Zoanthids skirts pointing down

[Luisreef]

I noticed my zoanthids skirts point down. But one that's doing great and keeps multiplying. does anyone know what can cause zoanthids skirts to point down. My perimeters are on point.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Sometimes, it’s water flow, sometimes it’s water parameters, possibly waste removal, or light.

 

[Hexabonal]

Wild uninformed guess from a newbie reefer: many soft corals support their structure with bony ''sclerites", maybe your tank lacks whatever is used to produce these?

 

[Rscott]

Why not just list every parameter in the tank also
lol just kidding

Sometimes, it’s water flow, sometimes it’s water parameters, possibly waste removal, or light.

 

[Gage Sullivan]

My reverse fruit loops did the same thing... maybe slightly poor lighting. Mine are very diy, and I think that’s the problem.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Wild uninformed guess from a newbie reefer: many soft corals support their structure with bony ''sclerites", maybe your tank lacks whatever is used to produce these?

I’m impressed with your mentioning of the word sclerites which is used by marine biologists to determine the species of octocoral in question. Kind of like the genetic makeup of us with hair to identify a person. Many soft corals look the same to the naked eye, however, under the microscope the shape of their sclerites helps to determine the actual species instead of a guess.
You may think you have a colony of Lemnalia but in fact it is possibly Nepthea or Scleronepthea instead.
Alcyonacea corals do not produce a calcium carbonate skeleton. However, some do have sclerites which are bony plates used to give some degree of support and are spiky, bumpy and grainy texture to the touch.
Zoanthids and Palythoas do not contain sclerites. Some species of Palythoa incorporate sand into their tissue to allow it stability. Isozoanthus Capensis is an illustration of this.

 

[DSC reef]

It could be a sudden change in lighting too much/too little or parameter changes IME