The Mystery of the Disappearing Zoa

[Abiodork]

Yesterday I had 3 young zoa frags. Today at rushed pre-work feeding it appears I only have two. I didn’t have time to look around the area for it to see if it fell or moved off the frag plug (do they do that?) but maybe somebody got hungry? I have a blue legged hermit, various snails (nassarius, trochus, margarita, astrea), a new skunk cleaner shrimp, and a clown and BC basslet. I’ll give it more attention tonight. Stay tuned for updates!

 

[Donovan354]

zoas don't have a foot or anything so they can't move, my best guess would be it was one of the hermits that ate it. I had some hungry emerald crabs and they ate a whole leather frag in one night try putting a small piece of nori rubber banded to a piece of rubble in the tank just to keep them fed every once in a while thats what worked best for me but don't overfeed

 

[Saltyreef]

I bet they are floating around somewhere in the sandbed...maybe in a hard to see crevice due to that large mexican turbo snail dislodging the superglued flesh mat from the frag plug. Its super common.

Check around for a small piece of tightly closed zoas in the sandbed.

 

[Abiodork]

I bet they are floating around somewhere in the sandbed...maybe in a hard to see crevice due to that large mexican turbo snail dislodging the superglued flesh mat from the frag plug. Its super common.

Check around for a small piece of tightly closed zoas in the sandbed.

That would make so much sense. They have been going after the algae on the frag plugs pretty heavily. I’m looking forward to digging around in the tank when I get home from work tonight. Thanks!

 

[Abiodork]

I bet they are floating around somewhere in the sandbed...maybe in a hard to see crevice due to that large mexican turbo snail dislodging the superglued flesh mat from the frag plug. Its super common.

Check around for a small piece of tightly closed zoas in the sandbed.

SURE ENOUGH! I saw them peeking out from this little crevice that they tumbled into - right side up. Now that I know what to look for I can actually see them in the first photo I posted. I guess I’ll leave them there and wait to see if…uh…life finds a way! They seem protected enough, unless anyone thinks they might need a hand getting secured to something more stable (I don’t know if they landed on rock or are just kind of stuck in that space without any kind of purchase).

 

[Saltyreef]

SURE ENOUGH! I saw them peeking out from this little crevice that they tumbled into - right side up. Now that I know what to look for I can actually see them in the first photo I posted. I guess I’ll leave them there and wait to see if…uh…life finds a way! They seem protected enough, unless anyone thinks they might need a hand getting secured to something more stable (I don’t know if they landed on rock or are just kind of stuck in that space without any kind of purchase).View attachment 3114085

Nice! I guess we should have looked closer in the original photo