zos wont open

poknsnok · #1 05/12/2005, 12:10 PM

my zos wont open fully

I have several zo colonies and they wont open fully. ph is 8.4, calc is a little low at 300 but for zos its ok. nitrate and phos are zippo. I have dipped the colonies twice in the zo dip in case of nudibranch. although Ive never seen any in the tank or in the bucket after dipping. I have a lot of lighting.. 2x250 wat 10k and 1 150 watt 20k.. but Ive had that for more than a year and the problem has been around for 6 months. all was well before hand. my oldest colony, the polyps have shrunk to about 1/4" across, they are still open, you can see the centers but they gotten very small. there are lots of these tiny snails in the tank but I have been told they are harmless, I am at a total loss to explain it. any thioughts?

bkiba · #2 05/12/2005, 02:57 PM

is there algae or anything growing on them or settling on them? As for the snails, if they have a checkered (B&W) shell they are not something you want with your zos, these are cone snails and will eat the zos. We need a pic to tell for sure.

poknsnok · #3 05/15/2005, 06:24 PM

zos still struggling mightily. I have a bunch of these tiny snails that go on everything including the zos. I did my weekly water change today and we will see what happens. but the last 6-8 months my zos have been in a free fall... the sps are fine... go figure. Im gonna try to post some pics

poknsnok · #4 05/15/2005, 06:25 PM

to add... Ive been told the snails are harmless

Fishman1113 · #5 05/15/2005, 07:46 PM

If they are on the zoos all of the time, the zoos will likely not open. That is most likely your problem.

bkiba · #6 05/15/2005, 09:01 PM

take a picture of the snails. A FW dip should kill off snails on a particular rock. Is it all the zoos or just ceratin colonies?

Smo · #7 05/15/2005, 10:09 PM

Check out this link ---> Zoanthid Eating Sundial Snail
Do your snails look anything like those?
Are they no larger than a pencil eraser?

If they don't resemble the ones in the pic, then how about major changes in temperature in your tank? Like between night and day.
How about your specific gravity: Is it too high?

Let us know about the snails.

poknsnok · #8 05/16/2005, 12:08 PM

thesnails are all over the tank. i was told they are harmless film algae eaters BUT something is causing the zos problems. i did dip but the snails are everywhere in the tank

GreasyMidget · #9 05/17/2005, 09:11 AM

I think those are the same snails that i had all over my tank also. they lay eggs all over the place and anoy the hell out of me. I got them from down in the keys and have been trying to remove them bit by bit.

I also had all my zoos die and melt away recently. I finally got a chiller yesterday and installed it. My temp was at 87f and WAY too hot. we will see if the new zoos i got wil be ok with the temp being at around 77 now.