Desert Stars won't shine

[Kehy]

They were doing great for months, but lately they're hardly opening at all. No other zoa in my tank is protesting in this way, and as far as I know, nothing's changed. I can only assume it's a variety wide issue, as both of my Desert Star colonies, in two different locations and light levels in the tank, closed up. But only them. I'm trying to give them more flow, but that's a struggle to rearrange in my tank. This has only yielded minimal results.

Thoughts?

 

[Tracy Schultz]

I would agree with looking for ways to improve flow. How are nitrates & phosphates? How long has it been since you rearranged the tank; they may just need time to get happy?

 

[Kehy]

Unfortunately i figured out the other day my Nitrate test doesn't work, but I'll see what I can do for phosphates.

But they'd been in their spots originally for months happily, then closed. About a week ago I rearranged the tank, to almost no reaction

 

[Tracy Schultz]

Do you think it’s possible they’re reproducing? When my zoa’s close up for several days it’s usually because they’re multiplying.

 

[Kehy]

Nah, I hate to say it, but it's probably been close to a couple weeks now. Life's been crazy, so I haven't been able to pay much attention, but I have been doing my water changes at least

 

[Tracy Schultz]

Have you tried anything like Polyp booster? I always add this before I feed, it encourages polyps to open up. It could be worth a shot.

 

[Tracy Schultz]

Have you tried anything like Polyp booster? I always add this before I feed, it encourages polyps to open up. It could be worth a shot.

 

[Kehy]

Haven't tried that yet, but at some point I might. I'm about a week away from moving houses, so I'll probably look at other stuff I can do first. They seem healthy otherwise, just protesting the current state of events, which I cannot fault them for

 

[Tracy Schultz]

Got it, good luck on your move. Been there/done that a few times. Keep us posted if you see any improvement. Have a great day!

 

[EMeyer]

In my experience, if one zoa colony is doing bad while the others are doing fine, it benefits from dipping or cleaning.

My gentle first solution is just cleaning. I just squirt tank water all over the colony pretty vigorously with a squirt bottle. The goal is to blow away anything growing on or clinging to the zoa tissue. I do this out of the tank, since I grow my zoas on tiles, but you could just do it in the tank if the zoas are already glued down.

If that doesnt work I go nuclear. I dip the colony in freshwater, then a 50:50 mixture of tank water and hydrogen peroxide for 30-60 seconds. Then I rinse well in tank water and return it to the tank. This typically makes them recover within about 2 days.

Good luck!

 

[Kehy]

I'll try that. It's odd to me that both separate colonies closed up at the same time, but nothing else. They weren't even near each other

 

[Kehy]

Well there's improvement, but I've literally done nothing? Unfortunately didn't have time to test phosphates either.

 

[Kehy]

Well 9 months later, problem solved. Somehow. I'm thinking temperature is the only significantly different thing. They've been more open than this, but this is still major improvement.