Jagged line in zoas

Bleigh · Feb 21, 2019

Sweet! Those look SOOO much like mine. What is the name of that type?

How did you put them in your tank (i.e., what did you use to attach it and what is the orientation of the bi-valve)? I think I positioned it differently than how it was originally positioned. It looks like what I have as the left side may have actually been the bottom. I'm not sure if I should leave it be or move it. Also, how often do you feed your corals?

crusso1993 · Feb 21, 2019

Bleigh said:
Wouldn't that be an amazing surprise?

Especially if it turned out to be black!

Bobby Cheezus · Feb 21, 2019

This is so cool!
I got a lil clam on a piece of rock that some mushrooms were living on.
He doesn't do much but he is definitely alive.

Triggreef · Feb 21, 2019

I've seen zoas come in on small clams as if it was a rock, and have a one still. I think the clam has died off after a couple years.

Aside from the clam which doesn't really concern me... Is that it's a wild zoa colony so your chances of bringing in zoa eating nudis and other zoa pests is very high. Just something to be aware of and hopefully you did some sort of dip For that.

Shufflepig · Feb 21, 2019

Bleigh said:
Sweet! Those look SOOO much like mine. What is the name of that type?

How did you put them in your tank (i.e., what did you use to attach it and what is the orientation of the bi-valve)? I think I positioned it differently than how it was originally positioned. It looks like what I have as the left side may have actually been the bottom. I'm not sure if I should leave it be or move it. Also, how often do you feed your corals?

It’s still in my frag tank. Haven’t moved it to display yet. Slightly worried some of my fish may see the bivalve as lunch. I broadcast reef roids twice weekly to the frag tank. I believe the bivalve has actually grown over the 4 months.

Bleigh · Feb 21, 2019

Triggreef said:
I've seen zoas come in on small clams as if it was a rock, and have a one still. I think the clam has died off after a couple years.

Aside from the clam which doesn't really concern me... Is that it's a wild zoa colony so your chances of bringing in zoa eating nudis and other zoa pests is very high. Just something to be aware of and hopefully you did some sort of dip For that.

How can you tell that it is wild? I did not do a dip. Honestly, I'm so new to this, I do not even know what you mean by a dip. What does that entail?

Bleigh · Feb 21, 2019

Shufflepig said:
It’s still in my frag tank. Haven’t moved it to display yet. Slightly worried some of my fish may see the bivalve as lunch. I broadcast reef roids twice weekly to the frag tank. I believe the bivalve has actually grown over the 4 months.

I'm super excited about the bi-valve. I hope he stays alive for a little while. I picked up some benepets reef food. Is that a similar product?

Shufflepig · Feb 21, 2019

Bleigh said:
I'm super excited about the bi-valve. I hope he stays alive for a little while. I picked up some benepets reef food. Is that a similar product?

Yes. Very similar product. I think the way you have it placed in your tank looks good. Sometimes hard to tell what is the bottom of the piece but it will adjust to how you place it. That’s a really nice piece you got

Triggreef · Feb 21, 2019

Bleigh said:
How can you tell that it is wild? I did not do a dip. Honestly, I'm so new to this, I do not even know what you mean by a dip. What does that entail?

Most reefers and or coral shops don't grow their colonies on a clam. Most of those big colonies reef shops get in large chunks and divide them up either into frags or small colonies like you got there. Many will come on live rock, or dead coral skeleton. And the price is decent considering how many you got. But whether or not its wild or maricultured it is more likely to bring in pests than say, a 3 polyp frag you bought from a friend. There's more space to hide. I mean, you missed that there was a clam in the middle of the zoas, so what else might there be? lol

You should research bayer advanced as a dip, and there are other good ones actually made for corals (bayer is not). But a 5 minute dip will rid your new purchases of most pests (although generally not eggs). Zoas are one of the most pest infested corals there are. Zoa nudis, zoa spiders, flatworms, etc. Some will eat your zoas, some others are just unsightly pests.

Also as a rule of thumb, anything wild or maricultured, is used to pristine conditions. Verses something thats been living and growing and multiplying in various tanks for several years being slowly conditioned (probably not purposefully) to accept slight changes in water parameters. Just something else to think about.

