New Palythoas and Zoanthid question/help...

[jussery17]

Hello everyone, so I bought 1 Ultimate KO Nightmare paly and 1 Rasta Zoanthid from Aquarium Specialty and they there in 1 freebie paly, which was really cool, well I got them about 6 days ago now and the night it was delivered I got them and slowly slowly acclimated them to the water and to the lights as well, very carefully and slowly......I then dipped them all in Coral Rx and dipped them in clean tank saltwater.....i put them in the tank towards the bottom and slowly moved them higher and higher and almost immediately the freebie paly opened up so big and the Rasta zoanthids and ultimate KO palythoa have still not opened on day 6....ive asked another knowledgeable member here and got some info but was curious if anybody has any advice or help they can share with me.... thanks in advance!! Also pictured are more zoanthids that I got a month ago that are also doing wonderful.... and sorry about the pic of the 3 new frags my Midas Blenny must be picture happy lol

 

[jussery17]

Alright well I guess nobody feels like moving their fingers to type, why am I on this forum again?

 

[silverado61]

Just give it a few more days and lower the light intensity. They're probably still in shock from being moved up too fast or they're too high in the tank and need to be lowered. Decreasing the intensity might give you a clue as to whether or not they need to be lowered. Especially if they open up.

 

[jussery17]

Since you are the one and only that has responded can you possibly give me advice on what to do with a dilemma I'm in.... well I have a six line that has picked one of my three new zoa/paly frags clean along with a hermit .....there is one paly that's left that hasn't opened and one paly that is opened and doing awesome!! Well I caught the 6 line last night and the next day I noticed that the one frag that I mentioned was gone, a hermit was on it eating so I released the wrasse...... tonight when I released the wrasse he eventually found the frags and picked again at the frag!!! I put the two frags in a acrylic little box that's able to have flow thru it that has a acrylic top on the sand bed with some rocks in it....... I tried catching the wrasse tonight, I noticed him swimming around the one paly that is extended out and doing great and he tries to pick at it!!! I go ape shit!! Lol I'm trying to catch him and also while in the process of catching him with the 16 oz bottle trick, the Midas Blenny swims by the bottle and than goes and tries to pick at the same paly frag that is doing good!!!! What in the world would someone do in this situation?? As I'm still fairly new any advice would be greatly appreciated bc this carpet surfing I keep seeing is looking better and better lol

 

[silverado61]

Unfortunately, now that the wrasse has a taste for corals, it will not stop. The hermit is part of the clean up crew and is just going after the damaged/dead parts of the coral. I'm afraid you might only have two options:

1- Get rid of your corals and keep the wrasse.
2- Get rid of the wrasse to keep what corals you have left alive.

If you decide to get rid of the wrasse, try this trick: Get two nets where the netting is the color red. Fish cannot see the color red. One six inch net to catch him. One 2-3 inch net to chase him into the six inch net. Put him in QT till you find a home for him. Keep the coral in the cube as long as you know there's enough flow to keep the hermit away from it till it heals and there's no more damaged tissue. Once the wrasse is gone transfer the frag into QT till it finishes healing. You'll have to target feed it till then. Also use coral dip on the frag following the instructions on the bottle. This will help heal the damaged tissue.

That's about the best advice I can give you.
Hopefully, if someone has better advice than mine, they will chime in and give you more options.

 

[jussery17]

Thank you that is exactly what I need is some clear great advice! Really appreciate you letting me know as I'm still a beginner....tell me why the blenny was trying to pick at the palythoas that are healthy? Is it bc he may have picked as well at the other damaged coral and he has the taste for coral too? It was so freakin strange to see the Midas blenny picking at a paly

 

[silverado61]

That's exactly what I'm thinking.

 

[lmforbis]

Some times blended will pick at other things if there isn’t enough for them to eat. They like algae but we try to keep that out of our tanks.

 

[jussery17]

Well I feed once I get home from work and it's a mix between reef frenzy and mysis PE and the blenny makes sure to get the most lol....but every time anyone comes up to the tank the blenny is right there at the top waiting to be fed...he eats a lot! Sometimes before bed I may feed enough where each fish gets a good bite and that's it but that blenny mows down some food so I guess I should feed him more?? I just hate having to keep my frags in a freakin box...also, the hermits I've noticed are climbing on the sides of the box trying to reach their little claws thru the holes to reach those frags, so I may have to get rid of my hermits! I hate that bc I've always liked the blue legged hermits

 

[lmforbis]

You might try target feeding the Belmont a couple times a day.

 

[jussery17]

So I'm still having trouble with this ultimate KO nightmare paly ....it will not open....I dipped it again, and hit it with a turkey baster to dislodge any pest or just anything that could be making it not open, buuuuuut its still not opening... any advice? Water parameters are great and every other zoa and coral are growing and happy..

 

[lmforbis]

I never did well with palys or zoas

 

[jussery17]

Well all my other palys and zoas are doing great! They are very easy to maintain especially bright colored ones bc a study that I read last night darker colored zoas absorb more light making it more difficult to determine the exact or close to PAR value they need to grow..but between 50-500 par, I read, is a big window but where they experienced growth start to kick off....but was curious if anybody has experience with any ultimate KO palys as they are red and black and would love to see it but it just won't open...if anyone else has experience with these or palys in general please throw some pointers my way to try and get it open...