# Proof that some Zoas can change



## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

Ever since I got into corals, I've been logging them in my journal with their commonly known names, growth rates, date of purchase, purchased price, and I also included in my log a picture of the coral at the time I acquired them with a Bi-Weekly picture update.

I now have photo evidence that zoas can indeed change over time and my first example is the Eagle Eye Zoa that i had acquired on 03/31/14. 

The first picture was taken at the time of purchase, the second picture was taken 2 weeks later, and the third was taken 2 weeks after the last one. No drastic changes since I have acquired them. Water parameters, lighting schedule, and type of lighting have been consistent. 

You can see that the outer skirt originally had three colors while the face was mostly orange with a small purple eye. 2 weeks later the diameter of the eye increased and the skirt became green to light green to pale purple. As of today the diameter of the purple eye continues to increase and the outer skirt has gone almost completely green with a few light shade of purple at the tip. 

Any one else have any photo evidence of such thing?


----------



## Patwa (Jan 30, 2014)

it happens all the time to virtually everyone in the hobby....a coral looks a certain way bc it was living under certain conditions in one tank.....then you buy it, pitch it into _your_ tank and it adjusts and adapts to your conditions, and thus, changes a bit...polyp extension, colour saturation, feeding response, etc.

.....due to lots of variables: water quality, salinity, alk, food (ie. light), presence/lack of predators or irritants, etc. etc.

...the only catch is that it is sometimes a _very_ minute change that the regular hobbyist will usually glaze over and not notice.

but good for you for paying such close attention


----------



## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

Thanks Patwa!  

I find this to be a very interesting phenomena 

It also happened to an SPS frag I got from Thoreffex. The mother colony i got the frag from had a very nice pink skeleton with red polyps and after about a month in my tank the skeleton turned green and the polyps turned purple.

It's like you'll never know what you get in the end.


----------



## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

This is really interesting actually as being new I had no idea. It does make sense.


----------



## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

Marz said:


> This is really interesting actually as being new I had no idea. It does make sense.


I find that some can change more drastically than others and that some don't change at all... But I've only really gotten into zoas a few months ago, so i cannot speak from experience on the long term effects that different variables can cause on the zoas coloration... yet! 

Will continue to keep you guys posted


----------



## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Great thread Manhtu, I think the eagle eyes look much better now then when you first got them. I've seen this personally in my tanks and I think it's a great idea that Manhtu has pictorially chronicled these types of changes. IMO the two most important factors that determine zoa coloration are lighting and availability of nutrients in the water. It's been suspected for a long time that MOST if not all zoas/palythoa do better in water that has a higher concentration of NO3/PO4/dissolved organic matter, so I'd venture to guess that your zoas are thriving in your tanks because they are relatively nutrient rich (from what I've seen). I would also think that lighting can dramatically change their appearance, more so than even water quality. Zs and Ps kept under T5's can differ tremendously from those kept under LEDs. Typically I find that blue LED light more so than the standard T5 12k setup tends to "morph" their appearance into something more colorful and eye-appealing, especially bringing out their natural fluorescence.


----------



## zoapaly (Jul 10, 2013)

manhtu said:


> Thanks Patwa!
> 
> I find this to be a very interesting phenomena
> 
> ...


It happened to me with pink lemonade acro colony after few months in my tank it look terrible  yes ugly
But my rainbow chalice colony bought from RR no colour at all but it look much better and colour up crazy in my tank after 
Water condition the most important to keep corals healthy , to clean sps happy but lps not , to dirty lps happy but sps no , same like you , zoa's colour up nicely and sps losing colour


----------



## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

Here is a new update on the changes a zoa can go through.

I purchased a Tyree Space Monster zoa on 05/14/14 and took a picture on the day i acquired it. A month later, after being in my tank this is what it looks like.

Although there are no new growth, the colors has changed quite dramatically.

I've added some markers to show you guys it is in fact the same zoa.


----------



## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

Very interesting topic Manhtu 
Thanks for starting the thread


----------

