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Vicki's Biocube 14


phoenix91

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Tank has flatworms, :rant: I'll be siphoning some out later today.

 

Oh a happier note, Darcy and Lizzy appear to be well on their way to pairing up :wub: The perc, Darcy, was doing the jittery dance this morning everytime Lizzy looked at him. So, i'll have a picasso girl and a perc boy. I think what set it off was they had a bit of a fight last night with lots of swimming and nipping then this morning he's trying very hard to be extra nice and submissive.

 

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How long did you wait before trying to add another clown to your tank? How big is bozette?

I waited a good 3 weeks, I think. Too much time -- Bozette was all settled down. She's not that big -- maybe 1.25-1.50"? Hard to tell 'cuz when I get close to the tank, she swims around like crazy hoping for food :D.

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Tank has flatworms, :rant: I'll be siphoning some out later today.

 

Too bad you can't add a 6-line. Any crabs or shrimp out there that eat them?

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Too bad you can't add a 6-line. Any crabs or shrimp out there that eat them?

 

 

I'm not too sure really, someone said some kind of crab eats them but it's pretty hit and miss. I've been siphoning them out with an airline tube, i've gotten quite a few of them but the little gits just keep coming. If i can get enough of them out i can try flatworm x (or whatever it's called) to nuke the rest of them. If not them i'll just have to manage the population. I did see one of my palys eat one today which was amusing.

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I think flatworms are a normal part of the broader biological cycle of tanks. My biocube had them. I worried but did nothing and they went away. My qt tank had a ton and then they went away. I would not do anything drastic to treat them. If they bother you use your mag cleaner to scrape them off the glass...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Still battling the flatworms and i've found some bubble algae in a few spots, going to pry the rocks out and scrape it off next WC.

 

Xenia is taking off like a weed and is growing some interesting macroalgae. (please try to look past the putty holding most of the frags down, the glue ran out when i was setting everything in. Hoping the corals are going to grow over it)

 

post-69752-1328463807_thumb.jpg

 

Start of a zoa garden

 

post-69752-1328463878_thumb.jpg

 

Frogspawn in the background still thinks its a torch. Plus the picasso has tried to host it and now has black dots from where she was stung. It's growing 2 new heads though so it cant be too unhappy.

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Poor little clownfish! My clown has never tried to host anything, but maybe that's because there's only one! All my xenia and cloves died. The LFS suggested the tank was "too clean" -- but everything else looks so happy that I am reluctant to change it. They also said that xenia/cloves just thrive in some systems and not in others, and no one is exactly sure why. Oh well! I put a tubipora in its spot:-).

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Yeah, i feel bad for her that frogspawn is the devil.

 

My xenia has exploded along with everything else, new heads all over and pests galore. Yeah, i wouldn't change a thing if everything else looks good.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bubble algae, flat worms, ich, zoa pox, majanos... yup, that's what i've been dealing with.

 

I took out all the frags that had bubble algae on and pulled it off. Now i can see maybe 2 more bubbles i missed, luckily on pieces i can lift out of the tank easily.

 

Been siphoning out the flatworms and they're like a plague, they just keep coming back :( Now looking into other methods for controlling them, might try out that arrow crab if i can find one.

 

Occy clown looked like it had a touch of ich over the past week; it seems to have cleared up for now but i'll keep an eye on it. On a positive note the clowns are getting along great, they've taken to swimming right at the front of the tank and are exploring more of the rock area. They also love to eat!

 

Looks like one of my zoa frags has the pox. It's now floating in a bag in the tank until i can get something to treat it with. Very annoyed about that!!

 

I glued 2 majanos in their hole and thought for a second i'd won some kind of majano war. Wrong! I saw them both out and wandering about an hour later, it was better when i knew where they were.

 

And here i thought having a nano reef would be easy.

 

Finally got to glue the recovered devils hand leather in it's spot and it looks great.

