SquishyFishy Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 Thnx sorry to hear about your flowers Annette. I also had a bomb with the new skimmer I bought, total trash can. I tried every way in the world to mod it but to no avail. O well, one thing I am fast learning in this hobby is "Its expensive" and "just go with the best and save $ in the end". Should have bought a better skimmer that fits in my IM Nuvo, but listened to some guy who got it to work....well after much drimmeling, no help so in the trash and I just ordered another from Bulk Reef on their recommendation. Gotta get the skimming going cuz I know my phosphates are high what with all the stupid types of algae I'm starting to get. The red fudge on the glass aggravates me to no end! Still haven't put together my Kalk dripper, no time. Beginning to wonder if all the constant maintenance is worth it! Someday in the not too distant future, I'll just be too old to do this! I figure I'll stay in for a couple years or maybe 5 and then sell it all. Whew! My advice to any newbie, be sure you want to work yourself to death! But I do love my critters and corals, so fun to watch. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 Just discovered a hitch hiker that must've come in on my new polyp rock....a brittle star....so cute! but he stays in the rock mostly...gotta shine a flashlight to find him. Thinking of a linckia star anybody had any luck with them? Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Today I bought a red knobby sea star(very small) and a lettuce nudi. The star according to my lfs guy is supposed to be totally reef safe...well after only 3 hours in the tank he has totally pestered my RBTA into moving from his spot down the back of the rock (hidden)!!!! That RBTA did not move one fraction of an inch from the day I put him in until today....I am so excessively displeased Doesn't look like I can even get to him to target feed him. What to do???? Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 hm, I wish I could help, I know nothing about red knobbies or rbtas. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Woke up to some good news. RBTA is back up top in his spot...he must've really liked it there! Thought last night that he was splitting due to all the pestering from me and Knobby but looks like tank is back as before. Yay! I like the lettuce nudi...he's so cute. Hope between him and the star I can get some of this bryopsis or HGA or whatever it is off my rock. I can scrape it off the rock with a toothbrush fairly well (then I change out the floss) ...Can you identify Annette? It is sorta tufty....I think it's Bryopsis. Sorry can't get a clear pic of it...mostly in the back rock. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Looks like he is splitting right up the middle here...but you experts can chime in...: Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm having so much trouble with my nem! I was cleaning algae off the rock with a toothbrush couple days ago and the large rock fell and kinda squashed my nem!!! He didn't like it and anyways he immediately ran down the back side of the other rock he was on (amazing how fast they can move when they want to) so I couldn't stack the rock that fell, back, had to re-scape a little and now the nem is facing the back of the tank and is not in his normal "I'm a rock star" spotlight position! Grrrrr! He hasn't split so I was wrong about that. But what with all the fumbling around I've been doing, I don't know why he is not bugged enough to split. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Glad it made it. I've had rocks fall too and it made me feel sick to my stomach at times thinking I hurt something. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 Now I'm having trouble with the new red knobby star I just got, wasting an arm away...I tried to cut it off above the sloughing tissue but now another arm is going....I've only had him 7 days!!!! It always seems to be something! Is this the way it always is??!! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 I tend to go a while w/o anything too bad happening and then here goes a big tank w/ expensive anemones, and I've had most problems w/ the biggest tank so far, I thought you're supposed to have less probs in a bigger tank. That's good news that another arm is growing though. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 No Annette, I think the other arm is infected! Isn't your tank improving??? Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 He is still moving around well, seems to be fine except for the raggedy flesh hanging from the affected arm...the other arm has none of that, hopeful.......... Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 He is still moving around well, seems to be fine except for the raggedy flesh hanging from the affected arm...the other arm has none of that, hopeful.......... Squishy, get him out of your tank ASAP. Usually the decaying is caused by a severe bacterial infection - if you don't remove all the pieces of white flesh sloughing off him (and is now in your tank), it'll foul your water really, really badly. I lost my choco chip sea star Nim after having him for 1 year. He began degenerating and then there was nothing left. Cleaning out my sump tank and picking up all his dead pieces took me 3 hours, and he still caused a massive nitrate spike. Usually when they're degenerating, there's nothing much you can do. A friend suggested that it might have been a kH swing that causes degeneration but I'm not sure. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 Sniff sniff....o.k. will do! Sacrificed...the good of the many out weigh the needs of the few! You know he's doing o.k. right now....can I just give a couple more days and see if the arm gets longer???? Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Check your water for nitrates as you go and do some water changes if the nitrate starts going up. That's what I'd do. I'd like to think I at least tried. