perfect multi server ubuntu DNS Slave not responding

im green with linux, so please forgive my ignorance.

i built up my servers following the multiserver guide. ubuntu 20.04 mutiserver dns and panel

i have 3 servers, panel, ns1 and ns2. i update the panel to have records for NS1. i set up the secondary zone following the instructions at the end of NS2 setup, and configured for DNSSEC.
my NS1 responds just fine, using MXtoolbox, trying to hit all my NS servers, it fails on NS2 saying it could not be found.
i did Dig @localhost domain.com on the servers, and it came up the correct records, so i assume records are replicating.
NS1 and NS2 are listed on both the old and new servers, both as an A record and NS record.

i have an old server lets call it NS1old, that is also responding just fine.

all 3 servers are nat'ed through our firewall. firewall settings for each host are set. i verified the nat IPs listing the public ones on the record and internal records in the servers hosts file.

i dont have any .err files, i did at one point, finished setting my records up and it went away... i didnt see much in the logs other than domain requests...

where should i look for more answers?

thanks for any help anyone can provide!