Zoas Not Opening

[islandreef]

Ok its been a few weeks now and my zoas are not opening. They dont seem to be dieing just not opening. Took my water up to jen and she said it was perfect just the Alk was a bit on the low side but not off by much. Tank is a 135 Mixed reef, only change I made was I added more flow, but cant understand why some (like 2-5 in a bunch opens) and the rest are all shut. I try to keep an eye to see if anyone is picking at them but nothing, tried to see if any pest on them but so far nothing. Help me out, I really like that area of my tank when their fully open.

 

[heathlindner25]

do you have a lot of crabs,? maybe they're walking on them.

 

[elithelion]

That may be it ^^ Happens to mine alot

 

[islandreef]

No I dont have a lot of crabs, looked at that to. It must be something in the water, although Jenn tested my water and all looked great even the ones on the rocks are closing these days. Cant figure it out.

Cant find sheet jenn gave me but here is what I remembered.

Calc - 450
Amonia -0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite -0
Phos .03
Mag - 1400
Alk - was I think 8.0

 

[heathlindner25]

maybe get some good test kits and test everyday for a week, see if anything is bouncing around specially alk. just a thought.

 

[mph84]

Nothing low about 8. My purple hornets are doing the same thing right now. All the rest of my zoas are doing great and the hornets look rough. Driving me crazy.

 

[au alum]

Same thing happened to me, they went from always open to always closed and stayed that way for a cpl weeks. They have started to open back up, but they still aren't what they were.

My Mg was low and once I started dosing they seemed to get better, but your Mg looks fine. Any pests or algae around them or on them that might be pissing them off?

 

[islandreef]

au alum;842387 wrote: Same thing happened to me, they went from always open to always closed and stayed that way for a cpl weeks. They have started to open back up, but they still aren't what they were.

My Mg was low and once I started dosing they seemed to get better, but your Mg looks fine. Any pests or algae around them or on them that might be pissing them off?

Thanks guys, I have 2 different test kits Seachem and Red Sea and it is the same as what jenn gave me, it will test the Mag again for a few days to see if that is the issue, but man I have some nice zoas and would hate not to be able to keep them.

 

[islandreef]

barry_keith;842429 wrote: Try a freshwater dip? I had some fruitloops not opening, I tried a 5 minute freshwater dip and they were open the next day.

I will take out a small section and try that. That way I can see if theres pest on them if they open and the others dont.

 

[tbryan]

sg?

 

[islandreef]

1.023

 

[kirkwood]

just throwing a couple things out there - too much light?? water too clean??

 

[islandreef]

Kirkwood;842433 wrote: just throwing a couple things out there - too much light?? water too clean??

Thanks for throwing . Lighting hasnt changed, if anything I may need to change my bulbs in another 4-5 months. I do run Carbon and GFO but so do many other people.

 

[tbryan]

Islandreef;842432 wrote: 1.023

Seems kind of low I had a similar issue once and going up to 1.025 helped.

 

[islandreef]

Ok will work on that to.

 

[seth the wine guy]

GFO can irritate them. Too high an ORP can do it as well. Rare to see that problem if you aren't running ozone.

 

[islandreef]

Seth The Wine Guy;842466 wrote: GFO can irritate them. Too high an ORP can do it as well. Rare to see that problem if you aren't running ozone.

I have been running GFO from the beginning setup of this tank, its been over a year and a half so they should be accustomed to it by now. No ozone running. I will try to raise my S.G slowly and see how that works.

 

[jimmystephens]

Its the flow. I had to change my powerhead in my frag tank . After i did they opened back up

 

[islandreef]

JimmyStephens;842473 wrote: Its the flow. I had to change my powerhead in my frag tank . After i did they opened back up

Ahhh say it aint so, my SPS are loving it. Cant I move them close to the rocks to shield them a bit?

 

[outdrsyguy1]

I had a bunch of zoa's that were doing great for a month or so then slowly more and more stopped opening.

Ended up being a tag team of zoa pox and zoa munching nudi's. Did 3 dips of Furan-2 and then a few dips of Revive coral cleaner and everything is opening up beautifully again. Those baby nudi's are TOUGH to see though. Looked like a tiny, tiny, midget and with a little fur on it's back.

I'm waiting to see if they come back before I glue my plugs to rocks.

oh, and my alk goes from 7.6 to 8.0 so I doubt it's your alk unless you spiked down or something. I run 1.024 salinity which is pretty close to you're 1.023 but maybe you just have some picky zoa's.