What's wrong with my zoos?

[Ramathorn937]

Picked these up at the swap, the day I got them they looked great, I dipped them when I got home, and added them to the tank..



Now a couple weeks later they look like this



I would love to attribute this to the move today (I moved my tank across town) but that's not the case, they looked like this before the move.

Will dipping them help? If so, just the standard coralrx dip or what?

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[Neogenesis]

What are your tank specs, including Alk, Mag, and Cal?

[Ramathorn937]

I've never tested alk/mag/cal, don't have a kit for it. All my "cycle" params are good, my SG is 1.024, and my temp stays around 78.5

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[Steve]

Speaking from experience zoas can be very sensitive to swings in parameters just like Acros. I know low mag can effect them and to much light can also make them draw up. I bought some blue zoas at the swap and they looked great for a couple days, now thet are all drawn up, not sure whats going on with them.

[Steve]

I've never tested alk/mag/cal, don't have a kit for it.

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The use of test kits to keep water params stable is very important. Even when doing water changes. Salt mixes vary and by doing a water change can cause a swing in Alk/CA and Mag

[Neogenesis]

The reason I ask is that when my zoos start doing bad, I can almost guarentee that I have some parameter out of wack.....and when my zoos start looking bad, it's normally my ALK that not right.

[Ramathorn937]

I will go over to ricky's house in the next couple days and test my parameters, but for now should I just go ahead and do a dip?

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[lazylivin]

If you suspect a pest (unlikely) a dip may help determine that. A coral dip however is not good for corals and will only furthure stress the zoas. Is it possible they are under a bit to much light?

[Ramathorn937]

I suppose it's a possibility, I use a 4 bulb T5, 3 blue one white

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[lazylivin]

Are they 54w bulbs? If yes you can try reducing light? It may just be acclimation issue that will work out in time. Lunar Eclipse pretty finicky zoas

[Ramathorn937]

24w bulbs, I moved them to a lower light area today, we'll see how they're doing in a Couple days, but I still need to check my params, I'd say my phosphates are a little high too considering I'm getting a little GHA growth, and as slow as I'm getting coralline my calcium is probably really low

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[lazylivin]

With the low wattage bulbs they were probably not getting too much light. Perhaps it is a water acclimation thing. Hopefully they turn around soon

[Ramathorn937]

Is it odd that I'm not seeing much coralline algae? My tank has been up for around 90 days, and I haven't seen hardly any coralline algae, a few small dots here and there on my rock, but nothing like what I was expecting

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[Neogenesis]

Patience my young padawan.......   yes that was a StarWars joke.

I wouldn't call it unusual.  This is one reason why you should have a good FULL set of tests.  It's possibly you some some thing out of balance, which can affect this.  Also, in this hobby 90 days is not old at all, I would barely consider it a new born.  Yes your tank is cycled,  however maturity and bio diveristy in your tank is very very young, and it will go through phases while it matures.  Coralline will come with time, it needs to grow just like everything else in your tank.  And just as reference, my tank is coming up on the 3 years now, and only about 6 months to a year ago did I finally call it mature.  Things have settled in, everything is growing nicely, and with routine maintenance my parameters don't get too out of wack.

And back to my earlier joke, don't try to rush things by adding in useless chemicals, good husbandry and patience is the best thing you can do to keep your tank growing.

[Ramathorn937]

Thanks for the advice neo, yes I plan on getting a full set of testing equipment, I'd eventually even like to own my own set of Hannah checkers, I want to do everything I can to make my tank the best and happiest it can be. Patience is the hardest part. I will be borrowing a test kit from a friend for a while, as soon as I do a full parameter check I will update you guys so you can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Also I just realized I haven't done a tank spotlight thread on Ohio Reef, so you all know nothing about my setup, I will do that asap

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