 

When i got it it looked like this:

 

droopy and sad. post-69752-1329349180_thumb.jpg

 

Then it looked like this:

 

a bit melty and disgusting. post-69752-1329349232_thumb.jpg

 

After sitting in the sand bed recovering it finally looks like this:

 

post-69752-1329349303_thumb.jpg

 

 

FTS to show it's new location (bit blurry sorry)

 

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geesh! I wish I could wave the magic wizard wand :wizard: and make the troubles go away. The leather looks great, though! I was just checking those out earlier today. The lfs had no small ones, and I don't know that I've got room for one. Good luck with the tank woes!

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Thanks. Me too. (cute wizard btw)

 

I'm looking into something to eat the flatworms. The zoas will have to wait until tomorrow and if they don't survive i'll try something else, the frag was very cheap so it's not a lot of $$ gone. The bubble algae is oddly fun to pluck off so i guess it's not all bad. And if the majanos stay put they can stay, i quite like them but didn't want a majano army to deal with.

 

I'm loving the devils hand but it's gotten a lot bigger than when i first got it. I was going to put it on the top ledge but it doesn't like the light up there. It'll probably get too big for the tank so i can use it (and the rapidly expanding frogspawn) as an excuse to get a bigger tank.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lizzy & Darcy are still growing and getting more and more feisty every day. The Occy seems to be getting bigger faster and is definitely more aggressive, poor little picasso is taking some punishment, they had a right old domestic last night.

 

post-69752-1330385780_thumb.jpg

 

He's choosing to sulk in the front of the tank and hide behind the leather to escape torment.

 

post-69752-1330385891_thumb.jpg

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Looking nice. Good luck with the flatworms. Thankfully I haven't had that particular pest, yet. For the majano's try aptasia-x or, for free, get a syringe and fill it with boiling water. Squirt and watch them melt away. Kind of fun if they're easy to reach. After hitting the last two with aptasia-x about 6 months ago I haven't seen a single one.

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I just love this photo, the devils hand is proving to be a very nice addition to my tank

 

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Great picture! I want a piece of devil's hand or bird nest -- something "cactus-y" looking for a back corner.

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Redstang, Thanks! i'm still siphoning out the flatworms but i honesty think they've made a flatworm factory somewhere in the rocks, they just keep coming :*( I hit the majanos with aiptaisa x a while back and other than making the pissed off and split it didn't do much, i'll try the boiling water and see if that works.

 

msscha, Thanks. I was waiting to take a photo of the picasso when he appeared behind the devils hand but missed him and snapped that instead. You should consider a devils hand, once they stop being all pissy they're great. This ones growing really fast. I think the picasso might be going to try and host it too which could either be great or really bad for the poor leather.

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Redstang, Thanks! i'm still siphoning out the flatworms but i honesty think they've made a flatworm factory somewhere in the rocks, they just keep coming :*( I hit the majanos with aiptaisa x a while back and other than making the pissed off and split it didn't do much, i'll try the boiling water and see if that works.

 

msscha, Thanks. I was waiting to take a photo of the picasso when he appeared behind the devils hand but missed him and snapped that instead. You should consider a devils hand, once they stop being all pissy they're great. This ones growing really fast. I think the picasso might be going to try and host it too which could either be great or really bad for the poor leather.

Have you tried treating the tank? Flatworm Exit is supposed to be safe for the whole tank. Might be an idea!?

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I did think about it earlier but if all the flatworms in the tank died at the same time it might crash the tank. I was planning on siphoning a bunch out and then maybe trying to treat it and i'm keeping that as option B for now.

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I did think about it earlier but if all the flatworms in the tank died at the same time it might crash the tank. I was planning on siphoning a bunch out and then maybe trying to treat it and i'm keeping that as option B for now.

 

Wouldn't think that it would crash the tank. But if you're worried line up enough buckets for a water change each day for 3 or 4 days. A well established biological filter should be able to handle a bunch of worms dying.

