Zesty;360666 wrote: Its a bit of a misnomer to start of with what makes up the color of a Zoa and what is their natural color, also technically Zoa's don't morph in the way we think of cross breeding say with flowers.
The Coloration of Zoa's are due 2 aspects..
1. The Health of the Polyp
2. The Health of the Zooxanthellae in symbiosis with the Polyp.
3. Variety species of Zoa
Health of the Polyp is down to the following:
1. Amino Acids (used for cell multiplication (RNA)
2. Water condition (include chemistry, temp and flow etc)
3. Unstressed Polyps from pests - use Iodine.
Health of the Zooxanthellae is down too 2 key elements:
1. Light Lumen
2. Light colour range.
3. Water condition.
Another misnomer is their color, most zoa's you see in captivity are beige.
Beige is not the natural coloration of a zoa, in the wild they are naturally a range of different colours depending on their depth, sea chemistry and type of Zooxanthellae, species etc.
The Yellow Green Zoa's in your image maybe their natural color allthough it seems unlikely, as I would expect phasing on the surrounding zoa's.
However keep an eye out for the position of these polyps to your lights source? Powerheads? are those closer to the light source are they the yellow green ones? If they are try moving the rock a small fraction to see if any other polpys change.
I have been working for about 4 weeks on a small colony of Zoa's that originally when I go them were pink with brown skirts, by increasing their position to the light source (MH 250w, 20K) introducing Amino Acid they have slowly turned more to an apricot color, within only 3 weeks, far more vivid than the Pink.
I also have another colony which 4 weeks ago, 3 out of 10, were vivid fluorecent Orange (bit like your yellow) while the remainder were beige, over the last couple of weeks the number of vivids has increased so I now have 3 vivids and another 3 semi vivid orange.
I hope you find this helpful.
Regards Z
Helpful Zoa links:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/zoanthidhlthfaqs.htm"><span style="color: #22229c">http://www.wetwebmedia.com/zoanthidhlthfaqs.htm</span></a>
[IMG]http://www.zoaid.com/gallery2/v/zoas/armageddon/cousins1.jpg.html/main.php?g2_itemId=384"><span style="color: #22229c">http://www.zoaid.com/gallery2/v/zoas...?g2_itemId=384</span></a>
[IMG]http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=396"><span style="color: #22229c">http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?modul...&g2_itemId=396</span></a>
[IMG]http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?name=FAQ&id_cat=3"><span style="color: #22229c">http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?name=FAQ&id_cat=3</span></a>
[IMG]http://www.club-zoa.com/forums/index.php"><span style="color: #22229c">http://www.club-zoa.com/forums/index.php</span></a>[/QUOTE]
WOW, very informative and helpful!
I don't believe anything in the tank changed, except for the standard aging of the bulbs. We did have some alk/calcium issues (high alk, low calcium) but that should affect the entire colony, no?
I haven't changed the position/location in the tank of this rock since I put it in the tank (it's a very large column, not easily moved). The zoanthid are high, at the top of the rock and growing down and to the front of the rock away from the light.
The only real change has been feeding zooplankton as I've been experimenting with foods to see which get a better feeding response. (So far ZooPlan from 2 Little Fishes and Coral Frenzy)
Thanks for your informative answer.
I hope you're planning to write up your findings so all of us can try it too.
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