Hermits Picking @ My Zoas?

[fishguy23]

My zoas stopped opening up recently.... now I just upgraded my lighting and thought maybe they were adjusting, but my lfs said that my hermits maybe picking at them, is this true or.....?

 

[NYreefNoob]

u check for nudies or crabs ? and how long has it been since they were open

 

[fishguy23]

2-3 weeks ago, within that time Ive upgraded my lighting twice!

 

[KathyC]

What did you upgrade your lighting from & to?

How does a lfs come up with hermits might be picking at them out of the clear blue sky....???? If they are picking at them it would be due to them having algae on them..if they were opening as usual they probably wouldn't have algae on them to pick...so probably a different reason, although zoas don't need much of a reason to close up..most likely due to your new lighting. Where are they placed in the tank?

Do you have a pic?

 

[fishguy23]

I don't have a pic rt now, but I have 3 med sized colonies set mid level, I upgraded from PC's to T5's, about 5.3 watts per gallon

 

[KathyC]

Do they have any crud on them?
If so and they look ok but just closed...take them and hold them in front of a power head for a minute and then place them on the sandbed and see if they open back up..don't blast them too hard..just some
Did you check them for sundial snails or nudis?

 

[rbtwo4]

Did u change salts or add anything like a new phosphate remover? Could be that. Zoos are kind of funny tho. I have a nice colony sized tubs blues and they were closed up for 2 weeks cus I added some new phosban. Another time I switched salts and my purple zoos also closed up but after a few weeks they opened up. Try giving them a freshwater dip in a cup of rodi/ro water or like mentioned above check to see if there's any pests. Lighting doesn't seem to be the issue here since u switched to t5's. Everyone who has owned zoos go thru this every now and then that I've talked to. Hope this helps.

 

[marki24]

From experience I know that crabs pick on zoas once they start decomposing.