New zoas not opening

[InAtTheDeepEnd]

Hi all 

I had 9 frags delivered on Thursday and they all look good except for two zoanthid frags

But I don't know what they are, the bags were only labelled "zoa" or "soft"... So how can I rectify these these corals being sulky if I don't know what they require in terms of flow, water parameters or lighting !? 🤯

[mcarroll]

5 hours ago, InAtTheDeepEnd said:

So how can I rectify these these corals being sulky if I don't know what they require in terms of flow, water parameters or lighting !? 🤯

Corals in this hobby aren't THAT different from one another in terms of water or light requirements.  (IMO this is a great reason to buy locally whenever possible....then you know what light and water flow they came from. 👍)

 

Zoanthids ARE, on the other hand, the moodiest coral in all the land – so the reason they are closed up may have NOTHING to do with you or your system.

 

Inspect them CLOSELY for pests since that's fairly common and can be somewhat hard to ID.

 

Other than that, good strong flow and decent (not too bright; just right) lighting should be all it takes.

 

You can try dosing some phyto or pods to entice them, but chances are that won't be necessary (and might do nothing).

[InAtTheDeepEnd]

What would be the most likely pests to look for? I  didn't dip,  maybe stupidly but the tank was started with dry rock so i am trying to introduce as much biodiversity as possible and i wasn't sure if  dipping the new frags  would  reduce  the amount they brought with them.

[mcarroll]

12 hours ago, InAtTheDeepEnd said:

What would be the most likely pests to look for?

Nudibranchs, snails, spiders, fungus, etc.   You might be a little light on your zoa research if you're just finding out about these "possibilities" now. 😉 A dip may still be a good idea, but do a bit of reading on what dip makes the most sense.  Sometimes a simple freshwater dip is all it takes, other times a med might be called for.

 

Other than pics for ID (which can be searched pretty easily) I don't have a good "one stop shop" place to point you.  There are lots of zoanthid pest photo ID posts out there, but also LOTS AND LOTS of hearsay and home remedies being thrown around (very little science)....so nothing specific to recommend; you'll have to dig around a little for the quality bits of info out there.)