October Coral of the Month: Zoanthids/Palythoa

[aquaman3680]

This months COTM is Zoanthids/Palythoa. There seems to be many questions going around about them, so I decided to have this months coral be zoas and palys. These corals come in many different colors and sizes. There is very little difference in requirements between palys and zoas. The main difference is the size of the individual polyp. Usually the Palythoa polyps are much larger as opposed to the smaller zoanthid polyps.

Lighting- Both can take high or low lighting. Low being as far down as a low wattage PC, and high being near the top with MH's. These species can get too much light and it will have a negative effect. Ideally they should be low-mid tank with halides and mid-top with PC's.

Waterflow- Both like bursts of strong flow, but not constant strong flow. They do best with just bursts. You will also notice the skirts on the polyps extend further with bursts of water flow.

Feeding- These corals do not require feeding but do benefit from it. They get most of their food from the light over the tank. They will accept Cyclops-eeze if put on the individual polyp.

Multiplication- They multiply by putting up new sprouts at the base of an existing polyp. As they multiply there is different color variations of the same zoanthid or palythoa that will come up. They spread very fast almost like a weed, but these would have to be the prettiest weeds I have ever seen!

Difficulty- These are very easy corals to keep, being very hardy they are difficult to kill.

Pests- There are a few pests you would want to watch out for when keeping this species. One is the Zoa eating Nudibranch, and the box snail.
Zoa Eating Nudi
Box Snail

Colors- These corals come in HUGE variety of colors, you can pretty much find any color as long as you are willing to pay for it.

Chemicals Needed- These corals need a correct level of Iodine and benefit from other trace elements.










Feel free to post your pictures/ask questions/add insight to keeping this coral/ and add your suggestions!

Matt

[vdituri]

Wow Matt! Nice zoos. Are those all in your tank?
Can I come help you weed your tank. he he

Great info too.

[Techno-Vicki]

Zoas are a favorite of mine. I have experienced the snails, the nudis, and the "white fungus." The fungus is a tricky one. Here is a post that gives more insite into its affects and possible cures. I recently lost a beautiful zoa to it.
Reef Central Online Community - Zoanthid Information Draft

Here are a couple of pics of some favorites.

[Techno-Vicki]

Matt - exceptional photography as usual!!!

[goldenmean]

Here is a pic from my gallery from Dec. `06 of all the zoanthis in my nano.



I always do a fresh water dip on a new zoa colony before it is added to my tank which will kill any nudibranch ( if not the eggs). BTW zoa munching nudibranches will become the color of the zoas they are eating so they can be hard to see..
IN Feb. of 2007 I added a new colony on zoas. All was fine for 2 weeks then I notice the new colony was not opening and polyps were disapearing. I mean they were just wasting away. It rapidly spread to the my other zoas.
I did a lot of research - read the threads that Techno-Vicki just posted a link to above. Long story made short. I lost the new colony, all of the orange colony and all of the teal ones too. I probably lost about half of the polyps of the other 3 colonies but I was able to save them. and they are doing much better and slowly growing again. They still do not look as good as they do in that pic above tho. It was really heartbreaking.

The teal colony started as an original HH on my LR when it was first added to the tank. About two months of the LR being in the tank One little teal polyp suddenly showed up. A feew months later there were 5 polyps and a few months later they really started to grow. There were over 125 polyps in that colony when they caught the wasting disease. I could not pull that rock out of the tank to do a FW dip as it was the main stuctural piece of LR in the tank. It was very painfull (still is) I have not talked about this wasting disease very much but this seemed to be the place to do it to possibly help other zoa keepers.

Look what I found.

These pics are from Feb. `06, April`06, Aug.`06, Sept`06, & Feb. `07

[Anselth]

I love zoas. I'll post photos later. They come in so many different colors, it's amazing.

[aquaman3680]

Thanks Victor and Vicki! Yes those are all my photos, today my goal is to get pictures of every zoa/paly in my tank.

Im sorry about your lost colonies goldenmean!

Zoas are one of my favorites, I have well over 30 colors!

Matt

[Melanie]

Neurotoxin Warning:

All species of Palythoa, and most related zoanthids including the Protopalythoa species, produce a chemical called PALYTOXIN in their mucus and gonads. Indigenous Pacific tribes used this neuromuscular agent to tip spears in order to paralyze prey animals and enemies. This is a potent toxin and can be deadly to humans. It is important to wear hand protection when touching these animals, especially if the handler has any breaks in his or her skin.

While many aquarists routinely handle corals, including zoanthids, without incident, it is still a very good idea to maintain a safe health protocol when working with these animals. Wearing gloves or making sure that no breaks in the skin are present is a start. (Aquarium Corals Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History, Eric H. Borneman pgs 182)

[Melanie]

My zoas...

[AQTCJAK]

Beautiful everyone

[michael_cb_125]

Here are my new ones:

Under Actinics:


Nice Zoos/Palys everyone!!

[aquaman3680]

Very nice looking zoos everyone!

Matt

[aquaman3680]

Here are some of my other zoos. I am very interested to hear what people have to say about this species, and i am interested to see everyone else's zoos!














Enjoy! Matt

[GeeWizzItsMe]

Wow!

[Kazzy]

Originally Posted by aquaman3680

Here are some of my other zoos. I am very interested to hear what people have to say about this species, and i am interested to see everyone else's zoos!














Enjoy! Matt

0_0

WOW.

Anyways, here are my palys!