Zoa's Shrinking Away, Help...

[Sistawolf]

LOL! I'm taking about the good bugs...
Grandis.

Oh yea haha that was such a girl thing to say.. haha sorry

 

[A. grandis]

You're welcome. I'm glad to help
and give some inputs based on my experience. I'm really happy with the results...

My polyps are totally open and healthy through the system.
I just ant to try for fun...
Grandis.

 

[A. grandis]

Oh yea haha that was such a girl thing to say.. haha sorry

 

[treedog5]

Time for another update[emoji16]
I left the lights off for 2 days but unfortunately my guy never came through with the t5 lights for me to borrow. So my other corals were starting to look really bad so I had to do something. I decided to turn the leds back on but I set the whites to 1% and the blues to 5%. After 2 days this is how the zoas look.. Only problem now is my 1 sps coral doesn't have any polyp extension. So what do you guys think about the zoas now?

 

[zeeGGee]

Time for another update[emoji16]
I left the lights off for 2 days but unfortunately my guy never came through with the t5 lights for me to borrow. So my other corals were starting to look really bad so I had to do something. I decided to turn the leds back on but I set the whites to 1% and the blues to 5%. After 2 days this is how the zoas look.. Only problem now is my 1 sps coral doesn't have any polyp extension. So what do you guys think about the zoas now?

Looks good! What else did you do aside
from adjusting the lights to low?

 

[A. grandis]

Time for another update[emoji16]
I left the lights off for 2 days but unfortunately my guy never came through with the t5 lights for me to borrow. So my other corals were starting to look really bad so I had to do something. I decided to turn the leds back on but I set the whites to 1% and the blues to 5%. After 2 days this is how the zoas look.. Only problem now is my 1 sps coral doesn't have any polyp extension. So what do you guys think about the zoas now?

The SPS coral is probably lost with the photoperiod. It should be back to it's normal behavior in a day or 2, I presume.
Too bad your friend didn't let you have the T5s. Would be great to see what it would do to your system.
Hope your polyps get back to normal. They are looking much better though! I don't know much about LEDs, so it's hard for me to say. I do think that in the long run you wouldn't have much success with only 1% of whites and 5% of blues?!?! That doesn't sound like a really good set for the long run. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Perhaps others could show up and help you more with the numbers for your specific LED fixture.
I knew the problem was the light.
If you decide to invest in a T5 system let me know and I could try to help you choosing the bulbs and so on...
Main thing the polyps aren't suffering from any type of bacterial or other serious disease!! I'm happy for that!
Take care and good luck, my friend!
Grandis.

 

[treedog5]

I didn't change anything else, just shut the lights off for that time period and then back on at that very low percent. No water changes or anything has taken place. I guess I can gradually increase the led intensity over time and see if they start to wither again at some point, then I can know for sure that the led is hurting them and what a good set point for my fixture is.

 

[Jonathan Presseau]

Wow that is crazy that with only a few percent led it helps that much.

 

[goatcorals]

They look a lot better Treedog5!!

Either too much light or some photosynthetic material was covering them. I once had zoas with curved up skirts like you had when I had a mild case of Dino's. Did multiple days with the lights out, dosed hydrogen peroxide, and raised the ph employing Kalk. After a few weeks of this multi-pronged attack, my zoas got better. Like you, my lps and sps were not impacted?

Not recommending you do these things... just something to consider for other viewers or if you fall back.

My overall point.... it might not be your lights... like your idea of gradually ramping them up though in case it is!

 

[cincyreef]

Just chiming in here with my experience, as I don't have the answer for sure. I don't think it's the lights, as there are many successful tanks using leds.

I started my nano reef with leds, but my zoas struggled bad. Some seemed to melt, and others shriveled. I was sure it was the lights as I had success with T5s in the past on different tanks. I switched to a 4 bulb aquatic life system 9 months into my tank, as not much will go over my biocube. Everything did fine under the T5s like I expected, except the zoas. Still a year and a half later my plug of 5 rasta zoas has just that 5! My blue hornets had 3 to begin with, it still has 3! Meanwhile I have no issues with larger palys. Zoas just hate my tank lol.

I'm not sure what it could be as I've dipped everything repeatedly at this point. Just wanted to share my experience. If your zoas turn around please update the thread as I'm still hanging onto the plugs I have, with hope something will change haha. Good luck

 

[treedog5]

Another quick update, zoas still seem to be doing a lot better. I started dosing vitiman C and now have my lights ramped up to 20% blue and 13% whites. All seems well and my sps is starting to recover also.

 

[zeeGGee]

Another quick update, zoas still seem to be doing a lot better. I started dosing vitiman C and now have my lights ramped up to 20% blue and 13% whites. All seems well and my sps is starting to recover also.

