Why cant I have zoanthids ?

[kotlec]

I can have LPS , most SPS and many softies with great success , but zoas and mushrooms are slowly dyeing or not growing at the best. Xenia dissolved as well. I have lost almost all zoas to date. They just become smaller and smaller in size and finally disappears.

What I am missing here ??? What special conditions are necessary to keep nice zoas garden ?
What I have noticed is that mushrooms look most happy when alc is near 8 or slightly below like 7.8 , but immediately shrinks when I rise it above 9. Is it common or some conspiracy theory is active here ?

[Ace25]

Maybe you have some zoa eating nudibranchs? There are a few super sensitive zoas that melt away if you look at them wrong but the majority of zoas should be able to handle more stress than most LPS corals unless something is eating them.

[kotlec]

I spend lots of time trying to spot something that can disturb them. No luck.

There is one more guy (dont know its name) in my tank that behaves similar :


It is two year from moment when I brought it home. It havent grown even a millimeter from that moment. Photo is made last February. Today it looks exactly same. In my friends tank ,where it came from its growing like weed. At least its not dead to date in mine.

[Ace25]

ok, from that picture my second guess would be too much lighting? From seeing the little bit of algae around the kenya tree I doubt it is nutrient related which would have been my other guess going off the bleached coloring.

[Garf]

With regard to the white coral, could it not be a Non Photosynthetic that's not getting enough food ? I've had shrinking zoas in the past and it turned out to be nudi's, exactly the same colour and textures of the zoas. Fresh water dips sorted that out. The only other time zoas shrunk was when they were being pecked at by an emperor angel !

[kotlec]

How can I decide if I have nudis or not ? Are they big enough to see with naked eye ?

If I decide to fresh water dip , how that procedure should look like ? I thing I need to do it for all zoas at once .

[Ace25]

Do a freshwater dip for about 2 minutes on zoas to see if you have them. Shake the rock/frag plug vigorously to shake the nudis off (if you have them). Simply dipping them may stun them, but you need to get them off so you have to shake them hard. They are VERY tiny and unless you know what you are looking for they are very easy to miss. When they eat zoanthids they also eat the coloring and then can use that coloring to camouflage themselves to look like the zoanthids. The biggest I have ever seen a zoa eating nudibranch was the size of a pencil eraser. They also 'ball up' into a little spike ball which makes them harder to spot.

[Garf]

Get a turkey baster and suck up everything from the zoa colony, the zoas will stay put. Squirt the water into a glass and see if there are any small spiky slug things in there. You'll always pick up a few if they are there.

[kotlec]

Thanks, Garf. I will definitely try that method.

But will that explain mushies and kenia tree not growing as well ? Xenia dissolved ?

[Garf]

I don't suppose you've got a finger leather, toadstool or some other potent softies in there have you ?