Zoanthids closed and will not open.

[alewi28]

All of my zoanthids have been closed up for about 8 months now. They will start to open a little and I even see some new polyps growing but they just stay closed.

This first started happening last July. Everything was growing fine and my polyp extension was awesome. Not too sure on water param at that time because I didnt check it too often because everything was growing fine. A buddy brought me about 50 heads of zoanthids and a couple of small birdsnest frags. I dipped everything and placed in my tank. Everything did fine for a couple of days and then all of my zoanthids started closing up and staying closed. I also noticed my large birdsnest that I had started to look bad. The polyps started receding and the base was all white. This was all in a 28 nano cube with 24 led kit from rapidled. I did no changes when all of this happened. The only filtering I did was filter floss, chemipure elite and purigen. Tank was a year and half old. Had two premium snowflake clowns and a firefish.

I started looking around on forums to find an answer to why this was happening. The only thing I could find was the my alk was possibly low at 5-6. ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates were all undetectable with the large hagen test briefcase. I used B-Ionic two part to increase alk and calc. No changes. At this time I was wanting to upgrade and thought this would be a perfect time to almost start over. I got to building my new tank. 40g breeder with a 29g sump.

Long story short. My new tank has been up for three and a half months now and nothing has imporved. Thought my ph was too low at 7.7 to 8.0. It is now in check at 7.9 right before lights come on and 8.3 right before they go off. Same leds over tank but added a few more to it.

The only thing I can come up with now is that my tank is too "clean". Im OCD with my tank and try to get everything perfect. Ive backed off and just started feeding my tank heavily with Aquavitro Fuel and MarineSnow. Any advice would help. All of my other corals are doing great.

Please HELP!

 

[PSU4ME]

Hi and Welcome!

Take a read through here:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...nthids-closed-care-pests-troubleshooting.html

You could have more things to look at past your water quality.

Once you have a chance, start a tank chronicle so we can all see your system.

 

[BigAl07]

It sounds like you need to possibly do a few things. If I were in your shoes here is how I think I would proceed:

a) Get your water tested by another source (LFS or friend etc). Use a whole other test person and test kits to help eliminate any test procedure errors. I would do that.. yesterday.

b) Evaluate your source water and salt mix. There could be something going on that the test kits aren't able to detect.

c) Once you have done the above and if you can find no problems (actually even if you do) I'd suggest preparing to do some hefty water changes. I shoot for getting a 100% water change done in a week. Just be sure you understand and can do a SAFE water change as to not introduce any additional SHOCK to your system.

d) Try turning your LED lights down a LOT! Many coral will open LESS under bright light do maybe a few weeks of reduced LED to see if you see any improvement at all.

What other inhabitants do you have in the tank? It could be something is irritating the certain coral and keeping them from closing up. It's not uncommon to have clownfish be a little to "heavy" in the love department when it comes to some coral. They don't mean harm but daily "attention" from them will irritate the coral and cause recession and eventual demise.

As a side note... you mention OCD etc. Many of us have realized (over years of experience) that often times the less we DO to our tanks the better off they are. We are natural born "nurturers" and only want the best for our little portion of the ocean but fact of the matter is we usually do more harm than good. It took me a couple of years to realize my tanks often look better after I come back from vacation than before. Why? Because no one was there to "Tinker/Tweak/Disturb" the tank and it took care of itself... very WELL I may add.

Good luck and happy reefing

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics

great advise & link ^

 

[Bearjohnson]

Low alk and wild swings can certainly be a factor.

I didn't notice any water parameters other than PH and Alk? What are all of your tests showing and what are you testing for?

Also, how quickly did you raise your alk when you noticed it was way low? Bringing it from 5 to 8 or 9 very quickly will certainly put a hurting on the tank.

 

[reefer gladness]

+1^

There may be other factors involved but there's no doubt that alk in the 5-6 range is way too low and will definitely cause a negative reaction with corals. Often the low alkalinity is related to low magnesium which should be corrected first. So test for mag and bring up to NSW levels, then slowly raise alk up to around 8-9 dKH. You should be testing for calcium also and keep at least around NSW levels.

pH is one number I never chase. In my experience if you keep calcium, alk and mag in balance then pH takes care of itself.

