NanoBob's zoa issues....

[NanoBob]

Copied from the pico forum......

 

Hi everyone, I introduced 4 zoa frags a few weeks ago and all was well.  Everything opened and seemed to be happy and growing.  Well 3 days ago I noticed one of the frag polyps weren't opening and the trend seems to be working its way across the tank.  All my water parameters check out and I haven't made any changes to lighting intensity or duration.  They are in my 5 gallon tank and as low as I can put them.  I have a Fluval NANO Marine light on the tank, my daylight settings are as follows:

pink 71

cyan 57

blue 86

purple 70

cold wht 66

Like I said they were doing great and multiplying and now there is trouble in river city.  Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!!

 

Cheers,

Bob.

[Christopher Marks]

What is your maintenance routine like? How often do you do a partial water change? How long has your reef tank been up and running? 

 

Zoanthids can be a little fussy, there may not be one specific thing wrong. One thing that I've noticed is that they seem to prefer slightly 'dirty' water, a system with some nutrients in the water (nitrates and phosphates). Newer nano reef systems may lack those nutrients, or over filtration on a tank from frequent water changes, or even lots of macro algae growing, could contribute to low available nutrients.

[NanoBob]

I don't do routine water changes just to do them.  I let the water tell me, if it needs it I change it (3-25% changes done in 2 months).  The system is only a couple of months old.  I test weekly and my parameters are stable.  This is the first time I have tried to maintain such a small system and it can be a challenge.  Like i said, things were looking really good, everyone was wide open and new polyps were popping up and then bang!  Only one of the 4 frags are open on a regular basis.  The others haven't died, but they are always closed and getting smaller.  I am trying not to panic and will leave everything alone for a few days, but it is killin' me!!!

 

Cheers!

Bob.