zoas stretching

fernalfer · Sep 12, 2016

Ok i have a colony of about 45 Eagle eyes polyps. My tank is 4 months old. When i first put them in my tank i started them at the bottom and slowly moved them up to their final resting spot. They did great grew from 25 polyps to 45. I have always had my Reefbreeders Photon V2 48 above my 120 gallon 48x24x24 tank.

All of a sudden my zoas are stretching and extending not growing anymore and only open fully sometimes. I figured that spot was fine since they went from 25 to 45 polyps but now it seems they do not like it or maybe for some reason want more light.

Not sure any thoughts?

I will post pics once the lights come on.

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 14, 2016

IME, more light or less flow. Closing up IMO is because of that. I have some doing that right now. The stretching thing Im pretty skeptical of. Some of my zoas and palys have done both but grew fine, and I bought some fresh fragged colonies and they are all "stretched" when looked at from the side.
Not fragged in the usual sense, sorry, the rock was direct from indo and then broken in half. so I think they grow that way.

WetWhistle · Sep 14, 2016

What is your flow and light level like? They will stretch up higher into the water column if the waterflow is to low. Or they also do it from lack of light as the two most common reasons. Make sure you have no pests on the rock. Flip it over and look under it as well.

A. grandis · Oct 2, 2016

Some species do have high stalks and they are actually that way in the ocean and in tanks, so...

Other species will show high stalks only if light is the issue.
Stress also could cause that, but normally associated to low light and/or low quality light is the problem in the long run!
LEDs are notorious to cause that type of problem and in most cases the zoas will do great for a while and one day BUM

everything changes. That was one of the problems I had when I've tried LEDs for a year.

Guess what? I'm back to T5s!!!

There is no doubt that the T5s is still better than LEDs to this date, in terms of uniformity.
Can they survive under LEDs? Oh yeah... But please compare the aspects and you'll find that the only spot light the zoas will show similar appearance to their natural growth in the wild is metal halides over reef tanks. By the way... to look into their natural appearance is to wish their very best for their metabolism, reproduction and growth to start with!
Sad to say, you could get a very nice ATI fixture for your tank with the money you've spent on that Photon V2 48!

Low water motion could also contribute to the problem, depending on the species.
Of course, if the polyps grow from under, or on vertical rocks, they will stretch too...

Want to specify more, so people can help you!
Where are your pictures!

Grandis.

vanpire · Oct 3, 2016

This is just from my own observations, and it applies to palys more than zoa.

I have two colonies of similar palys, one set is in a high flow with high light and the other on sand bed (less flow and less light)

The set with high light and high flow grew significantly fast. But this set has also stretched much more. I think it is due to overcrowding and each polyp trying to out do the other. I guess in a way it might be due to not getting enough light due to shading by their neighbors

Van.

vanpire · Oct 3, 2016

And the high flow, high light sets also have significantly longer skirts.

A. grandis · Oct 4, 2016

Yep, more flow = longer skirts (most times). You're right!
Good to remember that some species of Zoanthus have their stalks long naturally.
Some times even if we place them under high light (MHs) and stronger currents they will still have their long stalks. We find them like that in the ocean too!! So... That also depends on the species...

I gotta go back to work and won't be able to visit the forums very often anymore.

Keep zoaing!!
Grandis.

fernalfer · Oct 4, 2016

Yea it is just weird how mine have not moved spots and thrived growing almost 20 polyps quickly and not extending to one day they have stopped multiplying and the stalks have stretched. same lighting same flow. 4 months of being fine and last month they are stretching. And parameters meaning Calc, Mag, and Alk are stable.

A. grandis · Oct 4, 2016

fernalfer said:
Yea it is just weird how mine have not moved spots and thrived growing almost 20 polyps quickly and not extending to one day they have stopped multiplying and the stalks have stretched. same lighting same flow. 4 months of being fine and last month they are stretching. And parameters meaning Calc, Mag, and Alk are stable.

If light is the only issue in your system, that wouldn't happen with t5s. That's for sure!

Grandis.