Most zoas are closed! Help

[Gatling]

All my zoas are slowly closing. Here are some pics before I explain more on tank parameters.

All of them looked so nice a few weeks ago. Slowly they've been degrading. Only recent change is that I lowered my UV spectrum from 80 to 40.

Temp: 80f
Salinity: 1.024
Dkh: 7.0
Mag: 1300
Calcium: 450 ish

I just did a 25% water change yesterday too. I'm not sure what my nitrates are but I have algae growing on the glass and sand bed every day so it's not 0. I also run chemipure elite for phosphates.

What should I do? Any thoughts?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Change has awful effect. Try increasing flow a tad and bumping UV to 60 and see if improvement.
Closing up not abnormal but not for extended period of time

 

[Coralreefer1]

You need to remove the algae growth on many of your closed polyps or they won’t open up and eventually die.
Increase water flow and see how that works. It is best to make changes slowly and perform one change at a time to better determine if that scenario was the issue or not for the closing of your polyps.

 

[Gatling]

You need to remove the algae growth on many of your closed polyps or they won’t open up and eventually die.
Increase water flow and see how that works. It is best to make changes slowly and perform one change at a time to better determine if that scenario was the issue or not for the closing of your polyps.

I use a pipette to blow off the algae that accumulates on the heads. Other than the lighting issue, I almost never change anything around in the tank. Work has got me so busy that I wake up before my lights turn on and come home when they're almost off, just enough time to feed the fish. I really hope my zoas will open up soon.

I only have zoas but I dont want to buy other types of corals if I cant even keep my zoas healthy..

 

[bigmike69]

I use a pipette to blow off the algae that accumulates on the heads. Other than the lighting issue, I almost never change anything around in the tank. Work has got me so busy that I wake up before my lights turn on and come home when they're almost off, just enough time to feed the fish. I really hope my zoas will open up soon.

I only have zoas but I dont want to buy other types of corals if I cant even keep my zoas healthy..

Going through the same thing, Was open initially had them for 3 days now

 

[Gatling]

Going through the same thing, Was open initially had them for 3 days now

I think the culprit is summer heat. I lied about my temperature as it was recorded incorrectly.

Temp: 83f

My LFS manager told me thats when he goes into 'panic' mode to bring the temp down. My room temperature is around that so it has been hard to bring the temp down. I used a fan to blow air over the top of the aquarium to lower the temp. It is now 80/81f and my corals look somewhat better.

I've been reading posts where people have had no issues keeping corals at 83f but like I said my LFS said its very bad. Has anyone else had problems at 83f?

 

[bigmike69]

I think the culprit is summer heat. I lied about my temperature as it was recorded incorrectly.

Temp: 83f

My LFS manager told me thats when he goes into 'panic' mode to bring the temp down. My room temperature is around that so it has been hard to bring the temp down. I used a fan to blow air over the top of the aquarium to lower the temp. It is now 80/81f and my corals look somewhat better.

I've been reading posts where people have had no issues keeping corals at 83f but like I said my LFS said its very bad. Has anyone else had problems at 83f?

My temp is at 78f still hasn't opened. I'll wait a week or so. I think it might be phosphates, my water is too clean 0 phosphate, 8.2 ph, 1450 mag, 450 calc, salinity 1.025, nitrites 0

 

[Gatling]

My temp is at 78f still hasn't opened. I'll wait a week or so. I think it might be phosphates, my water is too clean 0 phosphate, 8.2 ph, 1450 mag, 450 calc, salinity 1.025, nitrites 0

How big is your tank? I have a 13.5 gallon Evo so my nitrates are intrinsically low but my zoas do well. I feed my 3 fish twice a day but not sure how heavy I feed as I have nothing to compare my feeding habits to. When my temp drops to 78, my zoas look amazing. Sometimes algae grows on the zoa heads and you need to blow them off with a pipette or syringe.

Try feeding your fish heavier or get reef roids and spot feed the zoas. People say this doesn't really work for zoas but they get the nitrates higher up.

 

[whitelightning77]

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.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

I think the culprit is summer heat. I lied about my temperature as it was recorded incorrectly.

