Florida Palys/Zoas success?

[na1paj]

How successful have you been with keeping these? I have a lot of zoas, all doing really well, but every time I'd get the Florida ones, they'll do very well for may be a few months, and all of a sudden they'll close up, turn dark, and fade away. Could it be that they need a certain amount of nutrition in the water? I've tried dipping them too (Marvin's formula), but no luck reviving.
although I've noticed they seem to like strong light (MH) and high flow? I kept them under 250 MH and near the powerhead, and they would double in # of polyps in a month or so, then they'll recede, and I know many experienced zoa collectors also experience the same thing.
Any thoughts?

 

[Titan$]

Not sure, I have about 7 colonies from FL that are doing awesome! I will repost here if this starts to happen. I do know of others that have had a tuff time keeping them though, but they seem pretty hardy to me.

 

[flricordia]

No expert by any means but many Caribbean zoanthids grow alongside sponge. When they are collected the sponge dies and pollutes the bag the zoanthids are shipped in and this eventually kills the zoanthids. Not all grow with sponge, but those collected with sponge should be collected with greater care, but this is not always the case.

 

[seafansar]

I bought some blue caribbean zoas and they all died. All the rest of my zoas were doing good, but those just closed up and started shrinking. I did grab some ugly brown palys from the Keys a while ago. You can't kill those! lol.