Shadow's 16G Disaster. Fumigation Poisoned the Tank and Crashed It.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Not the Green Palys !!!!!

 

 

I'd suspect the biggest hermit. I don't know if that guy is reef safe. ALSO, the bigger they are, the more they hunger, so maybe it was just hungry

 

 

crap!

 

Found the culprit - it was the largest hermit as expected. I fuged him for extra measure and my mum tells me to keep him in there, but I might as well turn him in for some store credit. I now only have 3 Implosion Green Polyps remaining on the frag.

 

In the meantime, I'm thinking of adding more inverts to the tank:

 

1 Pom Pom crab

1 Cleaner Shrimp

1 Blood Fire Shrimp

1 Green Brittle Star/Any colored Brittle Star

1 Tuxedo Urchin

2 - 3 White Spotted Nem Shrimps

 

Do these additions sound okay? Also, my mum surprisingly insisted I get a flowerpot coral (goni) for my Percula, Hera, to host. She's currently hosting my Fiery Grapes and even bit one of my hermits legs when he walked over the colony two days ago. I know there's no guarantee she'll host anything, but since I obviously can't put a nem in such a small tank, I might as well try a small Goni instead.

 

Also, are there any softies you guys can recommend? I'm thinking of Xenia, but I heard it can be invasive. Clove Polyps okay?

[FlowerMama]

Do you have enough food for all those inverts? that would be my biggest worry. As far as the rest I failed at a goniopora, didn't work out for me no matter where I tried it in my Evolve8 and that's the tank that's been known to bring things back to health as it's been here the longest.

[Tamberav]

Cleaner and fire shrimp sometimes fight... they will also terrorize peppermints. I had a fire and cleaner together but it was in a 40 gallon. I am not sure how they will treat the spotteds but they did leave my sexy's alone but again... 40 gallons. Everyone had territory,

 

Basically shrimp don't care for other shrimp but they aren't as murderous as angry fish. I would say just try to get a fire/cleaner roughly the same size. My cleaner would not leave my pepps alone, probably because they were smaller.

 

If they are hungry they become opportunistic and may try and prey on other small shrimp.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Do you have enough food for all those inverts? that would be my biggest worry. As far as the rest I failed at a goniopora, didn't work out for me no matter where I tried it in my Evolve8 and that's the tank that's been known to bring things back to health as it's been here the longest.

 

Yep, I have plenty of prepared food for them. I'm also slightly worried about Gonis as well, but based on my past experience, I generally suck at keeping Euphyllias happy and alive for extended periods of time.

 

Cleaner and fire shrimp sometimes fight... they will also terrorize peppermints. I had a fire and cleaner together but it was in a 40 gallon. I am not sure how they will treat the spotteds but they did leave my sexy's alone but again... 40 gallons. Everyone had territory,

 

Basically shrimp don't care for other shrimp but they aren't as murderous as angry fish. I would say just try to get a fire/cleaner roughly the same size. My cleaner would not leave my pepps alone, probably because they were smaller.

 

If they are hungry they become opportunistic and may try and prey on other small shrimp.

 

I agree. But if it's down to one big shrimp, I'll pick the Fire. Last time I kept a nano, I did have all three species successfully together for a few months before upgrading to my 30G. But everyone had their own hideout and also were target fed, so no one ventured too far away from their perch. It's a definitely a risk, attempting something like this in such a small system. Hmm...I'll definitely give it more thought.

[Snow_Phoenix]

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/352534-sick-percula/#entry4857462

[Dr.Brain Coral]

Where you at Shadow!! Updates plz

[Snow_Phoenix]

On 10/24/2014 at 12:29 PM, Dr.Brain Coral said:

Where you at Shadow!! Updates plz

 

Hi Dr. Brain, I was just about to give an update. I had a rough week - being shuffled back and forth to hospital as usual and my health is declining a bit. Since I couldn't keep track of my Mandarin's feedings, I was forced to trade her-turned-him in at the store, along with my biggest hermit. On top of all that, Hera my true perc passed away due to a fungal infection which I couldn't cure. And my blenny got Ich of all a sudden, so I'm QTing him in a 4G and letting the display go fallow until Christmas. It's been a horrible week, in short.

