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Will fuzzy chitons eat derbesia?


mastahluong

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mastahluong

I've got a small issue with derbesia and was wondering if fuzzy chittons will eat it? I know it's not bryopsis because I tried the elevated magnesium for about a week at about 1800-1900. I've tried snails(so far only astrea's and cerith's) but to no avail and an emerald crab that used go at it till it found out my frags tasted better. My tuxedo urchin wont even touch it too. Any suggestions?

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johnmaloney

well, the thing about "Derbesia", and this is even a problem in my ID guide, is it is a generic term for many different species of turf algae, not all in the Derbesia genus. Got a pic? How wirey is it? The less wirey and the more soft/fine etc.. it is, the more likely a chiton will eat it. The more wirey, the more likely you will need something better suited for cutting like an emerald or an urchin sea hare etc....

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mastahluong
well, the thing about "Derbesia", and this is even a problem in my ID guide, is it is a generic term for many different species of turf algae, not all in the Derbesia genus. Got a pic? How wirey is it? The less wirey and the more soft/fine etc.. it is, the more likely a chiton will eat it. The more wirey, the more likely you will need something better suited for cutting like an emerald or an urchin sea hare etc....

 

 

It can get fairly long(that's what she said, sorry couldn't resist) and it is pretty soft. Manual removal has helped and it's not deeply rooted. Like the parts that I have manually removed have not grown back. Here's the best picture I have on short notice. post-49392-1268888291_thumb.jpg The picture is a few months old but will give you a good idea of how it looks. Thanks for your help!

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johnmaloney

I think they are good candidates. If your tank is glass, I would also try juvie pincushions and jewel urchins. I have come around to these guys lately. When they are penny size or so they are too small to cause any destruction, except to carry around a few dwarf ceriths and hermits, and they do a decent job cleaning. That is your surest bet. After they are done you can donate them to the LFS. The jewels will stay small, the variegated pincushions get too big, and there is another urchin I come across that is a pincushion, but stays really small. Had it for a year+ now and it is the size of a penny. Have 4 of them, never can get an ID though....not for lack of books or trying I can assure you.

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mastahluong

One last thing, I'm outside the overnight delivery area for USPS. Is there any other way you may be able to ship to me since fuzzy chitons require overnight shipment? Or even if I sent you a fedex shipping label so you could ship off to me at my expense?

 

My tank is a 29 biocube, do you think one or two of them? Maybe two would be pushing it? this is what I have so far:

 

5 scarlet hermits (small ones)

about 10 snails

blue tuxedo urchin

 

Thanks again!

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johnmaloney

oh yeah, i take labels. or you want to try UPS? I can go through ship your aquatics, a great sponsor here that makes the outer areas more accessible.

 

looks like plenty of food for 2, i ship the smaller ones, they do much better in transit and in collection. would feel terrible if they didnt eat it though. Want to ship me some of that and I can see what eats it? I have a tank for that now that is just sitting around.

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mastahluong
oh yeah, i take labels. or you want to try UPS? I can go through ship your aquatics, a great sponsor here that makes the outer areas more accessible.

 

looks like plenty of food for 2, i ship the smaller ones, they do much better in transit and in collection. would feel terrible if they didnt eat it though. Want to ship me some of that and I can see what eats it? I have a tank for that now that is just sitting around.

 

That sounds great, PM me what address you need it sent to and I'll send you out a bunch of whatever I pull off on Monday/Tuesday. Do you think I actually need to add a heatpack to it?

I work for Fedex so I can get some really good rates for shipping on my account and I'll probably overnight you this algae to you.

 

I'm off to bed now but I'll catch up with you tomorrow!

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mastahluong
have it go no signature, because i will be out and about. no heat pack, the weather is fine here and it should be on a truck.warehouse in between. Ship with no water, just the moisture on the plant when you remove it. thanks, i will let you know, send as much as you can to my warehouse here:

http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=c...ct&Itemid=3

 

Sounds good, I'll send this out to you on Monday so look for it on Tuesday

 

-Kevin

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LebaneseDlight

Get as many as you can get! I got a few chitons, and in my experience, they stayed in the same spot for AGES without moving at all. When they finally moved, the area was completely devoid of any algae, but their territory was rather small. Looks like you have a good amount of algae to cover.

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mastahluong
just make sure it goes no signature, because I wont be here on tuesday

 

Gotcha! or I can send it so you get it on Wednesday if that works any better, I guess it doesn't matter too much it's just algae...

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mastahluong

Sent package off VIA Fedex, you'll get it tomorrow before 10:30am. Thanks again for doing this for me!

 

-Kevin

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johnmaloney

just normal hair algae. chitons, hermits, turbos, urchins all ate it. Hermits did the best job, but since they have better vision than the snails and urchins it may have just been that they got to it first. Should have sent more it was gone quick.

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mastahluong

hm... Ok I guess I need to get some turbos and some more hermits. Is it odd that my scarlet hermits, snails and tuxedo urchin won't touch the stuff?

 

I'm Going to place an order with you soon so I will contact at that point and send you a shipping label. Thanks for your help.

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johnmaloney

are they finding other things to eat? are you sure they aren't eating it? It was a little banged up from the shipment, but I don't think that alone would change much...That stuff is nasty for sure, if you do manual removal be vigilant about scooping it up, it seems like the kind of stuff looking to clog a drain.

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