Zoanthid coral

[Alexis56]

I got a zoanthid about a week ago at a local aquarium store that specializes in saltwater aquariums. The owner of the store picked it out for me as one of my very first corals (along with a mushroom and green star polyp) to get the basics down before adding more difficult corals. During the first couple days my zoanthid polyps were all open and looked healthy. Then the polyps closed up and have been ever since. All of my other corals, fish and inverts ante doing great. I've tried moving the coral frag around about every day to see if it likes a new spot better. Is my coral sick? Does anyone know what kind of zoanthid it is? Am I moving it too quickly?

Here's what my zoanthid looked like, and what it looks like now:.

 

[Alexis56]

I got a zoanthid about a week ago at a local aquarium store that specializes in saltwater aquariums. The owner of the store picked it out for me as one of my very first corals (along with a mushroom and green star polyp) to get the basics down before adding more difficult corals. During the first couple days my zoanthid polyps were all open and looked healthy. Then the polyps closed up and have been ever since. All of my other corals, fish and inverts are doing great. I've tried moving the coral frag around about every day to see if it likes a new spot better. Is my coral sick? Does anyone know what kind of zoanthid it is? Am I moving it too quickly?

Here's what my zoanthid looked like, and what it looks like now:.

In my aquarium I have:

• a pair of ocellaris clowns
• 6 dwarf red tip hermit crabs
• mushroom coral
• green star polyp coral
• tiny feather duster (hitch hiker)
•and my zoanthid

 

[Sniperhank]

How long has the tank been set up? What are the current parameters? What kind of lighting do you have?

 

[Alexis56]

The tank has been set up for 2 weeks now. I bought pre-mixed water from my local aquarium store and have and extra 10 pounds of live rock in my aquarium. I have all the healthy signs of an aquarium (copepods, happy fish and plenty of algae for my hermits to graze on). Since I did buy pre-mixed water and cycled live rock, I was told my parameters would never be an issue until my 30% water change. As far as lights go, I always have my moon lights on, blue lights a total of 8 hours and white lights a total of 5 hours. Thanks for the help!

 

[Sniperhank]

I'd be inclined to say you are cycling.

 

[JAS1234]

I have a similar problem with my zoas. My tank is a 5 weeks old. All the numbers are normal. The only strange thing is that I started to have a diatom bloom. Zoas won't open. Tried to increase flow, decrease light. Not sure what to do. There are a few that open but the rest nothing.

 

[Tkey3425]

Jas and Alexis: your tanks are really too new to be keeping corals. Your tanks are going to go through cycles still and it takes months normally to level out. Zoos are pretty hardy and resilient and mine have made it through rough times. There isn't too much you can do other than let someone with a well established tank keep them for you until yours matures. They will probably live but they won't like it, hence why they are staying closed. Test all your levels and if there is any ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or phosphate present then that's probably your answer. JAS: diatoms are normal in a young tank. It's part of cycling.

 

[54seaweed]

this isn't instant reef things take time.
when I started my first reef I didn't add my first coral till around 6 months
same thing with my second tank
2 week old tank first of all isn't cycled and you are prob seeing big swings
adding things before your tank is cycled only adds to fire
your tank needs time to develop
we see this way to often people think its just add water and fish and it will be ok
this hobby is a slow process on avg it takes 6/8 weeks to cycle a tank
even after cycling it's still slow process add 1 or 2 fish than wait
building a healthy bio load is important for both fish and coral and it takes time
the biggest problem in this hobby is everyone is in a rush !!!!!!
SLOW DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Alexis56]

Thanks for all your help! I think I am just going to take my Zoanthid back to my aquarium store. I've spent years researching and preparing for this and I don't want to be responsible for hurting any kind of creature. I do have a aquarium specialist who works at the aquarium store helping me step by step. But he's on vacation so I am really grateful for this website! I'm just really confused because my zoanthid was so happy and beautiful for a week straight. After a week I added hermits in the tank to help clean the algae off the rocks. Do you think they could be hurting my zoanthid? I've only seen them near the coral once or twice, but the hermits have been leaving it alone since I moved the coral out of reach. As for my other two corals (green star polyp & mushroom) who are happy as of right now, will they still be okay?

 

[Tkey3425]

Gsp and mushrooms are almost impossible to kill

 

[Seaflowerkitty]

Wanna bet?

 

[JustinKBreen]

Depending on the brightness of the moonlights I would have those set to turn off after bed... total darkness is good too, lets everything rest and the other life like copepods like dark best, especially down the road when you get corals that extend feeder tentacles at night. Just my opinion.

 

[Alexis56]

Okay! Thank you for your help!

 

[Bectan01]

I don't want to discount your helpful LFS but remember they are the people who sell you stuff! The advice on here is not only free but no one is out to make money. If you don't already grab yourself some test kits so you can monitor your own water. Post results here if you are usure of anything

 

[Alexis56]

Update on my Zoanthid!

There was nothing wrong with my water parameters! My LFS asked me to bring in a sample of my water and tested everything for free!
After watching my zoa for a while, I noticed red algae was growing in between the polyps! Once I got some tweezers and cleaned it, all of the polyps opened!