Utter Chaos Polyp not looking so hot.

[Malawi_Illinois]

I've had this Utter Chaos polyp in my 13.5 gallon Fluval Evo, and it really isnt looking too well. It is closed up, has been all day today, and appeared to be shedding this weird coat. There is no ammonia, no phosphates, nitrates, nitrites, however, the PH was at a low 7.0, and instantly I put in a buffer. The water was only that low in ph for a day, as I had just done a large water change to sift detritus out of the sand and lower the nitrate levels to combat a cyanobacteria problem. I have GFO running in a phosban media reactor. It was fine last night, and today it looked like this. I lowered the lights to try and combat stress and put it in direct flow because it looked like there was debris caught around it keeping it from opening (the polyp). No other corals in my tank (trumpets, mushrooms, zoas) are exhibiting any problems.

I feed the corals Goniopower every so often as well.

 

[WV Reefer]

I've had this Utter Chaos polyp in my 13.5 gallon Fluval Evo, and it really isnt looking too well. It is closed up, has been all day today, and appeared to be shedding this weird coat. There is no ammonia, no phosphates, nitrates, nitrites, however, the PH was at a low 7.0, and instantly I put in a buffer. The water was only that low in ph for a day, as I had just done a large water change to sift detritus out of the sand and lower the nitrate levels to combat a cyanobacteria problem. I have GFO running in a phosban media reactor. It was fine last night, and today it looked like this. I lowered the lights to try and combat stress and put it in direct flow because it looked like there was debris caught around it keeping it from opening (the polyp). No other corals in my tank (trumpets, mushrooms, zoas) are exhibiting any problems.

I feed the corals Goniopower every so often as well.

It’s not uncommon for zoas to stay closed sometimes. You may have made it angry with the changes in water chemistry. I would keep the algae blown off and hopefully it will open back up.

How long have you had the zoa and how old is the tank?

In the beginning I couldn’t keep a zoa to save my life!

 

[Malawi_Illinois]

It’s not uncommon for zoas to stay closed sometimes. You may have made it angry with the changes in water chemistry. I would keep the algae blown off and hopefully it will open back up.

How long have you had the zoa and how old is the tank?

In the beginning I couldn’t keep a zoa to save my life!

We have had the tank now for about 8 months, and the polyp in specific for about 2 months. It has been opening every day since we purchased it, however, it has not made any changes that made it appear as if it were growing. I use Omega premium reef salt for my water changes. I wonder if it's an ok brand.

 

[biophilia]

I've found that the utter chaos palys in my tank are pretty resilient and grow very quickly with good coloration providing there is some detectable nitrate and phosphate in my water and that magnesium isn't too depressed (above 1300ppm or so). The polyp is most likely just in shock from the sudden pH swing and will probably recover and open in a few days if you let it be.

On a side note, It's almost impossible that your pH was actually 7.0 unless you accidentally overdosed vinegar or something similar. Even in well-insulated homes with high CO2 levels, it's really hard to get pH below 7.7-7.8. I'm betting your test kit is bad. Generally, chasing the pH of a reef tank is a recipe for headache and is not needed if using a quality salt mix.

 

[Malawi_Illinois]

Update: They paly has since been destroyed and we have replaced our salt mix with Tropic Marin and the PH came out to a solid 8.0-8.2 so it was definitely our salt that was the issue. One of our not-so-great LFS sold it to us while it was sitting next to a much better product that was actually what we would have needed. After changing the water out, all of the other zoanthids seem to be thriving.