Weird Zoa behavior

Thespammailaccount · Apr 9, 2020

I have found that my zoas do the best with high flow they also grow closer together in high flow. I noticed a few frags looking like yours when the colonies started to grow and some did not get the flow they needed. Some of my zoas. The darker photo is the plugs I had to furan 2 dip not too long ago. They get mad for a week or so and lose some color but come back strong and bright again

murphys_aquatics · Apr 9, 2020

bcarl77 said:

You can use Furan 2 as a dip for zoas. Usually if mine are all balled up and not opening and or losing polyps cause of closure. I dip them with the furan 2. My buddy Dave RIP did a YouTube video on it..

Also something noticeable in your comments you describe not being able to grow chaeto. Could be low phosphates or low iron. I dose Iodine regularly but not much and see no illaffects.

Do you know what your phosphate levels are?

bcarl77 · Apr 9, 2020

Phosphates range between .2ppm and .3ppm (Hanna Checker). Nitrates are roughty 8-16ppm. The lack of macro algae growth is what makes me think it could be a water deficiency issue. I would put a fresh ball of Chaeto under a Kessil H160, dimmed for 8 hours and it dissolves in less than a week. Tried Ulva and it seems to do okay, doesn't grow much at all.

murphys_aquatics · Apr 10, 2020

bcarl77 said:
Phosphates range between .2ppm and .3ppm (Hanna Checker). Nitrates are roughty 8-16ppm. The lack of macro algae growth is what makes me think it could be a water deficiency issue. I would put a fresh ball of Chaeto under a Kessil H160, dimmed for 8 hours and it dissolves in less than a week. Tried Ulva and it seems to do okay, doesn't grow much at all.

Yeah you definitely have plenty of phosphates..lol probably water deficiency. I'm sure you'll figure it out just keep trying things. To get back on the subject of iodine. I'm pretty sure that's one of the only things zoas do consume at least thats what use to be targeted .... element wise for Ziad. Maybe old new by now idk

bcarl77 · Apr 10, 2020

I mean literally every other corals are doing well... Still waiting on the ICP

Thespammailaccount · Apr 10, 2020

bcarl77 said:
I mean literally every other corals are doing well... Still waiting on the ICP

They say they are easy corals but they are the only corals in my tank I have had to do anything extra with

bcarl77 · Apr 11, 2020

The only thing that I can point to is increased phosphate level. I recently beat some cyano and now I have been showing higher levels. SPS and LPS look great so not sure if this is the issue.

Crashnt24 · Apr 11, 2020

bcarl77 said:
The other very weird thing about this is I cannot grow Chaeto at all. I am using a Kessil 160, partially turned down each night for about 8 hours. Melts away every single time.

Run your fuge lighting for 14 hours. 8 hours isn't long enough IMO

bcarl77 · Apr 12, 2020

Added a small amount of GFO to get the phosphate closer to .1ppm. I know vitamin c was big a few years ago has that been debunked?

bcarl77 · Apr 13, 2020

Triton Lab Showroom - Explore this water test results and click on the image above.

Someone wants to show you the water test results and shared this link to the evaluation. Click on the image above to explore the water test results.

www.triton-lab.de

bcarl77 · Apr 13, 2020

Wow, my Mg test kit is WAY off..... 1620ppm. No need for iodine dosing or K either. Wouldn't the high Mg explain why the chaeto just dies too?

bcarl77 · Apr 14, 2020

So I retested the Mg of the tank after a 30% and 15% water change since this ICP test and got 1440ppm so I will continue to bring this back down. I think the iodine is also way to high so no more trace colors or lugols, tank has no need.

bcarl77 · Apr 27, 2020

Not much improvement here. Worked the phosphates down to .08ppm. Lost another head of pink diamonds in the same manner. All other corals still look good.

bcarl77 · Apr 27, 2020

muzikalmatt · Apr 27, 2020

I think I had something similar happen with my zoas back in October of last year. Then the same thing happened to the same colony in the past month or so. I can't say for sure, but I think it's a part of their growing process to spread along the rock work. The past few times it's happened they've always returned back to normal within a week or so. However, I've only seen it with this particular colony of zoas; none of my other zoas have done this before.

Here they were back in October when they were "umbrella-ing":

Here's how they looked several days later in October '19:

Here they are a few days ago:

Pablopufferfish · Apr 27, 2020

bcarl77 said:
So I retested the Mg of the tank after a 30% and 15% water change since this ICP test and got 1440ppm so I will continue to bring this back down. I think the iodine is also way to high so no more trace colors or lugols, tank has no need.

That level of mag is good, I wouldn’t recommend lowering it anymore than 1350ppm. This is my from experience only, please listen to others though.

bcarl77 · Apr 27, 2020

Pablopufferfish said:
That level of mag is good, I wouldn’t recommend lowering it anymore than 1350ppm. This is my from experience only, please listen to others though.

I really don't trust the red sea Mg test kit. I have a salfiert on the way.... Not dosing any Mg.

bcarl77 · May 6, 2020

Still not much change here. I have implemented the following:
-Lowered light levels
-New bucket of salt
-New DI Resin and Filters (Old DI was depleted)
-Resumed Seachem Fuel
-Dosing Stronium (to increase the level back to NSW, was low on ICP)

If no improvements within the next week I will send in another ICP and see how it looks. Water parameters:
KH: 8.6
Ca: 440
N: 8-12 ppm
P: .08-.1ppm
Mg: TBD

Still could be bacterial or fungal.

I did notice my Grape Coral (Cristata) has not looked to happy lately, I have it under roughly 150 PAR and it may be too much light.

bcarl77 · May 6, 2020

I have noticed my Alk/Ca consumption cut in half from the first 1-3months of the tank, I figure this is related to less coral line growth now that most of the live rock is covered. I have noted some coralline bleaching in some spots as well, which I found interesting.