More of a rant than a question

[MsBeanCtr]

ok, so I've had this sw tank up for almost a year. I've had great luck with most all of my corals (sun coral, mushrooms, hammer, toadstool leather, xenia, frogspawn & star polyps).....what I can NOT keep alive is Zoanthids. I ordered a small batch of approximately 50 of them.....I just lost the last one a couple of days ago. They just seem to slowly die off in a matter of a few months. Everyone else is doing gang-busters but these beasties! It's totally frustrating. I've tested my water regularly....do a 20% water change every week. I regularly dose with calcium so it keeps it at about 410.

Does anyone else have this problem (with this specific coral)? I really like this coral but I'm really debating if I want to try it again.

Whoever said that this coral is easy to keep should be beaten with a wet noodle!!!

Argh!! :x

 

[Lance M.]

Usually zoos are really easy to keep. You just put them in the tank and they spread. I have some red zoos that I like a lot. They dont need added calcium. The only corals you have that do would be the sun coral, hammer, and frogspawn.

What do they look like when they die? Do they close up and not open and just die away? How did you place them? Possibly if they where too close to the hammer or frogspawn that would of killed them.

Why don't you get a small like 10 polyp one and try again? It's possible you got a bad one. How long after you got it did it die?

I got my red zoos for $15 and they had about 8 poylps on the rock. Now the rock is covered and they are growing off onto another rock.

 

[Devilishturtles]

You know, I'm having the same problem in my tank right now. I assume something is eating them, but I know what you are going through. I used to have amazing orange and green colonies of zoos, they are all gone now. But my sps corals and lps corals are thriving...

Sorry, not much help, but I know the feeling.

 

[AndyH5512]

My zoas are fine, but something is killing my SPS. I cant win, either.

 

[MsBeanCtr]

You know, I'm having the same problem in my tank right now. I assume something is eating them, but I know what you are going through. I used to have amazing orange and green colonies of zoos, they are all gone now. But my sps corals and lps corals are thriving...

Sorry, not much help, but I know the feeling.

Actually, that does make me feel better..... (sorry, misery loves company I think).

What happens with them is that they slowly start not opening then - la mort. I thought perhaps I had them too high.....so I moved them lower. I made sure I kept them away from other corals just in case.

I think I'll wait awhile before I give them another try. Does it make any difference with colors (in relation to lighting requirements)??

 

[clowninround]

You now something, I had my zoo's slowly disappear and ended up being a yellow tang I had. I fed well and I just don't know why, but that tang had a taste for my zoo's. I got rid of the tang (two years ago!) and those zoo's never came back. Then a few months ago I noticed a nice patch of them out of nowhere. I didn't think I had any left! Now I have a whole big rock of them. Don't give up, just keep trying different things in your tank. Look for fundamental things as well as watch your tank for hours. That's how I caught the tang! i wouldn't have believed if I didn't see it will my own two eyes. It's weird two, because I have an Emporer Angelfish, fully grown...doesn't touch em. Actually, he dosen't touch any of my corals! You'd think if anything, it would have been him!

 

[roka64]

Not a reefer here, but is it possible they are getting nuked from some of the other corals?

 

[melosu58]

Tangs are herbivores and usually dont mess with corals but I do know of some isolated cases with them. Leathers do wage a chemical war that will affect some corals. You might want to consider some GAC if you`re sure it is not the inhabitants.

 

[Sadielynn]

Check for pests like little nudis that eat zos ,spiders , crabs and astrenia stars . I had an issue with zoas as well could not figure out why I could not keep them ... all my perameters were good ...
Upon inspection I found a few things that made me go HUH in one tank I found a zoa eating spider these are small lil buggers almost impossible to see , in yet another I started removing out some astrena stars they were in the zoas when I removed them they started to open again and regrow. In the 3rd tank there were a combo of stars and 2 mystry crabs removed , now they seem to stay open ...Keep your eyes out for something that may be irritating them so they wont open and then die .... either way I know I am not the only one that has had issues with them I now dip them in lougals iodine and also qt them for feeding to see if anything comes scampering out for food ...if there is then that gets removed and they continue to be QT till I am sure of no further hitchhikers
One final question what tank inhabitants do you have , do you have what looks like a pepperment shrimp that could be a camel shrimp those are known to snack on polyps ,or perhaps an angel fish that is snacking on your prized polyps as they also have a coral nipper title