Zoas dilation

[mattzzz100]

Hi fellow reefers,

New to R2R here! Signed up to ask a question about the zoas I have. After having them in my tank for a few weeks they tend to get longer skirts and also dilated colors. Pics of before and after of my fruitloop and eagle eyes below.
Before: After:



Does anyone know the possible reasons they are doing this? Ive read it could be low flow and low light but asking to see if there could be another reason.

Thanks

Matt

 

[DSC reef]

Welcome to R2R. IME this has a lot to due with lighting. Our blue hornets, rastas and utter chaos would look totally different with lighting intensities within the tank, even polyp size. #WelcometoR2R

 

[mattzzz100]

Hey DSC! Thanks for the quick reply, so what would you say is causing this? Too much or too little light?

 

[DSC reef]

Hard to say. You might have to try different spots in the tank. If I had to guess I'd say to little light. They look healthy so for now maybe give them a little more time to acclimate.

 

[Jdeleon]

IME Wrong lighting spectrum. to much light and also to much white light, I like to keep everything under a bluer light and seem to retain colors.

 

[Fudsey]

Welcome to R2R ! !

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Welcome to R2R

 

[Roid Reefs]

Welcome to R2R!

From everything I've read and my experience, the Skirt length can change also depending on flow. Higher flow, the longer the skirts seem to be.

As far as coloration, Lighting as others have said. Zooxanthelle increase in numbers as there is more light to be absorbed. Zooxanthelle in large amounts turn brown and dull out the color of the zoanthid.

If there is too little light, you would most likely see the polyps stretching towards the lights, mine that I have under a current orbit led which is not as powerful as some others do this. Now the dulling does not mean that there is too much light, this just means there is a lot. If there is too much light, the polyps will close to protect themselves, I have not seen zoas bleach like some other corals due when there is too much light.

As with everything, take this with a grain of salt and keep doing some research. This is what I believe I have read/ heard/ experienced throughout my time reefing. I could always be wrong and have gotten something confused somewhere along the line. I always hope other members here will correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Palyzoa]

Welcome to R2R! Yeah I agree with what @DSC reef said. Let them acclimate fully and adjust from there. Try different placement in the tank and if you do adjust your intensity upwards do it slowly over a week or so. 1-2% every other day. See how they respond and go from there.

 

[rogersb]

Looks like a big enough frag you could bust it in half and try two different placements. I would put one high and one midway up.

 

[mattzzz100]

Okay thanks to everyone who replied! Feeling very welcomed here. I will gradually move them to a brighter spot and see how they react. Will update with pics when there are changes.

Matt

 

[mike werner]

welcome,zoa's are a mystery sometimes.like was said above put some high and some low and see what happens.you should get a good idea from doing that.

 

[Cary]

Welcome to R2R.