Closed zoa frags?

OutsideBrian · Jun 12, 2019

Last Saturday I picked up some frags. They were drip acclimated and coral rx dipped.
I lowered my ai primes lighting really low thinking they might need to adjust.
But 2 of the 3 frags haven’t opened yet. The other zoas I have in the tank still seem fine, eagle eyes and some other unnamed.
I picked up some lakers which have opened but the clementines and rastas havent.

Any recommendations?

Ron Reefman · Jun 13, 2019

Give them time, they may still be acclimating. Also turn your lights back up to their 'normal' setting as it may be they just want more, or at least it could help. I've had new zoas take 1 or 2 weeks to settle in while other zoas open up almost immediately. Take your time and try not to worry too much. Good things happen if you take your time.

Just keep a close eye on everybody as you increase the lighting.

OutsideBrian · Jun 13, 2019

Ok will do.

Ron Reefman · Jun 13, 2019

If you don't get any other feedback here, and the zoas don't open, I'll be following this thread so if you post to it, I'll get an alert and will reply.

OutsideBrian · Jun 15, 2019

Ron Reefman said:
If you don't get any other feedback here, and the zoas don't open, I'll be following this thread so if you post to it, I'll get an alert and will reply.

So the lights are back up to a more normal power. The other zoas still seem fine and are opened fully. The rastas and clementines frags still aren’t opened. Anything I should be looking for physically, any indicators?
I picked up some seachem reef dip with the thought of dipping them to see what happens.
Any suggestions?

Ron Reefman · Jun 15, 2019

They were already dipped in Coral RX right? So how are the water parameters?
And lets get more eyes on your problem by calling out the #ReefSquad.

mta_morrow · Jun 15, 2019

Ron Reefman said:
Give them time, they may still be acclimating. Also turn your lights back up to their 'normal' setting as it may be they just want more, or at least it could help. I've had new zoas take 1 or 2 weeks to settle in while other zoas open up almost immediately. Take your time and try not to worry too much. Good things happen if you take your time.

Just keep a close eye on everybody as you increase the lighting.

Agree with Ron on this. I picked up 2 nice frags of zoas last weekend. 1 has been fully open since I put it in the tank, and the other is barely peeking at me after a week.

Also agree to put your lights back to their normal setting.

I typically find that zoas like the light and I usually move them up if they are not opening after a week or so.

OutsideBrian · Jun 15, 2019

I’ll run some tests later tonight when I get home.
I’ve changed 5gallons of water Sunday and Wednesday just to see if it would help.
Tank is a 57 gallon with 20 gallon sump

OutsideBrian · Jun 15, 2019

mta_morrow said:
Agree with Ron on this. I picked up 2 nice frags of zoas last weekend. 1 has been fully open since I put it in the tank, and the other is barely peeking at me after a week.

Also agree to put your lights back to their normal setting.

I typically find that zoas like the light and I usually move them up if they are not opening after a week or so.

Ok I’ll give it a shot and move them up a bit.

OutsideBrian · Jun 15, 2019

Test results are in. Everything was looking highish so I got to thinking about how that was possible. Checked calibration on my refractometer and to my surprise it’s off, salinity is up to 1.029
With that in mind
Nitrate 10
Pho .4
Alk 8.9
Ca 450
Mag 1650
Ph 8

BluTang85 · Jun 17, 2019

Phosphates are way to high, def have to bring down under .10. Aim for .03

OutsideBrian · Jun 17, 2019

BluTang85 said:
Phosphates are way to high, def have to bring down under .10. Aim for .03

Yea I agree.
I spent the day yesterday getting my salinity adjusted. About every hour I pulled a gallon of tank water out and replaced with fresh rodi water. Took about ten gallons to get it to 1.025
I’ll do some tests later this evening

bassrock234 · Jun 17, 2019

With zoas when they do that, patience is some times key.
Phosphates my be high yes but I've had mine that high before and zoas were fine.
But again, not saying that is not the problem.
Zoas are finicky.
#reefsquad have any ideas?

OutsideBrian · Aug 18, 2019

A month later and they’ve started coming back.

FishyDP · Aug 18, 2019

Did you adjust your phosphate levels or did they just start coming back on their own?

A. grandis · Aug 18, 2019

OutsideBrian said:
Last Saturday I picked up some frags. They were drip acclimated and coral rx dipped.
I lowered my ai primes lighting really low thinking they might need to adjust.
But 2 of the 3 frags haven’t opened yet. The other zoas I have in the tank still seem fine, eagle eyes and some other unnamed.
I picked up some lakers which have opened but the clementines and rastas havent.

Any recommendations?

Bring back the normal lighting settings and put the frag in a more "shaded area", if you are worried about shocking them with light.
They need time to adjust. make sure they are getting some light though.
Not a big deal!