Zoanthids won't grow, have you tried this.

Jorge FG · Oct 30, 2019

I've had a frag with 2 utter chaos Zoanthids for 4 months I think. A guy in my local fish store suggested I take a toothbrush and gently rub the polyps in the base to "irritate" a little the polyps and force them to grow. Have you tried this? Is it normal for my polyps not to grow? My parameters are ok and I feed reef roids once a week.

NanoDJS · Oct 30, 2019

In my wild dreams I would never do that , especially from a safety point of view , you cant agitate polyps like that without running the risk of toxins being secreted , feed reef roids and dont blast em with light and see how it goes , look up threads on proper zoa / pally handling and care on this forum , it could save your life.

Terry Mattson · Oct 30, 2019

Check your iodine level. My zoas and poly went from struggling to growing. The poly doubled in size in one month. In my case my iodine was low. So low they hardly opened. Dosed to .05 / .06 ppm. Was told zoas need trace iodine to grow. I use red sea iodine kit and dose using brightwell iodine. Something to look at.

NanoDJS · Oct 30, 2019

Terry Mattson said:
Check your iodine level. My zoas and poly went from struggling to growing. The poly doubled in size in one month. In my case my iodine was low. So low they hardly opened. Dosed to .05 / .06 ppm. Was told zoas need trace iodine to grow. I use red sea iodine kit and dose using brightwell iodine. Something to look at.

this is a huge thing also , I dose Iodide myself

Terry Mattson · Oct 30, 2019

Oh, would never take a tooth brush to zoas or polys. Good way to get to visit ER. Read up on polytoxin.

Hermie · Oct 31, 2019

Well... coral growth could possible be INDUCED by damage, but that requires the corals to be in an optimal/healthy environment BEFORE being damaged. Still, I wouldn't do it to Zoas or Palys or any soft corals.

Jorge FG · Oct 31, 2019

Terry Mattson said:
Check your iodine level. My zoas and poly went from struggling to growing. The poly doubled in size in one month. In my case my iodine was low. So low they hardly opened. Dosed to .05 / .06 ppm. Was told zoas need trace iodine to grow. I use red sea iodine kit and dose using brightwell iodine. Something to look at.

Thanks for your advice, I've never tested for iodine. I will do that ASAP.

Thanks everyone for your advice, I'm still learning everyday from this awesome hobby.

Daniel@R2R · Oct 31, 2019

Agreed on the iodine

vetteguy53081 · Oct 31, 2019

+1 on Iodine and seachem Fuel (aminos)

Justin Aretz · Oct 31, 2019

Dose rubidium. Also.... those rocks do not look 4 days old nevermind 4 months

Bmasculine · Oct 31, 2019

Justin Aretz said:
Dose rubidium. Also.... those rocks do not look 4 days old nevermind 4 months

I was going to mention that as well. At 4 mo old those rocks should have some coralline on them. They look very clean.

blasterman · Nov 1, 2019

I've been on the fence about iodine because I just wasn't able to confirm it, but recently did a controlled test with two 20 gal tanks and the same paly colonies. The tank that was hyper dosed with iodine (lugols - 10 drops a week) showed some impressive growth and polyp size increase in a matter of weeks. Some palys didn't react, but ones that did where utter chaos, and rather explosively. Also note these tanks already have heavy paly/zoa colonies so iodine is being depleted at a ferocious rate.

Coralline grows like crazy in my SPS tanks, but refuses to grow in my paly/zoa gardens because of competition. It's not an indicator of tank health.

ZipAdeeZoa · Nov 1, 2019

I have found the opposite is true, I have some LA lakers in QT that were growing nicely and always open until some sort of sheet algae started growing on them from the plug up. Last time I did a water change on the tank I put on my safety glasses, pulled the plug from the rack and while holding it underwater in the bucket i drained into I gently brushed off the sheet and set them back in the tank. now only one or two heads out of the 14 open and growth has come to a hault.... Hopefully they'll forgive me in a week or two.

Something else to consider that I've heard a few times (anecdotally mind you) is that some zoas are really slow in the beginning but once they get a few more polyps their growth rate increases considerably.

Gw2kpro · Nov 1, 2019

In regards to iodine:

If you're doing weekly (or so) water changes with a decent mix (red sea, io crystals, etc) does that replenish iodine?

Admittedly, this is something I've never tested for.

Hermie · Nov 1, 2019

yes, it is believed to

TheKyle · Nov 2, 2019

Justin Aretz said:
Dose rubidium. Also.... those rocks do not look 4 days old nevermind 4 months

I’ve never heard rubidium mentioned as an element to specifically target although I have noticed it’s a part of many retail trace element mixtures. So zoas respond well to it? How/what product are you using to dose it?

Pola0502ds · Nov 4, 2019

I wouldnt suggest this if you dont know what ur doing but i use a soft tooth brush on zoas often if i see algae growing on them or something i don’t like. But i frag 1000’s of them every year, i know what im doing and how to handle them.

shrimped · Nov 4, 2019

blasterman said:
I've been on the fence about iodine because I just wasn't able to confirm it, but recently did a controlled test with two 20 gal tanks and the same paly colonies. The tank that was hyper dosed with iodine (lugols - 10 drops a week) showed some impressive growth and polyp size increase in a matter of weeks. Some palys didn't react, but ones that did where utter chaos, and rather explosively. Also note these tanks already have heavy paly/zoa colonies so iodine is being depleted at a ferocious rate.

Coralline grows like crazy in my SPS tanks, but refuses to grow in my paly/zoa gardens because of competition. It's not an indicator of tank health.

What test kit did u use to test iodine?

Justin Aretz · Nov 4, 2019

TheKyle said:
I’ve never heard rubidium mentioned as an element to specifically target although I have noticed it’s a part of many retail trace element mixtures. So zoas respond well to it? How/what product are you using to dose it?

I will preface this by mentioning, this is MY experience, based on my observations and no scientific data. I know others who’ve had similar experiences, but I am only talking of mine. I dose the full Reef Moonshiners program. I do this as I find it to be a much more stable environment for my acros. This method also saves me money and time. The money that I save on water changes pays for the price of a monthly (more like 5-7 weeks) ATI ICP test. To your question.

He’s also the only person that I know of that sells a pure rubidium supplement. When I first began the program, I accidentally added far too much rubidium, raising my levels to approx. .6 µg per liter. I immediately (within 3 days) noticed explosive growth in my acans and zoas (and a few other soft, fleshy corals). Actually, to the point where I started giving away rocks covered in zoas as they were beginning to dominate my acro growout.

I discussed this observation with others and noticed that we all experienced similar results. I don’t have any scientific backing, or controls to compare to, so take this info as “experimental”. That being said, 300% of NSW rubidium levels definitely did NOT warrant a poor response from ANY corals in my tank.