Some Simple Tips for Keeping Zoanthids Happy, Healthy, and Growing Fast

[rosshamsandwich]

how often do you do your water changes?

 

[that Reef Guy]

how often do you do your water changes?

Ideally I would like to do a Water Change Once Every 2 Weeks.

But I have alot of Tanks and am Very Busy so it is usually like every 3-4 Weeks.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Building off one of your points with reef roids.

I've fed my zs n ps all sorts of aminos from Kent, To ELO, as well as acropower.

From my experience, I feel all my corals go the craziest and show best progress from the addition of reef roids. I just absolutely love this stuff and can't get enough.

Anyways, great write up Reef Guy! A thread every enthusiast should read up on!

Thank You

 

[BillyReefer]

Do you target feed the roids? I mix some in tankwater, then target feed but there is always "residu" on the bottom. So i try to get these aswell with the turkey blaster and spray them on the zoa's.

 

[dimidragos]

I have Talked To and Read About quite a few People who have been Having Trouble Keeping Zoanthids so I decided to Make this Thread to Help them Out.



Here are My Tips for Happy, Healthy, and Fast Growing Zoanthids.

1. Bayer Dip
2. Keep Everything Stable
3. Feed, Feed, Feed
4. Higher Light and Higher Flow (Generally Speaking)
5. Keep an Eye Out for POX
6. Do Regular Water Changes
7. Don't Buy Animals that Might Go After Zoanthids





1. Bayer Dip -

- No Coral (And I mean no Coral) goes into my Tank without an Aggressive Bayer Dip for 15 Minutes.
- Then I check for Eggs with a High Powered Magnifying Glass with a Built in LED Light Used by Coin Collectors.
- Bayer Kills the Pests but Does NOT Kill the Eggs.
- Zoanthids are Targeted by More Pests than any Other Coral (Nudibranches, Spiders, Sundial Snails, etc.)

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=384

See the Above Link for all things that can Kill Your Zoanthids!

P.S. I put a 6 Line Wrasse in Every Tank as they LOVE to Eat Pests. Without Fail Every Time I add a New Frag the 6 Line Wrasse Swims Over and Sticks His Nose in Every Nook and Cranny Inspecting for Pests. These Guys are AMAZING and Every Tank Tank Should have a 6 Line Wrasse for Pest Control!




2. Keep Everything Stable -

For Me
Temperature - 77 Degrees
Salinity - 1.026
Alkalinity - 8.5
Calcium - 480
Magnesium - 1440

- Test, Test, Test (I cannot Stress this Enough).
- I Test and Dose Every Day on 6 Tanks (2 of the Tanks I Test and Dose Twice a Day - Once in the Morning and Once at Night).
- My Alkalinity Does not Drop more than 0.3 a Day.
- Remember Alkalinity is Depleted more than anything Else in a Reef Tank and is the Most Important thing to Keep Stable which is Why I Test So Much.




3. Feed, Feed, Feed -

- Don't Listen to anybody that says you should have Zero Nitrate and Zero Phosphate with Zoanthids.
- They LOVE Food!
- I feed 3 Times a Week.


I Feed 4 Different Foods to my Corals

1. Reef Roids
2. BRS Reef Chili
3. Seachem AquaVitro Fuel (Vitamin and Ammino Acid Supplement)
4. Larry's Reef Frenzy Frozen Food (LRS)


Here is my Feeding Schedule

Tuesday -

- Reef Roids
- BRS Reef Chili
- Seachem AquaVitro Fuel (Vitamin and Ammino Acid Supplement)

I mix all 3 Together in some Tank Water

Friday -

- Reef Roids
- BRS Reef Chili
- Seachem AquaVitro Fuel (Vitamin and Ammino Acid Supplement)

I mix all 3 Together in some Tank Water

Sunday -

- Larry's Reef Frenzy Frozen Food (LRS)

LRS is more for my Acans and Chalices which I Target Feed after Chopping it Up Fine with a Razor Blade but there are Fine Particle Coral Foods in LRS that the Zoanthids can Use.




