polyps issue

[g81]

Hi everyone.

 

i have and been having a issue with my polyps. i have around 6-7 diffrent ones. they are never open.

i have a really nice size bunch that were really cool deep green and now are pretty much brown/white

 

all my polyps are closed and have been. everything else is fine in my tank. all my corals ect. i do my water changes, everything is good water wise.

 

any input? maby some sore of dosing these need?

 

 

thanks

[Derbird]

What are your water perameters?

 

Do you use any dips or quarinten new arrivals?

 

Both Paly's and zoa's are pretty hardy IME but it sounds like they are unhappy for some reason.

 

PS a picture would be most helpful

[g81]

i just add my water to the water they come in for about 20 min ro so. and add them to the tank, i never dipped or anything. is that a must do type of thing. im still new to corals so im learning, just weird how my other softires are ok. my leather doesnt sem to want to open fully either

[g81]

i just add my water to the water they come in for about 20 min ro so. and add them to the tank, i never dipped or anything. is that a must do type of thing. im still new to corals so im learning, just weird how my other softires are ok. my leather doesnt sem to want to open fully either

[BrianB]

I have added a small amount of iodide when I've had polyps close. Not sure if it helped but they opened up.

[g81]

 

does anything require special lights? i have a tek 6 light t5ho. i bought all new bulbs 3 actinic 3 coral light? they are like purple.

 

i dont have any sunlight bulbs mabye thats a issue?

[Burningbaal]

initial thoughts:

 

I would get 1-2 'daylight' bulbs in there. I've got a couple 4 footers i could give up for not much...a frag? some macroalgae? $5/bulb? They're just sitting in my closet, so pretty much anything would do it.

 

next, I'd run some carbon in case the leather is doing some warfare (they'll sometimes release hormones that piss off other corals). dips are more about preventing parasites from getting into your tank than protecting the thing you're moving in.

 

you could try dipping them in a little iodine or something, could perk them up a bit. Mostly, I'd get a white bulb or two in there and run the carbon.

 

lastly: did you just switch to the 6-bulb? what did you switch from? you could be having some light acclimation issues?

[Emerald525]

Everyone has good thoughts. Since it is only your zoas, I would be concerned with some type of infection. zoas are hardy but sometimes they can get a bacterial or fungal infection or zoapox. Dipping in revive or coral rx the ones you can may help.

[g81]

i had a 250 mh before that, but at that time i didnt have any of these corals. i just had old t5 bulbs.

my light is 36" long not a 4 footer.

 

as for dipping, are you talking like cookies and milk type of thing? lol like take them out and dip them? or is this something you can do inside the tank. and is this something i should start doing all the time?

 

and either of these should work? revive or coral rx

they are all glued down but if this will help ill break them all off.

 

 

these are the bulbs i bought

 

3x ATI Coral Plus 36 Inch 39 Watt T5HO Fluorescent Bulb

3x ATI 36 Inch 39W True Actinic 03 T5HO Fluorescent Bulb

 

oh i also run two littlefishes phosban recators with carbon, that i keep up on about 4 cups of carbon total. keep my filter socks clean

are any of the polyps need more or less light? i will buy a couple sun light bulbs whe i get some cash anyone have any links to some decentones?

 

sorry for being all jumbled on the typing trying to feed baby and type lol

[Derbird]

I started dipping my new corals a couple months ago. I read a article about zoa spiders and that was enough for me to stop risking my coral. The Premium Aquarium recommended ReVive coral cleaner so that is what I have been using. So far no spiders or infections. Plus dead easy to use. Although I still love to dip cookies in coffee, I'm a good Oregonian

 

I know very little about T-5 color spectrums so I am no help here but if your looking to get some new bulbs we have a BRS group buy being formed now. I'm sure you can get in on this once you decide wich bulbs you would like to try.

[Burningbaal]

I use revive too, it kinda smells like pine-sol, which weirded me out, but it seems to actually make the corals happy. of course, they're closed up in the dip, but they seemed happier than before when they were back in the tank after the dip.

 

I think the bottle says 5-15 minutes. you can mix it up in a 1 gallon container and just dip the whole rock if you want. it'll probably do some damage to the bacteria/etc on the rock, but not in a way that would actually affect the tank (unless that one rock is 1/2 of the rock in your tank or something).

