Zoas Dying...

[Kyle1970]

What’s going on with these Zoas?

Picture taken at night.

Light?
No pests or other stinging corals close by.

Salinity 1.025
Temp 78
Cal 460
Mag 1300
Alk 8
Nitrate 0.2
Phosphate undetectable
Light G4 pro at 45%

What else should I be watching?

Others are doing great.

But I’ve lost others in the same way.



Kyle

 

[Kman]

You need to feed. At the nitrate and phosphate you have is low for corals like zoas that like some organics in the water. Dissolved organics make up a large portion of the soft corals diet. At those levels for nitrate and phosphate you will have lower dissolved organics in the water. Spot feeding is best.

 

[Jason Bell]

I use reef roids and coral frenzy mixed with some tank water, turn my skimmer off and return for 15 minutes and let it go. Funny thing is I used PE pellets last night for the first time and several corals opened up for that.

 

[Kyle1970]

I turn pumps off for 20min 3 times a week.
Dose polyp booster. Wait. Then Feed reef roids or coral frenzy or the arctic pods.

Took a bit to get my nitrates up to a measurable amount. Added 2 fish last month to increase there feeding amount.

I will keep on the target feedings.

Is light too high? I did 2 week acclimation.

60g cube (24/24/24)

 

[Jason Bell]

I don't know anything about the G4, my primes I ran on a low setting with random spikes throughout the day. I now have a 6 bulb T5 and all good anywhere

 

[Hong]

Something crawl over them (hermit crabs/shrimp) or fish picking?

 

[Alexanneka]

I wouldnt dismiss a pest of some sort, youd be amazed at whats in our tanks at any given time, id suggest a quick dip in some coral dip if possible. Ive seen extremely small bristle worms wrapped around stalks, nudis that are colored identical to the zoas, flatworms that are almost undetectable with the naked eye. Very hard to see anything in dark photo also. Best luck and hope you can save them.

 

[Copperkills]

What’s going on with these Zoas?

Picture taken at night.

Light?
No pests or other stinging corals close by.

Salinity 1.025
Temp 78
Cal 460
Mag 1300
Alk 8
Nitrate 0.2
Phosphate undetectable
Light G4 pro at 45%

What else should I be watching?

Others are doing great.

But I’ve lost others in the same way.



Kyle

Sometimes they just melt away even when all parameters are in check.

 

[Kyle1970]

I guess that’s good to hear.

 

[Hong]

Are they utter chaos?


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[Josh]

Zoa's have a pretty long acclimation period, ive had some not open properly until the 3 month mark so be patient. My one type didnt grow any heads for a single year then suddenly went nutts and now i have probably 150 of them.

@Kman is correct zoa's love to feed (not all will accept feeding directly) i spot feed with reefroids by making it into a "heavier mixture" and using a baster to spot feed.
The KEY to zoas is stability tho. You can have garbage water quality but if its stable zoa's will thrive. They do not like salinity/alk swings. They seem to be ok with nutrient swings.

Thats about all the advice i can give you ive kept probably 40 diff types of zoas, even with all the feeding and care sometimes theyll just melt on you anyways lol

 

[Kyle1970]

Are they utter chaos?


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Utter chaos melted a while back. In the typical “melt” way.
These look to be trying to make it.

 

[Luke.]

How old is this set up ? And size of tank?

 

[Kyle1970]

60g cube
80g of water

3 or 4 years old I guess

curve 5 skimmer
Mp40 and mp10
Refugium section in sump
6gal water change weekly. Aquavitro salt

Kyle

 

[Shooter000]

Try a quick 1:4 ratio hydrogen peroxide/ water dip, the 3% stuff, few minutes take out and put back, sometimes that does the trick as well

 

[Josh]

Its the fuge. Ive Seen so many people complain about zoa growth when they had a refugium. Cut back on your photo period on the lighting by an hr once a week until you are down to maybe 4-5hrs reverse lighting schedule. Keep an eye on nutrients and i bet after that month all your soft corals will have more pop and will be physically larger.

 

[Kyle1970]

Thanks for the ideas. Will get to it tomorrow

 

[Copperkills]

Its the fuge. Ive Seen so many people complain about zoa growth when they had a refugium. Cut back on your photo period on the lighting by an hr once a week until you are down to maybe 4-5hrs reverse lighting schedule. Keep an eye on nutrients and i bet after that month all your soft corals will have more pop and will be physically larger.

Zoas and LPS love Mag....chaeto loves Mag as well...I run a fuge and dose Mag to keep my Chaeto and Zoas happy ) I run my Mag closer to 1500.

 

[Kyle1970]

Slowly adjusting five lights back.

Dipped zoas for 2 min in a 4:1 tankwater peroxide (3%) mix

Please keep in mind, this is not a prize winning frag of zoas. But some of the ones I’ve lost in the past with like symptoms were single frag specimens that I wish I had gotten in front of.

Updates in a few days.

 

[Jason Bell]

Glad to see you're doing something, just because it doesn't have a fancy name doesn't mean it's less valuable, I'd rather have a tank full of healthy coral than a handful of names that honestly I can't remember.