Losing Some Zoas

[hit_the_gap]

Hi Everyone,
over the past few weeks, i have noticed some of my zoas disapearing. i had several polyps of electric umpa lumpas, and several polyps of cherry pie zoas. my salinity has been pretty stable at 1.025/1.026. my alk is usually around 9 but has gone up recently to around 11. My Ca is usually around 400, but i didnt realize that my Ca doser was empty and it dropped down to 340. i am working to getting things back to "stable" regarding my dosing. the only other changes that have happend over the past few weeks is temp changes (meaning its getting warmer in my house). my tank temp is around 80 degrees. it is normally around 77/78 degrees.

I have good flow, no visible pests picking on them and no fish preditors. i am down to 1 cherry pie and 1 electric umpa polyps. can i do anything (i.e. dip them, move them, etc) to ensure they survive? all of my other corals (sps, LPS, and other zoas are doign just fine).

 

[cloak]

Are they melting, or literally disappearing right before your eyes?

 

[joshporksandwich]

Once everything is back to the way you had it before they should go back. When corals are very happy any changes throws them off.

 

[glb]

And sometimes they melt away for no apparent reason whatsoever. Lol

 

[that Reef Guy]

You See any Zoa POX?

 

[kevinsmixed90]

if the ones you have left don't look happy after restoring water parameters, you may want to quarantine them after dipping them so you don't lose the rest.
just a thought.

 

[hit_the_gap]

No zoa pox or anything like that (that i can see). i would say they are melting. i was thinking about dipping the remaining zoas (which are pretty much closed).

 

[4FordFamily]

I do not do well with zoanthids... I used to do great I don't know what changed. As a beginner I could keep zoas!

 

[glb]

Zoas are funny. They're supposed to be one of the easiest corals to grow but I haven't had great luck with them.

 

[hit_the_gap]

I dipped the two remaining zoas last night and repositioned them to a new spot (calmer location and closer to the light). The remaining zoas looked good, but just closed up. Hopefully they open up for me in the next day or two and then repopulate!

 

[kevinsmixed90]

melting Zsas

I looked back over your original post and wondered two things. your temp went from 77 to 80. how fast and is it still rising? and I didn't notice a magnesium reading. in my experience, mag. concentrations between 1280 and 1350 have my Zoas fully open and spreading fastest.
hope this helps.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I looked back over your original post and wondered two things. your temp went from 77 to 80. how fast and is it still rising? and I didn't notice a magnesium reading. in my experience, mag. concentrations between 1280 and 1350 have my Zoas fully open and spreading fastest.
hope this helps.

My Magnesium is 1500 and I have not noticed any problems with my Zoanthids but I am worried about long term effects.

Anybody have long term success with Zoanthids and a Higher Magnesium Level?

I know people say Chalices Love High Magnesium but I have not heard anything about Zoanthids.

 

[hit_the_gap]

my mag is typically in the 1300-1400 range. never below 1300. i have never dosed mag, just do my weekly water changes. We had some higher than normal temps last week (for Baltimore MD), but this zoa issue was noticed about 2-3 weeks ago when the temps were normal (around 78 degrees). In the winter my tank temp stays around 77 degrees. in the summer it stays around 80. I find i am running the AC much more in the summer to try to keep my tank temps resonable. I will eventally get a chiller. my wife gets ****** when i tell her to turn the AC on b/c she knows i am only doing it for the fish tank!

 

[luke33]

I wouldn't worry to much about the temp swing or lower calc. Things I have noticed about zoa issue's are the following: 1) Astrea stars are the devil 2) High alk always caused issues with keeping zoa's, always the 7-9 range 3) to much light and they shrink up and melt away.

Also to note I have success with zoa's in a "dirty" tank as well as extremely clean tank.

From what I saw above it looks like the alk moving up to 11. Get it back down to the 9 and keep it stable for month and things should stop receeding and stabilize. Then a month later you'll get growth again. When your zoa's get shocked, it takes them a couple months to recover and really start growing well again ime.

 

[hit_the_gap]

Thanks for your help luke. I have stopped dosing alk and it is slowly coming down. I need to pay more attention to my alk (especially when i mix up a new doseage). That is usually where my problems begin. The concentrations of the alk i make always seems to be inconsistent and i end up having to dial back my dosing pumps, etc.

 

[luke33]

Yep, one of the biggest challenges in the hobby, besides patience is consistent conditions. I think if people just worried about there water quality to be consistent and less on the latest led or skimmer or powerhead we would have much more successful hobbyists. I think once you get your dosing down you'll be good to go

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Hope your zoa will stop melting soon after you get everything back to normal Good luck!!

-YK

 

[glb]

My Magnesium is 1500 and I have not noticed any problems with my Zoanthids but I am worried about long term effects.

Anybody have long term success with Zoanthids and a Higher Magnesium Level?

I know people say Chalices Love High Magnesium but I have not heard anything about Zoanthids.

My mg is usually 1380 and my zoas are growing like crazy.

 

[ZoaCollector]

If it's not melting and they're just disappearing, it could be predator. You have any tangs? My yellow tang munched up a lot Zoas only when I wasn't looking. I caught him in the act watching from afar. Also high mag is helpful to Zoas. But I've only been able to achieve it with Kent tech m. Keep my levels around 1400-1450. Especially with PE or people eater variety. Zoanthus Gigantus large nickel to quarter sized polyps!

 

[Vividgraphx]

check for Asterina stars. I found that they were eating my zoas and found a few on some palys.