Triggreef · Feb 21, 2019

One that I recently got to try, haven't really used it yet. https://www.uwcmn.com/expel-coral-cleanse

Bleigh · Feb 21, 2019

Triggreef said:
Most reefers and or coral shops don't grow their colonies on a clam. Most of those big colonies reef shops get in large chunks and divide them up either into frags or small colonies like you got there. Many will come on live rock, or dead coral skeleton. And the price is decent considering how many you got. But whether or not its wild or maricultured it is more likely to bring in pests than say, a 3 polyp frag you bought from a friend. There's more space to hide. I mean, you missed that there was a clam in the middle of the zoas, so what else might there be? lol

You should research bayer advanced as a dip, and there are other good ones actually made for corals (bayer is not). But a 5 minute dip will rid your new purchases of most pests (although generally not eggs). Zoas are one of the most pest infested corals there are. Zoa nudis, zoa spiders, flatworms, etc. Some will eat your zoas, some others are just unsightly pests.

Also as a rule of thumb, anything wild or maricultured, is used to pristine conditions. Verses something thats been living and growing and multiplying in various tanks for several years being slowly conditioned (probably not purposefully) to accept slight changes in water parameters. Just something else to think about.

Thank you for the information! I honestly had no idea. I will be putting a coral dip on my shopping list. Hopefully it doesn't cause me a problem. But this is the exact reason I haven't upgraded to a larger tank yet. I want to make sure I figure out all the kinks before I drop a huge sum of money and screw things up.

I also didn't get a real good look at the coral in the store. I'm friends with the LFS owner and he picked it out for me. I think he knew there was an oyster in it, but I may be wrong. They opened up right away, too. I'll keep a super close eye on them and water parameters. Do you know about how long it would take to know if they're happy?

Scrubber_steve · Feb 21, 2019

Bleigh said:
I opened the lid and tighter still when I poked it.

uhgster1 · Feb 21, 2019

It’s a clam and it’s not going to hurt anything. I had a similar experience and I watched it grow as the colony did. As a matter in fact there were three of them They filter feed so you don’t have to worry about feeding it. It’s just another cool surprise you’re going to see once in a while.

Triggreef · Feb 21, 2019

Bleigh said:
Thank you for the information! I honestly had no idea. I will be putting a coral dip on my shopping list. Hopefully it doesn't cause me a problem. But this is the exact reason I haven't upgraded to a larger tank yet. I want to make sure I figure out all the kinks before I drop a huge sum of money and screw things up.

I also didn't get a real good look at the coral in the store. I'm friends with the LFS owner and he picked it out for me. I think he knew there was an oyster in it, but I may be wrong. They opened up right away, too. I'll keep a super close eye on them and water parameters. Do you know about how long it would take to know if they're happy?

Easiest to find pests at night with a flashlight. Zoa nudi tend to match the skirts of zoas they are eating, and blend in. They are tiny and can look like little pieces of zoa skirt, which is why they can be easy to miss. With any luck your store did the hard work for you, some do some don't. I only brought up the possibility because I've gotten a colony like this and it was loaded with them. I pass on these since then because even after multiple dips I was still getting more and more out. Yours could be perfectly pest free.

Scrubber_steve · Feb 21, 2019

Clams are filter feeders, removing dissolved organics - & virulent bacteria from the water.

Bleigh · Feb 21, 2019

Triggreef said:
Easiest to find pests at night with a flashlight. Zoa nudi tend to match the skirts of zoas they are eating, and blend in. They are tiny and can look like little pieces of zoa skirt, which is why they can be easy to miss. With any luck your store did the hard work for you, some do some don't. I only brought up the possibility because I've gotten a colony like this and it was loaded with them. I pass on these since then because even after multiple dips I was still getting more and more out. Yours could be perfectly pest free.

Well, you are the zoa addict! I'll ask him if he dips the corals tomorrow. If not, I'll chastise him!

Either way, I'll get my own dip for the future. I'd hate to mess something up because someone else got lazy.

I'll google some pictures and go check for them in a bit.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 21, 2019

Looks like clam or oyster , yes and seems common amongst zoa as I too have them. They are filter feeders and harmless. If you don't want it there, you can pull with tweezers or inject with Kalk paste

Bleigh · Feb 21, 2019

vetteguy53081 said:
Looks like clam or oyster , yes and seems common amongst zoa as I too have them. They are filter feeders and harmless. If you don't want it there, you can pull with tweezers or inject with Kalk paste

No I totally want it since it's not going to cause a problem.

I was SO excited when I saw it. Just felt special.

I wanted to know what to do to keep it healthy too. I used putty to anchor it, and didn't know if it would prefer to move. I'm not sure if it has a foot or what. If it did, I was afraid I may have harmed it.