why do some of my zoas look like umbrellas

ReeferMike420

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So i have scoured this forum and have a multitude of conflicting info.

Why are some of my zoa's taking on a umbrella shape? Mostly the magicians

Water parameters are fine, est. tank. The rest of the reef is on point

I just started feeding reef roids to both my tanks and noticed this after feeding. Normal?

Rastas are in one tank and magicians in the other
 

joshporksandwich

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Can you post a pic? When I've seen them do that I think they're eating but some people confuse that with zoas melting.
 

sde1500

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I assume what you mean by umbrella is the center pushing up and the skirt folding down towards the stalk? I've seen my Sunny D's do that occasionally, sometimes when my urchin brushes by. Not sure why they don't just close like normal, but they always go back looking fine rather quickly.
 

Pola0502ds

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I know exactly what you are talking about, when this happens to my zoas they are usually upset for whatever reason. But I do know that they do it randomly too and it could be because of what josh said.
 

xilez

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Any luck with this? I am currently battling the same issue with my Magicians.

Here's what they do now during daylights

647c2dec67eab41e02b5bcb04e6a64b0.jpg


This is what they look like once moonlight cuts on

ef0625c1a20703da7f3d723c847d6009.jpg


This was them a couple weeks ago

7a4859670724583c9ca0499680c03d83.jpg




Should I do a peroxide or seachem reef dip to see if they help recover?
 

fernalfer

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Any luck with this? I am currently battling the same issue with my Magicians.

Here's what they do now during daylights

647c2dec67eab41e02b5bcb04e6a64b0.jpg


This is what they look like once moonlight cuts on

ef0625c1a20703da7f3d723c847d6009.jpg


This was them a couple weeks ago

7a4859670724583c9ca0499680c03d83.jpg




Should I do a peroxide or seachem reef dip to see if they help recover?

Mine have done this and always recover on their own.
 

xilez

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In your experience how long do they take to recover? I feel like mine are going on about 2 weeks now and looking a but worse.
 

A. grandis

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This is my own quote from the other thread:

"That is one of the mysteries of keeping zoanthids, nominatively Zoathus spp.

Well, here is a list of things we should keep in mind:

1) Lack of light or too much light. More towards low light and low flow at the same time.
2) Sudden changes in the water chemistry, temperature and flow. Higher temperatures, specially!
3) The use of activated carbon and/or GFO. BTW I don't recommend GFO at all!!
4) Internal muscles atrophied due to lack of use, to collect food particles from water column.
Regular feeding could help PREVENT the syndrome.
5) Perhaps an internal pathogen in some cases? Don't ask me what pathogen!!
6) Natural part of their metabolism. A way to clean themselves, like pooping, or before expel zooxanthellae.
7) Irritators!!! Some times the polyps are irritated by organisms living around their bases and they develop weird shapes, like umbrella syndrome. Look for amphipods and hydroids around their bases, specially at night!!! Normally, if that is the case, it would happen with more than one polyp though!

Do I have to say that the combination of 2 or more of the above list could do it too?

Most of the time the umbrella syndrome doesn't last too long when the system is well taken care of. With the list above in mind we can see what one needs to do to help their Zoanthus to get it's natural appearance faster.
Some times just giving it a bit more water flow is all the polyps need to come back to it's natural appearance. or perhaps adjusting the temperature.

I've never seen a polyp perish because of umbrella syndrome and they normally recover from it in a couple of days or so. Normally it happens in one or two polyps, not the whole colony.


Grandis.
"
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/umbrella-syndrome-possible-causes.266428/
 

xilez

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Thanks for the link, seen it a bunch. And yes, it makes sense the first 7 points. So hopefully, people respond with what happens after they dont recover in a couple of days
 

Rarend99

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I had a round of rastas do this and stay that way for almost 10 days. I tried everything, my parameters were perfect and I didn't want to move them because they always thrived in that spot. Then suddenly one day they were better. I can't explain it
 

ahiggins

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I see that reaction when I broadcast feed reef roids and some land on the polyps. No biggie.
They just do that sometimes. Even if it is constant...I would worry if thats all your seeing. I have some sunny Ds that have never been NOT inverted lol and some do it on and off.
 

Fragzilla

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Don't confuse umbrella syndrome with normal reaction to be touched or having food presented.

When the later happens they go back to normal straight away but what the op has is not that as they are staying that way.

I've experienced this happening many times in my tank and its directly related to sudden changes in lighting, particularly changes in lighting during the normal day light schedule ((I.e suddenly changing spectrum or intensity while the lights are on). This also includes sudden changes in water clarity I.e adding lots of carbon or UV filter suddenly))

Sometimes they get better in a few weeks if left on their own and put back into same environment before change, sometimes you have to put them out of direct light for a while to recover (indirect light not low light). I've also had to put them under more white light to recover.

I've also found that dosing hydrogen peroxide at night helps to relax the zoa and they eventually go back to normal.

I watched some HD smurfs go umbrella shaped when I turned the whites on my kessil a350 from 50% power to 30% during daylight hours and they went umbrella shaped and they've been recovering for the last week (white now at 50%). If they're not back to normal by Monday I will dose some h202 and it will help them.
 

A. grandis

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Hummm... all my zoas actually hate H2O2!!
I would never dose it in the regular basis.
I strongly believe there is no need and it should be used only for some types of dipping procedures IMO.
Grandis.
 

Frop

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I have like 5 heads and most of them are doing this. Maybe all but 1.
 

Fragzilla

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Hummm... all my zoas actually hate H2O2!!
I would never dose it in the regular basis.
I strongly believe there is no need and it should be used only for some types of dipping procedures IMO.
Grandis.

Yes I do believe it shouldn't be dosed continually, I forgot to add that I only dose for 3 nights in a row then I stop for at least a couple weeks. I believe people have been dosing h202 for quite some time now without ill effect. I believe it is very very beneficial. It closes the polyps for about 10-20 minutes and that's it, I do dose at night as I don't like to interrupt the zoas day cycle but when I have dosed in the day I had no problems at all.
 

North Borders

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I've been dosing h202 twice a day, off and on for a few months. I have probably 8 or 9 varieties of zoas, including some of the pricier "designer" blends. I've had nothing but amazing growth. They'll close up for about 5 mins when I first squirt the h202 into the tank, but then recover quickly after that and are back out and happy.
 

taintstick

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IMG_0619.JPG


Just noticed this thread, thanks for the info as well. Mine however has been like this since I got it. Got it from joshporksandwich in Houston about a month and a half ago. It did sprout a baby as you can tell.
 
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