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So i wasn't going to mention this until i had seen how it played out but last weekend i was in the lfs getting a replacement bulb for the tank and the guy asked me how my tank was doing. I told him the fish were fine but the tank had a large flatworm problem. He suggested a six line wrasse then asked how big the tank was and what fish i already had and all of that. Then he took me over to the bargin bin coral tank and pointed out a tiny electric blue damsel fish. He said "that guy will eat your flatworms".

 

I told the guy that if it was aggressive with Darcy and Lizzy or didn't actually eat any flatworms it would be going straight back to the store. He said that was fine.

 

It's been almost a week and no aggression at all so far, plus i looked this morning and it might just be wishful thinking but i think this tiny fish is actually doing him job. The flatworm population does seem less than before; i haven't really been feeding the fish very much, the pellets i have for the clowns are too big for his mouth so i've been crushing up a few once a day and sprinkling them in. He's been cruising around the rocks and i've seen him picking things (hopefully flatworms) off the rocks. He's picked a little cave right at the bottom of the LR structure to sleep in and seems quite happy to follow the biggest clown around like a puppy.

 

I'm keeping a close eye on everyone in the tank and the first sign of any aggression and he's gone. I really wasn't planning on adding anymore fish and this might already be too much for the BC but i'm good about water changes and he seems like a fun addition, at least he adds some colour.

 

post-69752-1330695731_thumb.jpg

 

He might turn out to be pure evil but if he does his flatworm eating job he can stay.

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So i wasn't going to mention this until i had seen how it played out but last weekend i was in the lfs getting a replacement bulb for the tank and the guy asked me how my tank was doing. I told him the fish were fine but the tank had a large flatworm problem. He suggested a six line wrasse then asked how big the tank was and what fish i already had and all of that. Then he took me over to the bargin bin coral tank and pointed out a tiny electric blue damsel fish. He said "that guy will eat your flatworms".

 

I told the guy that if it was aggressive with Darcy and Lizzy or didn't actually eat any flatworms it would be going straight back to the store. He said that was fine.

 

It's been almost a week and no aggression at all so far, plus i looked this morning and it might just be wishful thinking but i think this tiny fish is actually doing him job. The flatworm population does seem less than before; i haven't really been feeding the fish very much, the pellets i have for the clowns are too big for his mouth so i've been crushing up a few once a day and sprinkling them in. He's been cruising around the rocks and i've seen him picking things (hopefully flatworms) off the rocks. He's picked a little cave right at the bottom of the LR structure to sleep in and seems quite happy to follow the biggest clown around like a puppy.

 

I'm keeping a close eye on everyone in the tank and the first sign of any aggression and he's gone. I really wasn't planning on adding anymore fish and this might already be too much for the BC but i'm good about water changes and he seems like a fun addition, at least he adds some colour.

 

post-69752-1330695731_thumb.jpg

 

He might turn out to be pure evil but if he does his flatworm eating job he can stay.

 

Worth it IMO if he's doing a job. Worst case he eats the flatworms and then you give him away.

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That's what i thought, the rocks are looking pretty cleaned of worms but the sand bed still has some. Worst case is he eats the worms and then i get store credit for him. I was thinking of taking my kenya tree to trade in since it's getting really big so i might wait to take it until i have to take him back (if i have to).

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I just read through your thread and I love the rockwork and the leather coral - really beautiful and a great focal point for the tank. I am sorry to hear about all of your pest problems. Bubble algae is the devil's spawn :scarry:

 

I never saw any in my pico until one day I took it upon myself to clean off a rock with a toothbrush and I must have unknowingly popped one of those suckers because the next thing I knew - I had it EVERYWHERE.

 

It sounds like the damsel is turning out to be a great addition, and a good natural cure for the flatworms. Good luck.:)

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very cool- damsel looks good, that electric blue rocks. I am writing this on the wii and it's kind of a pita:-]! Later Gator

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