4. Higher Light and Higher Flow (Generally Speaking) -

Unfortunately alot of people will Classify Softies like Zoanthids as Low Light / Low Flow Corals.

I think this is at least Partly Due to the Fact that Softies are More Forgiving Corals than SPS and LPS and a Lot of New People are Told to Start with these Corals when they enter the Hobby. Most people when starting out typically do not have a lot of light and flow so I think alot of LFS's just tell the New Hobbyist this because they know the Corals will Probably not Die on Them.

Now they may Live in These Conditions and Tolerate Low Light / Low Flow but they will not Thrive and be Healthy and Grow Fast in these Conditions.

- Remember not all Zoanthids are the Same.
- Some will do better in Lower Light and Flow.
- But in My Experience Most will Grow Faster, Have Bigger Polyps, and Better Color in Higher Light / Higher Flow Tanks.




5. Keep an Eye Out for POX -

I used to get Pox Outbreaks Quite Often When I Did Not Feed My Corals and Had Zero Nitrate and Zero Phosphate.

But Since I have been Feeding Heavily I have never gotten it so I feel that Poorly Fed Zoanthids are Prone to POX because of this.

I have also Read that some people feel that it comes from Changing of the Seasons or Temperature Drops in the Tank and I have noticed POX from both of these Situations (Fall to Winter and Spring to Summer Time, Power Goes Out and Temperature Drops - Boom POX the Next Day).

Thank God I do not get POX anymore (What a Nightmare)

If you get POX Dip the Zoanthids in Furan-2

Furan-2 can be found at your LFS (It is usually used to Treat Fungus on Freshwater Fish)

- Dip Once a Day for 3 Days in a Row.
- Wait 4 Days and if POX is still there Repeat.




6. Do Regular Water Changes -

- Do Water Changes on a Regular Basis.
- Water Changes will Help Take Out Excess Nutrients.
- They also help Replace Minerals that were Used Up in Coral Growth (Calcium, Magnesium, Strontium, etc.)




7. Don't Buy Animals that Might Go After Zoanthids -

- Angelfish
- Butterflies
- Foxface (Rabbitfish)





Hopefully these Tips will Help Some People Out that are Having Issues Keeping Zoanthids

hello, sorry what is POX??

 

[ltrace]

Thank you. Yes what are POX??

 

[that Reef Guy]

Do you target feed the roids? I mix some in tankwater, then target feed but there is always "residu" on the bottom. So i try to get these aswell with the turkey blaster and spray them on the zoa's.

Sometimes if I have more Time (I Have Many Many Hundreds of Zoanthid Frags).

So usually I just Dose the Whole Tank to Save Lots of Time.

 

[that Reef Guy]

hello, sorry what is POX??

Read this Article.

http://zoaid.org/zoapox-zoa-pox-the-search-for-the-cause-and-cure/

 

[High ICP]

This should be a sticky

Zoaid.org is for sale

Hope someone archived the info

 

[GentlePuffer]

I enjoyed this thread. I took the information in this post and began experimenting with my new 2 month old nano tank. I have no experience with zoas and they seem to fit my theme for this tank which is the idea of a zen Buddha holding/covered in a zoa garden with a clam in his hands. After a month of consistent stable levels I had interesting results in color, which zoas stretch, which zoas are not happy, how many polyps I started with, and how fast they are multiplying, etc. I thought someone may find this information interesting or useful. Being this is my first time ever owning zoanthids I just want to share what I have seen with other beginners.

Tank is a AIO IM 20 Gallon Penninsula
I dry rock cycled for 2months using a AI Prime at these settings. 30 UV/50V/80Blues/20white 12 hr cycle with a 4hr peak time.
So basically I used alot of blues and fed twice a week frozen and reefroids and phyto while stabilizing my nitrates between 3-5, & phosphates at .02-.04 consistently for a month.

