First Corals

The Langs · Post by **The Langs** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:20 pm

Added first corals this past Saturday. One small Zooanthids and one small green Star polyps.
Today I noticed that most of the Zooanthids have closed up. They kinda look dead. Not sure though? Can anyone tell me if this is normal or do I have a problem?

The Langs · Post by **The Langs** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:58 pm

Here are some pictures of the corals just added. The pics of the Zooanthids out and open were taken yesterday and then the ones where they are closed up were just taken this evening. Do I have a problem or is this norm.??
I also put up a picture of a very small starfish that appeared in the tank after adding the coral. We thought that was really cool. Although it does have a few broken limbs, hopefully it will survive.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1169937794 ... directlink

garetjax · Post by **garetjax** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:52 pm

The Zoa's will close up at times. Mine close up when ever a hermits climbs over it or when i feed them. Also sometimes they close at night and after lights been on for a bit they open up.

Garetjax

garetjax · Post by **garetjax** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:02 pm

Here is a few pic's of my Zoa's.

Feeding time

Garetjax

bluwtr · Post by **bluwtr** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:14 am

Zoa's close up regularly. They will close if disturbed, feeding or cleaning. I think what you have are actually green palythoa's, but I can't really tell the size. If they are pretty large I'm almost sure they are paly's. They are cousins to zoa's so all is good. A word of caution about zoa's and paly's. They secrete a toxin in their slime called (surprise, surprise) palytoxin. It is VERY toxic, but there is much debate about how much, if at all, does it affect owners when our hands are in the tanks and messing with them. Some people claim to have had symptoms while others have never had any. There have been reports of pets dying from ingestion etc. Gerwin can tell you a story about a guy who licked his fingers while handling them. The most sound advice is to wear gloves if you have fresh cuts etc. on your hands while messing with them. Not trying to cause panic, just passing along some safety advice.

The little starfish looks to be an Asternia. They are a non-symetrical starfish--hence the "broken" legs. The are harmless as far as I've ever heard. I actually added some to my tank.

bluwtr · Post by **bluwtr** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:24 am

Here are some pics of ones I have:

Nuke Green Palys actinics:

Armor of God Palys actinic:

Neon green zoa's:

Zoa's:

Good luck

Redfish · Post by **Redfish** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:16 am

When I first read your post, my advice was going to be to move them down in your tank in the case they were getting to much light. Then I looked at your pic and saw you had them on the bottom

So I will go the other way, raise them up a bit in the tank, maybe half way to the top. Zoas are pickey, I have been there done that as Gerwin and Sandy can tell you

My zoas are melting, now they aren't melting but they aren't growing and on and on

. I haven't read anything to back this up but I feel, the brighter the color of the zoa the higher in the tank they want to be, the duller the zoa the deeper they want to be. How big is your tank and how often and how large of water changes do you do to the tank? I also found that the older my tank got, the better my zoas grew. They still aren't doing as good as Sandys do in her tank, but from where I was at, I can't complain.

The Langs · Post by **The Langs** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:52 pm

My tank is 29 gal and I have performed three water changes over the past six weeks. Changing out about 6 gal each time. The tank is new though. Put water in it on 12/30/10.

So all my Zoa's are still closed exxept for one. That makes about four days now. I even moved them up about half way in the tank as suggested. Are they possibly dead or is it norm for them to stay closed for that long at a time.

Redfish · Post by **Redfish** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:33 am

Gerwin will have to chime in here and give us his thoughts on this,,, but I think its just "new tank syndrome" and the tank just needs a bit of seasoning. It can be just about anything that is causing the zoas not to open, if you can still see them they aren't dead though, but not opening in my experience is the first step in them melting away. Are you using RO water for your water changes? In bluwtr's post of the pics of his tank above, the first pic of the Green Palys he posted. Those are really hard to kill, I haven't, and I can kill just about anything in my tank. If you want to stop by the house I can get you a few polyps of those and you can put them in your tank and see what happens.

Post by **Gerwin** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 5:59 am

if you can still see them they aren't dead though

so not dead, but maybe you can bring some water by the shop and we can check a few things, also can talk in depth on the issue

The Langs · Post by **The Langs** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:48 am

Thanks Redfish, I may take u up on that offer but first I will bring Gerwin a water sample. About the water, yes I am using RO that I purchase from gerwin.
Gerwin I will come see you with a water sample on my next day off which should be April 1 next friday.
Thanks everyone.....

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