I have had these for 3 to 4 weeks. During that time, nearly all the polyps opened up regularly. Water parameters are stable at 0 for nitrates/nitrites, temp is 78 degrees F, 10% water change every 6 days, 36 watts of 50/50. Am I killing them slowly or what? Out of desparation, I moved them up in the tank to a moderate flow area with more light. I'm sure the red legs and astreas have walked over them a time or 2, but I wouldn't consider this to cause a total shutup. Light cycle is 10 on/14 off.
Zoanthids Closed Up
- Thread starter cruisaire
- Start date
<span style="color: black;">Try a fresh water dip. There's probably some sort of parasite on there. In the picture, to the left, looks like a batch of eggs I'm not really sure if it is or not, but you may want to remove that during the dip. I've never seen coralline algae growing on the zoa tissue either. What color(s) are these zoas?</span>
I had the same problem. I pulled out the frag and wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove whatever alage and other microflora were on the surface. After a couple of days, they polyps started to open again and I have a happy frag now. Might as well give that a try.
A dip as suggested above isn't a bad idea as some form of a predator could be lurking, but sometimes getting zoos off a rock isn't easy. I would suggest Pro Coral Cure if you go that route. It is possible either these are opening at night because that is there preferred time or they just don't like the light source you are hitting them with. I would guess parasite/predator or they are opening at night for feeding.
I tried the fresh water dip as well as a brief "lemon juice" discretely applied. Within a couple of hours several began to open! Since the frag was more like a colony, I broke off 2 pieces each with 8 polyps. Hopefully, they'll continue to open up nicely.