 

My only consolation is that my inverts and corals are doing fine. I removed the in-tank fuge since I traded the Mandy in, but I stuffed the ball of Chaeto behind the LR. I did however, put an order in for a Hairy Mushroom colony, GSP colony and bright pink zoanthid colony at my LFS. Will pick them up during Christmas only however.

 

Also, I've had a Coral Beauty in my tank for two weeks now but I kept it quiet because I know some people on NR wouldn't like having seeing an angel in a nano. Beauty is around 2" long and very healthy, but she's in QT with my blenny, Scooter, since I suspect she might be infected with Ich as well (although she hasn't shown any signs of it yet). My mum nearly bought a pair of black ice snowflakes last week, but thank goodness I steered her off it. Otherwise we'd have lost them and RM 600 as well. Overall, not a pleasant update - sorry.

 

But, I did get a Hawaiian shrimp and a Cleaner Shrimp as well as a Turban snail. They're doing well at least.

 

Here are some pics before everything went downhill though:

 

 

 

Beauty the Coral Beauty.

 

 

 

Cleaner Shrimp cleaning Scooter the blenny.

 

 

 

Hawaiian Shrimp.

 

 

 

Moonlight FTS on Monday.

 

[Dr.Brain Coral]

I hope your health improves Shadow. I truly do.

 

The tank looks great as always. Thats a really beautiful Angel =)

[Snow_Phoenix]

I hope your health improves Shadow. I truly do.

 

The tank looks great as always. Thats a really beautiful Angel =)

 

Thank you. Even though two specialists told me the damage is permanent, I'm still hoping that science and medicine is wrong for once and I'll make a full recovery.

 

Thanks as well - I'll snap a better pic when my mum returns from my grandmother's. She has the best camera phone device compared to the rest of us. But there's nothing much to show anyways for the time being - unless you like looking at pictures of a cleaner shrimp wandering around the whole day. Oh, and the angel is great. Doesn't nip at corals, eats pellets and loves human company. She's one fish that my parents told me not to get rid off under super-strict terms. Heh.

[FlowerMama]

Take care of your health first and good call on returning the mandy. I know I'll never keep one because w/ 4 tanks already I have so much too do and the feeding requirements I don't want to have to keep up with.

[Snow_Phoenix]

On 10/27/2014 at 11:04 AM, 1stimereefer said:

Take care of your health first and good call on returning the mandy. I know I'll never keep one because w/ 4 tanks already I have so much too do and the feeding requirements I don't want to have to keep up with.

 

Beauty passed away in QT last night while I was stuck at the hospital the whole day. I'm not quite sure why, since my blenny is still looking upbeat as ever. Everything else is alright though, and I did manage to perform an unassisted routine WC on my display today morning. Everything in that tank looks great despite the mini outbreak of diatoms on the glass (haven't scrubbed the glass in 2 weeks until today) and the leather is showing the most growth.

 

Also, I forgot to tell - I swung by LFS A that housed all my corals (until their display crashed) - and we managed to find my surviving hitchiker nem nestled neatly between some Spartan Pride Zoas that recently arrived. Turns out my nem was most likely hiding in the base of the tank under the eggcrate for a month or so, and once the conditions were alright and new corals arrived, she slipped back out to chill under the lights. Here's a pic of her - she's really tiny, but I'd love to get an ID:

 

 

 

She has a pink center, green tentacles, pink foot with horizontal green stripes and is as tiny as a regular zoa polyp. Next image will show you exactly how small she is in comparison to a regular sized mushroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I've placed an order for a brittle star, white spotted nem shrimps, a tuxedo sea urchin, several nassarius snails and a Pictus blenny at my LFS. Not sure if they'll follow through with my order, but we'll see. Either way, Scooter will outgrow the tank in a few months time. I'm thinking of doing a pair of clowns and two small nano-sized fish (we're talking about something with minimal bioload and under 2" such as a YCG, Pictus, Yasha, Neon, Court Jester, Randall's shrimp etc.). I'll wrap my powerhead with a pantyhose - don't want anymore accidents occuring in there.

