Tricks To Get Zoas To Open?

[Jeremyan7]

I have a relatively new tank and I've been slowly adding some corals.
My water params are pretty good: Completed nitro cycle, low No3, PO4 is about .5 or less and I have tried moving the zoas around the tank for light and flow variability.
They closed up the 3 day in my tank and haven't opened since. 2 weeks now..

Ideas?

 

[Alexanneka]

Pics of the zoas in question? Could be a tonne of reasons why they're closed up.

 

[Kman]

Check for pests that could be eating them. Flip the rock that they are on over to see if anything suspicious is irritating them. Look for snails, nudibranchs, flatworms or other pests that may be eating them. The nudibranchs can look like a polyp so they might be hard to find others are clear and hard to see. I myself would take the polyps out and use a tooth brush and clean them under fresh water and rinse them in a bucket with aged salt water. I would swish them back and forth to shake off anything. Look at how much light they are getting and how much flow. To high light or flow can keep them closed. If they have been closed for a few weeks look at another spot to place them. I myself would put them on the substrate with good light and flow. Check for corals stinging them as well and look down stream to thew closest coral. Some soft corals release hormones and chemicals to out compete other corals so this could also be irritating them. If you have a lot of soft corals you might want to look at running some carbon in the system.

 

[Jeremyan7]

A bit more information.. When I purchased the rock with Zoas (from Big Als) there was at least 1 nudi on it which I removed. I have since "dipped" the rock, and treated the tank once (will repeat in a week) with flat worm exit (but in the meantime, this is only a precaution as I do not see any more pests...).
I tested chems today as follows : Temp78 SPGV1.026 Amm0 No2:0 No3:5 CA360 Alk11 PH 8.2 Po4 .25
I have tried a spot near the bottom in moderate / low flow. I cleaned gently with a toothbrush a couple days ago (some of the polyps). Still nada..

 

[Jeremyan7]

 

[Jeremyan7]

Here is a photo.

 

[Alexanneka]

View attachment 15910

Ya they really don' look happy. I can see there's some sort of die off or detrius on them. Try taking a turkey baster and blowing all the stuff off them. Even still may take a few days to reopen.

 

[Luke.]

I would recomend holding off on the flat worm exit , I can tell you everyone here will agree , at first I did a treatment didn’t do anything to my eyes did a 50% water change did another 2 weeks later and still wasn’t satisfied, 3 and 4 more times next thing you know a nightmare came to life and everything started dying do the recommended and wait longer then a week , it’s not worth crashing your system over some generic zoos .. trust me man I’m talking from first hand experience here . Flat worm exit works just do yourself a favour and take it slow..

 

[Luke.]

I’ve also struggled with zoas When I first started out . They say they are an easy to keep coral but I don’t really think it’s 100% true , I only had luck when my tank was matured for around a year . To me from the pic it looks like there’s a film or algae on the mouths I would agree with @Kman and use a tooth brush , you have nothing to lose , at this rate they are starting to look rough , but not gone yet . Kman is a smart guy and knows his stuff , he’s helped me out in the past , good luck !

 

[Jeremyan7]

the red stuff is diatoms from the very end of the "cycle".

 

[Kman]

Since you tried the low flow try adding it to a little higher flow so it helps wash the algae on the polyps that i see as well as any decaying tissue.