Unhappy Utter Chaos - Suggestions

[Christopher Poore]

Hello all. My utter Chaos were doing amazing once initially purchased, and went from 1p to 4p almost over night. Suddenly the original head has shriveled up tremendously and growth has slowed. I have it next to other zoa's that are flourishing and for some reason it's the only one that looks terrible. Any suggestions?

I've tried moving it around, but I may be moving it too often.

Another issue is I recently reconfigured my lighting setup, and It's hard for me to figure out exactly what % I should be running the lights at. Maybe it's getting too much light? Or too little? shrug..

 

[CodyRVA]

Try to match the lighting. They're just zoas so they will adapt, but you don't want to stress them too much. I almost always put new corals on my sand bed for a week or two to acclimate, then move them accordingly. Unless they were housed by the previous owner in intense light, sandbed is best. Too much light will kill quicker than too little. Considering the other zoas are doing fine, this leads me to rule out your chemistry.

And as you alluded to moving them too much, be patient. See what happens. Not all of the polyps are closed, just the one. I have large 50+ polyp colonies and for seemingly no reason half could be closed up. Unless they all close and remain closed, they should come around.

 

[Christopher Poore]

Try to match the lighting. They're just zoas so they will adapt, but you don't want to stress them too much. I almost always put new corals on my sand bed for a week or two to acclimate, then move them accordingly. Unless they were housed by the previous owner in intense light, sandbed is best. Too much light will kill quicker than too little. Considering the other zoas are doing fine, this leads me to rule out your chemistry.

And as you alluded to moving them too much, be patient. See what happens. Not all of the polyps are closed, just the one. I have large 50+ polyp colonies and for seemingly no reason half could be closed up. Unless they all close and remain closed, they should come around.

Thank you for the quick response! I will leave it be there for now and see what happens. I don't know why the main head is the one having the issue and the fact that other zoa's near by are doing great is quite annoying lol.

 

[CodyRVA]

Thank you for the quick response! I will leave it be there for now and see what happens. I don't know why the main head is the one having the issue and the fact that other zoa's near by are doing great is quite annoying lol.

That's coral for ya, they have a mind of their own. I've had zoas melt right next to others that turned into huge colonies.