My co-worker's melting zoas :(

My friend has a 29 BC and cannot seem to keep zoas. For some unknown reason, any she adds seem to melt for her within a week. Her tank is doing well otherwise. She did have a flatworms outbreak a few months ago; she did two rounds of FW Exit and killed them, ran carbon, and did massive water changes. But I would not think it would be a continued factor.

Any thoughts? I am not a zoa expert. Any advice is appreciated!

Wow does this sound familiar. I had the 8g biocube and for over a year I couldn't keep but one type of zoa. Every zoa aside from that one melted within days of adding them to my tank.

I never did come up with a concrete answer. Many here tried to help me also. Some suggested that the tank water was *to clean* others said it may have something to do with it being a *closed system* she will notice she has very little top off that's needed. Some also said it may be the lighting~cf.

Either way ever since I upgraded to my 26 bowfront I've not had one issue with keeping zoa's. What am I doing different with it then I was the 8g? Well for sure I'm topping off at least 2g's a week. I've got a great little fuge filled with cheato. I have a little skimmer also. My lights are now t5's. Instead of the weekly water changes it's more around the 10-14 days. My parameters are more consistent also. I can also feed the tank more since having the skimmer.

I know she can get a skimmer for the 29g. I don't know which 29 she has, cf or mh? Better surface agitation and o2 exchange. There is one reefer here whom I know has the 29g mh. JimsFlies is his name, look him up and see what he's doing as far as zoa's go.

Good luck.

Thx for the response Jamie!

She has an internal skimmer for the system (and it has a new airstone; the LfS never told her to change it so it was in there for like two years). She also has the compact florescent light system. Maybe not enough light? CF lights are pretty lame.

She brought the remainder of the frags into work; I put them in my new 12g nano (with the Sunbrite "Slimline" LED fixture) and one rock opened up after a couple of days to reveal three remaianing polyps which seem happy. The rest are probably too melted to save but who knows.

Don't get rid of those melted ones-you may get a surprise :)
If she can afford it-have her look at: Nano Customs for a new hood. They're pretty sweet!

Once she puts together a few $ I've already told her that the nano Customs is the way for her to go.... Although she's starting to like that open-top look on my 12g.

CF lighting is the bane of Zoa existance. You need to change the bulbs every 5 months (6 months max) or zoas will start to decline rapidly. I try to keep a new set on hand and when I see a few polyps closing or when a decline starts, I can quickly change out the bulbs. I would love to spend the money on a new lighting system, but my wife would rather have me sell off the tank. I have added an Ecoxotic LED strip and plan to buy a few more as money allows ($50 each) and slowly convert to LEDs.

thx!! I will bet her CF bulbs are old....

That's actually not a bad idea of removing the hood. Get an MH pendant? What's she got in the back chambers?

Pretty much the stock setup.... I've had her remove most of the bio balls over time.

She may see how she likes the look of a Sunbrite S fixture on the back of the tank, sans hood. I have a prototype loaned to me that's sitting in the basement, and she asked to try it out.

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Originally Posted by pjr

Pretty much the stock setup.... I've had her remove most of the bio balls over time.

She may see how she likes the look of a Sunbrite S fixture on the back of the tank, sans hood. I have a prototype loaned to me that's sitting in the basement, and she asked to try it out.

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I have a 5w led fuge light and some extra cheato if you want to set her up a little refugium in the second chamber. LMK...free :)