Help with understanding zoa growth

[thunderreefer]

I’m new and have a Frag QT tank setup that includes a handful of zoas. One that’s coming up on its 76 day mark in QT has a growth pattern I wasn’t expecting and hoping someone could tell me what it is and indications of what I did wrong. Basically appear to be long, thin stems. Key variables in the tank during the period, the first few weeks I was around 7.0 dkh, and then ramped up over a week to where I’m usually between 7.9 to 8.3 dkh. Temp has been between 77.6 to 78.0. Also there were a couple times that I measured 0 phosphates. Only other thing I can think of is I had an algae problem for a few weeks. The Frag was at the back corner of my Frag rack so my CUC wasn’t getting over there (no fish, all snails and a few hermits in the tank). I got a few more snails that finally made it over and cleaned the Frag up. The stems did have a bit of algae build up. Unfortunately I don’t have a pic with the algae. Thoughts?

 

[mbarber87]

What do you keep your salinity at? And how do you measure it?

Also, what are your nitrate levels?
You say phosphate is zero, but you had algae problems. Most of the time it says 0 because the algae is eating the phosphates.

 

[Jvalle]

hi, long extension is usually due to poor lighting. That frag will recover and do better with faster growth if you keep it in higher light. you can start by there first but water quality is extremely important for growth. Additionally, zoa growth depends on the type also. For example, pandora and mohawks grow like weeds while others take longer. Most expensive frags take longer to grow usually thats why they may be more expensive due to lack of availability or slower growth One example of this not being true though is utter chaos. It is relatively expense but grows faster than some other ones like Rastas, fruit loops, etc. THe algae issue you had also created a setback in the growth. Leave that frag in higher light with access to your CUC and you should be fine. thx

 

[thunderreefer]

What do you keep your salinity at? And how do you measure it?

Also, what are your nitrate levels?
You say phosphate is zero, but you had algae problems. Most of the time it says 0 because the algae is eating the phosphates.

Salinity is 1.025 using a Milwaukee digital refractometer. Always measure a couple time to confirm result. Nitrates are less than 1. I use the Red Sea nitrate pro test kit. Use the Red Sea phosphate pro as well as the Hanna ULR phosphate checker.

 

[JustDewwit]

Just a suggestion but, Raise the alkalinity to a minimum of 8.4dkh and try to keep it there for a while and get it dirty with PO4 in .04 range (Yes higher algae risk but Zoa grow and heal better in dirty water simply put) For softies using Reef Crystals hits the target at 1.026 for 8.4dkh flawlessly. I'm not exactly sure if all zoas extending mean poor health. I have Purple Monster Zoas with heads the size of nickels in the center of AI Prime @70% and they extend.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Asides from the lighting tips that everyone above mentioned it also looks your frag is covered in vermetid snails, these can irritate corals and can spread quite rapidly so I'd recommend either breaking them off and putting some epoxy/super glue where they were or put a dab of suplerglue on the end of the tubes.

 

[thunderreefer]

Asides from the lighting tips that everyone above mentioned it also looks your frag is covered in vermetid snails, these can irritate corals and can spread quite rapidly so I'd recommend either breaking them off and putting some epoxy/super glue where they were or put a dab of suplerglue on the end of the tubes.

Looks like I have some research to do on vermetid snails. Thank you for the feedback!

 

[petemichelle]

yes vermetid snails. just break off the stem

 

[danschoenherr]

Yep, crush the Vermatid snails. They irritate the corals.
I have found that lack of flow also causes some zoas to have long stalks. Try moving to a little stronger flow area. This will also keep detritus from building up in between the polyps. Having nitrates and phosphates are important also.....finding the balance between the two is the hard part.

 

[NanJ]

Galleria Aquatica has a good video on vermitid snails. You have to do more than break off the tubes. Since seeing the video I try to inspect all snails, frags, anything that goes into our DT, for the telltale tubes.

 

[thunderreefer]

Galleria Aquatica has a good video on vermitid snails. You have to do more than break off the tubes. Since seeing the video I try to inspect all snails, frags, anything that goes into our DT, for the telltale tubes.

Thank you!

 

[muzikalmatt]

Luckily you have those corals in a quarantine tank as you absolutely do not want to get vermetid snails in your display tank. I'm dealing with them now and it's a tough battle. You basically have to manually crush them making sure you get the entire base and not just the tube. They don't have any natural predators, at least none that consistently do the job. People have had some success with bumblebee snails and some wrasses, but it's spotty results at best.

You'll need to keep an eye on all hard surfaces within your QT, including the skeletons of hard corals, and remove them as soon as you see them. I've found several growing on the bases of my LPS including hammers and bubble corals. Good luck to you!

 

[thunderreefer]

Yep, crush the Vermatid snails. They irritate the corals.
I have found that lack of flow also causes some zoas to have long stalks. Try moving to a little stronger flow area. This will also keep detritus from building up in between the polyps. Having nitrates and phosphates are important also.....finding the balance between the two is the hard part.

I’m definitely still figuring out the balance of nitrates and phosphate. Thanks for the comment on flow. Lightning, which many commented on, was something I was looking at and will be using a par meter to help give me some data to work with. One thing I didn’t think about was flow, probably because I’m not sure how to measure a specific area in the tank other than overall flow rate of the power head, but do think I have that frag in a lower flow area based on location of the power head.

 

[thunderreefer]

Luckily you have those corals in a quarantine tank as you absolutely do not want to get vermetid snails in your display tank. I'm dealing with them now and it's a tough battle. You basically have to manually crush them making sure you get the entire base and not just the tube. They don't have any natural predators, at least none that consistently do the job. People have had some success with bumblebee snails and some wrasses, but it's spotty results at best.

You'll need to keep an eye on all hard surfaces within your QT, including the skeletons of hard corals, and remove them as soon as you see them. I've found several growing on the bases of my LPS including hammers and bubble corals. Good luck to you!

Definitely nice to figure this out before anything getting into the DT, so I appreciate everyone’s help. I dip everything, QT for 76 days to avoid fish pests, but still at risk for all that I don’t know. I’m manually getting rid of the vermetid snails. Funny enough, I do have some bumblebee snails in my QT frag tank, but got them to help with detritus (and appearance, my daughter was with me when I was picking up asterea and cerith snails for the algae and she voted I also needed some bumblebees).

 

[thunderreefer]

Vermetid snail HOW to kill them help!

BTW - I think that there are a few different kinds of these. I have some, but they stay really small and do not really do any damage. I have friends with huge ones that do harm some coral. Mine never get big, so I wonder if they are a different type of Verm?

www.reef2reef.com

I found another post that had a match of the vermetid snails I have. I was definitely confusing what part was zoa and what part was vermetid snail. Thanks again for all the feedback! In case my comments/questions were confusing, I included the link to the post with the matching pic.