Zoas look like crap

[doubleshot00]

Anyone give me some insight why my zoas look terrible. I have probably 20 different frags in my tank. All are growing but most are stretching out have terrible color and are always closed up.

Only 2-3 are always open and happy. The rest are always closed up and stretching. Thinking about removing them all and get something else.

I have ai32s running BRS settings.

I have Bam Bams in my wifes fluval with a Niceew 30 watt only running 8 hour a day and they look great

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Can you post pictures

 

[doubleshot00]

Can you post pictures

Trying bad service

 

[vetteguy53081]

Anyone give me some insight why my zoas look terrible. I have probably 20 different frags in my tank. All are growing but most are stretching out have terrible color and are always closed up.

Only 2-3 are always open and happy. The rest are always closed up and stretching. Thinking about removing them all and get something else.

I have ai32s running BRS settings.

I have Bam Bams in my wifes fluval with a Niceew 30 watt only running 8 hour a day and they look great

Take a turkey baster and blow on them Gently to assure no debris or dust on them.
There are a number of factors why zoas close up. Some are water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider a moderate flow environment ideal but Zoanthids, like most corals, can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks. Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and ultra low nutrient conditions can lead to entire colony meltdowns. Target feeding is not a requirement as Zoanthids are photosynthetic. I have found that target feeding Zoanthids always provides mixed results, when a food particle falls onto the polyps.

Back to parameters, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 78-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for. Hope this helps

 

[doubleshot00]

Take a turkey baster and blow on them Gently to assure no debris or dust on them.
There are a number of factors why zoas close up. Some are water movement/flow as zoas do not require the consistent high flow conditions that SPS corals do. I would consider a moderate flow environment ideal but Zoanthids, like most corals, can adapt to low or high flow. In high flow, you will typically see polyps grow closer to the rock with shorter stalks. Another is lack of feeding and food as infrequent feeding and ultra low nutrient conditions can lead to entire colony meltdowns. Target feeding is not a requirement as Zoanthids are photosynthetic. I have found that target feeding Zoanthids always provides mixed results, when a food particle falls onto the polyps.

Back to parameters, good water quality is a must.
dKH: 8.0 - 11.0
Calcium: 400 - 440
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350
Iodide: Maintained via regular water changes or manually at small dosages
Temperature: 78-79 degrees
pH: 8.1-8.3
Phosphates: .04 - .06
Nitrates < 10

Asterina stars, little tiny tiny spiders and nudibranchs also will make them miserable to point of death as will aptasia, worms like spinoids or vermetid snails. A few things to look for. Hope this helps

My parameters are all within what you posted. Imo they are the only corals that look terrible in my tank. Thats why i took out 4 of them and put them in my Fluval to see how they react. They only been in it for a week so they are acting the same.

Ill blast them with a turkey baster and see if i see anything. I feed all corals once a week.

 

[Shibaken3]

I read that when there stretching they are not getting enough light. idk if that's the issue tho the light u have should be fine.

 

[doubleshot00]

I read that when there stretching they are not getting enough light. idk if that's the issue tho the light u have should be fine.

Thats what I thought but have SPS really close to it and everything else is doing ok.

 

[Lavey29]

There are high light, moderate light and low light zoas. Depends on what you have for placement.

 

[littlebigreef]

How mature and stable is your system? I see some coralline growth on your rocks. If the tank is under a year it likely just needs more time to get established. I’ve you’re manually dosing vs auto how consistent are you? If you’re not dosing how often are you doing water changes?

Zoas tolerate a wide range of conditions in both nutrients and par/wavelength. Fact is most zoas thrive in higher nutrient lower, lower par and (IMO) higher wavelength lighting.

Stable alk, consistent nutrients (passive via fish feeding etc, or direct target feeding) are key.

Beyond that I Google ai32 brs settings setting, couldn’t the expected par or wavelength - happen to have it?

 

[doubleshot00]

How mature and stable is your system? I see some coralline growth on your rocks. If the tank is under a year it likely just needs more time to get established. I’ve you’re manually dosing vs auto how consistent are you? If you’re not dosing how often are you doing water changes?

Zoas tolerate a wide range of conditions in both nutrients and par/wavelength. Fact is most zoas thrive in higher nutrient lower, lower par and (IMO) higher wavelength lighting.

Stable alk, consistent nutrients (passive via fish feeding etc, or direct target feeding) are key.

Beyond that I Google ai32 brs settings setting, couldn’t the expected par or wavelength - happen to have it?

I transferred everything over about a month ago from my 6 month old tank. I run the lights from 10:30 am to 9:30 PM. Hard to find a good answer on how LONG you should run your light schedule. Some people say 12 some say 8 hours. I have a par meter coming next week. These zoas have never looked good though. I may just take out all the ones that are stretching.

I auto dose and my alk is between 8-9. My Nitrates have been climbing lately and Phosphates have been around .1-.06.