Q for Mr Cob and other Zoa guys

[Europhyllia]

Does anybody know what it means when zoas change shape? You know how sometimes all of them are nice and flat and then all of a sudden all of them turn umbrella shaped, etc. Are these different shapes any indication of something? Maybe water quality?

[Mr Cob]

Yes, the umbrella shape means they are whacked out. lol For me, it's normally a sign that water parameters need checking...something died, salinity is off etc. Normally I do a water change and the zoa will go back to normal. Funny though because it's rarely the entire colony just a few from one colony, perhaps just an early sign that the colony is not happy.

[Europhyllia]

could it be alkalinity? My alkalinity was low so I added a supplement and shortly after the zoas looked umbrella-y

[Mr Cob]

perhaps the supplement

[Mr Cob]

as a test, I once poured straight RO/DI topoff water over a colony in the main display and within a few minutes half of them were inverted/umbrella shaped...once the water mixed 3-5 hours later they were fine. So, I believe the umbrella shape is a sign that something is off/unstable with water parameters and normally seen when a change is made too drastically.

[Cammed_02]

Great info, it will make me keep a closer eye on things now when I see this.

[LuckySingh]

Great thread... I am raging along.. Didn't know they do this


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[Mr Cob]

yeah, they will look inverted, I guess completely open and opposite of closed

[alton]

It could be age? I know when I turned 45 my shape changed

[rrasco]

Agreed. Mine do this when something is not quite right. I had a few in one colony begin 'umbrella-ing' due to low light in that area after I rearranged some rock. Moved to better lighting and perked up in a few days.

While we're talking about zoas....why do some have short stems and others have long stems? I have colonies that have short stems of less than 1/4" while some other zoas (much smaller colonies) have longer stems, some about 1". Does it have to do with colony size or zoa species? Just curious.

[Europhyllia]

I read the low light deep sea ones are more likely to be those single longer stalk one. The bright light ones are more likely to be the short stalk, mat forming ones

[rrasco]

That kinda makes sense, the brighter zoas have shorter stalks while the less colorful ones have longer stalks. This is a valid claim for in my tank.

[Europhyllia]

lower light zoa may not necessarily mean less colorful. I don't know about that. Lots of low light corals are pretty awesome as far as color goes

[rrasco]

I can agree with that.

[Jarob]

Before I added my ATO I know that my Orange Oxide zoa colony would do this when the salinity would get a little high, after topping off the tank with rodi they would get back to normal. They are the only zoas in my tank with 20+ different types that do this though..

[Cammed_02]

I have a colony of fairy dust palys that do this. All the the other zoas are unaffected.

whats even wierder is this colony has grown the fastest and biggest of all my zoas.

[allan]

I have two colonies of the same paly, one high in the tank while the other down low.

The low have long stalks and the ones up high are pressed right up on the rock. Both grow about the same.

I think, species not a factor, that they react to what there light availability is.

[Europhyllia]

it's the mat forming versus single that is species specific (low light/intense light)

[Paraletho]

Palys usually are longer stemmed in my opinion.