Allelopathy Possible in Zoa/Paly Only Tank ?

[wattson]

In a tank with only zoas and palythoas, does anyone consider palytoxin from the palythoas can aggravate the zoas ?Is it Possible or should be calculated ?
Im having a few hiccups in this tank and cannot put my finger on anything .
My Params :
Alk----8.5
Mag--1470
Cal.---440
No3--18
Po4--.080
Ph--8.0 at best with Co2 scrubber and doors opened a few times daily. Same soda lime for 3 weeks and less than 25% exhausted .
Sal---1.026
Temp 79
WC--5-10% weekly or double Bi monthly
Feed ---RS AB+, 1 cube mysis alternate days of the week.
Cannot get any kind of algae to grow in tank whether skimmer running full time or not.
Ph is my nemesis to get sorted out for stability.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

How old is the tank?

 

[wattson]

How old is the tank?

around 3.5-4 years

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Can you post some pictures of the corals that are struggling?

I have tons of palys and zoas and typically they don't fight, the palys usually just overgrow the zoas. Id be more concerned about pests.

 

[wattson]

No pest .I'm very diligent with the pest topic per pest annoying or causing destruction to polyps .
It's just things go good for a while then some polyps on a few colonies close up then the colony closes up and polyps get skinny then start dying .
I have quite an extensive group of palythoas that are in tank with zoas .
I have a sizable colony of Firework clavularia in tank but seem very happy and growing well .
This a cycle in my tank that keeps reoccurring .

 

[wattson]

I have mostly colonies of 12 polyps to very big colonies it zoas and palys

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Can you take some pictures? I still highly doubt the palys are hurting the zoas. I have easily north of 1000 zoas/palys touching and growing over each other and they never physically damage one another. Even when im ripping off and killing dozens of the more invasive palys nothing really seems bothered by it.

Has this been happening since the beginning of the tank? Do you run carbon? What about lighting and flow?

 

[wattson]

No carbon yet.
Flow is good since I try to keep that under control .
I watch all the zoas and palys to see if flow is good or excessive then make my adjustments accordingly .
Light is a ATI T5 6x54 watt with only 2 bulbs being lit. Anymore than 2 bulbs is too high for the tank .

 

[wattson]

I'm going to try a couple of tablespoons of carbon just to see if it improves water quality .
Hate to put more things like carbon in the equasion
Maybe ICP test is in order to have done

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Why do you think more than 2 bulbs is too much? Are you taking par readings?

And again please post some pictures of the tank and affected zoas. It may help with figuring out whats going on.

 

[homer1475]

Why do you think more than 2 bulbs is too much? Are you taking par readings?

And again please post some pictures of the tank and affected zoas. It may help with figuring out whats going on.

I've used a 6 bulb t5 setup for years. Granted my tank is deep, I still only get about 250 par twelve inches from the fixture, and only 100 on my sandbed.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

In a tank with only zoas and palythoas, does anyone consider palytoxin from the palythoas can aggravate the zoas ?Is it Possible or should be calculated ?
Im having a few hiccups in this tank and cannot put my finger on anything .
My Params :
Alk----8.5
Mag--1470
Cal.---440
No3--18
Po4--.080
Ph--8.0 at best with Co2 scrubber and doors opened a few times daily. Same soda lime for 3 weeks and less than 25% exhausted .
Sal---1.026
Temp 79
WC--5-10% weekly or double Bi monthly
Feed ---RS AB+, 1 cube mysis alternate days of the week.
Cannot get any kind of algae to grow in tank whether skimmer running full time or not.
Ph is my nemesis to get sorted out for stability.

I do not think we have much credible info on what organisms cause or suffer from allelopathy.

 

[wattson]

Ill get some pictures,,the little bit of carbon I put in reactor did nothing so far

 

[wattson]

Here's some pictures .this ding ding colony was doing great then got skinny with bulbous tips and here it is today .only took a week to go from healthy full open happy polyps

 

[wattson]

Candy apple red zoas .
Skinny thin skirts and loss of color , it was doing well and growing with multiple new polyps sprouting to this pale deflated skirts and color

 

[wattson]

Here is Rainbow infusions with distorted green centers with deflated polyps and colony to right in picture has half closed polyps and was always full blown open

 

[wattson]

Here's a palythoa Captain America polyps being disgruntled too , but mostly the rest of zoas and palys are good but this trend keeps happening

 

[wattson]

I'm at my witts end and going to pursue sn ICP test.
I feed good and try to keep dissolved organics up but gets to the point where the room smells like the tank, then I run skimmer for a day to try to clean up the water a little bit but here we are again .
I cannot get any algae to grow .