Coral dying

Jackboat · Sep 23, 2011

I'm new. Have a 28 gal nano been set up for 8 months. Have had some issues keeping eagle eye zoas alive. Now it looks like I'm loosing my fungia (exposed skeleton like a slice of pie taken). All chemical levels are all really good. My 2 questions are: 1) Is there anything I can do to save the fungia? 2) any ideas on why my zoas struggle, but my SPS and LPS are healthy?

AquaWorldPSC · Sep 23, 2011

What are your parameters? Alk, Ca, Mg? What brand of test kits are you using?

pumarjr · Sep 23, 2011

what is your lighting? current parameters? Temp? Salinity? saying that your levels are good are one thing, having someone else say they are ok is another.

Jackboat · Sep 23, 2011

I don't have a test kit. I take it into my local shop for tests weekly. They just checked last week and said it was good. I don't have the paper in front of me but as I recall, calc was 370, alk was 2.75. Salinity was 1.025, no amonia, virtually no phophates.

Lighting, don't know. It is the 'standard' JBJ 28 gal nano. My acro and monipora's are doing ok.

I saw one snail go over my zoa, and this morning it was half wiped out. Can snails eat/destroy zoas?

Thanks again.

Rskillz · Sep 23, 2011

There is a predatory zoa snail called a pyramid snail. If that is what it is, I'd remove it asap.

AquaWorldPSC · Sep 23, 2011

The parameters look they they are good.

@pumarjr the standard lighting in a 28 gallon JBJ Nano is either 2 Compact Fluorescent or 150W DE Metal Halide, or 60w* LED.

Maybe you have something in your tank either a pest or a fish eating those zoas. I have seen emerald crabs, common hermit crabs (Brown legs), Ruby Crabs eat them, but it is not limited to this. A list of tank inhabitants?

Jackboat · Sep 23, 2011

I had some cyano over the summer so I added to 2 conchs, 1 cucumber, 20 blue legged crabs. I only have about 3-4 snails left (think the cyano got some). Only 4 fish (orange/white false percula, black white percula, mckoskers flashing wrass, bengi cardinal). Over 30 frags of coral.

The lighting is florescent (other than 4 little LED for moonlight).

It may be a pyramid snail, but I have some pink with brown skirt zoas that have been doing well, but the eagle eye and blue hornet's I can't keep alive. Are the pyramid snails picky with zoas? It does have a 'pyramid like shell'

CJO · Sep 23, 2011

That's a large cleanup crew for a 28 gallon tank. You're probably down to 3-4 snails because there wasn't enough food to sustain them all or the crabs got to them. I have a 65 gallon tank and have 2 blue-legged hermit crabs, 3 nassarius snails and 1 mexican turbo snail...

CJ