Quarantined | Eagle Eye Zoanthid

What “Quarantined” means

Every animal sold under this listing goes through YoCamron’s Aquatics full quarantine program — treated preventively for the common pathogens, observed daily, and confirmed eating — before it goes home with you.

Most livestock losses in this hobby aren’t bad luck. They’re pathogens that arrive with a new animal — ich, velvet, gill and body flukes, internal parasites — and stay invisible for the first 1–2 weeks while the animal is stressed from shipping. By the time you can see the problem, it’s in your display tank, and every animal you own is in the fight. Quarantine exists to run out that clock in our tanks instead of yours.

Our process

• Dedicated quarantine systems, separate from our display and sale tanks.
• Preventive treatment for the pathogens that actually kill new arrivals, instead of waiting for symptoms.
• Daily observation — breathing rate, body condition, behavior — so problems get caught while they’re still small.
• Feeding confirmation. Nothing goes home until it’s eating in front of us. An animal that eats is an animal that travels well.

Quarantined to order

Nothing we sell online is pre-quarantined and waiting on a shelf. Every quarantined animal is quarantined to order — your purchase starts the process, and the clock starts the day your animal reaches our facility.

For a saltwater invertebrate like this one, plan on up to 76 days before it goes home.

Add up to two more weeks in front of that. If we do not already have the animal in-house, sourcing it is the first step — and that time sits on top of the window above.

This is not a rush purchase, and it can’t be turned into one — the entire value of quarantine is time. If you need your livestock by a particular date, contact us before you order and we’ll schedule the arrival around it. If you need something this week, the non-quarantined listing is the honest choice. The full process — and how to decide which tier is yours — is explained in Quarantined vs Non-Quarantined.

The guarantees

• Shipped — Early AM Overnight only: 48-hour live arrival guarantee from confirmed delivery. Next Day Air (standard Overnight), 2-Day and USPS Priority carry no live arrival guarantee, on any tier.
• Local pickup or delivery: 28-day live guarantee — bring a water sample from your aquarium so we can test it before your livestock goes home with you.
• Maintenance clients: 60-day live guarantee on any livestock you buy from us, for as long as we service your aquarium on a plan of at least twice a month — weekly, every 10 days, or biweekly. Monthly plans carry 28 days. Nobody else in the trade puts that in writing.
• Sourcing: if the animal is not already in-house, add up to two more weeks in front of the window above — that applies on every tier.
• Claims: video of the sealed, unopened bag, opened on camera, with the animal on a white paper towel, inside the window.

Why quarantined is the right choice

If you have an established display tank, the math is simple: the premium on a quarantined animal is small next to the cost of treating — or losing — everything already in your tank. It also means you can skip running a hospital tank at home, which done properly is its own aquarium, its own months of patience, and its own chance to get something wrong.

The honest caveat: many of these species are also available from us non-quarantined for less. Those carry a 1-hour live arrival window on Early AM Overnight — or 24 hours on local pickup or delivery with a tested water sample — and no refunds, returns, or credits beyond that. There is also a middle rung: the Lightly Medicated listing gets one short prophylactic course and is covered for 24 hours on Early AM Overnight, or 7 days on local pickup or delivery with a tested water sample. Next Day Air (standard Overnight), 2-Day and USPS Priority carry no live arrival guarantee, on any tier. If you already run a proper quarantine setup at home, that’s a fair trade and you should take it. If you don’t, this listing is the right one. (You’ll sometimes see “quarantined” abbreviated as QT — same thing.)

Eagle Eye Zoanthids (Zoanthus sp.) are a distinct color morph named for the ringed, eye-like pattern in each polyp’s oral disc — a green outer ring with a contrasting gold or yellow center that produces an unmistakably ocular effect, particularly visible under blue-heavy lighting when the green fluoresces. Like all zoanthid colonies, what looks like individual flowers is actually a field of genetically identical clonal polyps connected by a shared tissue mat, budding off new heads as the colony spreads across rock.

Care-wise, zoanthids are about as forgiving as reef corals get — they tolerate a genuine range of lighting from low PAR shaded spots to moderate-high output, handle variable flow, and tend to outcompete nuisance algae for real estate once established. That tolerance makes them an excellent starting coral for someone entering the reef hobby, and an excellent space-filler for established systems building out rock coverage.

One caution that applies to the entire Zoanthus and Palythoa family: some individuals and species produce palytoxin — one of the more potent marine toxins known. The risk during normal care is low but real. Handle frags with gloves, keep hands away from eyes and mouth during maintenance, and don’t squirt zoanthids with a baster or jet of water that could aerosolize tank water near your face.

Scientific name: Zoanthus sp. (Eagle Eye morph)
Origin: Indo-Pacific and Caribbean — shallow reef crests, rubble zones, and rock surfaces across tropical seas
Water parameters: Temp 74–82°F · Salinity 1.023–1.026 · pH 8.1–8.4 · Alkalinity 8–11 dKH
Lighting: Highly adaptable — 50–250 µmol PAR; color shows best at moderate intensity under blue-heavy spectrum
Flow: Low to moderate
Diet: Photosynthetic; benefits from fine particulate feeding (Reef Roids, phytoplankton)
Husbandry note: Zoanthids that stay closed during the day aren’t necessarily unhappy — they close in response to water flow changes, handling, and chemistry shifts. Give them 24–48 hours to acclimate after placement before interpreting extended closure as a problem.