ok fellow paly and zoa keeper out there..ineed some help..I got some blue tubb paly's 8 days ago..they have not opened up since i got them.in fact they are melting away..i had 14 polyps ..i m now down 9..all my other zoas and palys are doing great so i know its not a water quality issue but i will post my parameters anyway..
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 0
phosphates 0
alk 11
calicium 440
not sure on mag as i dont have a test kit yet..but i dose 10 ml a day
i have had 1 polyp open up the first day i got them..then when the light went off it never opened back up..
they are about 3/4 of the way down in the tank with 96 watt t5 fixture..flow is just aquaclea HOB filter with MJ600 modded powerhead..i do not know what is going on here but i would like to not lose these guys..the 1 polyp that did open up had the darkest blue i have ever seen.. I dont really want to move them around as i think that would stress them more..but yeah they are down pretty low in the tank on a frag rack..where i got them from they were under metal halides and mine are t5s..not sure that would make a difference or not.
they are excellent..my bam bams i got around the same time different seller i started out with 5 polyps ..i now have 8..my purple deaths started with 6.. i now have 9.i just dont understand whats going on..the person i got htese from is an excellent reefer and has some nice frags and i would not hesitate to buy from him again.. i will post a pic of them inabout 5 minutes when the lights come on..are blue tubbs a delicate coral..
Rick
Last edited by whitetiger61; 11-22-2009 at 08:00 AM.
grrrrrrrr bad Tubbs of Blue bad bad bad~for me anyways~out of the 2 frags I've boughten within the last month~I have none!! That's right! Just got a new frag in on Wednesday and today nadda~didn't even open just melted away~all the other zoa's I got along with em doing wonderful! Sooo I've decided~no more Tubbs for me.
Polyps not opening.....always a fun one to figure out! There are so many reasons....
By the pic, your polyps still look pretty healthy. Couldnt see any obvious pox, predators or irritators. One thing I might possibly see though is a film growth over your polyps, that may explain the sparkles. I would recomend blowing them off w/ a powerhead, or a good swish in the tank to see if any film comes off. A film on your polyps will stop them from opening.
If I am wrong about the film, which is hard to tell by the pic, I have a couple more possibilities-
These polyps look to be freshly fraged. As as tazzy stated, some polyps could have blown off. I have had freshly fragged polyps not open for 2 weeks, and be ok. I have also had healthy polyps just not take to the fragging and wither away, no matter what I did. Bad glue jobs are a very common issue with polyps not opening- the glue itself becomes the irritator.
Alkalinity is another possibility. If your alk is alot different than the tank you got the polyps from, this can play a roll in your polyps not opening. Diferences in alk and alk swings are known to adversly affect polyps, causing not opening and melting. If they survive a transition, they will not open till they have aclimated to their new tank parameters. Any way to find out the alk of the tank you got these from?
Lighting- As already stated, tubs blues (along with most other blues) are a lower light polyp. Freshly fragged/dipped polyps also apreciate a subdued lighting. Starting said polyps at the bottom, and somtimes even in a bit of shade is a good idea. After they aclimate to the new lighting, they can be moved up little by little over a period of time to aclimate to heigher lighting.
I know this info doesnt give you anything 100%, but hope the info helps you out. Polyps not opening is always a tricky subject, as there are so many causes of the issue. Good luck!
Forgot about your iodine Q. Do not use standard store iodine. You will need to get an iodine meant for reef tanks. One of the most commonly used is lugols. Usually reef iodine can be found at most LFS's.
As mentioned before- unless you find a predator in the polyps, I would use a dip at this time as an emergency back up. A dip will stress your already stressed polps, and could do just as much damage as good.
yeah i can find out the alk of the tank i got them from..might take awhile though..i will post the info when i get it..thanks everyone for the information
I need help please
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