Few zoo and S.P. questions

[danieljames]

Ok first...I bought a zoo rock as my starter coral about 2 weeks ago...and I have a few simple, beginner questions....
1. What does it mean when one of the polyps has two "mouths." I noticed one of the polyps with 2 openings where all the rest have one. Does this mean it is splitting into 2 polyps?
2. How long do zoos typically take to spread? Are we talking months, years?
And as a follow up, do they only spread to other live rock? Do they only spread to the nearest rock or can they spread all over the tank...(example: from one side to another) Same questions applies for star polyps.
3. What are some signs of a stressed or dying zoo colony? I have noticed for a while that my polyps began closing and staying closed for quite some time....in addition...they don't look as brilliant in color and appearence as they did when I got them.....No sludge, and the stalks look the same size....is this common?
4. Do starfish eat corals?
5. Do they require spot feeding or can I add directly to water...(currently use DT's reef blend)
thanks in advance

 

[angler man]

1. You have an abnormal polyp, you should take a pic!
2. All Zoa's grow at different speeds, I have a few species that are not growing period, others that I'm seeing 4-5 babies a month off a small frag.This is why some of the really expensive zoanthids and paly's garner the wages that they do.
As far as spreading, zoo's do some amazing things. I have a stalk that has grown twice as long as the others; it then has grown babies in the middle of the stalk to spread to further locations.
They will find a way to spread if you don't frag them

3. There are many reasons a zoo colony can become stressed, and I frankly couldn't tell you about all of them. If you have a lot of different corals you may be experiencing coral warfare, in this case you may need to add active carbon to remove all of that warfare debre in your water. Have you checked your water parameters lately? Zoanthids will not respond well to high Nitrates.
You may also have a predator bothering your Zoa's. Zoa Spiders, certain snails, worms and irritators will cause your Zoa's to close.
4. Certain Starfish are not reef safe, you need to find out what kind you have.
5. Zoa's will live fine without feeding. Research I have read saw no increase in growth with feeding. I do it once in awhile to watch my corals feed, but that the only reason. I do use Phytoplankton for some of my other corals that require it.
Hope this helps.

 

[danieljames]

I have a chocolate chip starfish....(which I am pretty sure is not reef safe) oddly enough...it is one of the first things I put in my tank before I decided to make it semi-reef...and to tell u the truth...I've almost completely forgot it was in there...it's always at the top of the tank most times out of site...but lately I have been pulling him off as it approaches my corals....I assume this is because he wants dinner...!! It was only $9 so I can move this C.C. starfish to another tank we have located at our office....
As for the zoo's....I tested water today and was stunned...I have a bit of a Nitrite reading and I'm perplexed! My tank water has been pristine for months....it's between 0 and .25 ppm and not sure why....0Amm....8.2 PH and 5 Trates....I just did a water change about 2 weeks ago....I did lose...(litterally dissapeared) a cleaner shrimp recently...maybe it's rotting away somewhere out of site and causing the nitrite spike?? Any advice on how to lower the trite's? Not quite sure how it happened in the first place....
Dan