In December I moved to a new house with well water. Corals were happy until I started doing water changes. I use a 4 stage rodi system. My corals were roughly 3-4years old and all of them have died or been closed up and nothing i do has changed that. The only thing that has changed is my water source. I took an ICP test and everything came back good except for 200ppm silicon.
Has anyone had this experience before? The problem must be the water but idk how. My mushroom is about gone, zoas have been closed for a long time, and my GSP which was doing amazing has died. The tank had 2 clowns and a shrimp and one clown also died and the other isn't doing well. I think it has a parasite. Im lost and looking for some kind of answers.
I have well and have a whole house filter, Water softener and then RODI unit.
On zoas and shrooms, Zoas must have iodide, not iodine in their water and under moderate light and water flow. They seem to do best in the lower half to third of the tank in an area of low-medium to medium-high flow. Too much flow may make it hard for the polyps to open. You will know your zoanthids are ‘happy’ if they open up and are fully extended without seeming to stretch so far upright.. The majority of zoanthids have symbiotic photosynthetic zooxanthellae (I dare you to try and say that three times quickly) and are therefore best kept with at least moderate aquarium lighting as mentioned for production of zooxanthele.
Zoanthids require the standard water parameters that are good for keeping just about any of your corals healthy. You’re aiming for water temperature about 78 F, salinity somewhere around 1.025 specific gravity) and normal hardness 8-11 dKH) and a pH around 8.1-8.3.
However, if your polyps were previously open and have recently closed up, this should be taken as a serious sign of a water parameters issue. The first things I would check are ph and salinity. In my experience, zoas will close up if there are swings in salinity.
One disease that seems to disproportionately impacts these corals is something called zoa pox or zoanthid pox. Zoa pox is the name given to the zoanthid disease characterized by tiny growths on the side of the affected zoas. I’m not sure whether the growths/pustules themselves irritate the polyps and cause them to close up, or if the coral is otherwise sickly and closed up (therefore showing the zoa pox), but the bottom line is that if you see zoa pox, you have a sick coral.
Lastly, check for Super tiny spiders or nudibranchs which will take them down in No time. If you see these pests, start looking for eggs which are future pests to cause further problems. Hope this Helps !!!