Tank Mates are a fu man chu dwarf lionfish for nitrate production a six line wrasse, xenia, & dragon breath macro
I seeded the tank with pods a month in.

Currently no issues at all with any algae. No powerhead installed just the basic output the tank came with. Using Chemipure Blue and marine pure spheres and some basic floss.


(Sorry if that was alot to read)
Current Zoas/Source/Placement & growth rates for 1 month time period:
Seems there are basically 2 types of zoas. ones that reach up stalks stretched and you can see it react to food and ones where they do not reach their stalks out and don't seem as animalistic.

-WWC Watermelon (Grows Quickest. 3-5 new heads. Likes to reach up to the light and reacts to food immediately )
-WWC AOI (No growth change, Does open wide. No noticeable changes. Does not reach for light )
-WWC Aussie Blues (1 new polyp. Fat jerks that open super big but doesn't reach up. Doing average )
-WWC Illuminati (Doing the worst, Barely opens and likes to reach super high up no matter where I place it. No new heads)
-WWC Purple Monster (Growing well, Opens wide. 3 new heads and likes to reach no matter where placed, reacts to food quickly )
-WWC Rastas (started 3 heads, still 3 heads.... Nothing changed)
-WWC Utter Chaos (Nice Fluffy polyps and cant tell if growing since they stack on each other. Does not reach up and looks well )
-POTO Fallen Angel (Finicky sensitive, likes to open wide, small polyps and does not reach for light )
-POTO Stormbreaker ( 1 new head, seems to be growing, no reaching for lights )
-POTO LA Lakers (no new heads but seems healthy, nice open small cluster of polyps, does not reach)
-Rainbow Infusion ( 3 new heads, super big and reaches for light the most even at 300 par. Growing Fast )
-Purple People Eater ( You can tell this is the slowest growing of all my zoas. But stable and does not have a stalk that reaches )

Being new to the zoa world it has been pretty fun so far. I am now going to wait for the 1 year mark and see where my tank ends up at then. Hoping everything continues to grow and fill in and this project ends up a success.

Oh I'll post some pics too to give you a better idea of what I am visualizing.
I would love to know what you guys think I should add since I only know what I have learned from research about the kinds of zoas out there and what goes with them.

Much appreciated
Cheers-

 

[GentlePuffer]

 

[ltrace]

Great colors!

 

[Cnidoblast]

I've had some success dosing tincture of iodine (The brown stuff from CVS - DO NOT use decolorized or povidone/PVP) - I'd reckon for a 100 gallon tank about 1.4 ml every month aught to do the trick - only side effect I have noticed is increased algal growth if you overdose it!

 

[that Reef Guy]

I enjoyed this thread. I took the information in this post and began experimenting with my new 2 month old nano tank. I have no experience with zoas and they seem to fit my theme for this tank which is the idea of a zen Buddha holding/covered in a zoa garden with a clam in his hands. After a month of consistent stable levels I had interesting results in color, which zoas stretch, which zoas are not happy, how many polyps I started with, and how fast they are multiplying, etc. I thought someone may find this information interesting or useful. Being this is my first time ever owning zoanthids I just want to share what I have seen with other beginners.

Tank is a AIO IM 20 Gallon Penninsula
I dry rock cycled for 2months using a AI Prime at these settings. 30 UV/50V/80Blues/20white 12 hr cycle with a 4hr peak time.
So basically I used alot of blues and fed twice a week frozen and reefroids and phyto while stabilizing my nitrates between 3-5, & phosphates at .02-.04 consistently for a month.

Tank Mates are a fu man chu dwarf lionfish for nitrate production a six line wrasse, xenia, & dragon breath macro
I seeded the tank with pods a month in.

Currently no issues at all with any algae. No powerhead installed just the basic output the tank came with. Using Chemipure Blue and marine pure spheres and some basic floss.


