Zoa problems in a biocube?

[alliecat]

So I got my boyfriend a 14g biocube to get his feet wet in the hobby... Haha... And he has a total zoa fetish. However, every zoa we have put in there, whether they're from my tank or fish stores, has died. We've tried dips, changing position, testing water (perfect every time) and we can't figure it out. He has star polyps in there, mushrooms, a blasto, Kenya trees, and pulsing Xenia thriving beautifully. Only problem is with zoas. We can't figure it out and I'd hate for this to ruin the hobby for him because he's very disappointed. I've talked to people at different fish stores who oddly enough have the same issues with biocubes. Ours is the coralife model with the stock PC lighting? Could the lighting be the issue? I've grown zoas in shade though... Does anyone else have this problem??? I've never had a problem with zoanthids and I have LEDs, and I actually had them back when my tank was just a fowlr with 1 t5 light on it lol

 

[tangboy]

First question: How are they dying? Munched on? Melting?

I never had issues in my BC 8g... and I've had zoas with those tank mates as well.

I would be on the look out for a predator since it's one type of coral dying... Eucinid worm, zoa spider, etc etc....

Dips wont matter if the predator is already in the tank...

 

[alliecat]

They close up and never open again, then kind of just shrivel up and die. Checked for predators couldn't find any. And a lot of his zoas have been various frags from my tank and I have no problems with mine, as well as no predator issues. Ones from the fish store have done the same thing as well.

 

[alliecat]

Palys do the same thing too.

 

[alliecat]

I just have a hard time believing it's lighting. I'm wondering if it has something to do with filtration. Could his tank be too clean??? It's a 4 month old tank. My next mode of action is supplementing with iodine and were gonna test on some of my palys that are overgrowing.

 

[tangboy]

I would still suspect predators in his tank so when a fresh zoa comes in, the predator is there waiting.

I would do a 50% water change and replace with water from your tank... and do several of those to make sure that your water parameters are the same. This way you can at least get some variables into the same comparison.

PC's shouldn't be an issue at all with zoas, I've successfully grown zoas out under PCs.

 

[MacKrell]

What is your alk level at?

 

[glb]

Following. I'm having problems with mine in my 12g nano.

 

[alliecat]

Alk is at 8 I put buffer in there every other wk. right now there are no zoas and palys in there. Theoretically wouldn't whatever preys on them die if there is no food source for a few weeks?

 

[alliecat]

And actually the biggest colony he lost was from the same fish store it was a big zoa rock we had the lfs cut it in half for us mine is thriving his has since died.

 

[NanaReefer]

I ran an 8g bio cube for 2yrs. Couldn't keep Zoa's alive no matter what I did Everything else thrived!


Sent from my iPhone 4s via Tapatalk.

 

[alliecat]

That seems to be the issue me and a few others in my area are having. I really don't think there are pests in this tank because we started this tank with all dry rock and sand and used my water. And 99% of the corals are from my tank and I definitely don't have a pest problem. The only coral we ever bought for his tank was that 1 zoa colony and I have the other half thriving

 

[MacKrell]

That's strange.

 

[MacKrell]

Is there any fish in the tank?

 

[alliecat]

2 clowns and a fire goby. At first we thought the water wasn't "dirty" enough and that was the problem. But no

 

[NanaReefer]

I think we need to start a thread asking if anyone is keeping zoa's successfully in a tank under 40g. I'm beginning to think that it has something to do with flow and how limited it is in a nano.


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[alliecat]

Hm. We thought we had too much flow because we have another powerhead in there... But it's not like the tank is getting tons of flow like a big tank so maybe you have a point

 

[Reefltx]

I think we need to start a thread asking if anyone is keeping zoa's successfully in a tank under 40g. I'm beginning to think that it has something to do with flow and how limited it is in a nano.


Sent from my iPhone 4s via Tapatalk.

Guess you have not looked at any nano tanks, most I see are filled with zoas and thriving.


OP, please list your current water parameters.

 

[larangcon]

This is a new issue that I have not heard before. Size of the tank cannot be the cause for the diminished of these z & p's, I saw tank less than 3 gals with healthy bright zoas.
maybe bad salt mix, what is his salinity reading. Try changing the salt mix or buy water from your LFS. I would place all fish and corals in your tank for a while, I would also change about 80% of the water and retest all params. Wait a week and change about 50%, wait another week and try placing low end zoas and see if this will make it before placing all the corals back. You're basically redoing the tank over again. Like I said, this is what I would do, it's really up to you.

 

[chappy]

Check for stray voltage