Zoas melting away.

[jc_k]

So I got some zoas at the frag swap that have been doing great. Someone actually gave me some rasta Rastas because my original ones didn't make it and it's grown probably 6-7 polps since I've had them and I have some sunny d's which have grown to 3 polyps but I looked at the sunny d's to night and 2 of them have just melted away. All of my parameters have tested good ( well don't have mag and calcium kits) so what could it be? Do sunny d's like a lot of light? It's in the middle of the tank and gets good flow.

 

[marquiseo]

I have had my Sunny D's and Rastas in high light and Med Light. They are doing fine. It may be that your frag is from a wild colony. That is my guess but then again zoas/palys can just be unforgiving for no reason. What salt mix are you using?

 

[jc_k]

MarquiseO;979150 wrote: I have had my Sunny D's and Rastas in high light and Med Light. They are doing fine. It may be that your frag is from a wild colony. That is my guess but then again zoas/palys can just be unforgiving for no reason. What salt mix are you using?

Don't really know... Laugh at me if you want but I still buy water from my lfs.... I'm pretty sure they use reef crystals or something.

 

[redstang]

What's your alk?

 

[marquiseo]

JC_k;979155 wrote: Don't really know... Laugh at me if you want but I still buy water from my lfs.... I'm pretty sure they use reef crystals or something.

That's the first issue. You should know what's going into your tank. That may be the cause. Now and then, there are bad batches of salt mixes and non-premium mixes that your LFS could be using.

 

[jc_k]

MarquiseO;979161 wrote: That's the first issue. You should know what's going into your tank. That may be the cause. Now and then, there are bad batches of salt mixes and non-premium mixes that your LFS could be using.

Everything else is awesome including all my other zoas. I would live to have an RO/DI but it just seems like I can never afford it.

 

[marquiseo]

JC_k;979162 wrote: Everything else is awesome including all my other zoas. I would live to have an RO/DI but it just seems like I can never afford it.

Just buy RO water and mix your own salt. As stated above, Alk swings can do it too. You should test that.

 

[jc_k]

MarquiseO;979163 wrote: Just buy RO water and mix your own salt. As stated above, Alk swings can do it too. You should test that.

What's a good place to buy that from? My lfs has freshwater but I don't know if it's RO or not......

 

[franciscosalazar]

MarquiseO;979163 wrote: Just buy RO water and mix your own salt. As stated above, Alk swings can do it too. You should test that.

Don't forget to at least get a handheld TDS meter to check your purchased water.

 

[marquiseo]

JC_k;979164 wrote: What's a good place to buy that from? My lfs has freshwater but I don't know if it's RO or not......

Their freshwater is RO water. My LFS calls it the same. An alternative is buying distilled water from the dollar store. That is the cheapest place for distilled.

 

[jc_k]

MarquiseO;979166 wrote: Their freshwater is RO water. My LFS calls it the same. An alternative is buying distilled water from the dollar store. That is the cheapest place for distilled.

Is distilled and RO the same?

 

[marquiseo]

JC_k;979167 wrote: Is distilled and RO the same?

The names are the processes for purification of the water. Distillation or Distilled is purification by vapor and Reverse Osmosis or RO is purification by sediment filtration.

 

[marquiseo]

franciscosalazar;979165 wrote: Don't forget to at least get a handheld TDS meter to check your purchased water.

I bought one the other day and it is very handy. I normally don't check water from LFS but I had to make sure this time that the water was not tap.

 

[jc_k]

Well, if I get salt, then how do I keep it from clumping up? When I had my pico tank I use to make m own and it seemed the salt always clumped up? Or. Is that normal? And I just ordered a TDS meter off Amazon.

 

[marquiseo]

JC_k;979175 wrote: Well, if I get salt, then how do I keep it from clumping up? When I had my pico tank I use to make m own and it seemed the salt always clumped up? Or. Is that normal? And I just ordered a TDS meter off Amazon.

Don't let it get wet. Most salts come in buckets so just replace the lid after use. I use Red Sea Coral Pro and I've never seen it clump.

 

[jc_k]

Ok, the Red Sea salt seems a little more exspensive...I'm assuming that it's better than the reef crystals?

 

[marquiseo]

JC_k;979181 wrote: Ok, the Red Sea salt seems a little more exspensive...I'm assuming that it's better than the reef crystals?

It's a personal preference. I haven't had issues and have seen great reaction from the corals since the start a while back so I stuck to it. I am also doing the Red Sea Coral Care program.

 

[jc_k]

MarquiseO;979182 wrote: It's a personal preference. I haven't had issues and have seen great reaction from the corals since the start a while back so I stuck to it. I am also doing the Red Sea Coral Care program.

Ok! Thanks. Really appreciate the help and advice. I still have 1 polyp of sunny d left so hopefully it lives!

 

[mikesmith34]

Back to the original question at hand. Dip your Sunny's in some coral rx. It will sometimes help. I've had it happen to me and when my z's aren't looking happy they get a bath! It helps

 

[jc_k]

Mikesmith34;979279 wrote: Back to the original question at hand. Dip your Sunny's in some coral rx. It will sometimes help. I've had it happen to me and when my z's aren't looking happy they get a bath! It helps

Ok! Thanks