Zoa frags sometimes open then dont.

[Willbiker]

Hi! I've had a delivery of a number of frags 12 days ago. I dipped and then added to my new frag rack which has med-low flow . I left lights off for a couple or days then slowly ramped them up over a number of days.

Of the 3 frags of zoas, 2 opened immediately, then they shut the following day while the 3rd opened. Then they all partly opened followed but all closed. It changes every day. I have my light on 100% blue but its not super powerful.

Temp is 26.6c 80f ( raised to try and beat dinos)
Salinity is 1.022 (trying to raise this slowly by topping off with saltwater)
Nitrate 10ppm (dino battle)
Phosphate 0.1ppm (dino battle)
Calcium 370ppm
Alk 7.8
Mag 1260

I've only just started dosing so will be slowing increasing the last 3 but what do you think the issue is?

Thanks

 

[Maks Reef]

Parameters aren't my preference, but are in tolerance for most corals in my opinion. One thing you should consider is really inspecting the frags at night after the lights have turned off. Let the lights turn off completely and wait and hour or two. There are a form of nudibranchs that attack zoas specifically, commonly called "zoa eating nudibranchs". They hide during the day and are quite difficult to spot sometimes. At night they come out to eat and easier to find. Something unique about them that helps find them is that they and to display the same colors as the zoas thy have been eating. So now that your lights have ben off - crank the blues all the way up and inspect each frag plug very carefully. If you see any color, use a turkey baster and gently try to remove it from the frag. If it is part of the zoa, you won't hurt it by doing this. If its a nudibranch it will come off and get sucked into the baster. If you do find them, dip every few days and manual removal what can see every night - keep this up for at least two weeks or more. Keep a look out - if you find them, there may be some that ventured off the frag plugs into your tank, so a re-occurrence can occur or established colonies can become infested so the sooner you get them under control the better.

 

[Garf]

It can take a while until they get used to your water. I wouldn’t worry unless the actual coral mass is decreasing or shrinking. Then look at light and flow, as long as standard water parameters are in check. They tend not to do well in low salinity though.

 

[MarshallB]

If you are battling dinos then at one point you most likely had next to no nitrate or phosphate. How are you exporting nutrients? My Zoas closed up when nitrate and phosphate got too low. The levels you are measuring currently are great, monitor them and try to keep it at those levels and they should start extending again.

 

[Willbiker]

If you are battling dinos then at one point you most likely had next to no nitrate or phosphate. How are you exporting nutrients? My Zoas closed up when nitrate and phosphate got too low. The levels you are measuring currently are great, monitor them and try to keep it at those levels and they should start extending again.

I actually introduced the corals during my raised nutrients so they haven't experienced 0 in my tank. However my salinty is low and ive really been struggling to raise it. This may be the reason.

I've also been blasting with the baster each day just to keep them clean

 

[Willbiker]

Parameters aren't my preference, but are in tolerance for most corals in my opinion. One thing you should consider is really inspecting the frags at night after the lights have turned off. Let the lights turn off completely and wait and hour or two. There are a form of nudibranchs that attack zoas specifically, commonly called "zoa eating nudibranchs". They hide during the day and are quite difficult to spot sometimes. At night they come out to eat and easier to find. Something unique about them that helps find them is that they and to display the same colors as the zoas thy have been eating. So now that your lights have ben off - crank the blues all the way up and inspect each frag plug very carefully. If you see any color, use a turkey baster and gently try to remove it from the frag. If it is part of the zoa, you won't hurt it by doing this. If its a nudibranch it will come off and get sucked into the baster. If you do find them, dip every few days and manual removal what can see every night - keep this up for at least two weeks or more. Keep a look out - if you find them, there may be some that ventured off the frag plugs into your tank, so a re-occurrence can occur or established colonies can become infested so the sooner you get them under control the better.

I haven't inspected yet while light have been off but while they have been on all day I can see a glowing red colour on the plugs around the coral. I can see this on multiple plugs including acropora. It doesn't blast off with a baster though. See pic. This stuff glows more than the camera picks up. Is this what you are talking about?