So I just bought some new live rock from my LFS that apparently was in a previous customers tank that had been running for 7 years. Several of the pieces I bought have scattered zoanthids on them that, as of right now, appear to be dead. The guys at my LFS said the rock had been in the live rock tub for 48 hours before I bought it, so there still might be a chance the zoas are alive. What I'm wondering is how long I should give them to open up, and what I should do if they don't open up.

They currently are in my 3g picotope so I'm worried that if they are indeed dead, just leaving them could mess with water params.

Thanks in advance
Ashton

Just leave them because most likely they will come back. As long as they are there they are still alive, zoas like to dissolve as soon as they die in my experience. Plus, sitting in a tub for 48 hours shouldn't kill them. A lot of people ship zoas using 2-3 day priority mail and as long as their temps stay decent they are usually fine.

Thanks for the info. I sure hope they all do start opening up.

What do you know about the LRs? Where they ever exposed to copper? I have a personal experience with buying used LR where it was exposed to copper (and not knowing). Then for the 2 years that I had the tank, it leached copper back into the water and the tank never really did well at all.

I don't know about copper. All I know is that it was in I believe a 150g that had been going for 7 years and was extremely established. One of the pieces that had the mother zoa colony on it actually was in the LFS's display tank so he showed me what the zoas would look like if they opened on my smaller pieces.