What's the longest?

[Psycho graphic]

What is the longest anyone's had Zooanthids without them opening up?

I got a frag from a friend at least 4 months ago and it never opened. I assumed after a while that they just melted. (I have too many frags to keep track of.) I moved my Anthelia the other day and found this 3 polyp frag attached to it and it was still unopened. I pulled them apart and set the frag in an open spot on the sand. Last night I saw them starting to open, today the look like they are opening a little more. It's amazing how resilient some corals can be!

 

[digitalreefer]

I had gotten a bunch of small zoa frags after the last frag swap. When I took them home, I put all of the bags in a bin to start acclimating them. I missed one and found the bag about 3 days later. No light, no heat, no oxygen in the bag for 3 days. I put it into the tank (I figured there was no sense in acclimating after this long) and by the next morning it was wide open! They are unbelievable little animals.

 

[jackson6745]

I am a total newbie when it comes to zoos. Why do they melt in the first place? I had really nice pink palys that were big and healthy for a year. The colony turned into a mush ball and just started to have polyps open now (3 months later)

 

[Psycho graphic]

Not being an expert, I can only give you what I've seen as the most common cause (IMO). Sudden changes in lighting seem to be the major culprit is my theory. I also think small frags are more vulnerable, along with frags that have not been given time to heal in the tank they have been fragged in. Again I think this pertains more to small frags of less than 8-10 polyps.This is from reading what others have experinced.

I have been lucky enough to have all of mine survive this, although some have come close to extinction. I have only lost one Zoa frag and that is from my Ph suddenly dropping off the chart during a 2 day absence on my part, I would still like to know what happened to cause this.

I would think other factors would include improper acclimation and of course poor water quality. But as I've said before when acclimated properly with good water conditions, it seems some Zoa's don't like sudden light changes.