Zoas Not Opening

[ggabrielcc]

I got some zoanthids about a week ago and they won't fully open, the sunny D will open one polyp fully but have the other completely closed and occasionally have both fully open however the fire stems have yet to fully open, the parameters are basically perfect apart from some nitrates but that isn't a worry as its only about 3. Is it just them getting used to the tank or could it be a pest or disease?

[DreC80]

No one is going to be able to help until you give more details.   Basically perfect water means a lot of things to different people.  What are your actual parameters?  Tank size? How long has it been running?  Full tank pic to see where zoas are placed.  What kind of fish do you have?  What is your lighting?  

 

Really hard to diagnose something over the internet without as many details as possible.  There are a lot of experienced people on here who I'm sure will chime in once you give more details.

[ggabrielcc]

2 hours ago, DreC80 said:

No one is going to be able to help until you give more details.   Basically perfect water means a lot of things to different people.  What are your actual parameters?  Tank size? How long has it been running?  Full tank pic to see where zoas are placed.  What kind of fish do you have?  What is your lighting?  

 

Really hard to diagnose something over the internet without as many details as possible.  There are a lot of experienced people on here who I'm sure will chime in once you give more details.

ah ok, fish wise I have a peacocks wrasse, royal gramma, pair of clowns and a banded high fin goby, parameters wise the alk/KH is 8.3, nitrites are 0, nitrates are 3, ph is 8, Ca is 420 and salinity is kept at 35. the tan has been up for about 2 years but about 3 months ago i did I full clean and re scape, lighting wise I have a TMC reef photon, and the tank size is 15 gallons. placement wise they were in the bottom left but I moved them to see if placement was an issue, in that photo id only just moved them.

Thanks for any help 🙂

[Jmevox]

Parameters look good.  Have you tried moving them into an area with higher flow?  How often do you do water changes?  Do you ever checked magnesium?

[ggabrielcc]

25 minutes ago, Jmevox said:

Parameters look good.  Have you tried moving them into an area with higher flow?  How often do you do water changes?  Do you ever checked magnesium?

I haven't checked magnesium but I do about 20%-30% water changes every 2 weeks, I've moved them to a different spot to see if that helps. ill eat about 2 days to see if the new spot has helped at all

[DreC80]

Are you having issues with any other corals or just the zoas?  Have you checked phosphates by any chance?  Did you dip them before placing in the tank?  Could be pests if you didn't.  Zoas are just tempermental sometimes so it might be nothing.  If they don't open after a week or so than it's probably an issue.

[Daniel91]

Assuming the zoas are the only corals unhappy, I would move them to the sand bed and leave the completely alone, they need time to adapt to both new parameters and light - 

 

In my experience, closed up zoas does not necessarily indicate unhealthy parameters -

sometimes they are just weird. With that said, you need to ensure parameters are stable and leave them alone to de stress. An important note is that zoas can do really well in dirty water (IMO) and yours may be too clean.

[ggabrielcc]

4 hours ago, DreC80 said:

Are you having issues with any other corals or just the zoas?  Have you checked phosphates by any chance?  Did you dip them before placing in the tank?  Could be pests if you didn't.  Zoas are just tempermental sometimes so it might be nothing.  If they don't open after a week or so than it's probably an issue.

ah ok, I have a very big cabbage leather and some Xenia which are pulsing, I also have a gsp which I got at the same time which is doing fine, yeah I hope it isn't pests. I also don't have a phosphate test kit which I need to get 

[ggabrielcc]

1 hour ago, Daniel91 said:

Assuming the zoas are the only corals unhappy, I would move them to the sand bed and leave the completely alone, they need time to adapt to both new parameters and light - 

 

In my experience, closed up zoas does not necessarily indicate unhealthy parameters -

sometimes they are just weird. With that said, you need to ensure parameters are stable and leave them alone to de stress. An important note is that zoas can do really well in dirty water (IMO) and yours may be too clean.

ah ok this helps, in that case I maybe should have left them as they started on the sand bed for a couple days to get settled in, then I moved them to the rock I wanted them to grow on, then they didn't open so today I moved them to and area with more flow and light as someone suggested playing around with placement until they open, so should I see if they open there after a couple of days and if not just leave them where I want them and not bother them for a couple weeks.

Thanks for the help 🙂

[ggabrielcc]

On 5/5/2020 at 9:38 PM, DreC80 said:

Are you having issues with any other corals or just the zoas?  Have you checked phosphates by any chance?  Did you dip them before placing in the tank?  Could be pests if you didn't.  Zoas are just tempermental sometimes so it might be nothing.  If they don't open after a week or so than it's probably an issue.

could it be too much light, the light I have is probably not meant for such a small tank and I have it pretty high at at 80% blues and 60% whites, ill give the zoos a day or 2 more to see if they open up in their new location and if not ill try to reduce the light, if that dent help it shouldn't matter as I don't have any high demand corals, only some gap, Xenia and a cabbage leather 

[DreC80]

I wouldn't change anything.  Give them more time.  Maybe like a week more.  If you adjust lighting, keep moving them it's just going to take longer for them to get settled in.

 

I mostly keep SPS, but have some King Midas and Rasta zoas.  Sometimes they close up for several days.  I just leave them alone and eventually they all open back up.  

 

At this point I would leave them on the sandbed and practice the hardest part of this hobby.....patience 😉

[ggabrielcc]

17 hours ago, DreC80 said:

I wouldn't change anything.  Give them more time.  Maybe like a week more.  If you adjust lighting, keep moving them it's just going to take longer for them to get settled in.

 

I mostly keep SPS, but have some King Midas and Rasta zoas.  Sometimes they close up for several days.  I just leave them alone and eventually they all open back up.  

 

At this point I would leave them on the sandbed and practice the hardest part of this hobby.....patience 😉

yeah I think your very right with that haha, the only thing that concerns me is if I leave them 1/2 open after about a day diatoms seem to start growing on them, does that matter?

Thanks again 

[Ratvan]

28 minutes ago, ggabrielcc said:

yeah I think your very right with that haha, the only thing that concerns me is if I leave them 1/2 open after about a day diatoms seem to start growing on them, does that matter?

Thanks again 

Lightly baste the algae off if you can

[ggabrielcc]

On 5/7/2020 at 7:50 PM, Ratvan said:

Lightly baste the algae off if you can

alright thanks 🙂