Temp: 83f

My LFS manager told me thats when he goes into 'panic' mode to bring the temp down. My room temperature is around that so it has been hard to bring the temp down. I used a fan to blow air over the top of the aquarium to lower the temp. It is now 80/81f and my corals look somewhat better.

I've been reading posts where people have had no issues keeping corals at 83f but like I said my LFS said its very bad. Has anyone else had problems at 83f?

I've never had issues with 83 but in my case I've been able to lower it before it causes damage. I simply bought a 10$ desk fan and mounted it to the wall.. it lowered my tank to about 77.5 average even on a 85° day however you will need to watch your ato a fan increases evaporation to a crazy speed I go through a 2.5 gallon jug of rodi (filled to about 2 gallons) every 2 or 3 days! I keep my fan on 24/7 though

 

[Gatling]

I've never had issues with 83 but in my case I've been able to lower it before it causes damage. I simply bought a 10$ desk fan and mounted it to the wall.. it lowered my tank to about 77.5 average even on a 85° day however you will need to watch your ato a fan increases evaporation to a crazy speed I go through a 2.5 gallon jug of rodi (filled to about 2 gallons) every 2 or 3 days! I keep my fan on 24/7 though

Yep, I am well aware my ATO will drain faster. I have a desk fan just blowing over the top of the water. My corals are slowly opening heads one by one so I think it was definitely the temperature. It looked very bad at 83f. Not sure why some people dont have it as bad as others

 

[bigmike69]

How big is your tank? I have a 13.5 gallon Evo so my nitrates are intrinsically low but my zoas do well. I feed my 3 fish twice a day but not sure how heavy I feed as I have nothing to compare my feeding habits to. When my temp drops to 78, my zoas look amazing. Sometimes algae grows on the zoa heads and you need to blow them off with a pipette or syringe.

Try feeding your fish heavier or get reef roids and spot feed the zoas. People say this doesn't really work for zoas but they get the nitrates higher up.

I got a 20 gallon long. I started feeding heavier with frozen mysis and brine. Hope that works out

 

[bigmike69]

I got a 20 gallon long. I started feeding heavier with frozen mysis and brine. Hope that works out

Forgot to mention, my other palys are opened up and well. Its just odd that one colony is closed....

 

[Gatling]

Forgot to mention, my other palys are opened up and well. Its just odd that one colony is closed....

Oh if its just one colony, its probably not your tank parameters. Probably irritated somehow (check for nudis or parasites). Not sure why it would be closed. Anyone else got suggestions?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Check for bugs underneath plug. If none present, As long as you have the plug out, dip it in Hydrogen Peroxide. They respond well to it.

Also add a little Iodine to the tank occasionally

 

[bigmike69]

Check for bugs underneath plug. If none present, As long as you have the plug out, dip it in Hydrogen Peroxide. They respond well to it.

Also add a little Iodine to the tank occasionally

I've done the hydrogen peroxide dip in the beginning, nothing came out. my lfs always dips there coral so im pretty good on the pest part. I think it might be just stress, since i recently gotten them

 

[bigmike69]

Yep, I am well aware my ATO will drain faster. I have a desk fan just blowing over the top of the water. My corals are slowly opening heads one by one so I think it was definitely the temperature. It looked very bad at 83f. Not sure why some people dont have it as bad as others

Try dosing iodine it worked for me

 

[vetteguy53081]

I've done the hydrogen peroxide dip in the beginning, nothing came out. my lfs always dips there coral so im pretty good on the pest part. I think it might be just stress, since i recently gotten them

Didn't realize new and yes that can happen. Other than peroxide, iodine dip works. Also fanning with a turkey baster works.

 

[bigmike69]

Didn't realize new and yes that can happen. Other than peroxide, iodine dip works. Also fanning with a turkey baster works.

I see... So far I've done hydrogen peroxide and iodine. Nothing happened. Will try the turkey baster which im assuming is to push the tank water to open up?

 

[Gatling]

I see... So far I've done hydrogen peroxide and iodine. Nothing happened. Will try the turkey baster which im assuming is to push the tank water to open up?

Not quite, you don't want to think of it that way. We can't manually open the heads and if we do, it can greatly damage the corals (at least to my knowledge).

The turkey baster is usually used to blow off any algae that is covering the heads. You don't wanna blow it too much though as it can irritate the corals more.