My zoas look odd, is there something wrong with them?

[prsnlty]

I am new to zoa keeping and haven't seen how they grow/spread personally. Below if a picture of the Fire and Ice frag when I first got it with 5 polups. My concern is in the second picture. They have come apart from the tight group and are now 7 heads with what seems to be a few more starting to grow. However, they seem to be stretching upward and their heads don't open all the way in the past week. They are in great lighting (AI Sol Blues) about 25" from the lenses. Are they supposed look this way as they grow or is something wrong with their behavour?

 

[prsnlty]

Sorry about some of the blurriness, my phone camera isn't that great with close ups.

 

[Akwarius]

Stretching in zoas is usually an indication of light deprivation. I would move them up slightly and reassess.

 

[prsnlty]

Thank you I was afraid to put them higher as I'm concerned about burning them. I have had them for a little over a month, maybe 2, and were fine until this past week when I noticed stretching and the heads not openeing all the way. But, It seemed to start a day or 2 after I fed the tank reef snow.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Do you feed them ?

 

[prsnlty]

Do you feed them ?

Yes I do. Reef snow and zooplankton. I broadcast reef snow once a week to the whole tank and leave the PHs off overnight that day and feed zoo directly 2 times per week. The frag started with 5 polyps and now has 7 plus 4 new polyps are beginning to show up. Their heads don't open all the way as you can see in the second picture. Barely a ring of red is visible and I no longer see the blue ring inside as well. I do add AA to the tank as well, so I don't think that's it either.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

If anything, they look like they might be getting a bit too much PAR as they don't appear to be fully opened. IME, if lacking light, they are usually huge and fully extended. If you were to move them, I would go lower into a lower PAR area. Depending on your AI settings, 25" below can be a lot of PAR. Here's a reference...

I have personally bleached a lot of corals over the years underestimating the PAR generated by AIs.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

To clarify - My AIs are older and are fitted with 40 degree optics. Assuming yours are newer, you've got a mix of 40 and 70 degree optics. As a result, you PAR values will be slightly lower.

 

[prsnlty]

Hi Tom

Thank you I just moved the zoas deeper than they were in the first place and lowered the intensity of the lights about 10%. Now to wait and see....

This is proving to quite a challenge due to the lights, being a peninsula tank and guessing light requirements. :faint2: I was thinking that the reason my nice purple/green birdsnest frag was turning white at the base and got real skinny was due to an Alk spike. I moved it to about 20" from the light lenses yesterday (almost to the bottom) and today it's fat and the colors are better. I moved my torch from the bottom 70* shadows, up and in between the 40s and 70s rays and it is green again seemingly happy. My pink finger leather however, doesn't extend. It's staying fat and short but isn't bleaching. I was told that reaching for leathers is due to not enough light but it isn't fingering out anymore. On the other hand my toadstool is suddenly huge under the 40s at the same depth. They are about 6" under the surface. You just gave me a great idea for a discussion that I will pass to you if you haven't though of it already....

Since so many people are getting these and other LEDs and PAR is probably different in the vast variety of LED lighting, Maybe now we should find out at what PAR levels individual types of corals prefer. When you look up a coral for their care all you see is for example: "moderate, high, low" and such. Well, that is a broad statement these days... Maybe people with PAR meters could input what worked for them and at what depths (distance from lenses), LEDs they used for each of their individual corals. Possibly turn it into a sticky? It may save tons of corals from dieing. Since PAR is the main constant in the issue of LEDs. Just a thought....

Jackie

 

[prsnlty]

You were right Tom! :roll: They are getting their color back and opening up more already.
Thanks!