Seeking zoa expert or zoa keeping input

[Atlanta Aquarium]

I love zoa/paly. I think they are colorful and add alot to the reef display. My problem is I can't keep them. I lost lots and lots of nice/collector prized zoa/paly frags/cololnies in this past 6 months.
Here's a few I lost: Rasta, nightmare, rose nebula, cat eye, candy apple red, candy apple green, Chong Bong, Ice Fire, ring of saturn, Darth Maul, VDM, Halloween, Solar, AOG, Blue AOG, Reefready? AOG etc. etc. The list goes on and on.

I'm fixing to get a bunch more zoa/paly but before I do that what am I doing wrong? Why so many of my zoa/paly die? Is this normal? Anyone in here can keep zoa/paly without loosing them?

[cbrjenkins]

whats your water paramaters, light setup, and are you dosing anything?

[Atlanta Aquarium]

cal 400-600
Alk 8-14
Display 265g
3 - 400w MH
2 - 54W t5
2 - 36w t5
frag tank 245g
2 - 250W mh
2 - 36W t5
2 - 54 w t5
phos a little high since I had a mishapped recently, normal is ok
ammonia normally low
flow are decent
display 2 vortec. 1 sieo 2400 and return flow
frag tank 2 - mag24


I do pool calcium and alk drip. I also have calcium reactor.

ASM 6 protein skimmer.

[cdub]

Too much light? Lol

[Atlanta Aquarium]

Could it be the light? This is what I don't understand. Many of my zoa thrives and grew into large colonies then they start dying.
Recently, my PHE start doing that too. I got a nice colony but now it's dying.

[Jaandgc]

Have you checked for the nudi's that eat zoa's? Any fish like to eat them?

[cdub]

In my tank I have overdriven t5's and I have to be careful where I put them or they will slowly die out. I usually have to put them next to an overhang or near the edge. I would imagine with 400w halides you could do some serious damage to softies.

[Atlanta Aquarium]

Yes, I'm careful on my placement. Tub blue or similar are in the shade, Paly mostly in bright light. Most zoa are moderate light etc. etc.
If it were the light then why they grow nicely into large colony then to die off.

Originally Posted by cdub

In my tank I have overdriven t5's and I have to be careful where I put them or they will slowly die out. I usually have to put them next to an overhang or near the edge. I would imagine with 400w halides you could do some serious damage to softies.

Nudi was my first concern. I had checked and checked and checked but never see any nudi. Sometime, some of the zoa appears to have pox.
Most of the time they just closed up and shrink to nothing.

Originally Posted by Jaandgc

Have you checked for the nudi's that eat zoa's? Any fish like to eat them?

[Atlanta Aquarium]

Does the zoa/paly need to be in a dedicated tank?

[cdub]

sometimes when mine have closed up i have swabbed them with a qtip and they open back up. i read somewhere awhile back that when they get irritated they close up and secrete a slime over themselves.

[twistoflime]

Check your iodine levels, If you don't have a test I might beable to drop off my test tomarrow or thursday to barrow it. Although I recently read an artical that says they havn't found anything about soft corals needing iodine it's wortha shot. To much light could be a problem but I have my phe zoas directly under a 250w mh on my frag rack, same with most of my other rarer zoas and they do fine. I'm thinking it has somthing to do with a bad parameter of some trace element. It wouldn't be a zoa predetor because then they would also eat zoas as frags not just colonys. I think once the zoas grow into a colony theres not enough of whatever they need for all of them to get it so they die off. Also other corals might be stealing their food.