Zoas not opening

[Andreas' Reef]

Hi


I just bought 2 frags and had them shipped and ending up getting a 3rd zoa frag as a freebie. The shipment arrived 5-6 days ago and The freebie is not opening. The gsp and utter chaos are open and happy but the freebie isn’t. Idk why tho. I did a 20 minute float, then a drip acclimation, then a coral dip so I acclimated correctly. Is this something zoas just do??

Utter chaos:

gsp:

frag that won’t open:

 

[vetteguy53081]

Dip in peroxide and provide a location where it receives moderate light and water flow

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Coralrx dip er again its crazy but sometimes it just makes them open

 

[MaxTremors]

That is not correct acclimation. You should just float them, dip them, and put them in the tank. Drip acclimating them, especially after shipping is just adding more stress, they need to be put in flowing water so they can respirate as soon as possible. Corals and anemones take water in and out through diffusion, so they are self acclimating, by drip acclimating you are just making it harder for the coral to acclimate itself to your tank’s water. The entire concept of drip acclimating corals shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the way corals work. It’s super perplexing to see someone go out of their way to drip acclimate a coral, and then dip it in a some harsh chemicals. It makes no sense. I promise you, your corals and anemones will be happier and open sooner if you just float, dip, and then put them in the tank.

 

[RedFrog211]

That is not correct acclimation. You should just float them, dip them, and put them in the tank. Drip acclimating them, especially after shipping is just adding more stress, they need to be put in flowing water so they can respirate as soon as possible. Corals and anemones take water in and out through diffusion, so they are self acclimating, by drip acclimating you are just making it harder for the coral to acclimate itself to your tank’s water. The entire concept of drip acclimating corals shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the way corals work. It’s super perplexing to see someone go out of their way to drip acclimate a coral, and then dip it in a some harsh chemicals. It makes no sense. I promise you, your corals and anemones will be happier and open sooner if you just float, dip, and then put them in the tank.

I personally drip acclimate, dip, then add to tank. With anemones and corals using water throughout their bodies, essentially as blood, I’d imagine balance and identical parameters are necessary, and could cause more damage if not acclimated. You think this a flawed perspective?

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

I personally drip acclimate, dip, then add to tank. With anemones and corals using water throughout their bodies, essentially as blood, I’d imagine balance and identical parameters are necessary, and could cause more damage if not acclimated. You think this a flawed perspective?

when an anemone or coral closes, they expel the water in their tissue, when they open they bring in new water...........it's self acclimation. just pull them out, (dip them, rinse, if corals) and let them drip and into the desired tank/qt

 

[MaxTremors]

I personally drip acclimate, dip, then add to tank. With anemones and corals using water throughout their bodies, essentially as blood, I’d imagine balance and identical parameters are necessary, and could cause more damage if not acclimated. You think this a flawed perspective?

Yes, it fundamentally misunderstands coral physiology. Corals take in and expel water through diffusion, and they need flowing water to properly respirate. The coral is going to slowly take in the water from the new tank at the same rate regardless of whether it drip acclimated or not, so it’s unnecessary. If it was just unnecessary, it wouldn’t matter one way or the other, but as mentioned, corals need flowing water to properly respirate, the sooner you can get the coral into flowing water, it’ll be less stressed and more likely to survive the move/change in tanks. I drip acclimated for years and when I stopped, I noticed that new corals opened up sooner. Just float them to match temp, dip them, and put them in the tank. The only acclimation you need to worry about is light acclimation.

I am also really confounded by the logic of drip acclimating a coral and then putting into a harsh coral dip. If drip acclimation is necessary, why don’t people drip acclimate them into the dip? So, a coral needs to be slowly acclimated to water that has the parameters it needs to survive, but doesn’t need to be drip acclimated to water that has harsh chemicals that would kill it if it was left in it? Make it make sense?!?

 

[blaxsun]

To the OP’s question, sometimes something has disturbed the colony (fish, invert, substrate) and they will temporarily close up for a while. I’ve had a really large colony semi-open for over a month now and we can’t figure out what’s up - but all the other zoas are doing fine. Sometimes it’s really hard to figure out what’s up.

 

[RedFrog211]

Yes, it fundamentally misunderstands coral physiology. Corals take in and expel water through diffusion, and they need flowing water to properly respirate. The coral is going to slowly take in the water from the new tank at the same rate regardless of whether it drip acclimated or not, so it’s unnecessary. If it was just unnecessary, it wouldn’t matter one way or the other, but as mentioned, corals need flowing water to properly respirate, the sooner you can get the coral into flowing water, it’ll be less stressed and more likely to survive the move/change in tanks. I drip acclimated for years and when I stopped, I noticed that new corals opened up sooner. Just float them to match temp, dip them, and put them in the tank. The only acclimation you need to worry about is light acclimation.

I am also really confounded by the logic of drip acclimating a coral and then putting into a harsh coral dip. If drip acclimation is necessary, why don’t people drip acclimate them into the dip? So, a coral needs to be slowly acclimated to water that has the parameters it needs to survive, but doesn’t need to be drip acclimated to water that has harsh chemicals that would kill it if it was left in it? Make it make sense?!?

The logic I followed is:
The dip is temporary and created for this purpose, and mixed with the same water the coral was acclimated to. Your statement makes sense, and I now agree with what you are saying, but I feel your rancor is a bit misplaced. We all want what is best for the corals, and I was doing what I was taught is best. Hope it makes sense

 

[MaxTremors]

The logic I followed is:
The dip is temporary and created for this purpose, and mixed with the same water the coral was acclimated to. Your statement makes sense, and I now agree with what you are saying, but I feel your rancor is a bit misplaced. We all want what is best for the corals, and I was doing what I was taught is best. Hope it makes sense

Sorry, I didn’t mean to come across as condescending or snotty, tone can be difficult to convey in text, but that wasn’t my intention. And I was taught the same thing, and did it for a lot of years, but then I was told by someone with a lot more experience and relevant education that it wasn’t the best way to do things. Not acclimating seemed really wrong and counterintuitive at first, but corals really do respond better.

 

[RedFrog211]

Sorry, I didn’t mean to come across as condescending or snotty, tone can be difficult to convey in text, but that wasn’t my intention. And I was taught the same thing, and did it for a lot of years, but then I was told by someone with a lot more experience and relevant education that it wasn’t the best way to do things. Not acclimating seemed really wrong and counterintuitive at first, but corals really do respond better.

I completely understand, and know you are just passionate about the well being of the corals, and hope to correct the misinformed masses. I have had corals for 7 years, and for every second, thought acclimation was key. Thank you for correcting that, and hopefully we can fix this flawed view on how corals function and adapt.