 

Also, I've put down a deposit for a hairy mushroom colony, a neon green GSP colony and some unknown large polyped pink zoas. I'm thinking of picking up a green pipe organ as well - all in lieu of Christmas in two months time.

[FlowerMama]

Really looks like a rock flower to me Shadow.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Really looks like a rock flower to me Shadow.

 

Thank you! In that case, I'm very lucky to have her. Rock flower nems are priced up to RM 250 (U$D 70 to 100) per nem here (lowest grade) and can escalate up to U$D 300 for the red ones. Pretty, but expensive. I'm so happy to have one as a hitchiker. Might have lost my previous batch of corals at the LFS, but at least I could salvage this little fella.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hey everyone, can't believe it's been slightly more than a year since this thread was up. How quickly does time fly indeed!

 

So, I was in and out of hospital and out of state for a while, came back home after several days to a semi-crashed tank and nearly lost everything. I lost my oldest (2-year-old) blue-legged hermit, 20+ Nass snails, 1 cleaner shrimp and a few mushrooms. The tank is now undergoing a mini cycle and bacterial bloom, there's this odd whitish fungus cropping up on the glass and the shrooms are mostly done for. However, the other corals are recovering and the remaining hermit crabs, anemone crab, Hawaiian shrimp and all other corals are doing well. I decided to test my water today at my LFS as a double confirmation, and the cycle has passed but the bloom is still dying down. I did however, take a risk and get a small baby blood shrimp. There's nothing to do except wait it out - I'm just super glad my blenny wasn't in the display when the tank took a hit. As for how or why it crashed when it virtually had nothing but inverts in it, I have no idea. Truly, I don't. I was only away for 3 days. Even my Tubifex culture for my freshwater fish stock crashed, and I had to dip that tank in vinegar to get rid of the smell of rot and decay. Not fun.

 

But the main point of this update is that I wanted to ask for some humble advice and opinions. I've decided to either upgrade to a custom-built 3' x 2' x 2' regular tank with a 2' x 2' x 2' sump, or a 3' x 2' x 2' with a 2' x 2' x 2' drop-off and a slightly less than 2' x 2' x 2' sump. Which tank do you think I should go for and why?

 

I admit I was personally inspired by drop-off tank of a fellow NR member on here. And I love the idea of a unique, one-of-a-kind build - something that local reefers in my area might not care for. Plus the extra vertical space means I could build a bridge with multiple holding plateaus, which I can stock with a variety of corals. The drop-off would be around 150G in total volume (excluding the sump) whilst the regular 3' long will be 90G in total volume (excluding sump). It'll probably be a slow project, amassing funds, stockpiling equipment piece by piece, but I think it'd be worth it. And who knows - maybe a year after the tank is finally up, I'd finally quit being such a chicken and try my hand at keeping a small SPS frag or two.

 

This will of course, be the final upgrade. I can't afford to go any bigger than that.

 

Thoughts? Opinions?

[Tamberav]

I would do the drop off. It seems unique and probably something you can live happily with as a final upgrade. Plus you love fish so more water volume can't hurt.

 

Keep in mind other costs though, when you start getting that large, skimmers and lighting will really dent the pocket.

 

 

Also if lighting becomes an issue on the drop off part (since it is so deep), think about NPS corals, nem's, and sponges to fill the void. If you feed them every day, they grow EXTREMELY fast, so you could just grab some small frags.

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I would do the drop off. It seems unique and probably something you can live happily with as a final upgrade. Plus you love fish so more water volume can't hurt.

 

Keep in mind other costs though, when you start getting that large, skimmers and lighting will really dent the pocket.

 

 

Also if lighting becomes an issue on the drop off part (since it is so deep), think about NPS corals, nem's, and sponges to fill the void. If you feed them every day, they grow EXTREMELY fast, so you could just grab some small frags.

