390G Zoanthid & SPS Reef System

[Zoaelite]

New Underwaters:
Midas:


Chalice, anyone have an ID?:


New Acro colony:


Mohawks:

[Zoaelite]

Sunny D's:


New Pick up:

[martinmcnally]

Hey Levi, amazing pics.

Have you even seen these zoas or know what they are called:

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by martinmcnally

Hey Levi, amazing pics.

Have you even seen these zoas or know what they are called:

How long have you had them for? I have a feeling they are bleached eagle eyes/green bay packer zoas and in a healthy tank environment should morph back to something like this:





Could also be another morph as it does happen fairly commonly, hard to say the yellow effect does make them look pretty wicked.

[martinmcnally]

Oh it was just someone else on another forum asking if anyone knew what they were. They look awesome. Not so much if they are bleached out though.

Martin

[BlueTang<3]

Watermelon ?? Where is a good site/ source for the zoanthid/paly info, I have been collecting rare ones recently and picked up some that i was told were valentines day massacres. Cant seem to find any info on them tho. I picked up that tyree space monster its growing good for me, me thinks we will have to make a trade in the near future.

Originally Posted by zoaElite

Chalice, anyone have an ID?:

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by BlueTang<3

Watermelon ?? Where is a good site/ source for the zoanthid/paly info, I have been collecting rare ones recently and picked up some that i was told were valentines day massacres. Cant seem to find any info on them tho. I picked up that tyree space monster its growing good for me, me thinks we will have to make a trade in the near future.

Me thinks you might be right ! Have any photos of your TSM?

I would agree with Wes, kinda looks like my watermelon chalice.

Watermelon it is! I was tempted to get rid of my LPS but this little one has held me back, one of the brightest pieces in the tank for sure!

Yesterday 07:33 AM
reefermadness There are numerous variations of the watermelon chalice and although both those are different, probably qualify as "watermelon"

Both of those are super swweeeet by the way.

Thanks Reefer!

Yesterday 09:27 AM
Myka
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoaElite View Post
New rule: ASTRINIA STARFISH ARE NOT FRIENDS!!
What were the Asterina starfish doing? I have been looking afoul at some of the Asterina in my tank. I used to have a nice white specie that had evenly sized legs. Now this new darker gimpy looking Asterina like yours has taken over and some of them are toonie sized with like 10 legs!

I am having troubles with some LPS corals receding and I am wondering if the Asterina are to blame as they seem to be hanging out in the problem areas. I have also been thinking of using a Harlequin Shrimp to get them all, but I don't know what to do with the Harlequin once he eats them all. What are you going to do with yours?

I have identified 4 different morphs in the tank to date and I don't trust any of them, if their numbers are spiking and they can be found directly on my coral they are coming out of the tank. I have done about 7 removal sessions ranging from 10 stars to over 150.

As others have stated I plan on keeping chocolate chips in my fuge and snipping off a leg every week, they will be a permanent presence on the reef from now on to ensure the stars don't come back.

Yesterday 08:07 AM
FishyFishy! Man Harlequin shrimp are frikin awesome looking!!! Great pics too!

They are even better in person, they do this wicked dance similar to a sexy shrimp and the pattern is out of this world! Thanks for the comment.

Yesterday 01:15 PM
paddyob
I have hundreds of these stars in my tank. Is the problem eating or sitting on the zoas?

I see them come and go on colonies, and I have definitely had some colonies reduce in size.

Update on the shrimp/star problems?

I would certainly lean that way, I find a majority of the zoas that melt have their coenenchyme mat deteriorate prior to the actually polyp going and a majority of the stars are found directly on the mat gotta put two and two together. Star numbers are dropping fast, my shrimp has gone into hiding though anyone know if there nocturnal?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by zoaElite

I have identified 4 different morphs in the tank to date and I don't trust any of them, if their numbers are spiking and they can be found directly on my coral they are coming out of the tank. I have done about 7 removal sessions ranging from 10 stars to over 150.

As others have stated I plan on keeping chocolate chips in my fuge and snipping off a leg every week, they will be a permanent presence on the reef from now on to ensure the stars don't come back.

The white ones that are "perfect" mini stars are safe. It's the grey and brownish ones that I've been eye-balling lately. My Asterina don't go on any live parts of the corals, but do hang out at the edges of where a couple have been receding.

I don't think you will be able to keep a CC starfish alive in the limited space of a fuge unless you have a big@$$ fuge maybe?

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by Myka

The white ones that are "perfect" mini stars are safe. It's the grey and brownish ones that I've been eye-balling lately. My Asterina don't go on any live parts of the corals, but do hang out at the edges of where a couple have been receding.

I don't think you will be able to keep a CC starfish alive in the limited space of a fuge unless you have a big@$$ fuge maybe?

I agree on the white ones as I always find them on algae patches around the live rock, the grey ones tend to be found on the top of my zoas while the red ones appear to be much more detrimental popping up in the mat itself.

The fuge is around 60g but is mostly filled with sand, if worse comes to worse I can cycle the LFS route and pick up a Choc chip every two weeks or so. I don't see them being that hard to take care of though.

[Myka]

Red ones? Hmm, I'm not sure I've even seen red ones. Depends what you call red maybe.

Ya, if you got 60 gallons you might be ok then. He will eat your fuge into a desert though.