hallucinations.

Reeferkeeper666 · Jan 7, 2015

Hey everyone, new to the r2r forum here. Just looking to get input from anyone thats currently having success with hallucination zoas. I recently acquired a 4 polyp frag and only 2 out 4 polyps have been opening, 1 only half way. Theyre placed at the bottom of my tank(standard 75g) under a 4Ã—54watt T5 ATI. Theyre getting a med-low flow. Heres my params.
Alk-7.7
Ca-440
Mg-1320
Ph-8.2
N03-15
P04-0.00-0.03
S.G.-1.026
All other corals are happy and growing. Thanks

Reeferkeeper666 · Jan 7, 2015

Also have had them for about 2 weeks.

joshporksandwich · Jan 8, 2015

@tuna_bullet

Reeferkeeper666 · Jan 8, 2015

But i do believe that these stars are going to finish them off. Ive got zoas everywhere and these stupid stars jut seem to be going straight for these. This frag is sitting beside like 5 other zoa frags...always the expensive ones.

reefwars · Jan 8, 2015

add a harlequin shrimp to get rid of your asterina's

as for the hallucinations i would get them out of the lights and keep good flow on them , keep an eye out for predatory animals ( fish, nudis, amphipods etc) they look healthy enough so i dont think theyre going to melt anytime soon but they do need to start opening up and staying that way soon

good luck!

Reeferkeeper666 · Jan 8, 2015

Yeah one is definately done because of the shrimp. So i should shade them then?

Reeferkeeper666 · Jan 8, 2015

Stars***not shrimp.

reefwars · Jan 8, 2015

i would , you cant kill a coral in the dark short term it takes weeks but you can fry them with too much light especially if they are closed a closed polyp has no way to repel micoro algae, doesn't matter much the type of lights when a polyp is closed it is exposed to the full par of your lights ( think having a full head of hair and the type of sunburn you'd get when going suddenly bald)

other than that i would keep hands off , no dips etc. i doubt its a water quality issue and if you ruled out pests then i would think its more of an acclimation issue

reefwars · Jan 8, 2015

white stars tend to be harmless while the darker brown ones tend to be the opposite , both will take advantage of an easy meal but the darker ones have been known to irritate pretty bad , once they turn to mush the star will finish them off for sure

add a harlequin shrimp and once they are cleared out you can either keep him and supplement with chocolate chips stars or sell to someone else , its an easy shrimp to re-home

Reeferkeeper666 · Jan 8, 2015

Alright thanks alot for the advice. Appreciated.

reefwars · Jan 8, 2015

Reeferkeeper666 said:
Alright thanks alot for the advice. Appreciated.

Looking at the picture now zoomed in on a larger screen is there something between the two large polyps possibly a digitate hydroid or small feather duster and shoot?