I have (or had?) a fairly decent sized Zoanthid sample in my tank. It seemed to be thriving. Then, one day, it just started to die, apparently. No change in tank chemistry or population that I was aware of. For at least a couple months I have just had the “skeleton”… no polyp activity at all.
Then, the last couple days, I’ve seen some smaller polyps come out for the light (maybe 3% of the original colony).
Does this happen? Is there a chance my entire piece is poised for a comeback?
Hey Greg. Sounds as if they’ve made a comeback and you haven’t lost them! Always good news.
Zoanthids live through an awful lot and it is very difficult to completely kill them.(I often recommend adding them as the first animal in a tank after new tank cycling) It is also possible(not practical or easy but possible) to clone Zoas with just a part of a polyp. Just a tiny bit of flesh left behind and they can start a whole knew colony.
Zoanthids are also a soft coral and will not leave a skeleton if they were to die. If you see any part of the original colony it may just be a polyp closed off because something is bothering it.
Any idea why they closed up to begin with? If your chemistry was good, and your flow and lighting were dead on you might want to keep looking for answers. Reason I say this is Zoanthids colonies most of them time come in with pests. There seem to be more problems animals, infections, and other bad crap that surround Zoanthids then any other coral in the hobby.(from my experience) Just worth checking into.
Well that’s good news! I’m eager to see if the rest of the colony emerges.
I really can’t imagine why they closed up. They seemed to be doing very well, then over a period of about a week, they just stopped opening up. Chemistry, water temp, population, lighting, etc all pretty much the same. Obviously there’s a reason, I just don’t see it!
I’ll try to get a good picture of the closed colony and post it here… just to make sure we’re talking about the same thing.