What happened to my Zoa

Eric Rap · Mar 11, 2020

Hey!

I started a nano tank 13.5 Fluval Evo a month ago. A week ago I added my first zoa as my tank was starting to show signs of being cycled and had diatom and green algae all over. The zoa was doing great for the past week, and yesterday I added cleanup crew (2 Troncus, 2 Nassarius) and swapped my original carbon bag out with the mini Chemi-pure Elite. I came home today from work and see my zoa is now completely closed on all heads, and the light was on all day. I am wondering if i washed the Chemi-Pure elite out well enough as i just gave it a very very brief wash.

Thank You for any help!

AquaticJamaica · Mar 11, 2020

Can you post pictures and your water parameters?

Eric Rap · Mar 11, 2020

AquaticJamaica said:
Can you post pictures and your water parameters?

Salinity- 1.026
Ammonia- 0.2
Nitrite- 0.2
Nitrate-5
PH- 8.6
Temp-78

I haven't been able to do a Alkalinity test yet. I use the Red Sea Marine Care Multi Test Kit
I have also been using Microbacter 7 since the start of my tank.

T-J · Mar 11, 2020

Could be a number of things: From parameter issues, tank being new, part of your CUC moving over them or no problem at all (My zoos tend to open/close randomly at times).

45ZoaGarden · Mar 11, 2020

Pictures and tank parameters please! Those snails won’t bother zoas. Algae and poor WC will.

Eric Rap · Mar 11, 2020

45ZoaGarden said:
Pictures and tank parameters please! Those snails won’t bother zoas. Algae and poor WC will.

I tried to get a close up. Seems like there is a little algae string/diatom on it or something. Could that be causing it? The other two heads are the largest, the smallest one just slightly opened up in the pictures now.

45ZoaGarden · Mar 11, 2020

Yes. The algae will bother them. Try cleaning them off with a baster

Eric Rap said:
I tried to get a close up. Seems like there is a little algae string/diatom on it or something. Could that be causing it? The other two heads are the largest, the smallest one just slightly opened up in the pictures now.

tankstudy · Mar 11, 2020

Eric Rap said:
Ammonia- 0.2
Nitrite- 0.2
Nitrate-5

If these numbers are accurate, it's most likely this. Your tank is still cycling. If you fix the ammonia issue, your zoa should open up again.

It may take a few days to weeks depending on how long and how much ammonia your zoa/palys have been exposedto before they open up again.

Get some bottled bacteria and pour some in. Continue to monitor the ammonia and nitrite daily until it zeros out. If you use 2-4 times the recommended amount of bottled bacteria for your tank, with just 0.2 ppm ammonia, it should zero out relatively quickly.

Eric Rap · Mar 11, 2020

tankstudy said:
If these numbers are accurate, it's most likely this. Your tank is still cycling. If you fix the ammonia issue, your zoa should open up again.

It may take a few days to weeks depending on how long and how much ammonia your zoa/palys have been exposedto before they open up again.

Get some bottled bacteria and pour some in. Continue to monitor the ammonia and nitrite daily until it zeros out. If you use 2-4 times the recommended amount of bottled bacteria for your tank, with just 0.2 ppm ammonia, it should zero out relatively quickly.

I have been using bottled Bacteria, and i have had the zoa in for over a week and it has been fine up until today. The only thing since yesterday that changed was me adding the chemi-pure and CC, which is why i thought this issue was directly related to one or both of those.