Nice! btw, what dose of vit C are you on? Same herr my zoas are much happier now. Btw, I switched to a cheaper vit. C powder.

 

[treedog5]

I purchased a bottle of the brightwell vitamin C, I started dosing last week. So yesterday would make my third dose, shoot me a link to the powder that your using.

 

[zeeGGee]

I purchased a bottle of the brightwell vitamin C, I started dosing last week. So yesterday would make my third dose, shoot me a link to the powder that your using.

I'm glad that vit C works for you too. Same here... others might not agree but its working for me.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_i_1_10?k=sodium+ascorbate+powder&sprefix=sodium+asc

 

[A. grandis]

I'm glad that vit C works for you too. Same here... others might not agree but its working for me.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_i_1_10?k=sodium+ascorbate+powder&sprefix=sodium+asc

I know that I can find that powder locally.
How do you mix the powder? In fresh water?

Grandis.

 

[zeeGGee]

I know that I can find that powder locally.
How do you mix the powder? In fresh water?

Grandis.

I just use the water from the tank...then pour it back.

 

[zeeGGee]

I know that I can find that powder locally.
How do you mix the powder? In fresh water?

Grandis.

Look: One of my happy colony since I started vit. C.

 

[A. grandis]

Just chiming in here with my experience, as I don't have the answer for sure. I don't think it's the lights, as there are many successful tanks using leds.

I started my nano reef with leds, but my zoas struggled bad. Some seemed to melt, and others shriveled. I was sure it was the lights as I had success with T5s in the past on different tanks. I switched to a 4 bulb aquatic life system 9 months into my tank, as not much will go over my biocube. Everything did fine under the T5s like I expected, except the zoas. Still a year and a half later my plug of 5 rasta zoas has just that 5! My blue hornets had 3 to begin with, it still has 3! Meanwhile I have no issues with larger palys. Zoas just hate my tank lol.

I'm not sure what it could be as I've dipped everything repeatedly at this point. Just wanted to share my experience. If your zoas turn around please update the thread as I'm still hanging onto the plugs I have, with hope something will change haha. Good luck

In small tanks the zoas could have problems to reproduce because of the corals fighting for space. Chemicals in the water and coral's mesenterial filaments at night, and that will be emphasized many times too in a small system.
The small amount of water is also an enemy of stability in many cases. A simple water change will imbalance the system very much. But that normally wouldn't prevent zoas to grow!
Of course that we also got a looooong list of things to go through in order to determinate such difficulties of zoa growth in any system. Could be so many things...

In the case of this thread I have no doubt that the light was the problem IMO. The polyps were so affected that they were pale, like a partial bleaching situation.
No matter how much nutrients, chemical balance and stability we have in any closed system... if lights aren't helping it just doesn't work perfectly and they just survive. It's very easy for people to see when a soft coral or a zoanthid is struggling and some times that will visually cover the symptoms of the SPS, if those are also struggling.

Make sure you've got a good and adequate set of bulbs for that T5 fixture. The combo is so important!! If you use junk bulbs meaning low quality or expired ones, you won't help anything. I can place any Hawaiian zoa in any part of my tank and they will do great after acclimation, if that spot will be ok to grow them. Some places in the tank can't get enough light or flow, so any of them will have a hard time... But with the T5s it's pretty much set the fixture and forget, until you need to change the bulbs.
It's more likely that if you have a good bulb set and that fixture is the right one for your tank, the problem is something else.
About the right T5 fixture...
I started with a 4 bulb fixture for my 74gal very similar to what you've got and finally went for the ATI 6 bulbs. Oh man... individual reflectors with better bulbs too! HUGE difference!!! Cooling system for the bulbs turns the efficiency of them up high and transforms the whole thing!! People think I'm crazy because it's only a zoa tank, but I believe that I should offer the very best I could to have them healthy and reproducing very similarly to what I've seen in their natural environment.

Things like GFO and excessive GAC could actually kill zoas. The absence of certain dissolved nutrients in the water will also kill zoas. Lack of nutrients to any living organism will be detrimental. Open a thread about your case and bring all the details...
Grandis.

 

[A. grandis]

I just use the water from the tank...then pour it back.

Please let me know how much of the powder and how much water?
Grandis.

 

[zeeGGee]

Please let me know how much of the powder and how much water?
Grandis.

I started 500mg per day..then gradually increase it to 500mg twice a day then increase it to 1000 mg in the morning and 500mg in the evening. Now I'm just keeping the dose 1000mg twice a day. I just dissolve the powder in a cup of tank's water then pour it back on area with high flow.