Zoanthid Issues

[Cole_Voeller]

I have the same issue with mines. My stalks seem a bit longer. So odd

It’s not even just the long stalks though, they seem to just look absolutely awful all around.

 

[BuckChoklit]

It’s not even just the long stalks though, they seem to just look absolutely awful all around.

yep! mine are extremely thin and tiny. everything else seems to be thriving. I have been slowly rasing the lights over the past few weeks but have not noticed any change. our water parameters arealso pretty close

 

[Cole_Voeller]

yep! mine are extremely thin and tiny. everything else seems to be thriving. I have been slowly rasing the lights over the past few weeks but have not noticed any change. our water parameters arealso pretty close

Interesting. The part I hate most about this is that my zoas had all been doing incredible for so long. And now they are like this. Meanwhile everything else is doing amazing.

 

[Cole_Voeller]

Bump for zoanthid experts haha

 

[BuckChoklit]

Here's some from a few weeks ago I have on my phone. Look similar

 

[Cole_Voeller]

Here's some from a few weeks ago I have on my phone. Look similar

Sorry for late response, and yes! A lot of those look very similar!

 

[LiLinka]

As far as the dots go have you tried basting them off to see if they are just sand? Another thing to take into consideration is what kind of flow they getting?

 

[Cole_Voeller]

As far as the dots go have you tried basting them off to see if they are just sand? Another thing to take into consideration is what kind of flow they getting?

I’ve used a baster as well as brushed them with a soft paint brush and haven’t gotten the dots off doing so. The flow has been the same forever, though I just upped it the other day. I have two 425 gph powerheads on either side of the tank, and have them set on 15 second intervals.

 

[everyday44]

I read somewhere that any changes in lightning, it takes roughly a few weeks to two months for the corals to acclimate.
It could be since you Up'd your lightning, your zoa's haven't adjusted yet and are still stretched from when the lightning wasn't as bright?

 

[Cole_Voeller]

I read somewhere that any changes in lightning, it takes roughly a few weeks to two months for the corals to acclimate.
It could be since you Up'd your lightning, your zoa's haven't adjusted yet and are still stretched from when the lightning wasn't as bright?

Thanks for the reply! I thought about the possibility, though one of my frags that stretches the most is a radioactive dragon eyes frag. Even under lower lighting it has never stretched. Just recently while it was under higher lighting. However with this particular frag, I’m most concerned with how weak the stalks are. Even the lightest flow makes the zoas look like they will be blown off the frag plug. They’re incredibly weak.

 

[MartinM]

Any update? Have you tried iodine dipping then moving to QT to see if that helped? Maybe Ciprofloxacin? I'm not a zoa expert but it's time for a process of elimination to figure out what's happening.

Have you even just tried moving some to a QT tank, with water from a different source?

 

[PicassoClown04]

Oh my gosh y’all I am so sorry I missed this thread!! How long ago did you increase the lighting?? It takes zoas a really short amount of time (1-2 weeks) to stretch then probably another few days for the central disk to stretch out too (mushrooming) but I shockingly long time for them to “sit down” and return to normal after the lighting is increased. Usually mine take a month. Are you having any issues with water clarity? Cloudy water will block light from getting to your zoas

As for the white dots, do you know if they are only on palythoa or also zoas? If only on palys, it’s completely normal and nothing to worry about. Palythoa stick little particles to themselves (sand, detritus, etc) on their stalks and it’s one of the main ways I can tell palys and zoas apart.

Happy reefing!!! I hope this helps everybody!! Please don’t hesitate to tag me or anything if you have zoa questions

 

[GatorGreg]

Here's some from a few weeks ago I have on my phone. Look similar

Is that a favia those are surrounding? Have you thought about the possibility that you’re dealing with coral warfare? Just a thought. They may be irritated from that favia

 

[PicassoClown04]

Is that a favia those are surrounding? Have you thought about the possibility that you’re dealing with coral warfare? Just a thought. They may be irritated from that favia

Yeah to add onto this, I’ve had several emerald crabs eat my zoas. If you see any polyps floating around the tank/disappearing I’d get that guy out.

I don’t see any slime which is a strong indicator of warfare. The zoas still open and the favia looks healthy so I’d say they’re okay for right now but maybe don’t get too attached to the zoas closest as the favia may start to grow which will cause warfare to start. The favia will want to grow into where the zoas are already living and someone will win the battle (probably the favia as zoas don’t really have chemical warfare, their defense is to basically outgrow any other coral) and if zoas get vaporized by favia it will likely cause palytoxin to be released in the tank. If it’s only a couple polyps that die, no big deal just throw in a bag of carbon. If a lot of polyps die (10+) and your tank is on the smaller side then I would recommend doing a water change and running carbon especially if you have sensitive fish or inverts like wrasse, sexy shrimp, anemone shrimp, small angelfish, etc.

 

[Cole_Voeller]

Any update? Have you tried iodine dipping then moving to QT to see if that helped? Maybe Ciprofloxacin? I'm not a zoa expert but it's time for a process of elimination to figure out what's happening.

Have you even just tried moving some to a QT tank, with water from a different source?

Sorry for late reply. It says been interesting. I didn’t want to risk putting them in another tank in case it was something that could spread.

Oh my gosh y’all I am so sorry I missed this thread!! How long ago did you increase the lighting?? It takes zoas a really short amount of time (1-2 weeks) to stretch then probably another few days for the central disk to stretch out too (mushrooming) but I shockingly long time for them to “sit down” and return to normal after the lighting is increased. Usually mine take a month. Are you having any issues with water clarity? Cloudy water will block light from getting to your zoas

As for the white dots, do you know if they are only on palythoa or also zoas? If only on palys, it’s completely normal and nothing to worry about. Palythoa stick little particles to themselves (sand, detritus, etc) on their stalks and it’s one of the main ways I can tell palys and zoas apart.

Happy reefing!!! I hope this helps everybody!! Please don’t hesitate to tag me or anything if you have zoa questions

Yes quite a few of the zoas had the white dots. Most are gone now. I have a few zoas who have had the mushrooming going on for an extremely long time. Super weird. No issues with water clarity!
I know I don’t have any warfare, but I think I finally found the issue. My Nitrate test kit seems to be shot. Where I believed my nitrates were 20, and I was trying to bring them down a bit, it seems I am much closer to 0 :/
So I’m feeding much heavier now. Pretty much all of my zoas are doing perfectly fine again, though some still look a little funky.

 

[MartinM]

Awesome, glad you found the problem and that it was an easy fix!