Rastas Not Doing So Well

I have some Rastas that have done great for me in the past but lately they've been slowly losing color and haven't opened as well as usual. They're very small heads, almost the size of microzoas. The past few days they've not opened at all, except one polyp which is open partially. No other zoas are showing signs of distress and everything else does great. They're in medium light, though I've tried them in high and low light and found that they do best in medium light. They're about 18" away from 6 T5HO bulbs. Pareters are very stable with reactors and water changes. So far I haven't seem anything on them or picking at them. The closest coral to them is an acro that's about 4" away so I don't think they could be getting stung by anything either.

Parameters are as follows...
Temp. 78-79
Ammonia & Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0.25ppm (biodenitrator)
Phosphates 0.03ppm (gfo reactor)
Alkalinity 9.0dKH (calcium reactor)
Calcium 450ppm (calcium reactor)
Magnesium 1400ppm (calcium reactor/weekly dosing)

Trace elements are maintained by a biweekly 5 gallon water change. I do dose 1 drop of Lugol's Iodine solution per week as well as 1/2 tablespoon of Kent Marine Strontium & Molybednum.

Have you tried dosing Vitamin C?

Any sign of white dots on them? Have you dipped them recently?

I had the same problem and aquatic dreams sold me a bottle of vitamin c and it works wonders.

Hey Ann. I have had similar issues as you with my Rastas. Started with one small polyp I got from BillyC. They grew to about 4 polyps but they were still very small and not really great color so I moved them to higher light. They quickly shrunk away after moving and I thought I had lost them. Moved them back to lower light ( on the bottom and off to the side under 8x24 ATI )

They came back again and grew some but soon shrunk back down again for no apparent reason. They are in the comeback stage right now and I'm up to about 12 polyps and they are growing bigger and coloring up nicely. Hopefully they will stay this way this time. I keep very stable parameters as I have predominately SPS tank and all other corals are thriving.

The only conclusion I have made is they do not like to be moved. If they were doing well in a certain spot I would suggest leaving them there. Other than that I really have no other advice, but hopefully yours will recover as mine have, so far at least ; )

If its any consolation Rastas are known to be very picky....Billy seems to grow these guys pretty well maybe he'll pop in with better advice for you. Good luck

I have a ton of SPS...never had an issue. I started with 1/4 dosage as recommended for my tank size. Most of the people I've seen with issues added too much too quickly. But, I understand your hesitation.

I don't dose now...not really into zoanthids anymore. This is what I have saved in my notes...and I dosed 1/4 the recommended dosage (links are with the info...):

Used 1/4 of this:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

For every 100 gallons:

5 ppm ----- 1892 mg VC
10 ppm ---- 3785 mg VC
15 ppm ---- 5677 mg VC
20 ppm ---- 7570 mg VC
25 ppm ---- 9462 mg VC
30 ppm ---- 11355 mg VC

Be sure your pH is around 8.2 & your alk is around 9-10, before you start. Keep an eye on both (I test weekly, now that I notice no changes).

Pasted from <http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1318886&highlight=vitamin>

The method to be followed in all cases is as follows:

Day 1 : concentration of 5 ppm

Day 2 : concentration of 15 ppm

Day 3 : concentration of 30 ppm

Day 4 : concentration of 50 ppm

After day 4, continue treating with a concentration of 50 ppm for 10 more days to 30 more days, depending on the severity of what you are treating for.

The total treatment period is thus 14-30 days but can last longer if need be.

In real severe cases you may need to treat for an additional 7 days or more

During this entire period you should not be using activated carbon

During this entire period you should not be using any chemical filtration media either (e.g. resins or pads, SuperChem and the like).

The skimmer needs to continue to be in operation.

Note that when you use these kind of Vitamin C concentrations it really is of utmost importance that you monitor you pH and ensure that it does not suddenly drop.

Check the pH before you add the C but check a few minutes later also. If the pH is too low add a complete buffer immediately to re-establish your alkalinity and increase the pH of the water in the tank. This is very important indeed.

It is important too, to realize that your dKH must be in the 9 to 10 range to minimize the amount of cloudiness that will develop. It the dKH is high (e.g. 12 or more) you will initially have a lot more cloudiness. This will gradually disappear though as you continue the treatment.


Pasted from <http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1318886&highlight=vitamin>

Sodium Ascorbate from iHerb: 1/4 tsp = 1.3 g


Edited by ReefdUp - March 31 2013 at 12:12pm

Ok so I think I have identified the problem to be the phosphates. Up until about two weeks ago I had phosphates at about 0.08-0.1 but I added a gfo reactor and have therefore had a drop in my phosphates. I think the problem is that I shocked the rastas and they are just adjusting to the new low-nutrient conditions.