Monday with the exception of testing alk daily to raise it ever so slowly.

Any ideas? Much appreciated if you got to the end of my wall of text

 

[Strawberry]

Hello!

Wondering if anyone has any new ideas for me. I currently have 4 different zoa frags at various degrees of... health? Happiness?

My tank has been up since June. I bought the first zoas from an LPS. Nothing special in terms of name or color. They were looking extremely happy, doubled in polyp size, and maintained coloration, so I bought 3 new zoa frags from a reputable online dealer back in November. When they all arrived, they opened right away and were extremely vibrant. This lasted for about a week.

After a week, one frag is totally closed up tight. Like, can't even see the color of the polyps. I know its still alive because just about a week ago they all opened just a sliver, and they are now back to being closed up super tight. The second frag has one head that doesn't seem to have a care in the world and has stayed wide open, while the others are all closed up tight like the first frag. The third frag had significantly larger heads, which have remained open but have reduced in size about 60% and don't extend as far as they did originally.

Where I may have messed up was not dipping them initially. I dipped them maybe a week after they all retracted. Nothing came off of them. I have tried moving them to different regions of the tank with higher/lower flow, higher/lower light, etc. Nothing.

I dipped them again out of desperation 2 weeks ago, when I received more new corals. Again, everything clean.

I will admit my parameters have not been as stable as they should be, given it is my first tank and I am still learning how and what to dose, or not dose, and how everything affects each other. I have incredibly healthy other softies, LPS, and recently added some SPS to see how those fare, and everything else is happy, just not the zoas.

Knowing that my Nitrates and Phosphates were high, and Alk low (slowly bring it up over the last month), my current parameters are
80.6F
8.0-8.1 pH
NO3 12-16 ppm
PO4 0.08 ppm
Salinity 1.024
7.9 DKh
Ca 443 ppm
Mg 1400 ppm

The only things I dose are ESV Alkalinity buffer, MicroBacter7, Reef BioFuel (Mb7 and BioFuel on "low dosage" according to instructions). The reasons I believe Ca and Mg are a little high is I use Red Sea Coral Pro.

My system is 60 gallons (about 55 gallons estimated after accounting for rock) and I do a weekly water change every Sunday of 5 gallons, and test params every Monday with the exception of testing alk daily to raise it ever so slowly.

Any ideas? Much appreciated if you got to the end of my wall of text

I find that my stuff is much happier at 76 degrees than higher temps. My salinity is usually 1.026, which seems to work really well for my corals. Other than that, my parameters are similar to yours! I recommend placing it in a medium/low flow area near the bottom of the tank and leaving it alone, as hard as it can be to be patient! Haha good luck

 

[sde1500]

Leave them alone for a bit. Some corals take a bit to settle in, and you've moved them a bunch and dipped multiple times.

 

[bartikus]

I recommend placing it in a medium/low flow area near the bottom of the tank and leaving it alone, as hard as it can be to be patient! Haha good luck

Leave them alone for a bit. Some corals take a bit to settle in, and you've moved them a bunch and dipped multiple times.

For what it's worth, I estimate that they were left alone for 3 weeks to a month in the middle of this span, between moves and dips. Is this an abnormal period of time you think? I'll leave them be in a low flow/medium lighting area until they either melt or open I guess

 

[ThePurple12]

For what it's worth, I estimate that they were left alone for 3 weeks to a month in the middle of this span, between moves and dips. Is this an abnormal period of time you think? I'll leave them be in a low flow/medium lighting area until they either melt or open I guess

Yeah, definitely just leave them alone. Mine stay closed for up to a week or two after I've moved them or otherwise messed with them.

 

[bartikus]

Yeah, definitely just leave them alone. Mine stay closed for up to a week or two after I've moved them or otherwise messed with them.

Wow. Okay then.

I also have snails and hermits I've seen crawling on them, no doubt adding to their stress. I think its time for a real frag rack.

 

[Hemmdog]

Lower temp to 78

 

[tnw50cal]

Yeah, definitely just leave them alone. Mine stay closed for up to a week or two after I've moved them or otherwise messed with them.

You say you tried everything, the above is the one thing you haven't. It was one of the hardest things for me to learn in this hobby long ago,but it works.
If it means anything I have less "problems" keeping SPS coral than I do keeping Zoas. I can have 5 Zoa frags sitting right next to each other. Some will grow like weeds and other will fold up for months if I look at them wrong.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Your parameters are fine. Other than sg being a tad low. My tank stays at about 80°. Phosphates are a bit low as well (zoas love dirty water with phosphates over .1 ) . Do you know what kind of zoas they are? They could just be a very temperamental kind of zoa... are you sure there’s no pests?

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I agree with the others saying leave it alone but that isn’t always the right option. Zoas don’t close for months at a time for no reason. It’s best to try to figure out everything and cross it off the list before completely ignoring an issue (that might be very big). As far as health goes, do you see any spots or mucous/colored film over the zoas? What is your lighting and are you using ro/di?

 

[jeffchapok]

For some reason I wasn't able to successfully keep zoas until my tank was 8 or 9 months old. So I just gave up for a while. Now at one year I'm just starting to buy them again.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

For some reason I wasn't able to successfully keep zoas until my tank was 8 or 9 months old. So I just gave up for a while. Now at one year I'm just starting to buy them again.

