cant seem to keep zoas

[mkwarner77]

I've got something a little odd going on. I cant seem to keep zoas in my tank for some reason. This started after I suffered a devastating tank crash due to a 4 day power outage in the winter. Tank dropped to below 50 degrees and most everything died. Among the survivors were a hammer, blue mushroom, armor or god zoas and green zoas. Before the crash they were thriving and growing well. After 5 polyps of the a.o.g. that made it slowly started to shrink and die off. This process has taken over a year. The last polyp just vanished last week. The 2 green that made it are doing ok. they are about 1/3" but do not multiply. I purchased 5 polyps of eagles eye zoas 4 months ago. They were growing and doing ok, but a bit small for zoas. They detached the other day. meanwhile I've got 2 types of pallies, 2 types of mushrooms a cabbage leather, hammers, frog spawn, a lobo, blasto and gsp all thriving. nitrate and posphates are 0, all other parameters are good. Any clues as to why zoas dont like me anymore.

 

[homer1475]

. nitrate and posphates are 0, all other parameters are good.

Lets start with the glaring obvious.....

Nitrate and phosphates at 0 is starving your corals. I wouldn't be surprised if all your corals start shrinking and dying slowly. Need to get those up to at least detectable levels.

Second, just posting "all other parameters are good" means nothing. What you think is good, may indeed be bad to a seasoned reefer. Posting actual numbers will go a long way in us helping you.

 

[AZMSGT]

Your crash and associated die off created allot of negative bacteria. Yes, post your tank specs and all the measurements.

Get your Nitrates up to 10 and PO4 to .04-.07

I found raising salinity to around 1.026 helped Zoas settle in then I back it back to my normal 1.025.

Honestly, it might just take your tank time to settle down and let the bacteria find a level.

Just my thoughts on the matter, I can’t offer experience based on your particular problem.

 

[mkwarner77]

temp 78 deg, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, salinity 1.026, ph 8.4, cal 240, dkh8. the pallies i bought 4 months ago started as 3 polyps each they've more than tripled, the cabbage leather I fragged 45 months ago has doubled in size, so I really dont think its a "starving the tank issue", but I have been feeding quite heavily to get nitrates an P04 up, for the past month. I'll post a pic of the tank as soon as I can get it off my phone

 

[mkwarner77]

heres the armor of god before the crash, the green zoas are on top, not a good coral pic target was coral beauty

 

[mkwarner77]

cal 240

I meant 420

 

[Kremis]

Hows your flow? Lighting? How often do you water change? I have had zoas shrink up due to too little flow, or too much flow, or too much of lighting or to little etc. Water changes always seem to help too