(Sorry if that was alot to read)
Current Zoas/Source/Placement & growth rates for 1 month time period:
Seems there are basically 2 types of zoas. ones that reach up stalks stretched and you can see it react to food and ones where they do not reach their stalks out and don't seem as animalistic.

-WWC Watermelon (Grows Quickest. 3-5 new heads. Likes to reach up to the light and reacts to food immediately )
-WWC AOI (No growth change, Does open wide. No noticeable changes. Does not reach for light )
-WWC Aussie Blues (1 new polyp. Fat ******** that open super big but doesn't reach up. Doing average )
-WWC Illuminati (Doing the worst, Barely opens and likes to reach super high up no matter where I place it. No new heads)
-WWC Purple Monster (Growing well, Opens wide. 3 new heads and likes to reach no matter where placed, reacts to food quickly )
-WWC Rastas (started 3 heads, still 3 heads.... Nothing changed)
-WWC Utter Chaos (Nice Fluffy polyps and cant tell if growing since they stack on each other. Does not reach up and looks well )
-POTO Fallen Angel (Finicky sensitive, likes to open wide, small polyps and does not reach for light )
-POTO Stormbreaker ( 1 new head, seems to be growing, no reaching for lights )
-POTO LA Lakers (no new heads but seems healthy, nice open small cluster of polyps, does not reach)
-Rainbow Infusion ( 3 new heads, super big and reaches for light the most even at 300 par. Growing Fast )
-Purple People Eater ( You can tell this is the slowest growing of all my zoas. But stable and does not have a stalk that reaches )

Being new to the zoa world it has been pretty fun so far. I am now going to wait for the 1 year mark and see where my tank ends up at then. Hoping everything continues to grow and fill in and this project ends up a success.

Oh I'll post some pics too to give you a better idea of what I am visualizing.
I would love to know what you guys think I should add since I only know what I have learned from research about the kinds of zoas out there and what goes with them.

Much appreciated
Cheers-

Great Idea.

Please Post Update Photos as the Zoanthids Grow.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Those are all Awesome Choices.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I've had some success dosing tincture of iodine (The brown stuff from CVS - DO NOT use decolorized or povidone/PVP) - I'd reckon for a 100 gallon tank about 1.4 ml every month aught to do the trick - only side effect I have noticed is increased algal growth if you overdose it!

I have been Debating Dosing Iodine or Lugol's Solution.

But it is in Salt and you can Overdose Iodine so Definitely Test Your Iodine Level before Dosing.

I Dose Fuel which has Iodine in it so that is why I never Tried it.

I may still try it on One Tank to Experiment with it though.

 

[Cristy17]

I enjoyed this thread. I took the information in this post and began experimenting with my new 2 month old nano tank. I have no experience with zoas and they seem to fit my theme for this tank which is the idea of a zen Buddha holding/covered in a zoa garden with a clam in his hands. After a month of consistent stable levels I had interesting results in color, which zoas stretch, which zoas are not happy, how many polyps I started with, and how fast they are multiplying, etc. I thought someone may find this information interesting or useful. Being this is my first time ever owning zoanthids I just want to share what I have seen with other beginners.

Tank is a AIO IM 20 Gallon Penninsula
I dry rock cycled for 2months using a AI Prime at these settings. 30 UV/50V/80Blues/20white 12 hr cycle with a 4hr peak time.
So basically I used alot of blues and fed twice a week frozen and reefroids and phyto while stabilizing my nitrates between 3-5, & phosphates at .02-.04 consistently for a month.

Tank Mates are a fu man chu dwarf lionfish for nitrate production a six line wrasse, xenia, & dragon breath macro
I seeded the tank with pods a month in.

Currently no issues at all with any algae. No powerhead installed just the basic output the tank came with. Using Chemipure Blue and marine pure spheres and some basic floss.


(Sorry if that was alot to read)
Current Zoas/Source/Placement & growth rates for 1 month time period:
Seems there are basically 2 types of zoas. ones that reach up stalks stretched and you can see it react to food and ones where they do not reach their stalks out and don't seem as animalistic.

