Some questions about Zoe?

I think I've had zoe two times and each time it dies. A small amount in my bio cube 8 I barely remember a year ago and a huge patch in my 45 gallon and i've lost a lot of corals from some diseases a brain brought in, not only did it bring in what killed it but it put out itslimming that does it's damage and stung one coral that didn't seem to be affected by the diseases but died from the sting. But I feel like the Zoe didn't die from the things going through my tank so I have to ask, are zoes difficult to keep? Lighting? Water chemistry?
Thanks

 

Are you talking about the coral zoas?

 

Well I feel stupid now. Yeah I was talking about zoas, sorry.

 

Dont feel stupid. Happens to me all the time.

All corals need pretty good lighting to be honest, and good stable water chemistry to survive.

What type of lighting and filtration were you running on the cube?

 

Zoanthids can be like Xenia. They love and grow crazy in one tank and die a horrible death in another.

There are a couple pest and diseases to watch for though. If possible always dip the Zoanthids prior to placing them in the display.

Watch for:
Pox: diesease
Nudibranchs: Will resemble the Zoanthid type they are eating.
Asternia Starfish: Some types will hid under or around the frag and feed at night on the polyps.
Sundial Snail: Easy to spot.
Sea Spiders: Rare, but you do see them occasionally.

With all that said, most healthy frags will do fine in the average hobbyist aquarium given the correct lighting and water parameters. Zoanthids are pretty hardy in general. Newly fragged Zoanthids can melt during acclimation, so look for ones that have not been recently fragged. And again dip then prior to placement in the display tank.

 

I've had some zoas that no matter what I did, they continued to die. Right next to them a different kind would be growing like weeds.

I'm finding out that they can be picky as far as lighting and flow goes. Some like high light, some like lower lighting. It is hard to tell from looking at them which likes which. For example, one variety I have 2 colonies on opposite sides of the tank - one has high lighting and lower flow, the other has higher flow and lower lighting...and the higher lighting ones are gone now, but the low light colony is looking great! Yet right next to where the higher light colony was that died out, I have a huge colony of watermelon zoas spreading like crazy!

Move them around a bit, a week at a time to see if that will help. If they look like they're thriving in a spot leave them and see how they do.