New Blue Africans

[Pufferpunk]

I bought these 2 kinds of blue "African" zoas last week:

Both are in different parts of my tank. I have great flow with a SeaSwirl. Not too high towards the T5s. Both have long, stretching stalks that turn brown & crusty-looking, then they fall off. I spoke to another person that bought these from the same shop & he's having the same problem with them. Everything else in our tanks are thriving. Any ideas?

 

[Stixbaraca]

From what I heard from one vendor...who saw these zoos at the wholesaler...they looked doomed from the start, and most likely has nothing to do with your tank/conditions/params.

 

[Randy]

Was there any rock attached to the base of the zoas or are they glued to the rock by the stalk?

 

[jessiesgrrl]

From what I heard from one vendor...who saw these zoos at the wholesaler...they looked doomed from the start, and most likely has nothing to do with your tank/conditions/params.

What's the story on it, Stix? I would have bought them too!


Laurie

 

[Stixbaraca]

Miguel had said earlier that when he saw them at the wholesaler...he turned the rocks over, and they all looked very bad from underneath. I think another one of our sponsors had the same experience.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Huh. That's weird... I hope it wasn't a condition endemic to that area of collection- preferably trauma from shipping... Gives me the heebie jeebies when areas of thew world go downhill...


Laurie

 

[Stixbaraca]

Maybe Miguel can chime in and let us know what he saw, or if I took him out of context.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Was there any rock attached to the base of the zoas or are they glued to the rock by the stalk?

All but 1 stalk were attached to rock. I glued that stalk on seperately--that was the 1st one to go.

The stalks are very long & thick. Covered in some kinda green/brown wrinkley skin, like elephant legs.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Maybe Miguel can chime in and let us know what he saw, or if I took him out of context.

Nah, I trust ya! "Serve and Protect" you know...
<giggle>
Laurie

 

[organism]

yeah, that was pretty much exactly what I saw at the main supplier that got these in, all of the tops of the zoos looked fine, but the stalks were brown and rotted, they had about 90 or so colonies and I couldn't find a single one that looked like it was worth anything more than $5 to see if it would survive...

if anyone sees these, definitely check the stalks beforehand, I think that what happened is that since they flew from africa, there was a much higher ammonia content in the bag that killed them off slowly, since I've seen zoos do the same thing when they're in a tank that's crashing

 

[organism]

actually, pufferpunk that bottom picture on there showing the stems is exactly what I mean, they definitely have that rotted out look unfortunately...

 

[Stixbaraca]

It's a shame so many colonies will be lost...maybe they will figure a better way to transport such a distance.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Especially, when selling these for $15/head!

 

[ecotoxlady]

Sorry to hear about this. Let us know what happens with yours pufferpunk!

 

[Pufferpunk]

Yeah & they were so pretty... I just called the shop & told them to look here.

 

[Mr.Firemouth]

Gateway Aquatics is selling them for $45 per polyp. I bought a 3 polyp frag of really blue ones and 2 polyps let go of their superglue bond leaving me with 1 polyp. I hope like crazy that the surviving polyp will last and spread!

 

[Pufferpunk]

How does the stem look?

 

[Pufferpunk]

I just spoke to the shop I bought these from. Says everyone that bought them is raving about how nice they are. He even took some home & they're doing great. Here are before & 1 week later pics:

They're almost gone... A friend who's a wholesaler saw them at his supplier's. They were offering him huge colonies of them for $50 to get them outta there before they all died on them.

 

[SaltyJeff]

Hey Jeni,
(ANJHOF from RC here)Mine are still dying. I emailed Dave, but I have not heard back yet. I would say only a couple out of the 50 or so polyps that were on the rock still have a chance. The rest are shrivled up into nothing.
We'll see what he says.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Are yours getting that green/brown crust on the stems? I called Dave & he said you should call him too.