 

[alewi28]

It sounds like you need to possibly do a few things. If I were in your shoes here is how I think I would proceed:

a) Get your water tested by another source (LFS or friend etc). Use a whole other test person and test kits to help eliminate any test procedure errors. I would do that.. yesterday.

b) Evaluate your source water and salt mix. There could be something going on that the test kits aren't able to detect.

c) Once you have done the above and if you can find no problems (actually even if you do) I'd suggest preparing to do some hefty water changes. I shoot for getting a 100% water change done in a week. Just be sure you understand and can do a SAFE water change as to not introduce any additional SHOCK to your system.

d) Try turning your LED lights down a LOT! Many coral will open LESS under bright light do maybe a few weeks of reduced LED to see if you see any improvement at all.

What other inhabitants do you have in the tank? It could be something is irritating the certain coral and keeping them from closing up. It's not uncommon to have clownfish be a little to "heavy" in the love department when it comes to some coral. They don't mean harm but daily "attention" from them will irritate the coral and cause recession and eventual demise.

As a side note... you mention OCD etc. Many of us have realized (over years of experience) that often times the less we DO to our tanks the better off they are. We are natural born "nurturers" and only want the best for our little portion of the ocean but fact of the matter is we usually do more harm than good. It took me a couple of years to realize my tanks often look better after I come back from vacation than before. Why? Because no one was there to "Tinker/Tweak/Disturb" the tank and it took care of itself... very WELL I may add.

Good luck and happy reefing

a) my lfs uses the same test kit that I do. I usually bring it to them also with the same results I received. I will try again and see if anything has changed.

b) I am on well water. I have a spectrapure 4 stage RO/DI unit with dual TDS meter. 0 TDS coming out after DI. I was using IO Reef Crystals on my smaller setup, but now use Seachems Salinity. I also have a bucket of Coral Pro sitting waiting.

c) I just did a 15 gallon water change a week ago. I can do 100% within a week if needed. I have a mag 18 and a 20 gallon brute for mixing.

d) I have three strings of LEDs. 14rb at 25% max. 12 cw at 25% max. 6uv and 6rb at 40% max. All have 80degree optics and are about 9 inchecs off of water with no top. All controlled by my apex controller.

I have a pair of snowflake clowns. They host my 3 rbta that are all right next to each other. I have not seen them show interest in any of my other corals. I also have a fire fish, gold-barred goby and pistol shrimp and a sixline. I have removed all asterina stars with no luck. I removed as many bristle worms as possible when moving everything (new sand bed) to my new set up.

 

[alewi28]

Low alk and wild swings can certainly be a factor.

I didn't notice any water parameters other than PH and Alk? What are all of your tests showing and what are you testing for?

Also, how quickly did you raise your alk when you noticed it was way low? Bringing it from 5 to 8 or 9 very quickly will certainly put a hurting on the tank.

My ph is 7.9-8.3. My alk is holding steady at 8.5. My Calc is at 400. All done with hagen tests. My mag is at 1500. Mag was tested with salifert kit. Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates are all undectable with my test kit.

I raised alk over a span of two weeks and then dose kalk in ato. I didnt mess with alk until recently. 8 months ago when this started happening I had made no changes besides add a few more corals.

 

[Bearjohnson]

A while back I had a major Alk issue brought on by yours truly of course.

Not only did I loose several corals but it took 5 months until things slowly began to open up again.

It sounds to me like you have the situation under control and I suspect if you maintain fairly constant levels things will begin to open in no time at all.

I'd continue to do your normal WC's and weekly tests.

Make adjustments as needed and I think this goes away all by itself.

 

[alewi28]

Thanks bearjohnson. I am about at the point where I do nothing at all for a while but just maintain constant levels and quit trying to figure out why this has happened. All of my other corals are looking great. Even the birdsnests my buddy gave me back in July. I gave another buddy a few of each of my zoas and they are opening fine in his tank. Im thinking it just has somthing to do with my water.