Trouble with first Zoas

[Nightwork]

Hello all,

I am having some trouble with my first Zoanthid frags and was looking for some advice. The Zoanthids closed up shortly after being in my tank and I have tried everything I can think of. The specifics of my aquarium are below.

I have had the tank for almost 2 years now. I seeded my dry rock for several months before adding my two clown fish. They seem happy and healthy. We added a yellow tang but after about 6 months it passed away. I finally upgraded my lighting to the Rapid LED lights and got a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone and a Zoa frag. The anemone seemed to be reasonably happy and moved around the tank a few time. The Zoa never really opened up. Sometimes it would be a tiny bit open, but for the most part it stayed closed. The anemone has moved around and I lost it in the tank. So I don't know if it was also unhappy or if it just decided to hide in the rocks.

I tried placing it in a few different locations in the tank, but nothing changed. My reading said that it could take a few weeks before they open up. After waiting about a month I started to hunt for problems. I do a 10% water change each week. I wont claim to be perfect about this, but it has never gone 2 weeks without a water change.

I have a temperature prob measuring my water temp every 5 minutes. It averages about 77.7 degrees F. I measure my salinity with a digital probe and it stays very close to 35 ppt (1.0264).

My first thought was that my parameters were changing due to evaporation and not having an automatic top off. So I built one and add it in.

My next thought was maybe my salinity probe was not calibrated right. So I checked it with my refractomter and then ordered some salinity calibration fluid and checked both the refractometer and meter. But they were very close to accurate.

Then I thought perhaps my RO/DI unit was needing the filters changed. It is a little over a year old but I dont produce much water. So I got a dual inline TDS meter and put that in. My tap water is coming in is 175 tds, and the water coming out of my RO/DI unit is zero.

Then a friend mentioned that the TDS meter is not showing if the chlorine is getting though and some places are now using chloramines instead. So I ordered some test strips. I tested my tank water and had no noticeable chlorine, then I tested the waste water on the RO/DI unit and it also had no noticeable chlorine, then I tested my tap water and it barely showed any chlorine. I thought my stripes might be junk so I tested them with bleach water and it showed up instantly. I tested my works tap water and they also showed a reasonable amount of chlorine. So I dont think the strips are bad.

I read that stray / leaking voltage could be a problem. So I got my multimeter out and started testing the tank. I measure about 7 VAC. I read that less than 50 VAC is normal.

So now I have no idea what to check for next? Anyone have any ideas?

Thank you in advance,
Josh


75g aquaium w/ 40g breeder sump.
Reeflo Dart
Two Hydor Koralia 750GPH with Hydor Smart Wave controller
RapidLED Dimmable kit for 75g tank
RO/DI Unit

Two Percula Clownfish.
A few Blue Hermit Crabs
Reef Cleaners 75g clean up crew (Dwarf Ceriths, Florida Ceriths, Nerites, and Nassarius snails)
Zoa Frag
Rose Bubble Tip Anemone

 

[JaimeAdams]

The polyp on the side looks like it is open. The rest look pretty bad. How did they look when you bought them? (I assume from Elmer's?)
Your Bubble Tip Anemone was not happy. Mine don't move much if at all. They sometimes move to find a good spot and then stay put. Moving around and then disappearing is not a good sign. I would honestly tell you to go buy a healthy frag put it in one spot and do not move it and see how it does.

 

[Nightwork]

I did get the frag from Elmers. It looked good to me at the time, but it is also the very first frag that I got so I am new to this. I didnt want to go get another frag without figuring out what is going on. But if getting another one would help diagnose the problem then I am game for that. Maybe next payday I will get another frag and see what happens.

The anemone was in the same spot for about a month, then moved down and then disappeared. I tried looking for it but it was a small one to start with and I can't find it now. I don't know what changed or where it went.

I just don't know what else to check.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[loui]

that ammonia test looks like it is reading ammonia to me? Where is your skimmer at? Is that gravel in the aquarium it looks like gravel from a fresh water tank.

