Unhappy zoas

[Gtinnel]

So about 3 weeks ago I bought around 20 frags from another user on here. It was a little bit of everything ranging from zoas to acros. I dipped all of the corals before putting them in my tank and I placed all of them on a diy frag rack that I have in my display tank. By the next morning all of the corals looked happy except for a rasta zoa frag. I would see polyps open on it but it never had all of the polyps open at once. It seemed like throughout the day different polyps would open and close. I think that it was getting too much light so yesterday I moved it to a shaded part of the tank and by this morning all of the polyps were finally open.
My question is that for the 3 weeks where it looked unhappy it still grew 2 new polyps. Is it common for a zoa to be in a condition where it doesn't open up but still grow?

 

[Saltyreef]

So about 3 weeks ago I bought around 20 frags from another user on here. It was a little bit of everything ranging from zoas to acros. I dipped all of the corals before putting them in my tank and I placed all of them on a diy frag rack that I have in my display tank. By the next morning all of the corals looked happy except for a rasta zoa frag. I would see polyps open on it but it never had all of the polyps open at once. It seemed like throughout the day different polyps would open and close. I think that it was getting too much light so yesterday I moved it to a shaded part of the tank and by this morning all of the polyps were finally open.
My question is that for the 3 weeks where it looked unhappy it still grew 2 new polyps. Is it common for a zoa to be in a condition where it doesn't open up but still grow?

Yes. It happens. Some corals split or reproduce when stressed.

 

[Gtinnel]

Yes. It happens. Some corals split or reproduce when stressed.

Now that you mention it I knew that about at least anemones but is that normally true of zoanthids?

 

[Saltyreef]

Now that you mention it I knew that about at least anemones but is that normally true of zoanthids?

Well just because they are closed doesnt mean they are dying.
They have every opportunity to continue to grow new polyps while the polyps are closed.

 

[Saltyreef]

Nems and shrooms will split when stressed yes.
Zoas dont split but can continue to grow new heads when closed

 

[Gtinnel]

Well just because they are closed doesnt mean they are dying.

I wasn't worried that they were dying. If I were I would've tried to do something with them a lot sooner than 3 weeks later. I assumed if they were dying I would never see any of the polyps open.
If some slight stress encourages the creation of new polyps then I would think that moving them back to higher light would be a good idea (I'm not actually going to do that just wondering if it would cause quicker growth into a colony).

 

[Saltyreef]

Lots of variables for growth other than just light. Experimentation is your best friend.

And sometimes this sums it up......

"How exactly is a rainbow made? How exactly does a sun set? How exactly does a posi-trac rear-end on a Plymouth work?

It just does."