Zoa colony smells like death :o

So I recently put a large zoa colony (40+ polyps) into my tank, first time ordering corals online.

Anyways they were not attached to anything so I kind of loosely wedged them in a crevasse so that they would eventually attach themselves to the rock.

Soon after they started to open up, but only about half of them did. Three days had gone by and I was worried about them so I took them out and into a bowl with tank water to inspect them.

They smelt like I can only imagine what a rotting corpse would smell like (I am assuming that this is not normal?). I gave them a freshwater dip to see if there were any critters but nothing. i also inspected them to see if there was anything obviously wrong with them.

I then proceeded to remove what looked like damaged polyps, and I ended up with 4 separate colonies and a bunch of dead looking polyps.

So I dumped the bad looking ones and placed the 4 colonies back in the tank. I am now wondering if I should have done what I did or let them be? The last thing I want is for dead zoas to be rotting in my tank and fouling up my water.


TLDR

Zoa colony i bought smells like death, is this normal? I assumed it wasn't and removed what seemed to me to be sickly looking polyps and then placed them back in the tank...should I do anything else?

 

I probably would have done the same thing, but dipped them in iodine with tank water for awhile.

 

So do you think the odour is from from decaying dead polyps?

 

The smell kind of freaked me out haha, i am used to aquatic freshwater plants where they just kind of melt away...

Handling the zoa colony today really made me realize that I am dealing with fleshy animals here, not just plants...its a whole new ballgame

 

I don't recall my Zoas smelling bad ever. My guess is something happened during packaging/shipping. Be super careful playing with Zoas, they are VERY toxic. I recommend using gloves, protective eye wear, & keep your mouth closed when handling them. I use this protocol every time I handle them.

 

My other two colonies I got look ok, fully extended and bright. This one just looks sickly though. That being said, the heat pack was spent by the time i got the package (fedex overnight) and the water was very cold, I had a cleaner shrimp that arrived DOA as well...pretty annoyed by that and i don't think i will be ordering from them again.

So maybe this colony wasn't healthy enough to begin with?

 

I think it just a risk you take with shipping. If they smell better and look better after fragging, you did the right thing. Of course images always help.

 

they are all still closed at the moment, I am assuming that this is normal considering their freshwater bath. I will take some pics when they start to open up again.

 

Usually if a coral smells that horrible, it is dead. So hopefully the ones that looked alive are going to do really well now!

And yes, you seriously ticked them off, so they will probably stay closed for a bit.

 

thanks for the help...annoyed that the colony is in bad shape but I am glad to find out that my instincts have been on the mark