Irritated Zoas

[Zer0]

Alright.. seems that my Aqua Lotus Eaters have been staying semi-closed yesterday and today. They open up sometimes, and then halfway closeup whenever a copepod runs over or near the polyp. I don't have any fish or animal in my tank to control the pod population, so there are TONS or them. All over the place. None of my other zoas seem to be having problems and all of them have great polyp extension and stay open the entire day, and some polyps stay open even during the night.

So i'm here to find out what the problem could be. If it is in fact that there's just too many pods running around, and my zoas are getting irritated by it. I've also noticed that the Lotus Eaters are the zoas that have longer skirts then the other zoas.. so maybe they're more sensitive to movement around the polyps. I'm not too sure either way.

The thing is.. it just so happens that these are my favorite polyps, they have the nicest colors and were the most expensive, so i'm doing whatever i have to to get them to be happy again. The first day i put them in, i had full polyp extension and some really amazing colors.

Any help i can get would be greatly appreciated. I'm doing a complete test of my water right now and will post the results when i'm done.

Water Parameters:

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
pH: 7.8 this morning around 9am.. Now testing 8.0 at 8:03pm. Is this normal?
SG: 1.024
Nitrates: 0ppm
Phosphates: 0ppm
Calcium: 25 Drops / 500 - Is this too high?
dKH: 9

 

[thincat]

Okay, zoa's 101...The longer the skirts the slower the flow rate they can handle. Zoa's in high flow areas have short shirts and are very compact. Also what type of lights do you have. you may have to lower your lights for a week or so so that they can acclimate to the lights.

 

[Zer0]

I have a 150w HQI MH Pendant, that sits about 6 inches off the water. Tank is 18 inches tall, and most of the zoas are sitting in the mid-tank range. Except for the lotus eaters which i tried putting in the top half today to see if it would make a difference.

 

[HN1]

How long have they been in the tank?

Interesting about the skirt length relative to their preferred flow. Does the same go for palys? We seem to have some of each that don't fit that mold right now, but it might explain some other experiences.

It is important to start low (light and flow) and work up to find the sweet spot for each individual colony IMO. But, I did miss the sign ups for zoas 101 so who knows.

 

[Zer0]

Decided pictures may better help to identify what the problem is. HN1, all the zoas have been in the tank since Wednesday. These zoas came from CoralMorph who keep them under 400w MH's. Only reason i thought my light shouldn't be a problem for them since they're the same type of light. Maybe i'm wrong? I still think it's the pods that are bothering them.. but the fact that a couple other zoa colonies are doing fine suggest otherwise.

Here are my Lotus eaters that look beat up

and here are the lavender ones that also seem to look a little beat up. The top polyps look the worst..

And here's the yellow zoas that also don't look all that happy.

And coincidentally.. here are the other zoas i have that seem to be doing excellent. Also note that my mushrooms are doing excellent, and they look so much happier then they did a few days ago. They look huge now. My chalice is looking awesome as well.

Here's the seafoam green ones that look great

and here are the ones that are supposed to be blue with neon green skirts.

 

[HN1]

2 days? I've had corals take a month before they settled in. They all look fine to me (great colors!). Give them a few days. They look healthy.

 

[Zer0]

Hmm.. maybe i'm just paranoid then since these are my first really nice corals. I mean.. i had some nice ones in my 55G.. but they were nothing compared to these. Alright then, i'll give them time and will update this thread on their health.

Btw, do my water parameters look fine? I updated them in my first post.

 

[thincat]

Your readings look okay. It's normal for the PH to be lower first thing in the morning. Nitrates 0?
For those new to Zoas. "Lotus Eaters" are a fairly new Zoa spieces from the Carrabian That have a white mouth unlike the famous "People Eaters" that have a florescent green mouth.

 

[Zer0]

Yeah, they're pretty awesome. Easily my most favorite. The colors in person and under actinics on the Aqua Lotus Eaters are quite amazing. That's why i really want them to flourish in my tank.. as well as all the other zoas. Just really worried that they are unhappy, but i guess i'll give them time.

I still love the people eaters though. I wanted to get a single polyp of the purple people eaters, but they sold out right when i went to buy them.

And yes, my Nitrates are 0ppm. I test for the Nitrates regularly since Nitrates are bad for coral and inverts.

 

[thincat]

Great job. Just give the Zoas a chance to get used to your tank and they should be okay. By the way, the person who discovered the lotus eater his name is Colin Foord and he is a marine biologist out of Florida.

 

[Zer0]

Does Colin Foord happen to work for/own CoralMorph?

And a little update.. my lavender zoas and my yellow zoas look happier today! The yellow ones have really opened up it looks like the lavenders are heading that way too! Lotus Eaters still seem a little pissed.. but i'm seeing a noticeable change in them, they're opening up more as well.

Also, i got a frag of some type of People Eaters today at my LFS. I think Brown People Eaters... They are AWESOME. Perfect polyps, with great extension. There's around 8 of them i believe. Also.. i got a mandarin. Shhhhh...

 

[thincat]

Yes, Colin is a co-owner of CoralMorphologic, a licensed marine life collection and aquaculture organization.

 

[Zer0]

Wow! Awesome! That's who packed my zoas! and he wrote on the box! lol.. i know i got too excited about that.. but it's pretty cool knowing you're buying from someone such as him. He's a great guy. +1000 for Colin!

 

[krap101]

I know a guy named colin, so +1001! lol

 

[Zer0]

Oh you're clever... Meow.

 

[krap101]

Now I'm embarassed *whip*

 

[Zer0]

 

[mrg02d]

Did I hear a meow?

I have the red people eaters as well...They colored up nicely. I wasnt impressed with them, but they were a freebie from Mrcoral and now they look great!

I need to take some pictures. Ive got some wild looking colors of zoas now. The leds are making them go crazy with color.

MAtt

 

[Zer0]

You should definitely take pictures.

 

[Aquarium1]

You should, right MEOW!