1 or 2 Polyp Zoa/Paly Frags

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

zoanthids are touchy and can melt anytime. Ok for 10$ or less then I paid 50$ back then for my purple hornets and they were chewed by amphipods in one night, other variety simply melted away in few days.

I have tried zoas twice now, with multiple polyp frags, but failed. They did open the first few days, but then less and less, until they eventually melted away. I did not find any bad pests, and even took one frag back to the lfs for them to examine. But they only found the usual pods and other critters, no bad ones.

My tank is very, very mature, 10+ years, and is full of pods. I did see them crawling all over the zoas in the mornings, and even during the day sometimes. So, I do wonder if this is my problem.

Plus when I hear about noobs growing zoas with no problems in new tanks. They probably don't have much for pods to bother them.

In this same tank, everything else seems to grow really well, SPS, LPS Palys, and other softies. Just no luck with Zoas. So, I have sworn off them for the time being.

Maybe I need a Mandarin.