bloodshots wont open

[Me z]

Well its been 6-8 weeks since these guys opened. I havnt noticed zoa pox or any pest bothering them and I have even tried moving them to a different tank with less flow and more shady areas for a couple weeks and still nothing. I tried a few iodine dips in case there was something irratating them I couldnt see but it didnt work. So starting last night im going to do a series of peroxide dips and see if that helps. I have around 20 different kinds of zoas in my tank but these are the only guys not opening. I know someone will ask for info on my tank so here it goes. DT is a 6ft 125 with two 400w radiums on the sides and a 150w 20k in the center. Temp is 77 constant thanks to my chiller, alk is 11 dkh calcium is 450 magnesium is 1450 sg is 1.025 (refrac calibrated with a calibration solution not ro water) PO4 is zero I have to change GFO every 12 days, NO3 is 0. I also have a 40g fuge and a 20g sump, I run biopellets in the overflows in my sump I also run carbon and change it out monthly. My chiller feeds into a 40g breeder that dumps back into the sump. I also run a large uv sterilizer from the sump to the dt. Inhabitants are a powder blue tang, yellow tang, flame angel, mystery wrasse, two clowns, and a mandarin, also have a scooter, coris wrasse, and three chromis in the 40g frag tank. Cleaner shrimp, coral banded shrimp, linkia star, brittle star, serpent star, various snails and a few hermits. Tank is sps dominated with excellent growth and color with a few lps and zoas. As I said I have moved it to the frag tank and it still remained closed for a few weeks before I decided to move it back into the main tank so its not a tank mate bothering them. I really dont want to lose these guys they are one of my favorites in my tank. NOTHING else is closed/bothered in anyway I have tried moving it everywhere and it still wont open. Any thoughts from the zoa gu ru's would be appreciated.

 

[Emoney]

There a tough paly to keep bottom line..Try a dip and move them into lower light and lower flow

 

[butts182]

I lost my colony when I made a frag. Lost the frag too!!! Eventually they will melt.

 

[Me z]

Not much low light real estate left in the dt but I had them in virtually no flow in the frag tank for two weeks only 750gph from the return pump no powerheads or anything else and if you take into consideration the 10 foot of hosing its probably more like 400gph. Maybe I will try them back in the frag tank again after I dip them. Thanks for the input and not tryin to dumb me down like many who offer advice do it is greatly appreciated. If I do find out a way to get them to come back I will post it.

 

[akma]

Try dipping in coral rx. Whenever I have problems I dip them in coral rx and they come right back.

 

[lowbudget]

they are hard to keep lost them all too

 

[MattL22]

Lost mine to alage

 

[Me z]

Try dipping in coral rx. Whenever I have problems I dip them in coral rx and they come right back.

I have thought about using it but coral rx isnt very forthcoming with whats in their product all I can get out of them is all natural extracts which sounds like the considerably cheaper stuff called coral revive from julian sprung. I am leary of companies that wont tell you what they put in their products. I dont epect the secret recipe or exact ratio's but knowing whats in it would be nice. For one I would like to research the ingredients and see if any of them have been known to cause problems. Two I have six kids and if/when I have to call poison control because they drank some I would like to be able to tell the guy on the other end whats in it.

 

[ddiver]

Dip it on Lugols for a few minutes, do it every day and see if that won't help it open.

 

[Me z]

Thanks but I tried iodine already thats why I switched to the peroxide method instead. One thing I did notice though was there was a yellowish ring around the mouths of the zoas, but it seems to have went away. Hoping that was the problem but we will see. Im hoping someone will have the ah ha moment for me but its not boding well. I will try to get a macro shot tomorrow and see if anyone sees something im not seeing.

 

[Reef UP]

Do you remember your calcium climbing to quickly back then?

 

[Me z]

No not really, but then I only do calcium tests about every two weeks, I monitor alk pretty close because in my experience alk tends to swing before calcium. Although now that you mention it they closed up after I started using neomag to maintain my magnesium. I just think its weird because I have space monsters, utter chaos, nightmares, rastas, red and purple hornets, captain americas the list can go on but none of them are closed just the bloodshots. I am actually really surprised they havnt died before now I mean how long can they go without food. Whole thing is weird and frustrating. If the things are gonna die they need to get on with it, if their gonna live they need to do the same lol.