First thing I would do is remove the gravel. 2nd would be get a skimmer if you don't already have one. Also since you have a sump get the heater out of the main display and put it in the sump.

Also once you start removing the gravel if you decide to, add a bag of carbon do this even if you don't remove the gravel.

 

[Nightwork]

Hello. I agree that there is a small amount of ammonia in my tank. It could be do the some of the clean up crew dying off when I got my second batch. It is not fresh water gravel. It is crushed coral and I dont have a protein skimmer yet. I actually have a heater in my sum and in my main tank. But the sump is in the basement and the basement is a little cold. So i figured I would be safe and have one in the tank too.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[loui]

I would recommend removing the crush coral and to stop putting stuff into the tank until you get the ammonia situation under control ammonia needs to read 0. Also do large water changes after the substrate has been removed.

 

[Hamza Hamid]

Hello all,

I am having some trouble with my first Zoanthid frags and was looking for some advice. The Zoanthids closed up shortly after being in my tank and I have tried everything I can think of. The specifics of my aquarium are below.

I have had the tank for almost 2 years now. I seeded my dry rock for several months before adding my two clown fish. They seem happy and healthy. We added a yellow tang but after about 6 months it passed away. I finally upgraded my lighting to the Rapid LED lights and got a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone and a Zoa frag. The anemone seemed to be reasonably happy and moved around the tank a few time. The Zoa never really opened up. Sometimes it would be a tiny bit open, but for the most part it stayed closed. The anemone has moved around and I lost it in the tank. So I don't know if it was also unhappy or if it just decided to hide in the rocks.

I tried placing it in a few different locations in the tank, but nothing changed. My reading said that it could take a few weeks before they open up. After waiting about a month I started to hunt for problems. I do a 10% water change each week. I wont claim to be perfect about this, but it has never gone 2 weeks without a water change.

I have a temperature prob measuring my water temp every 5 minutes. It averages about 77.7 degrees F. I measure my salinity with a digital probe and it stays very close to 35 ppt (1.0264).

My first thought was that my parameters were changing due to evaporation and not having an automatic top off. So I built one and add it in.

My next thought was maybe my salinity probe was not calibrated right. So I checked it with my refractomter and then ordered some salinity calibration fluid and checked both the refractometer and meter. But they were very close to accurate.

Then I thought perhaps my RO/DI unit was needing the filters changed. It is a little over a year old but I dont produce much water. So I got a dual inline TDS meter and put that in. My tap water is coming in is 175 tds, and the water coming out of my RO/DI unit is zero.

Then a friend mentioned that the TDS meter is not showing if the chlorine is getting though and some places are now using chloramines instead. So I ordered some test strips. I tested my tank water and had no noticeable chlorine, then I tested the waste water on the RO/DI unit and it also had no noticeable chlorine, then I tested my tap water and it barely showed any chlorine. I thought my stripes might be junk so I tested them with bleach water and it showed up instantly. I tested my works tap water and they also showed a reasonable amount of chlorine. So I dont think the strips are bad.

I read that stray / leaking voltage could be a problem. So I got my multimeter out and started testing the tank. I measure about 7 VAC. I read that less than 50 VAC is normal.

So now I have no idea what to check for next? Anyone have any ideas?

Thank you in advance,
Josh


75g aquaium w/ 40g breeder sump.
Reeflo Dart
Two Hydor Koralia 750GPH with Hydor Smart Wave controller
RapidLED Dimmable kit for 75g tank
RO/DI Unit

Two Percula Clownfish.
A few Blue Hermit Crabs
Reef Cleaners 75g clean up crew (Dwarf Ceriths, Florida Ceriths, Nerites, and Nassarius snails)
Zoa Frag
Rose Bubble Tip Anemone

Hello mate. is your Ammonia issue fixed and how your tank doing now? let me know what stuff worked for your high ammonia. Mine also ammonia high and nitrate nitrite 0 and PH 7.8 low.
Let me know the ammonia and PH how to fix. thanks.