ZOAS disappearing....why?

milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
What would cause my zoas to start disappearing?
100 gallon 2x175w 14k MH, 2x110 actinic VHO runs about 10 hours a day
ammonia 0
calcium 380
trites 0
trates 10
ph 8.3
phosphates 0
dKH 11.2
I had 5 good frags now I am down to like 4 - 5 zoa polyps only. Anyone know what would cause this?
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
no I don't see anything like that in there. I do have tiny spiral looking snails all over the glass but I don't think these are the same things.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by milomlo
no I don't see anything like that in there. I do have tiny spiral looking snails all over the glass but I don't think these are the same things.

Those sound like spiorbid worms. They won't bother your zoas.
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
Originally Posted by saltn00b
what do you have in the tank for live stock . fish and inverts

I have 2 clowns, 1 tailspot blenny, 1 firefish, 1 coral beauty, 1 cleaner shrimp
misc hermits, Astraea snails, ceirth snails, and some Nassarius snails.
In my refugium I have some nass snails and some rock rubble and old shells w/ chaeto and red grac....something tangs like it.
That's all - nothing crazy. I don't think anything there would eat zoas.

IDK is wrong w/ them. Also I came home yesterday to find one of my xenia frags all closed up. I got these the weekend of MACNA so I have had them about a month.
One is doing great the other is closed up.

OH I guess I should add that my corals include:
hitchicker button polyps
zoas - what's left of them
mushrooms
xenia
frogspawn
torch
sps frag of some sort that I got at MACNA
GSP
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
I have two zoa rocks, one is doing great and spreading like crazy, the other ones hardly ever open up.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
if you have some weird varieties of hermits, some of them may not be reef safe - so keep an eye on them. also what is the placement in the tank? most people put them lower in the tank because they dont need much for light, but if your lighting is borderline , then raise them up.
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
Well my hermits have never bothered anything and my lighting is listed above. My zoa rock is now mid tank as I thought maybe it needed more light, but that doesn't seem to be doing any good either.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
I have 2 clowns, 1 tailspot blenny, 1 firefish, 1 coral beauty, 1 cleaner shrimp
watch that coral beauty out of everything you just listed the only fish I had that ate any zoos was the coral beauty and he wiped out half a large colony before I figured out it was him.
mike
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
I would watch the hermits as well some of them love zoos
Also I came home yesterday to find one of my xenia frags all closed up. I got these the weekend of MACNA so I have had them about a month.
xenia can be a bit touchy doing great and then close up for no apparent reason just watch for melting if there is no melting it might just be resting corals go through a rest period every once in awhile
Mike
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
Well it isn't my hermits or my CB. I counted them and I had 9 polyps. I notice that they will shrink a little then close up all together...then they are gone. Is there a reaosn for this or is this a preditor?
 
petjunkie

petjunkie

Active Member
Seen any nudibranchs? There are zoo-eating nudi, maybe try a 5 minute freshwater dip and see what falls off.
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
Ok I did it....I got a few pods and stuff off but I also got about 6-8 of these little flat looking things that were a clearish/white color. Could this be the culprit? I couldn't get a picture it was entirely to small.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
i am pretty sure those are the coral munching nudies
- i didnt know you could FW dip coral, being inverts i assumed they would die.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
its not a good idea to FW dip anything saltwater. Fish can deal with it sometimes but will severaly stress them out. corals usually dont do well at all with a FW dip.. the reason I siad watch the hermits and coral beuty was mine was eating the poylps I never saw them doing it but after whatching the tank closely I noticed the hermits and coral beuty picking on the zoos which disapeared after they hit the a couple of times.
Mike
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
dont give up on them but watch them you might need to seperate them somehow in a different area of the tank the the coral beuty and hermits cant get to. I usta use a net breeder for FW fish to seperate something from the rest of the tank. The ones I use are the net type floating boxes an open top if you can find one.
but dont give up they are hardy buggers just keep in mine they are majority water in them and a drastic change in salinity can hurt them severely.
mike
 
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