 

 

Wow! And definitely, I'll take that into consideration. I considered doing a Maxspect Razor 160W as lighting, with two extra 30W PAR38 bulbs on the drop-off to supplement extra lighting. But I guess I could leave the bottom of the drop-off immersed in shadows, which would look mysterious and brilliant. NPS definitely sounds good down there. I still haven't given up on keeping dragonet pairs though, but I'll need a mega size skimmer. Which one would you recommend Tam? Will a BM Curve 5 or Curve 7 be able to cut it?

 

I'll probably keep between 15 to 20 fish in there, but nothing overly big.

[Tamberav]

I would do the curve 7 if you are picking between those. I have a curve 5 and I like it but I use it for 40 gallons. I try to go 1-2x larger than the volume I am using (including the sump but rock helps take some of the volume away).

[Snow_Phoenix]

I would do the curve 7 if you are picking between those. I have a curve 5 and I like it but I use it for 40 gallons. I try to go 1-2x larger than the volume I am using (including the sump but rock helps take some of the volume away).

 

Noted with extreme gratitude.

[FlowerMama]

I know nothing about those tanks but sounds like a fun idea.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Have some terrible news. Yesterday, we had a part-time cleaner come in to clean up the house. Should have been more vigilant to what she was spraying/wiping around the house, but I woke up to my 5G freshwater Pico full of dead fish (6 bumblee gobies and 2 dwarf gouramis) and a half-dead 8G marine tank (10+ dead Nass snails, 5 additional dead mushrooms, 2 melted (ing) shrooms, 1 dead blood shrimp, some dead bristleworms, a lot of pissed off corals etc.). Rushed all the remaining live corals to the nearest LFS, set up a back-up 2G Pico and stuffed the survivors in it (1 anemone crab, 2 hermits, 1 Hawaiian shrimp, 2 feather duster worms, 7 Nass snails) and scrubbed down the tank, washed the Live Sand and Live Rock and am now re-cycling the whole thing from scratch. Suspected contaminant was an aerosol spray (fabric cleaner) or soap water (since the cleaner was cleaning the stand-fan right next to the tank and anything could have sloshed in). Am very disheartened. I just spent RM50 on the shrimp, and he was a cutie. My mum hollered the house down. Not having a pleasant day, and I honestly don't know what to do at this point.

[Angel<3Nanos]

Oh no

[Chew_Magna]

Exactly why I pitch such a fit to my girlfriend when she goes crazy spraying her perfumes and air fresheners all the time

[Tamberav]

Do you run carbon in the tank? That wouldn't help with soap but probably help with spray stuff in case anything like that happens again.

 

Sorry to hear That sucks.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Oh no

 

 

Exactly why I pitch such a fit to my girlfriend when she goes crazy spraying her perfumes and air fresheners all the time

 

 

Do you run carbon in the tank? That wouldn't help with soap but probably help with spray stuff in case anything like that happens again.

 

Sorry to hear That sucks.

 

I'm running as much carbon as I can atm for a tank that size. My rock flower nem is stubbornly attached to the LR and won't budge even though I've tried everything to get him outta there to spare him from going through the cycling process. He's determined to ride it out like a lone ranger, the little jerk. Also, the 2G is too crammed for my livestock. The hermits keep picking a fight with everyone else in the tank, so I'm thinking of picking up a cheap 5G plastic holding tank to hold everyone in, and also put some flowerpots so the smaller inverts can hide. I don't know what else to do. My shrooms were the worst - they were literally gaping with their guts hanging out and huge holes on their surface (a pre-meltdown feature, I'm sure). My leather was pissed, but at least it hasn't melted. My zoas so far looked okay, but didn't open either. The only comfort I have is that my blenny is safe in his own QT and still under copper treatment from Ich. Thank heavens he wasn't in the display.

 

Can't believe my dwarf gourami tank was gone though. I loved my bumblebee gobies.

[metrokat]