-WWC Watermelon (Grows Quickest. 3-5 new heads. Likes to reach up to the light and reacts to food immediately )
-WWC AOI (No growth change, Does open wide. No noticeable changes. Does not reach for light )
-WWC Aussie Blues (1 new polyp. Fat ******** that open super big but doesn't reach up. Doing average )
-WWC Illuminati (Doing the worst, Barely opens and likes to reach super high up no matter where I place it. No new heads)
-WWC Purple Monster (Growing well, Opens wide. 3 new heads and likes to reach no matter where placed, reacts to food quickly )
-WWC Rastas (started 3 heads, still 3 heads.... Nothing changed)
-WWC Utter Chaos (Nice Fluffy polyps and cant tell if growing since they stack on each other. Does not reach up and looks well )
-POTO Fallen Angel (Finicky sensitive, likes to open wide, small polyps and does not reach for light )
-POTO Stormbreaker ( 1 new head, seems to be growing, no reaching for lights )
-POTO LA Lakers (no new heads but seems healthy, nice open small cluster of polyps, does not reach)
-Rainbow Infusion ( 3 new heads, super big and reaches for light the most even at 300 par. Growing Fast )
-Purple People Eater ( You can tell this is the slowest growing of all my zoas. But stable and does not have a stalk that reaches )

Being new to the zoa world it has been pretty fun so far. I am now going to wait for the 1 year mark and see where my tank ends up at then. Hoping everything continues to grow and fill in and this project ends up a success.

Oh I'll post some pics too to give you a better idea of what I am visualizing.
I would love to know what you guys think I should add since I only know what I have learned from research about the kinds of zoas out there and what goes with them.

Much appreciated
Cheers-

“Seems there are basically 2 types of zoas. ones that reach up stalks stretched and you can see it react to food and ones where they do not reach their stalks out and don't seem as animalistic.”

I think what you are describing are the palys (stretch up) vs the zoas (stay close to their base). I am far from an expert, but from what I understand they are from the same family. The main difference is some palys are poisonous but zoas are not..

 

[GentlePuffer]

“Seems there are basically 2 types of zoas. ones that reach up stalks stretched and you can see it react to food and ones where they do not reach their stalks out and don't seem as animalistic.”

I think what you are describing are the palys (stretch up) vs the zoas (stay close to their base). I am far from an expert, but from what I understand they are from the same family. The main difference is some palys are poisonous but zoas are not..

Hmm at first I thought so too, but I learned they are zoanthids. The ones that reach up are WWC Purple Monster, Rainbow Infusion, Illuminatis, & WWC Watermelon Zoas which all fall under a Zoanthid Category. But perhaps they could be a paly.. Still learning here. Always trying to understand a bit more at a time.

 

[Cnidoblast]

I have been Debating Dosing Iodine or Lugol's Solution.

But it is in Salt and you can Overdose Iodine so Definitely Test Your Iodine Level before Dosing.

I Dose Fuel which has Iodine in it so that is why I never Tried it.

I may still try it on One Tank to Experiment with it though.

probably wise to back off the dose that I recommended - I'd try 1/2 a ml for 100 gallons a moth

 

[that Reef Guy]

Hmm at first I thought so too, but I learned they are zoanthids. The ones that reach up are WWC Purple Monster, Rainbow Infusion, Illuminatis, & WWC Watermelon Zoas which all fall under a Zoanthid Category. But perhaps they could be a paly.. Still learning here. Always trying to understand a bit more at a time.

They are "Zoanthids" by Science.

Alot of People in the Hobby call Anything with a Larger Polyp like the Ones you Just Named Paly's.

There are Not many True Paly's in the Hobby as most are Ugly.

Captain America's
Nuclear Greens
Purple Death's
Mindblowing Paly's
Texas Trash

All of the Above are Proto-Paly's and are True Paly's.