Established zoas slowly declining

[Pankney72]

Hey all, got a quick question for the group. My zoas have been thriving for about the last six months. But recently, while everything else in my mixed reef continues to do great, my zoas have slowly stopped opening completely and are starting to wither. This has been going on for a few weeks now. The closure appears worse in the late afternoon/evening.

I’ve never run carbon or GFO in this system.

NO3- 5
PO4-.25
Otherwise major parameters are stable at natural seawater and have been for months.

any insight is very appreciated.

 

[CoralB]

No3 in my opinion could be a little high as my zoanthids like the water between 10 and 15 ppm but it’s ok , I’m assuming yours Is 5ppm but your no4 is high . Try to get them between .05 and 1. That might be the issue . any critters that may have ticked them off and are you using any carbon as they when they get stressed out orpissed off by other inhabitants the can put out a toxin . Try doing a water change, bring down your no4 , run carbon and see if that helps . Keep us posted

 

[Pankney72]

No3 in my opinion could be a little high as my zoanthids like the water between 10 and 15 ppm but it’s ok , I’m assuming yours Is 5ppm but your no4 is high . Try to get them between .05 and 1. That might be the issue . any critters that may have ticked them off and are you using any carbon as they when they get stressed out orpissed off by other inhabitants the can put out a toxin . Try doing a water change, bring down your no4 , run carbon and see if that helps . Keep us posted

I won’t lie… that was honestly kinda tough to read.

plan is to double check my testing. Then do a 30% water change. If no changes after that I’ll run carbon.

unless the group convinces me otherwise, I think playtoxin is super unlikely to only cause problems for my zoas and leave my fish and other corals alone.

 

[CoralB]

I won’t lie… that was honestly kinda tough to read.

plan is to double check my testing. Then do a 30% water change. If no changes after that I’ll run carbon.

unless the group convinces me otherwise, I think playtoxin is super unlikely to only cause problems for my zoas and leave my fish and other corals alone.

Yah maybe not toxin but I would lower the no4 . Years ago I had a patch of zoanthids that had a sponge growing underneath them which got to a point they closed up until I removed the sponge but from your pics I don’t see that . I hope you find the cause and post

 

[vetteguy53081]

Any change in light and/or water flow?
There are a number of factors why zoa close up. Some are water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider a moderate flow environment ideal but Zoanthids, like most corals, can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks. Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and ultra low nutrient conditions can lead to entire colony meltdowns. Target feeding is not a requirement as Zoanthids are photosynthetic. I have found that target feeding Zoanthids always provides mixed results, when a food particle falls onto the polyps.

Back to parameters, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 78-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for.

 

[Pankney72]

Any change in light and/or water flow?
There are a number of factors why zoa close up. Some are water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider a moderate flow environment ideal but Zoanthids, like most corals, can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks. Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and ultra low nutrient conditions can lead to entire colony meltdowns. Target feeding is not a requirement as Zoanthids are photosynthetic. I have found that target feeding Zoanthids always provides mixed results, when a food particle falls onto the polyps.

Back to parameters, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 78-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for.

No major change in light or flow… parameters are all at the low end of the spectrum but within normal limits except for mag that was 1290. I haven’t tested iodide but I do religious 15% water changes.

I usually feed once a week with reef roids but there hasn’t been a feeding response for the last few weeks so I laid off feeding to reduce stress.

like I was saying, it’s kinda odd because the zoas were thriving under these same conditions earlier… for over 6 months and my palys and other corals are completely unaffected and still thriving.

I do have vermatids and there’s a few aptasia in my tank. No pest stars though.

maybe since the effect is isolated at my zoa garden it is light and flow… I’ll fiddle

 

[vetteguy53081]

No major change in light or flow… parameters are all at the low end of the spectrum but within normal limits except for mag that was 1290. I haven’t tested iodide but I do religious 15% water changes.

I usually feed once a week with reef roids but there hasn’t been a feeding response for the last few weeks so I laid off feeding to reduce stress.

like I was saying, it’s kinda odd because the zoas were thriving under these same conditions earlier… for over 6 months and my palys and other corals are completely unaffected and still thriving.

I do have vermatids and there’s a few aptasia in my tank. No pest stars though.

maybe since the effect is isolated at my zoa garden it is light and flow… I’ll fiddle

Sounds good. You want to add ioDide which zoa convert to iodine

 

[vtecintegra]

No3 in my opinion could be a little high as my zoanthids like the water between 10 and 15 ppm but it’s ok , I’m assuming yours Is 5ppm but your no4 is high . Try to get them between .05 and 1. That might be the issue . any critters that may have ticked them off and are you using any carbon as they when they get stressed out orpissed off by other inhabitants the can put out a toxin . Try doing a water change, bring down your no4 , run carbon and see if that helps . Keep us posted

You've got a lot of typos in this.

 

[CoralB]

You've got a lot of typos in this.

Sorry I must have been vodka dosing , good think I don’t drink

 

[Pankney72]

Update, mag was a touch low on retesting and corrected. A couple aptasia were found and killed around the periphery of one of my colonies. pH/alk/calcium wnL.

current trend of opening in the morning and staying half closed in the evening continues. It looks like irritation, not predation.

large water change is being prepped for tomorrow, it should hopefully address any occult trace deficiencies.

 

[Losirk]

Get ICP test done! Never know could be some element off!