Yeah, sounds weird don't it? Well, just follow along, if you will.
I've got three colonies that have refused to open up no matter what. They've been with me for over a year, so it's not like they are new here or anything. I tried the usual, dipping, turkey basting, moving to less/more light/flow. Nothing worked. To me, they still just looked grubby, and would not open. So........
I bought a cheapo waterpik knockoff just to see if anything else might wash off of them. I thought that perhaps the pulsing stream that is more concentrated to a single area might get the colonies "cleaner". I modified the tip by heating it and enlarging the hole a little, to cut the water pressure down a bit. After I assembled my experiment, I grabbed the first tennis ball sized colony. Now bear in mind, I just dipped this colony, and turkey basted it like crazy yesterday. They have been closed for over two weeks. I flipped the switch on the waterpik and..........EWWW. Lots of nasty looking grot came off from around the polyps. This was stuff that I couldn't get off even blasting it with a turkey baster. No bugs or nasties like that. Just dirt, detritus, mucus. My zoas had dirty feet.
I waterpiked them this morning. And this evening Every Last Polyp is open. This is not an anomaly, because the other two colonies responded exactly the same way. I tried it as well on a few colonies that were not really sick, just not opening up like they should. They ALL are open this evening. And the waterpik washed out a good bit of yuck, even from the colonies that had just been blasted with a turkey baster.
YMMV, but it sure made my zoas happy.
This might not cure what ails your zoas, but it's sure another tool in our arsenal of weapons to keep our zoas healthy and happy. I know the waterpik will now be standard treatment any time I'm dealing with sick polyps, or polyps that have closed up and won't open again.
I've got three colonies that have refused to open up no matter what. They've been with me for over a year, so it's not like they are new here or anything. I tried the usual, dipping, turkey basting, moving to less/more light/flow. Nothing worked. To me, they still just looked grubby, and would not open. So........
I bought a cheapo waterpik knockoff just to see if anything else might wash off of them. I thought that perhaps the pulsing stream that is more concentrated to a single area might get the colonies "cleaner". I modified the tip by heating it and enlarging the hole a little, to cut the water pressure down a bit. After I assembled my experiment, I grabbed the first tennis ball sized colony. Now bear in mind, I just dipped this colony, and turkey basted it like crazy yesterday. They have been closed for over two weeks. I flipped the switch on the waterpik and..........EWWW. Lots of nasty looking grot came off from around the polyps. This was stuff that I couldn't get off even blasting it with a turkey baster. No bugs or nasties like that. Just dirt, detritus, mucus. My zoas had dirty feet.
I waterpiked them this morning. And this evening Every Last Polyp is open. This is not an anomaly, because the other two colonies responded exactly the same way. I tried it as well on a few colonies that were not really sick, just not opening up like they should. They ALL are open this evening. And the waterpik washed out a good bit of yuck, even from the colonies that had just been blasted with a turkey baster.
YMMV, but it sure made my zoas happy.
This might not cure what ails your zoas, but it's sure another tool in our arsenal of weapons to keep our zoas healthy and happy. I know the waterpik will now be standard treatment any time I'm dealing with sick polyps, or polyps that have closed up and won't open again.
