diff --git a/invokeai/backend/model_manager/load/model_loaders/z_image.py b/invokeai/backend/model_manager/load/model_loaders/z_image.py
index 2668607a7d..c0ccc0c161 100644
--- a/invokeai/backend/model_manager/load/model_loaders/z_image.py
+++ b/invokeai/backend/model_manager/load/model_loaders/z_image.py
@@ -379,7 +379,8 @@ class Qwen3EncoderCheckpointLoader(ModelLoader):
     """Class to load single-file Qwen3 Encoder models for Z-Image (safetensors format)."""
 
     # Default HuggingFace model to load tokenizer from when using single-file Qwen3 encoder
-    DEFAULT_TOKENIZER_SOURCE = "Qwen/Qwen2.5-3B"
+    # Must be Qwen3 (not Qwen2.5) to match Z-Image's text encoder architecture and special tokens
+    DEFAULT_TOKENIZER_SOURCE = "Qwen/Qwen3-4B"
 
     def _load_model(
         self,
@@ -543,7 +544,8 @@ class Qwen3EncoderGGUFLoader(ModelLoader):
     """Class to load GGUF-quantized Qwen3 Encoder models for Z-Image."""
 
     # Default HuggingFace model to load tokenizer from when using GGUF Qwen3 encoder
-    DEFAULT_TOKENIZER_SOURCE = "Qwen/Qwen2.5-3B"
+    # Must be Qwen3 (not Qwen2.5) to match Z-Image's text encoder architecture and special tokens
+    DEFAULT_TOKENIZER_SOURCE = "Qwen/Qwen3-4B"
 
     def _load_model(
         self,
diff --git a/invokeai/frontend/web/src/features/settingsAccordions/components/GenerationSettingsAccordion/GenerationSettingsAccordion.tsx b/invokeai/frontend/web/src/features/settingsAccordions/components/GenerationSettingsAccordion/GenerationSettingsAccordion.tsx
index cf6fcf1c52..0b55f5db09 100644
--- a/invokeai/frontend/web/src/features/settingsAccordions/components/GenerationSettingsAccordion/GenerationSettingsAccordion.tsx
+++ b/invokeai/frontend/web/src/features/settingsAccordions/components/GenerationSettingsAccordion/GenerationSettingsAccordion.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { EMPTY_ARRAY } from 'app/store/constants';
 import { createMemoizedSelector } from 'app/store/createMemoizedSelector';
 import { useAppSelector } from 'app/store/storeHooks';
 import { selectLoRAsSlice } from 'features/controlLayers/store/lorasSlice';
-import { selectIsCogView4, selectIsFLUX, selectIsSD3 } from 'features/controlLayers/store/paramsSlice';
+import { selectIsCogView4, selectIsFLUX, selectIsSD3, selectIsZImage } from 'features/controlLayers/store/paramsSlice';
 import { LoRAList } from 'features/lora/components/LoRAList';
 import LoRASelect from 'features/lora/components/LoRASelect';
 import ParamCFGScale from 'features/parameters/components/Core/ParamCFGScale';
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export const GenerationSettingsAccordion = memo(() => {
   const isFLUX = useAppSelector(selectIsFLUX);
   const isSD3 = useAppSelector(selectIsSD3);
   const isCogView4 = useAppSelector(selectIsCogView4);
+  const isZImage = useAppSelector(selectIsZImage);
 
   const selectBadges = useMemo(
     () =>
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ export const GenerationSettingsAccordion = memo(() => {
         <Expander label={t('accordions.advanced.options')} isOpen={isOpenExpander} onToggle={onToggleExpander}>
           <Flex gap={4} flexDir="column" pb={4}>
             <FormControlGroup formLabelProps={formLabelProps}>
-              {!isFLUX && !isSD3 && !isCogView4 && <ParamScheduler />}
+              {!isFLUX && !isSD3 && !isCogView4 && !isZImage && <ParamScheduler />}
               <ParamSteps />
               {isFLUX && modelConfig && !isFluxFillMainModelModelConfig(modelConfig) && <ParamGuidance />}
               {!isFLUX && <ParamCFGScale />}