Zoanthid Present... surprise!

[kkgaskin90]

Hello all! We set up our 29 gallon BioCube 1 month ago. My husband, bless his heart, has no patience. Combine that with the wrong associate at the LFS and he decided to surprise me with a good sized Zoanthid Colony (+1 Mushroom) as a present. Oy.

I love him-he means well. They stayed opened up for the first 2 days, but now are closed and have been closed for about a week. They are in the lower portion of the tank, but not quite on the bottom. They get medium flow. My lights are: 36 Watt Actinic Blue Straight Pin (on from 10am-9pm) 36 Watt 10,000K Daylight Straight Pin (on from 12pm-7pm) 0.75 Watt Lunar Blue LED Bar (on from 9pm-12am)
Did a water test last night:
Specific Gravity: 1.024
Salinity: 32
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Calcium: 420
KH: 15 dKH
Phosphate: 0.25
Any ideas??? I'd rather not lose $80 in Zoas (30+ polyps) if I can help it. They don't appear to be dead or dying, but they certainly aren't happy. No, I can't find any pests and I've PORED over them searching. None of the fish pick at them either. There is ONE open on the very bottom right, but of course it's the least colorful

 

[bang guy]

The Alkalinity seems on the high side but the Zoas don't appear to be sliming. Maybe increase the waterflow to see if that helps. What's the temperature?

 

[kkgaskin90]

Just checked-81 and it seems to be pretty consistent. I can definitely try increasing the flow. Thank you. As far as the high alk, any advice on how to decrease that? I just did a water change a few days ago.

 

[bang guy]

Your ALK isn't critically high so just let it drop naturally on its own.
Next time you mix up new saltwater test it to see if the Alk is too high. If not then you need to find the source. Are you using tap water?

 

[kkgaskin90]

Nope, RO saltwater. We buy it mixed straight from the LFS who has a huge supply cheap for VIP members. That is the same LFS he bought the zoanthids. I increased their flow last night and they are still closed. Hoping they change their mind. Could they be getting too much light???

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by kkgaskin90 http:///t/395883/zoanthid-present-surprise#post_3525701
Nope, RO saltwater. We buy it mixed straight from the LFS who has a huge supply cheap for VIP members. That is the same LFS he bought the zoanthids. I increased their flow last night and they are still closed. Hoping they change their mind. Could they be getting too much light???
I don't thinks so from those lights. Maybe if they were MH's or LED's. What kind of lighting does your LFS use?? Maybe not enough light??
In the long run buying your own RO/DI unit and purchasing a bucket of salt will be more cost effective than buying water from the LFS. But... It is a lot of up front costs. I would suggest it more for having control over your system. What if something happened at night when the LFS was not open and you needed to do an emergency water change???? Having your own supply of RO/DI water and salt really does help a lot. Even if it is just piece of mind. Not to mention... How often does the LFS change their RO filters and DI resin??? Most of the time you end up paying a lot of money for water that is not that good.

 

[kkgaskin90]

Our own unit is definitely on our "want" list-we just never considered it until I started reading on this forum and right now we don't have the upfront funds.
UPDATE: as much as I pored over them for literally hours and was CONVINCED there were no pests... the more I looked into it the more I realized it was probably pests. SO I did a FW dip... 5 minutes then shake... well.. immediately I started seeing teeny tiny Nudibranchs falling off. At least five. Fingers crossed we've eradicated the problem, but I have a feeling there's eggs I'm not seeing.
That being said, I planned on doing repeat FW dips every 5 days for the next 15 days to ensure I kill them off as they hatch. BUT can they be in the DT off the zoanthids and therefore escape the dip???
ALSO, (when it rains, it pours, right?) I just got an email... apparently there's a shipment of zoas set to arrive at our house tomorrow... SO. I have a 10 gallon QT, but it only has fluorescent lights meant for tropical fish. Should I try to QT the new arrivals until I'm done dipping the infested rock? Or what should I do??? Other than confiscate the credit card so no more corals show up at my door...