Zoas & Palys fell onto sand bed - Melting

[MsTracy]

Hi I recently bought a few zoas & palys, because I didn’t know exactly where I wanted them to live long term, I didn’t glue them to my rocks. Thought I had the frag plugs wedged tight enough to hold. Apparently my turbos are stronger than I thought.
I found them at different times laying on the sand bed. I have since made a frag rack that is held with a magnet placed about 6-8 inches from the top water level and have placed the zoas & palys there. When found they were closed up & hoped they would reopen, however, they seem to be melting and I don’t know what I can do to help them recover or if that’s possible. Any advice will certainly be welcomed. Thanks so much.

 

[tupes]

Hello @MsTracy what are your parameters of your tank. Zoas can close up tight and reopen after a few days. Also what kind of lights do you have? And can you post a photo. That'll help us out.

 

[MsTracy]

I will post all of that shortly. Waiting on my mom to finish her doctor appt. so I was taking advantage of the time to look into my zoa problem.

 

[MsTracy]

@tupes thanks for your reply and assistance. Here’s the info on my tank.

Lights 2- Kessil 360 blues

9:30 0 color 5 light
11:30. 15 color 25 light
15:30. 40 color 50 light
17:30. 25 color 30 light
19:30. 0 color 20 light
22:15. 0 color 0 light

Water parameters:
API TEST
Ammonia - 0
Ph - 7.8 - 8.0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Calcium - 420

Salifert test
Magnesium between the lines for 1290 & 1320

Hanna checker
Alkalinity - 6.7 dkH

Phosphate API TEST .025 ppm
Phosphorus Hanna 121 ppb/ .037 ppm if I did my math right.

Salinity/Gravity
1.025/33 refractor
>1.024/33 hydrometer

Thanks so much

 

[tupes]

Your mg and alk seem are a little low. The frag plug with one arrow I think has a small chance the one with 2 arrows has a very good chance of survival. Do you have a friend that can maybe hold them for a little while to see if they can make a come back. Also try lowering them down from the light. They might be getting to much.

 

[MsTracy]

I can move them down & I’ll check with my tank friend [emoji846] to see if he can nurse them in his frag tank. I noticed the mg down from last month it was 1380. Can’t say about the Alkalinity because I just bought the checker a couple of weeks ago. It’s just so disheartening because I just got these from the Aqua SD sale they had here on R2R a couple of weeks ago & they were looking great until they hit the sand [emoji17] Thanks again for your help.

 

[reefpeeper]

Im going to say that them hitting the sand had nothing to do with it. I would try to get ur alk up to at least 9 or so. Are they the forst zoas in ur tank?

 

[MsTracy]

@reefpeeper, No they aren’t my first, but because of the sale I thought I’d try them again. The other 2 I’ve purchased was last year & they also melted after they fell. I really want to have zoas & palys they are so colorful - just no luck with them at all.

I think the drop in mag happened the day all these arrived (previously about 1380 consistently) I couldn’t get off work, but ran home to get them unpacked & after they floated in the tank for a bit . I set up a bucket on slow drip. Apparently it wasn’t as slow as I thought. My mom kept refilling the auto top off bucket with RODI water. By the time I got home it probably ran thru 6 -8 gallons of plain water(75gal tank)
Needless to say, I had to mix some salt and try to slowly bring it back up. It had dropped to like 1.021 salinity (1.025 normal) It took a couple of days.

So I’m beginning to get the feeling that my zoa issue is not from falling on the sand bed, but more of the swing of the parameters???

I also got a couple of mushrooms, a Aussie Trachy, 2 different green star polyps & alveopora that are all looking good. #Greatsale on R2R...

All my pre-existing stock doesn’t seem to be affected, that’s why I thought it was due to the dive to the sand. I guess I thought zoas were a little more forgiving, maybe they are when more established.

I do a monthly water change of about 20-25% also currently running GFO in the reactor, protein skimmer w/co2 & cheato in the sump.

I’m always learning & open to feedback
Thanks again!

 

[reefpeeper]

Most likely the parameter swing. Already stressed from shipping plus dealing with different parameters does not help much. Zoas are in my opinion just as hard as any other coral. Sont give up on them though. They are my favorite. Stable parameters are a must.

 

[MsTracy]

Yes and I was so proud that I had finally gotten my tank stable, healthy & growing. Excited that I could spend my money on colorful pretty things rather than equipment.
Now because of my mistake, not only have I thrown $$ away but I have killed these poor beautiful animals.

 

[MsTracy]

@reefpeeper I’m reading that you can add baking soda to raise alkalinity is that something I could try, since I don’t need to increase calcium right now.

 

[reefpeeper]

Yes, but would be best to bake it at 300 degrees for 1hr first. That is how i make my additive. Also make sure u bring it up slowly

 

[coralhoarder]

In the meantime, I would lower them from the light and make sure you have some flow on them.

 

[MsTracy]

I read that a level teaspoon of baking soda weighs almost 6 grams, so 2 1/2 teaspoons will raise alkalinity in 50 gallons by 1.0 meq/L which is 2.8 dkH. So I was thinking of just doing this amount and recheck in the morning to see what the #s look like. Tank 75 gal +20 gal sump - rocks & equip = 65 gallon guess

 

[steelwrap]

You don't want to raise it more than 1 dkh a day. http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
You can use this to determine how much to add. So if you 50 gal of WATER 1.2 tsp of baking soda two days in a row would bring You from 6.7 to 8.7 dkh

 

[MsTracy]

In the meantime, I would lower them from the light and make sure you have some flow on them.

Thanks - will do, like 1/2 way down or lower? They are down 8” from the top of tank, about 21” from the light.

Thanks again

 

[MsTracy]

You don't want to raise it more than 1 dkh a day. http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
You can use this to determine how much to add. So if you 50 gal of WATER 1.2 tsp of baking soda two days in a row would bring You from 6.7 to 8.7 dkh

I have a 5 gallon bucket I use for my ATO, should I mix it as you’ve suggested and add it to the ATO to bring it up slowly?

BTW thanks for the link, already saved to my bookmarks.

 

[steelwrap]

Ive always just scooped out 1/2 gallon tank water, mixed in baking soda and poured back in slowly and never had a problem.

 

[MsTracy]

I’ll get to baking my baking soda then. [emoji1409]‍[emoji505]

 

[steelwrap]

Actually you can you just plain old baking SODA no need to bake