 

[daniella3d]

Mine are doing very well. They had one episode when they closed for a week and I dipped them in peroxyde and they opened back after a few days. They have multiplied quite a lot since then. I feed them Kent Chromaplex and they seem to like it and grow well with it. I dose alkalinity 16 times per day with my dosing pump and BRS sodium carbonate, so there is no alkalinity swing. I keep it at 8.

 

[Joe Knows Reefs]

I have a friend with some black hornets that stayed closed for over a month and now they're open and seemingly fine. Things like this make me really question what we really know about corals... For instance when I get a rock with some cool new zoas on it how old are the corals? What is their real lifespan? When do they stop reproducing etc etc. Things like this just continue to help me keep an open mind

 

[Me z]

I dont have swings of anykind because of my calcium reactor with the exception of phosphate. I have to change the media pretty fequently. I just put them under and over hang in my frag tank lit with t5's and leds virtually no flow. Also did a dip with coral amino and selcon to see if I could entice them to open and to at least let them absorb some nutrition. I would think that if they were gonna die they would have done it by now so I will continue to monitor them and see what happens. One thing I am learning though is I have come far enough in the hobby that if I dont know why something is happening odds are others will be at a loss too. Kinda a good feeling but a forboding one as well. And you bring up a good point joe. Its sad when we know more about space than we do our own ocean. I would be willing to bet that alot of the leaps in oceanic science has come about since the introduction of the marine hobby. I know it sure sparked my interest in the ocean. Thanks for the suggestions to all that offered them.

 

[daniella3d]

I have some zoanthids and palythoas that are at least 2 years old as I have them since the begining of my tank. They grow bigger with age, at least in my tank. Some are huge now and I can see the younger polyps VS the older ones due to size, especially in palythoas. I suspect they live very very long, just like sponges.

I have a friend with some black hornets that stayed closed for over a month and now they're open and seemingly fine. Things like this make me really question what we really know about corals... For instance when I get a rock with some cool new zoas on it how old are the corals? What is their real lifespan? When do they stop reproducing etc etc. Things like this just continue to help me keep an open mind

 

[Joe Knows Reefs]

I have some zoanthids and palythoas that are at least 2 years old as I have them since the begining of my tank. They grow bigger with age, at least in my tank. Some are huge now and I can see the younger polyps VS the older ones due to size, especially in palythoas. I suspect they live very very long, just like sponges.

Oh I'm quite positive they live long too but I don't think we know an average lifespan. Is it 40 years or 400 years etc

 

[reefpeeper]

Did u try higher flow? When i have z/p not opening i try higher flow and it usually works. Once open i put back to original place.

 

[DrTerro]

Tough break. The blood shots are like others have said notorious for melting, or closing and disappearing. I have had a few run in's with things like this. Usually it takes time. Constant inspection for algae growth, or pests. I have experimented with a few things. Peroxide works, however most every time when they finally reopen, their color is washed out so bad! I have Utters that did this and it's been 2 months and the color is not completely back yet. But the last time I had zoa's not open for 2 weeks, I took them out and let them sit in my bathroom on a towel on the counter for an hour, no lights on. I basically let them start to dry up. It's ridiculous sounding I know. I had accidentally left out zoa's for 3 hours after cutting and once put in the tank, they were open in like 10 min. What made me want to try it, is that most corals will do a "water change" like an anemone. Which zoa's and paly's kind of are. Chalices do this as well. So I thought that with them drying out slightly in ambient temperature once placed back in the tank with low light and no flow that they would do a "water change." I have only done it once, and within 30 min they had opened. Not completely, but I would say about 40 percent. They did this for 3 days. Since they have been completely open. Just something I tried. But looking forward to hearing how this all turns out. Take care

 

[Me z]

Did u try higher flow? When i have z/p not opening i try higher flow and it usually works. Once open i put back to original place.

When they first closed up they were about four inches below and to the right of an mp40 on reef crest mode and they stayed there closed for quite a while before I tried moving them. But thanks for the suggestion.