my zoas are changing colors?

When I saw them at the lfs they were light green under the leds they had. I put them under my pcs saturday and they opened up within two hours. Most pollyps that is. Yesterday I looked at them and they didn't look quite as green. Now they are starting to become a slightly purple inner ring and the green looks slightly darker. Were the corals bleached out from being in the really high light? I'll try to get a pic of them but I'm currently between tank transfers so it may be a while. It seems like it has either more or larger heads than it did at the lfs. Their tank looked smaller as well. I hope its ok.

 

They wont change colors..Different lighting plays a HUGE factore in colors in corals..LED's will bring out almost every detail of color in a coral. PC's, on the other hand is a fairly low powerfull lighting source and does not do a fantastic job of bringing out osme of those nice colors in those Zoas.

 

Colors of corals can and will change based on the environment they are in. They will pick up free floating zooxanthellae and incorporate them into themselves. Lighting has been known to morph zoas and fairly quickly.

 

Then why do I see purple under the pcs and not under the leds?

 

Zoas can, and will in fact, morph in color if they need to adapt to conditions. I'd say you're witnessing it. It's anyone's guess what they'll turn into.

 

So there is a possibility they could change to a different color when I use stronger lighting? I kind of like how they look now. The resembled nuclear greens when I got them.

 

Yes there is. They may go back to the way you saw them at the LFS or change to another color. The ones facing the light directly may br colored differently than the ones facing to the side. The new polyps may end up being different than the others also.

 

IMO, i have found that zoas will take on some of the colors from nearby colonies. Also at the LFS (atleast at mine) they put alot of corals together and i think this causes some stress, whenever i bring a coral home it always picks up some nicer colors, stronger or weaker lights.