 

bummer I can't help you with the bulbs, but i think you'll get it sorted out. I'd still bet the spectrum is a possible issue, a bulb or two would be a good plan. if it were me, I'd probably make one of them an aquablue special from ATI, it is basically full-spectrum, but focuses on the blue end, looks good on my 8-bulb, I'll probably run 2-3 of them on it in the future. The coral plus is doing some of the work of the aquablue special, but I'd probably swap one of them for an aquablue, and maybe one of the actinics for something like this giesemann

 

sounds like light acclimation isn't the issue

[Emerald525]

I really don't think it's the bulbs as your other corals are fine. As far as dipping you should definitely get in the habit of doing that before putting corals in your tank. It's not difficult you just take some of your tank water and mix in some Revive and let the zoas sit for a few minutes. Then we do an inspection for pests. This is not 100% effective as it will not kill any eggs. A good wrasse is also helpful for plucking off pests. I have also read that fishflex which you can buy at Dr. Fosters's smith

[impur]

What fish do you have?

[Hewey McLovit]

Keith, i think that smell is tea tree oil?

I use revive too, it kinda smells like pine-sol, which weirded me out, but it seems to actually make the corals happy. of course, they're closed up in the dip, but they seemed happier than before when they were back in the tank after the dip.

 

I think the bottle says 5-15 minutes. you can mix it up in a 1 gallon container and just dip the whole rock if you want. it'll probably do some damage to the bacteria/etc on the rock, but not in a way that would actually affect the tank (unless that one rock is 1/2 of the rock in your tank or something).

 

bummer I can't help you with the bulbs, but i think you'll get it sorted out. I'd still bet the spectrum is a possible issue, a bulb or two would be a good plan. if it were me, I'd probably make one of them an aquablue special from ATI, it is basically full-spectrum, but focuses on the blue end, looks good on my 8-bulb, I'll probably run 2-3 of them on it in the future. The coral plus is doing some of the work of the aquablue special, but I'd probably swap one of them for an aquablue, and maybe one of the actinics for something like this giesemann

 

sounds like light acclimation isn't the issue

[Hewey McLovit]

From one of you picks it looked like an encrusting monti wasn't extending it polyps either. I have been having a chemical war going on in my tank and when i do a 25% h20 change or run new carbon everything extends better. Is there any coral dying that you haven't seen or do you have any leathers?

[Burningbaal]

Keith' date=' i think that smell is tea tree oil?[/quote']

 

could be, probably...I dunno, I just know it works

 

From one of you picks it looked like an encrusting monti wasn't extending it polyps either. I have been having a chemical war going on in my tank and when i do a 25% h20 change or run new carbon everything extends better. Is there any coral dying that you haven't seen or do you have any leathers?

 

I'm in full support of the chemical warfare idea, you've got a leather, I know some hairy mushrooms (that are stanky when fragging, so you know they've got some nasties to spread around). I'd try a fresh bag of carbon and a water change and see if that helps.

 

that cabbage coral still doing ok? they were constantl mucous-ing in my tank, I think cause my lighting was low, so they were trying to get food other ways.

[g81]

The cabbage coral its doing great.no mucas at all. the only issues its my polyps.

I just did a water change also swapped my carbon add it was dirty. My leather seems to be opening even before I did that'the .

[g81]

The cabbage coral its doing great.no mucas at all. the only issues its my polyps.

I just did a water change also swapped my carbon add it was dirty. My leather seems to be opening even before I did that'the .

[Burningbaal]

it seems like most things other than pests are ruled out.

carbon and water change should help any warfare,

lighting is treating softies ok, so why wouldn't it be good enough for zoas

what about a sea hare or something? any time my hare would crawl over some polyps, it'd piss 'em off for a whle

that's all I've got except something like zoa pox or asterina stars? you didn't put a filefish in there, did you?

[g81]

i dont have a sea hair anymore, i think it died. i do have two urchins long spine and pin cushin, the long spine doesnt crawl over anything the pin cushin is like a mower. ive been thinking of trading him in. but he doesnt crawl directly over anything just around. but he doesnt get around half the stuff i have becuse he is so big. cant fit. i just did a carbon/water change but ill do another. i feel the polyps have been closed so long the color will be lost.like half them already

 

i do have asterina stars

 

so i should dip my corals from now on, should i do a bulb swap?

still

for

ATI 36 Inch 39W Aquablue Special

D-D Giesemann Powerchrome 36 Inch 39W Midday T5HO Fluorescent

 

?

