Zoas won’t open

nanotank60 · Nov 17, 2023

I have 100 litres tank that has been up and running 4 months now, zoas were doing fine for weeks, all of a sudden 4 out of 10 Zoa polyps will not open and haven’t for over a week. Algae is present in the tank possibly film algae? Looks like it’s on a few of the polyps. Also red looking slim covering some of the GSP. Can anyone help?? Just removed a dead coral after hoping it would survive so after doing some research and realising this leaks phosphates into water I’m thinking could this be the reason for the zoas closing or maybe the KH? Parameters and pics attached.

Ph - 8
Kh - 6
Nh4- 0,05
N02 - 0,05
N03 - 10
P04 - 0,2
Salinity - 0.026

OctaviusBrine · Nov 21, 2023

Looks like cyano on the gsp hard to tell in the picture. You could use a soft brush and brush it off. I always have luck sucking up cyano and working on balancing nutrients.

monfilsi · Nov 21, 2023

Looks like a green star polyps to me. I use a turkey baster to blast build up off corals. If you can sample some of the build up by sucking it up in the turkey and have a look at it under a cheap kids microscope. If its dinos, you can start dealing with it early before it becomes a full fledge outbreak.

nanotank60 · Nov 21, 2023

OctaviusBrine said:
Looks like cyano on the gsp hard to tell in the picture. You could use a soft brush and brush it off. I always have luck sucking up cyano and working on balancing nutrients.

monfilsi said:
Looks like a green star polyps to me. I use a turkey baster to blast build up off corals. If you can sample some of the build up by sucking it up in the turkey and have a look at it under a cheap kids microscope. If its dinos, you can start dealing with it early before it becomes a full fledge outbreak.

Yeah the picture is GSP with the cyno but my zoas (not got a pic) won’t open for 2 weeks now. Just wondering if there’s anything off with my water parameters that’s I’ve attached maybe causing them not to open of if I should be looking els where for the problem ? Thank you

kevgib67 · Nov 21, 2023

The parameters look fine, its the algae. If on a plug pull out and place in a container with tank water and 3% hydrogen peroxide for 3-5 minutes. They should open in the next couple days.

nanotank60 · Nov 21, 2023

kevgib67 said:
The parameters look fine, its the algae. If on a plug pull out and place in a container with tank water and 3% hydrogen peroxide for 3-5 minutes. They should open in the next couple days.

Amazing thank you!!!

kevgib67 · Nov 21, 2023

nanotank60 said:
Amazing thank you!!!

Sorry. Forgot, it’s a 3/1 ratio water to hydrogen peroxide.

Uncle99 · Nov 21, 2023

DKH low at 6.
8-12 and stable is required.

nanotank60 · Nov 23, 2023

kevgib67 said:
Sorry. Forgot, it’s a 3/1 ratio water to hydrogen peroxide.

Will this be ok to do also on the rock the zoas are on? It won’t soak up and leach anything back into the tank will it?

TheBear78 · Nov 23, 2023

One of the easiest and quickest fixes for unhappy Zoas is a quick blast with a turkey baster. Debris can often get lodged in between the heads and it doesn't take much to upset them. See if a quick clean improves things.

kevgib67 · Nov 23, 2023

nanotank60 said:
Will this be ok to do also on the rock the zoas are on? It won’t soak up and leach anything back into the tank will it?

Yes, I did it before. I just had a container of tank water to rinse it in after. Last March I dosed hydrogen peroxide directly to the tank last March after I returned from vacation with a gha outbreak.

nanotank60 · Nov 24, 2023

TheBear78 said:
One of the easiest and quickest fixes for unhappy Zoas is a quick blast with a turkey baster. Debris can often get lodged in between the heads and it doesn't take much to upset them. See if a quick clean improves things.

Yes I already tired this and unfortunately didn’t help

thank you

nanotank60 · Nov 24, 2023

kevgib67 said:
Yes, I did it before. I just had a container of tank water to rinse it in after. Last March I dosed hydrogen peroxide directly to the tank last March after I returned from vacation with a gha outbreak.

Ok thank you, going to give this a try

melonheadorion · Nov 25, 2023

ive had zoas that didnt like high phosphates. before moving to a sump type of filtration, my phosphate was around .2 consistently, and i was only ever able to keep one zoa in a phosphate like that.

in addition, ive had zoas that have closed up for day, and eventually reopen. they closed up for no apparent reason.
on the other hand, algae and cyano will iritate zoas as well, so helping rid of those, will help in the long run.