Zoas just don’t like some tanks for the weirdest reasons. Pandora’s hate my tank but Mohawks grow like weeds. Purple monsters grow like weeds and sunny d’s grow slow. Zoas can be confusing. You just have to find ones that like the tank

 

[bartikus]

Your parameters are fine. Other than sg being a tad low. My tank stays at about 80°. Phosphates are a bit low as well (zoas love dirty water with phosphates over .1 ) . Do you know what kind of zoas they are? They could just be a very temperamental kind of zoa... are you sure there’s no pests?

Pretty sure there's no pests, at least not on the frags. I can't say for certain that they didn't get into the tank since I waited so long to dip, but my original zoas right next door are THRIVING. So, I doubt it. They are Fiji Hyper Color and Fiji Bam Bam Orange zoas that are only open one head out of the two frags, and the ones that are open but retracted are Utter Chaos, all ordered from Tidal Gardens. I also notice that my timeline is off. I ordered all these back in October, so add another month on to them not being open.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

What do you mean by “thriving”? Pics would help

Pretty sure there's no pests, at least not on the frags. I can't say for certain that they didn't get into the tank since I waited so long to dip, but my original zoas right next door are THRIVING. So, I doubt it. They are Fiji Hyper Color and Fiji Bam Bam Orange zoas that are only open one head out of the two frags, and the ones that are open but retracted are Utter Chaos, all ordered from Tidal Gardens. I also notice that my timeline is off. I ordered all these back in October, so add another month on to them not being open.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

That is strange for bam bam zoas. They are pretty hardy, fast growing zoas that aren’t very temperamental. Utter chaos zoas are can be temperamental. When was your last wc?

 

[Salt & Peper]

Vitamin c always makes stubborn zoa s stay open for me!

 

[Terry Mattson]

I had like 1oo zoas and then they started to close up. Did all the things you tried. My lps and mushrooms were fine. Turned put that my iodine level (.06 ppm in seawater), was like. 01 .... so I dosed iodine until. 06 ppm. Now I dose like 2 drops of brightwell iodine a week. At first zoas happy for 3 months, then closed up and I struggled for a month, added iodine and all the zoas openned in less than 48 hours. There is a thread by me "zoas not opening solved" with all the details.

 

[Tahoe61]

Can you post an image?
Lights? Durations?
What dip do you use?
Ruled out pest: Nudi,spider, sun dial, stars? Look at night.
What about nippers?
Pox?

Sorry if I missed the answers in previous post.

I move zoanthids all over routinely, from tank to tank they pop right back open.
I also use iodine supplement, I do not track range or value.

 

[Terry Mattson]

Hello!

Wondering if anyone has any new ideas for me. I currently have 4 different zoa frags at various degrees of... health? Happiness?

My tank has been up since June. I bought the first zoas from an LPS. Nothing special in terms of name or color. They were looking extremely happy, doubled in polyp size, and maintained coloration, so I bought 3 new zoa frags from a reputable online dealer back in November. When they all arrived, they opened right away and were extremely vibrant. This lasted for about a week.

After a week, one frag is totally closed up tight. Like, can't even see the color of the polyps. I know its still alive because just about a week ago they all opened just a sliver, and they are now back to being closed up super tight. The second frag has one head that doesn't seem to have a care in the world and has stayed wide open, while the others are all closed up tight like the first frag. The third frag had significantly larger heads, which have remained open but have reduced in size about 60% and don't extend as far as they did originally.

Where I may have messed up was not dipping them initially. I dipped them maybe a week after they all retracted. Nothing came off of them. I have tried moving them to different regions of the tank with higher/lower flow, higher/lower light, etc. Nothing.

I dipped them again out of desperation 2 weeks ago, when I received more new corals. Again, everything clean.

I will admit my parameters have not been as stable as they should be, given it is my first tank and I am still learning how and what to dose, or not dose, and how everything affects each other. I have incredibly healthy other softies, LPS, and recently added some SPS to see how those fare, and everything else is happy, just not the zoas.

Knowing that my Nitrates and Phosphates were high, and Alk low (slowly bring it up over the last month), my current parameters are
80.6F
8.0-8.1 pH
NO3 12-16 ppm
PO4 0.08 ppm
Salinity 1.024
7.9 DKh
Ca 443 ppm
Mg 1400 ppm

The only things I dose are ESV Alkalinity buffer, MicroBacter7, Reef BioFuel (Mb7 and BioFuel on "low dosage" according to instructions). The reasons I believe Ca and Mg are a little high is I use Red Sea Coral Pro.

My system is 60 gallons (about 55 gallons estimated after accounting for rock) and I do a weekly water change every Sunday of 5 gallons, and test params every Monday with the exception of testing alk daily to raise it ever so slowly.

Any ideas? Much appreciated if you got to the end of my wall of text

Since finding out iodine was my issue my zoas are growing like crazy. Lights are going into sunset. The palys on the top of the reef doubled in size.

 

[bartikus]

I don't currently have a decent pic, but by thriving I mean that they are spreading, and the existing heads have doubled in size from when I purchased them in August, roughly.

Last water change was on Sunday, 1/19. Parameters posted were from testing Monday 1/20.

Shouldn't I be replenishing iodine with the WC? I have hermits and a shrimp who molt regularly, so I wouldn't suspect iodine, but maybe I'll get a test kit.