[g81]

i dont have a sea hair anymore, i think it died. i do have two urchins long spine and pin cushin, the long spine doesnt crawl over anything the pin cushin is like a mower. ive been thinking of trading him in. but he doesnt crawl directly over anything just around. but he doesnt get around half the stuff i have becuse he is so big. cant fit. i just did a carbon/water change but ill do another. i feel the polyps have been closed so long the color will be lost.like half them already

 

i do have asterina stars

 

so i should dip my corals from now on, should i do a bulb swap?

still

for

ATI 36 Inch 39W Aquablue Special

D-D Giesemann Powerchrome 36 Inch 39W Midday T5HO Fluorescent

 

?

[reefnjunkie]

Definetly dip all your stuff before you add it into your tank. Its your call but if you ever get some pests it can be a pain and costly.

My first guess was zoanthid eating nudibrachs, which dipping will take care of and if not the dipping will help anyway.

 

Good luck

[g81]

Definetly dip all your stuff before you add it into your tank. Its your call but if you ever get some pests it can be a pain and costly.

My first guess was zoanthid eating nudibrachs, which dipping will take care of and if not the dipping will help anyway.

 

Good luck

 

Yes i will for shure start dipping im still new to this so im still learning. ill have to stop at garretts and get some

 

i did just do a 50% water change

 

i know i know... im pretty shure i forgot to add ph stuff. or something my ph was very low now fixed. my salt was also to high i have a refractometer scope but i have to figure out how to use it. so im still useing the old school one. its at 1.027-1.028 was well above 1.030 so much infact i had to add almost 15 gallons of water with no salt to lower it!!

i have a 20g trash can i pre mix water in now i dont understand how the salt gets so high?

i dont have a ro unit yet (yet)

 

also i added a chiller it keep it at a steady 80 is that ok? or should it be 79-82?

 

im trying!!!! sometimes it gets to the point i want to give it all away! but than my hawk hops in front of me and i dish another few hundred into the tank lol

[Derbird]

Don't get too discouraged, we have all gone through this learning curve. The sea is a crule mistress

 

If it were me I would get a good dip and go ahead and dip all your zoa's and paly's. Like reefjunkie said I couldn't hurt anything.

 

I would switch out some salt water for fresh water to get you salinity down. I know some LFS keep there salt that high but its not good long term. Ideally for coral it should be from 1.024 - 1.026. I aim for 1.025 so if it swings a bit one way or the other I'm still in the good place.

 

Every one has a opinion on the temp of a tank and has what works for them. I try for 78 - 80. But what ever works for your critters. The ocean can swing pretty dramatically pretty quick and these things do fine in there. I don't recomend a big swing, gotta keep our friends comfy (whistle)

 

Are you on city water? RODI units are ideal but you can get away without one (some one is going to kill me for that one I'm sure). My house has a well and is on a natural gravel bed. My water is acutally pretty good. If you are on city water I would recomend treating it for metals before using it on a reef tank. I don't think this is the root of you problem or your other corals would be angry too.

 

Keep up the good fight, polyps are pretty hardy. After you get them happy they sould color up and be worth the battle

[g81]

Don't get too discouraged, we have all gone through this learning curve. The sea is a crule mistress

 

If it were me I would get a good dip and go ahead and dip all your zoa's and paly's. Like reefjunkie said I couldn't hurt anything.

 

I would switch out some salt water for fresh water to get you salinity down. I know some LFS keep there salt that high but its not good long term. Ideally for coral it should be from 1.024 - 1.026. I aim for 1.025 so if it swings a bit one way or the other I'm still in the good place.

 

Every one has a opinion on the temp of a tank and has what works for them. I try for 78 - 80. But what ever works for your critters. The ocean can swing pretty dramatically pretty quick and these things do fine in there. I don't recomend a big swing, gotta keep our friends comfy (whistle)

 

Are you on city water? RODI units are ideal but you can get away without one (some one is going to kill me for that one I'm sure). My house has a well and is on a natural gravel bed. My water is acutally pretty good. If you are on city water I would recomend treating it for metals before using it on a reef tank. I don't think this is the root of you problem or your other corals would be angry too.

 

Keep up the good fight, polyps are pretty hardy. After you get them happy they sould color up and be worth the battle

 

will do, ill be doing some dipping sunday. and lower my salt a little bit too. hopfully it does the trick