Most zoas are closed! Help

[tankstudy]

You have vermetid snails on this rock. Their webbing will cause your zoas/palys to close up when they come in contact with the webbing.

 

[whitelightning77]

I would agree with you if it was only that rack. But its slowly happening to all the colonies. Also, I noticed that the colonies are open about 85% in the morning hours to early afternoon. But then start to close up later in the day. I'm playing around with my lighting at the moment.

 

[utekevin]

Bro, I'm going through the same thing. Been going on now for over a month. They are giving me mixed signals. Like some have extended stems like they are reaching for light, while some I noticed the skirts are getting smaller, tentacles getting smaller like they are either starving or getting too much light.

I noticed that early in the day, towards the beginning of the light cycle, they are open more, but still kinda weak looking, then toward the end of the day they will close up more. The only colonies that are not affected are my nuclear green palys and my pandoras. I'll be following this post.

First 2 pics are toward the beginning of the light cycle, the last ones are later in the day.

Hey, I have similar issue. Did you find any solution? Thanks

 

[vetteguy53081]

Moderate light and subtle flow. Also, lack of feeding and low nutrients can lead to an entire colony melting down. You dont need to target feed as zoas are photosynthetic. Target feeding zoas always provides mixed results when a food falls onto their polyps. There are a number of factors why zoas close up. Some are water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider a moderate flow environment ideal but Zoanthids, like most corals, can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks. Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and ultra low nutrient conditions can lead to entire colony meltdowns. Target feeding is not a requirement as Zoanthids are photosynthetic. I have found that target feeding Zoanthids always provides mixed results, when a food particle falls onto the polyps. Also, lack of feeding and low nutrients can lead to an entire colony melting down.

Lastly, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 78-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .08
Nitrates < 10

 

[RedFrog211]

I had a colony for over a year; started as one polyp, made it to 11 polyps, before slowly melting away one by one. Never changed location or lights, and others started the same decline. I believe the issue was oxidative stress, as my light schedule was a gentle ramp all throughout the day, without any major peaks or valleys in UV/ intensity. Though the change came too late to save my initial colony, the addition of fluctuation throughout the day has saved the remaining zoa frags, and they’re currently on the mend.
Just one more thing added to the myriad of things that could be the culprit