Uh...oh... >.<

[huynhle]

So.....I did a fresh water dip on a zoo rock i bought today.....managed to get out some spiders....and bristle worms.....then i noticed...there's a baby Mantis shrimp in one of the holes in the rock!!!! #$%^& eeeek. so i continued to freshwater dipp it....and eventually got the mantis shrimp out.....fewffff. ....the elapsed time in fresh water was about....15 mins? >.<

and....i put the Zoo rock back into the tank for bout....half an hour now and it hasnt opened up yet...are each of those heads independent from one another? ...and frig...i hope i didnt kill my entire zoo rock!  what do u guys think? How can i tell if it's dead? O_O

effing.......mantis shrimp...glad i saw him b4 i put the rock in my tank tho.

Thanks in Advance guys.

[Hookup]

great stuff!  You're zoo's are fine.. they are next to impossible to kill... leave em out of water for 30min, no issues... throw em into the sump for 4 months w/o light, no issues... burn them with kalk paste, echno's, vinegar.... the damn things still wont die!!! 

So, i'm sure you'res are going to be just fine...

[huynhle]

Thanks alot Hookup that was very reasuring!

[lost_at_sea]

Sorry to hijack but .... what if you want to get rid of a some 'ugly' zoo's I have some gross military green ones that don't add any colour to my tank and i honestly woulnd't mind cleaning htem out and starting with something new?

scissors???

I've thought about placing my hammer coral beside it to see if it would keep it's 'unwanted' growth at bay.

[QueensU]

hammer might do that, mine form a little ring around even a candy cane that I have. I think a normal freshwater dip is supposed to last for 10-15 mins is it not?

[huynhle]

From what i heard it should last atleast 5 min. How long do u guys think my zoo's will open up again? O_O Cuz it's still closed. eek.

[Hookup]

2 days or more...  after 14 days i'd be worried... before then.. meh... i've seen worse...

Honestly, they are not fried from your dip-o-trama... and they are wickedly hearty... some zoa's have been shiped "dry" (not in water, in wet-paper) for 48hrs... these suckers are hearty...


Ive got several pieces that like to close-up for a few days to a week or more every 4-6 weeks.... my wife still to this day panics when it happens asking "whats wrong? s the tank going to crash?" etc... they always come back just fine... you're zoa's are most likely just fine...

What are your parameters and how are you testing?
Salinity
pH
Temp
Alk
Ca
Mg
Nitrate
Nitrite
Ammonia
Phosphates

How much/how often do you change water?  What kind of lighting and skimmer?


I do not want to sit here and tell you all is well if your system is out of wack and you're killing the zoas slowly.. but what you describe, assuming a good and healthy system, you're zoas had a rough ride but should be fine.

[huynhle]

My system is doing good all parameters r fine...i'm doing my water changes every 2 weeks, running on an octopus skimmer, with 4x 54w HO T5's.

Hookup...what i didnt mention was that in the process of getting out the mantis shrimp i had to destroy a section of the rock....in turn i had to rip out a section of the colony. I woke up this morning and i see that a thin film of some sort has formed over 25% of the remaining colony. Should i be worried?

what i'm interested to know is...and i havent been able to find this out in the literature. Is that...are each zoo head independent of one another? i see that they are connected by connective tissue of some sort, like are they aware that a section of their colony is now gone? I know you have a biology background so u might have an idea 

Cheers,

Thanks in Advance for your help.

[ciaus]

OMG, Pandora.............You harmed Pandora!

[Hookup]

It'd be best to snap a quick photo of that thin film.  That is not sounding good anymore.  Bacteria can attack Zoa's and wipe them out... I'm not a zoa' expert at all so I cannot say if this is really bad, a little bad, something to watch or nothing at all...

I also do not know if ZOA's are a single organism or a colony of individuals.... and though there are some biologist on the site, i'm not one of them...

Generally Zoa's are pretty hardy.. i've cut mine up, ripped em apart, torn them off rocks, left em out of water for 15+min... no issues...

The thin film is the worry.. .sounds like a bacteria layer which might choke out the zoa's....

[Severum]

If things are looking bad pull the zoos out of the water and smell them. You'll know for certain which direction they are headed in.

If it smells like the sea, let it be.
If it smells rotten, it should be forgotten.

[Hookup]

If it smells like the sea, let it be.
If it smells rotten, it should be forgotten.]

[beertech]

Place them in more direct flow to help keep the film from smothering them. It's probably a mucous layer that is the result of being torn. Be careful with your hands in the tank if you have any open cuts or sores.  Some Zoas can be very irritating or even toxic.  I've seen them put out a thick discharge when fragging. Use some fresh carbon in your sump or filter, and maybe do a small water change to avoid any other corals being affected by the discharge.  Each polyp is an individual, and can survive as such,  but shares and receives nutrients with the other polyps via the "skin".
HTH,

Gord

[huynhle]

Thanks alot for the help guys, it's doing really good right now You were right Hookup...took 2 days and they are opening up nicely even the piece that got ripped out is starting open up =)

[Hookup]

certainly glad to hear it!  It's hard to tell when things are going wrong sometimes... and other times you need to just wait it out...

Great news though... and hey, you've just frag'ed your first coral!  next time drop an SPS on the floor... same effect, worse results though..

[Vincenzo.]

certainly glad to hear it!  It's hard to tell when things are going wrong sometimes... and other times you need to just wait it out...

Great news though... and hey, you've just frag'ed your first coral!  next time drop an SPS on the floor... same effect, worse results though..

^dont talk to me about loosing sps :/