Zoanthids problems

I'd like to toss my question into the ring for suggestions as well...

i got these zoas on 10-18-09 and now today, i count fewer and fewer, what am i doing wrong?

ph 8.3
amonia 0
trites 0
trates 0
sg 1.023
78-79F

what am i missing, unless its either a flow or light thing... but thier not in a "high" flow area, i mean its not like thier right infromt of a power head, but there is some movement... now for lights, i may be comming up short, i have 4 65Wpc's, 2 of them are 10k and 2 of them are 50/50 10k/actinic and they are about 6 months old, give or take a month....

i have hermits, a knobby starfish, a snowflake eel, clown, banghi cardinal, some turbo snails, some nassarius, some mexican turbos, and 2 large red hermit crabs...

i've seen every single critter at one time or another on that rock, but not that rock any more than any other rock, and no one stays there for long like thier chowing down, more like they are just mov'n through...

i dont get it...
 

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I'd like to toss my question into the ring for suggestions as well...

i got these zoas on 10-18-09 and now today, i count fewer and fewer, what am i doing wrong?

ph 8.3
amonia 0
trites 0
trates 0
sg 1.023
78-79F

i dont get it...


I am not a reef expert however in my online readings i was teached that corals don't do well in low salinity. 1.023 isn't good to them. They will need 1.025 or 1.026
I never had lower than 1.024
 
yup, i think its called zooplex or something liek that... its a reddish brown liquid, it was suggested that i put 1-5 drops in the tank per day... i've been sticking to around 1-2

well, now if my salinity is too low, that is something that i can work on, anyone else see that as an issue? i'm just using the swing arm type checker... so its not gonna be perfect, and who knows the #'s may be off on that thing, i mainly aim for consistantcy when i mix my water and salt...
 
oh, and i called the lfs, asking about a refractometer, and the lfs guy said that there is no way that my sg being off could cause my zoas to not thrive....

i allways kinda figured him for someone not to trust, but this just proves it....
 
yes i know... the other lfs i called said that sg could cause it, but by the time i got it farr enough outta whack for it to matter, i would be loosing snails and crabs left and right, so he didnt think that was it... he atually asked me if i had seen any worms, well, yea, i did see one a wee tiny one, well, i dont know how long it was, but it was about the diameter of the lead in a #2 pencil, and was bright orange, and came in on the rock that i got the zoas on... i havent seen it in a while now, but i did see it when i first got the rock... he suggested i buy a trap...

well, i'm not sold on that either, one cause i already tried to trap it, with the stocking trick, and i got nothing, and secondly cause there are only a few of them that are bad for the reef, and the rest are cleaners, not knowing which i have makes my decisions a little tougher...

a couple other things that were suggested were to get a yellow wrass, or to make my own trap...
 
project you say that you have a nobby starfish is it a general or chocolate chip, these starfish are not reef safe and love to eat polyps and mushrooms. I,ve even witnessed one eating an anemone once

if your sg is at 1.023 this is not to low for them but real close they do prefer 1.025
 
Thank you so much Bifferwine
I did it.
Lots of small creatures came out. Here's a pic.
I am not sure what to do with this star worm.


i dipped the zoa frag last night and found that star and got rid of it. Dont know if thats killing the Zoa as it has been reduced to half after a week in my tank. I also saw what looks like leech, also looks like a snail without shell looking creature with 2 antennae on the rock, don't know if I should take it out.

I moved the zoa to a different location with more flow near the powerhead. Hope it will survive.
 
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