Halp! Zoas dying.

[hauksanger]

I have a colony of Zoas that has been infested with aiptasia and treated with aiptasia X, have had it for about three weeks. It shares a LR with another colony, which seems to be thriving. But this one seems to be dying, and I'm not sure why. It has no signs of pest, but it's not opening up (a few heads do, but only a few). The heads are getting smaller and are covered with a layer of something brown (I'm guessing just algae). When touched, one of them released the zoanthellas from a rift in the body itself.

I'm posting a pic, hope it makes it clearer.

I've tried to change position, considering that light intensity might be too high, but haven't seen any change in the 1,5 day(too soon?)

Hope anyone has some advice.

Another point of view.

[ReeferBoo]

This happened to some of my zoa colonies before too, came with the sudden change of temp when the seasons changed. Did you change anything in your tank recently?

[hauksanger]

I must admit I probably changed quite a lot - the colony has been in stagnant water for a bit, in low light (I think maybe the transition to higher intensity might have been a factor), I've also been keeping my hands in the tank more than I should have, I suppose... So it's hard to pinpoint exactly what the cause is... An I also changed the salt I use to Coral Reef Pro. But both zoas that are on this rock have been in the same conditions, and the other colony is thriving...

Is there anything I an do to fix?

I have no nitrates or ammonia, WC every Friday about 10%.

[DurocShark]

They're just pissed off. I recommend patience. SOMETHING bothered them, so give them a few days to recover.

[ReeferBoo]

+1 to above, have good flow over them to keep the algae off and keep your temp/parameters stable. Some zoa types are more resilient than others, minute changes may be tolerable to one colony yet severely damaging to another.

[hauksanger]

Ugh, I'm just afraid that they're not gonna make it :/ and I have a panicky boyfriend that is constantly asking me about why they aren't opening and what can be done...

[DurocShark]

Heh. Tell him to post his own thread here and we'll tell him the same thing.

[hauksanger]

Good idea

The "Google it" response is getting kinda old

[metrokat]

pull the rock out, gently toothbrush the algae off of it - it should open up.

if it has been like that for a long time it may die, that algae is a result of it not having enough flow.

[hauksanger]

Ok, thanks, will do

[ajmckay]

What kat said... The algae film on it is probably contributing a lot toward their unhappiness so it would be a good idea to clean that off - and a soft brush like a toothbrush works well.... Do you live in Norway? Cool.

 

Anyways, I'll second putting them in a low to medium flow spot. Also take a few minutes several times per day to carefully observe them. Look for damage to polyps, possible irritants like algae, predatory crustaceans or snails, anything picking at them basically...

 

Sometimes zoanthids do well and then suddenly die off for reasons not completely known... I wouldn't just assume that they're going to be fine or that they're going to die off. Do your best to keep them free of algae and in appropriate water conditions and they stand the best chance.

[hauksanger]

Thanks for your reply

Yeah, I live in Norway. Mighty jealous of you guys with your ability to order almost any coral and have it shipped to your doorstep there's a lot of cruising the LFS's and waiting where I live - and I live in the capital! The only place the supply is half-decent is on the west coast.

 

I'll try to clean off the zoas and I put them on the bottom in a spot with a low flow yesterday. We'll see if it helps.

I peer at them quite a lot during the day I've seen something that looks like a bite mark on one of them, but nothing else. I have two hermits - an electric blue leg and a red-legged one, but they don't do anything more than just take a walk around (or on top) of the zoas.

I'll try following your recommendation

Thanks again.