Zoanthid purchase

Ok guys, I'm getting ready to buy a beautiful frag of zoos. It's a colony of red/orange skirt growing happily with a family of green skirt zoos. Real bright color (sign of good health) and all are out. They are under what I believe is a 20K 250 or 400w halide. The tank they are in is I think a 75g stretch or a 100g. The zoo's look extremely healthy and happy.

The guy who's selling them is selling them kinda pricey ($55 - 4.4Wx7.5L rock almost covered in nuclear green and fire orange skirt zoo's; it's also growing a strange coral on the side, but might be a sponge since it's common to grow around zoo colonies), but I will be able to talk him down on the price since he is planning a move of location and is ridding his whole coral selection. Also, the guy's coral reefs are going through a really bad hair algae bloom. The tank is extremely plagued with brown flatworms, pest nudi's and a whole lot of asterina stars, so I know I have to dip this coral for sure; he has it in front, away from all the hair algae and rock. It's sitting on egg crate away from everything. It's probably the best coral he has there.

Now, since I have to surely dip this guy in Iodine, how much would be suitable to use with Kent's Tech-I. Also, would a freshwater dip after the iodine dip be necessary? How long should I soak for both dips?

Now on to lighting. I know zoo's like intense light since they rely heavily on the zoanthellae but I have had two casualty frags in the past due to necrosis so I plan to acclimate to water, temp and light. I have read that too much intense light can bleach the zoo's and since I'm planning on halide in the coming months, would placing them near the bottom be adequate for my 6 T5's now and for the future MH? I was planning to put them up high on the reef since I have a nice spot for the rock but want these guys to thrive and dont want to stress them.

HELP! HELP! HELP!

 

I would not dip these guys in iodine! I have read that the softies and clams do not like to be dipped......but then again there are mixed feelings about this...some people say its good and some say its bad...well me, i have never diped my corals and they all seem fine

As for ur lighting...i have zoos at all levels of my tank, they will do fine, but if you want them to keep their nice color i would put them higher in the tank

 

I kinda fear putting these guys high in extreme light because I have had zoo's bleach before. My water params all fine, dosing safe, etc. My pink face zoo's are doing excellent in the middle portion of the reef. I know the top is too intense in my reef. I might reserve it for something more light intensive.

I did an iodine dip on my mushroom, about 1 min. They didn't come out all the way the first two weeks, but then completely came out from one day to the next. I have came across a lot of forums that actually believe it's safe to dip zoo's. A lot of people have done it with success, to treat disease or to prevent infestation by introducing a new coral. It's recommended 1-2 minutes, not long. I dont think it will harm the coral if it's a really short time.

Hey Bruce, how much time you recommend I freshwater dip the zoo's? I dont want any nasty hitchikers.

 

Hmm well i have never done a fresh water dip for corals...but i would assume about 5 mins would be ok ...

 

If you do a Logol's dip, do it in a 10:1 ratio(dillution). Let the coral sit for about 10 minutes or so. it should eliminate the problem. As far as lighting is concerned, zoo's can handle different lighting. They are able to withstand pc's only and/or mh lighting.

 

For every 1g, 10 drops? I dont have lugols coral_reefer! I only have Kent's Tech-Iodine. The problem with putting them up top is the fact that when I upgrade to MH lighting, they are gonna be at the epicenter of the MH lighting. The zoo's are kept at the bottom, where the MH sits atleast 2 feet from the bottom of the tank.

 

I've seen zoo's that were kept in 400watt metal halide tanks and the colors were amazing. Look at Just phish.com and look at the beautiful red, green and orange zoo's that he has under the 400 watt mh lighting. I know, I thought the same as you that they didn't need that intense a lighting scheme. And in part that is true, they can live in subdued lighting, however, to see the amazing colors of these zoo's, intense lighting is advantageous.

 

UPDATE! I purchased the zoanthid polyps and couldn't be happier. I acclimated them to light, water, and temp in a total of a 3 hour span. I dipped them in Iodine after I acclimated using my tank water for about 2-3 minutes and then refilled the bucket and freshwater dipped it with clean freshwater for 10 minutes.

It's unbelieable how many things the Iodine kills instantly. I killed a few innocent critters but the tank the frag was in is in horrible shape with a lot of plague. The freshwater dip finished all the little critters off in under 7 minutes. I am extremely happy as the zoanthid are now starting to come out! Would it be wise to leave them alone for now? I just put them in my tank without putting them in a permanent spot. I dont like where they are at so I might give them a couple of days before I move the frag to a better location.

coral_reefer, I have a nice spot for the zoanthids at the top but I really am afraid of bleaching these guys as it happened to another frag I had before. I placed them at the bottom and they are coming out.

 

Start at a subdued light area, such as the bottom of your tank then gradually move them up if you chose to do so.

 

I moved them up this morning, they are still not 100% out, but a good 70% are. When I was acclimating in the bag, they all came out, good sign of health. And when I put them in, it was almost time for lights out, so I didn't give them sufficient time to come out.

So far so good. ;D