Zoa polyps not opening

[dudluk]

Hi,

I have two Halle Berry Zoa frags, both with one polyp not opening. I thought it maybe be cause of the hair algae, but I brushed them a few times to remove the algae, however it didn't help. It's been like that for many days.

I was wondering what I could do to help them open and/or prevent it spreading to other polyps.
The close polyps are significantly brighter, please see below:

1st frag (it used to open). Initially the closed polyp was the only polyp, and two other are new.

2nd frag (it never fully opened). It's the new polyp that grew recently, the other polyps are fine:

 

[Jekyl]

For help please post parameters and lighting.

 

[dudluk]

Ah right sorry:

Nitrate: 3.1
Phosphate: 0.2
Alkalinity: 8.1-8.5
Temp: 25-26C
Salinity: 1.024-1.026

There's no fish in the tank, just 1 turbo, 2 stomatella and cleaner shrimp.

Light: AI 16 HD, I changed the light settings and deceased it by 50% to limit the algae, the polyps stopped opening before I changed it:

FTS:

 

[Uncle99]

Looks very new.

 

[dudluk]

The tank it's 4-5 months old, I stared adding corals about 2 months ago

 

[bubbgee]

Try dialing it back to 100% light and then revert to 75% to see if they open up. Also, Zoas prefer nutrient rich environments (which, yes GHA loves too). Try feeding mysis shrimp to your corals and see if you can raise phosphates and nitrates and the zoas open up.

 

[dudluk]

OK, thanks. I will try that. I've been feeding my lps and mushrooms with mysis and also started dosing aminos recently (Red Sea Reef Energy AB+)

 

[Uncle99]

The tank it's 4-5 months old, I stared adding corals about 2 months ago

Looks so so clean.

 

[dudluk]

Is it a bad thing? I vacuumed the sand recently as I was getting quite a bit of brown algae. That how it looked before:

 

[bubbgee]

Looks so so clean.

Is it a bad thing? I vacuumed the sand recently as I was getting quite a bit of brown algae. That how it looked before:

What that means: did the tank cycle properly? I can't tell, but It'll show up in the reef chemistry. Get ready to test ammonia and nitrites just in case.

 

[dudluk]

What that means: did the tank cycle properly? I can't tell, but It'll show up in the reef chemistry. Get ready to test ammonia and nitrites just in case.

Yes, tank is cycled, finished 3 months ago. Both ammonia and nitrites are 0.

And phosphates are 0.02 not 0.2 as I wrote in my first post.

 

[Uncle99]

Yes, tank is cycled, finished 3 months ago. Both ammonia and nitrites are 0.

And phosphates are 0.02 not 0.2 as I wrote in my first post.

Phosphate at 0.02ppm will starve corals and may encourage pest algae.
Test results are within margin of error so the result of 0.02ppm could be zero.

 

[bubbgee]

Phosphate at 0.02ppm will starve corals and may encourage pest algae.
Test results are within margin of error so the result of 0.02ppm could be zero.

I agree with the assessment. Might need to use neonitro and neophos to raise it a bit. Or just feed the fish more and live with the brown algae for a while.

 

[dudluk]

OK got it, I'll try yo raise nitrates and phosphates a bit and see how it goes.