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Unhappy Zoas and Palys?


Matthewdvm

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Being a relative noob to this whole reef world, I'm not sure what is normal and abnormal, but here's my question/concern. I have some Zoas and Palys that are very happy, open and swaying in the current all the time, and others that seem to spend most of the time curled up in hiding. Some of the curled up ones are right next to happy ones. I tried a little 5 minute dunk in RO water to see if that would knock any pests off, and tried putting them in new locations, but they still remain tucked in. Any thoughts? Should I worry about this, or is this just what they do sometimes?

Here's an example (my Green People Eaters, I believe):
DSC09397.jpg

(when happy and open, they look like this):
DSC07731.jpg

And another:
DSC09396.jpg

(this is the second example when open):
DSC07423.jpg

And yet, others are perfectly happy looking:
DSC09402.jpg

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Ive had times I was unable to command zos. my opinion in instances like this is look everywhere else for supportive details

 

other corals looking good no receded

 

nice open duncan in the backround, a most finicky of lps that w sometimes not even open fully for days when the water is perfect and of no blame

 

Im noticing no fish, when they are there they provide dissolved nutrients that zos and thick flesh soft corals can utilize directly or indirectly, so in my opinion the best you can do is feed the tank better than the average keeper would, change water better, and pack in replacement nutrients that fish inclusion would bring. those with fish often find they dont have to do special things for zos after time and the tank ages, and there are certainly fishless zo tanks worthy of mention, a recent one is the zoanthid tree nano reef from reefbuilders.com

 

I noticed your zos meet the ideal criteria of low hydrodynamic profile vs tall and spindly, they are stolon connected vs individual stalks represented in aquariums that starved the zos of light, nutrient and flow, so going off pics alone these zos were cultured in ideal conditions and are just a little mad. until stolon recession Id have no concern and keep things ideal. I see no irritation or invaders on them

 

howdy! hope your tanks have been going well~

b

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brandon429's info is spot on. i don't have a ton of experience with zoanthids and palys but i have had some and they sometimes would close inexplicably for days then pop open like nothing was wrong.

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Thanks for all the input. Yes, I have flatworms. I pluck them out when possible, but know there are more there. I'll try feeding more, and try to leave them alone, and see what happens.

 

Still battling the hair algae in my planted FW tank, Brandon.

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Matthew were you able to do any drain and treat applications on it? I know its kind of a pain draining a larger tank but we can catch that water and reuse it to avoid getting a whole new batch of water, just a trick to access it. I think I remember you saying some underwater spot treatments didnt do much for it

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I also want to add that Ive had to stop all retail fertilization to get long term control over mine. I tried the pre made mixtures for years, which is why I was such a big proponent of uv use since it was helping me to combat algae.

Its true your fw algae is benthic and attached to substrate or plants, isn't running through the uv. But, in my tanks from the 90s I'd take five hours and pull any bad leaf out and dowel twist remove all the visible algae. Fragmentation regrowth is huge, huge in tanks marine and fw and thats where the uv helped. After a few rounds of oversized uv and manual work I had the algae at bay, strongly reliant on the uv.

And some people's marine tanks would go eutrophic if we pulled their skimmer bandaid or ats bandaid box or peroxide bandaid dosing... Every reef hardware is a bandaid so no judgement there. But if one can fight algae with tank balance only, thats an ideal to shoot for.


Trends come and go in the aquarium world

For the last several years this is the top fert on the market
http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizer.html

Non hydrated, weigh and hydrate reagent grade no extras.

Imo the retail mixes are higher in ratios of X inclusion and somehow algae exploits it, I'm guessing to pose why switching to ei ferts helped me stop algae with no uv.

These powders you mix as you use and store in bulk, Tom Barr is the top planted aquarist in the US imo and this is the line he endorses. The international forum popularity of ei (estimating) ferts also lends thousands of people trying to prove or disprove the method so we get a lot of threads and with repeating variables, people claim a balance here controls algae.

I'd advise people to go no pressure co2 if you can use it without problems. But if you get problems go pressure

The un debated 2015 advice for algae issues in planted tanks across every forum that can be linked here as a reference breaks down to only three puzzle pieces

Co2 quality and consistency
Fert usage
Light levels

As we attack we should raise light, use blocks or lower setting intensity, the plants will hold out better than the algae. The current high light setting is what we should bring the tank up to, but not fight an algae war at

imo we should switch to these ferts, stop all irn based liquid premixes I'm recommending gla ferts solely due to the amount of reference threads not to jump on anyone's snake oil bandwagon.

Lastly the co2, I forgot what we had going or if you were already on pressure gas lemme know

And from that three pronged adjustment we have what Tom Barr does along with throngs of followers to constitute the US presentation of planted tank science.
Also, consider joining here at tpt
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=11
There are guys who mix these powders in ideal two part ratios, so we don't have to experiment, and sell them cheap. Sign up and pm this man he sold me my mix and its twenty bucks for about two years weekly dosing for my tank, well worth it.


On tpt forum and active in the sales boards look up user

 

aquarist

 

he sells custom dry powder mixes, I rehydrate with drinking water and apply.

 

 

I sent him a link to this thread in case anyone wants to link up to make custom mix ei fert doses, my tank is carpeted strong due to this mix.

Underwater spot injections of excel and peroxide also has some fw following as a chemical based approach

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