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Star is hangin on....whole leg is gone now, but nothing else appears to be sloughing...yet. Will let him stay for now...alas.... another problem arose. The lettuce nudi crawled over the divider of my rear chamber and when Todd tried to retrieve him, he slipped and fell.............into the pump chamber! The nudi not Todd LOL! He floated around for a few seconds while I whined and hyper ventilated and then disappeared...into the pump....few seconds later it spit him out into the tank in 2 pieces! So thinking he was a goner, I fished the pieces out and noticed the piece with the antennae was moving around!!!!!!!!! So I threw it back in...and would ya believe it, he is crawling all over the place! He is half the size missing all of his rear! I didn't know nudis could regenerate, but I'm leaving him until he stops crawling around just in case! Sure hope the crises are over for now!!!!! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Mine I guess didn't find anything to eat because they'd climb the walls of the fuge into the pump area- consistently may I add, so at that point I was like, it'll be whatever it is. I don't think they got what they were looking for because they must have just gotten smaller & smaller and melted away. Guess I didn't have any aptasia in the fuge, don't know why I didn't put them in the main display were I have a couple. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted August 15, 2014 Author Share Posted August 15, 2014 Here's the latest tank shot: And a pic of my new Mandy! Yes, after reading about Simones 8 Gal. Mandy experience, I decided to try. Really she's fattened up a bit since last week and I am feeding her Tigger pods because she doesn't seem to want mysis, Lobster eggs, pellets, pieces of krill etc. She may prove to be a hard one to train, but I am trying. Sweetest cutey pie ever! Gramma Houdini is hiding, jealous of someone prettier than he is! Everyone else is happy to have her. Annette, the nudi is still alive and growing, indeed regenerating his lettuce...can't believe it. Everything seems to be growing in quite well, the 5 headed Zoos are now a 30 head colony, the torch has expanded to 3 times the size he was and the mushroom expands to a huge size, he was dime sized at first. The only one that seems miffed is the Toadstool whom is being victimized by the emerald crab who likes to climb him and sit on top of him, I have to chase him away all the time. When that happens, the toadi will not open at all! Bully! My peppermint shrimp Patti is really no trouble to anyone and is kept in check by Jaque the cleaner, she doesn't dare come out from her cave or he snaps at her. Even my frogspawn has increased in size and grew another head. So things have settled down a bit now and the tank is coming into it's own after 8 months. It's getting easier now that I have added the Ghost skimmer and chaeto in the rear chamber to try and culture some pods, I was having to scrape red sludge off the glass every moring just about and now there is nothing, the HGA has all but disappeared since my lighting period has been adjusted. All is well! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 It's all growing so well. Love your purple torch over there. congrats on your mandy. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted August 16, 2014 Author Share Posted August 16, 2014 Thanks girl. Now I want to lush up the tank with some blue color....blue Tongas, turquoise candy canes and a maxi mini along with some more blue zoos. Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted September 4, 2014 Author Share Posted September 4, 2014 2 RIPs this week......sadly, Mandy did not make it. Will give up on dragonettes, you guys were right on...then Peppermint Patti the shrimp cannot be found in any shape or form. But the 4 armed red knobby is alive and well, finally healed and is now coming out more. Still no sign of a replacement arm yet though: Really glad now, that I gave him a chance instead of pitching him. Makes the loss of the Mandy less painful. Not going to replace either....decided I had the tank a little loaded anyways. Got some real problems with GHA right now. Trying to garden it off but that is a losing battle most likley. Cutting back on light, but then the Zoos are unhappy! Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 It's always something Why is that???? Now Dash has developed some kind of cyst or lump with a grainy core....what to do?????? Any suggestions as to what this is and do I get him out o'there right away??? You see it on the top of his head well, there is also one on the right corner of his eye and on the tip of his nose and a couple very small ones nearer his tail. I tried to catch him, if I have to QT him its gonna be one helluva show..... Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted September 6, 2014 Author Share Posted September 6, 2014 Well, it looks like Murphy's Law around here. I have been so scared of ich for such a long time and now its finally reared its ugly head. It is now confirmed Dash has it...just overnight it is exponentially exploded. And no matter how hard I try to catch him and send him to Davey Jones he will not be caught! He was so stressed from being in the back chamber not being able to move caught up in the netting back there, I should have known not to put him back into the DT for a while. I practically tore up the tank to get at him and though covered in ich and breathing really ragged, his pour little mouth open, and knocking all my corals around...its just no use.... This is so discouraging.....and I've scoured this forum and the gist of it is to give up on all my fish...my beautiful Gramma and my darling clowns. Even if I QT and treat it may not work from what I've read and I can't keep them in a tub for 3 months. This makes me want nothing but coral from now on. I guess I'll try the salinity thing first....any thoughts......please! Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted September 6, 2014 Author Share Posted September 6, 2014 I'll be trying Seachem Metronadizole for the cure, but I'll be needing to drink it myself before this is over...talk about stress! I read metronome's thread about that. No way to catch and treat or QT without breaking down the entire tank. So will be soaking all food in garlic and meds and see if the fish can heal themselves. If I lose them, I will not replace them. Just a coral reef for me from now on. Or bust. This is so discouraging it leads me to want to sell everything. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 No, don't sell everything. Just keep on. I'm sorry to hear your losses here and I know what you mean, so impossible to get the fish out, just keep trying w/ the medicine like you said. Link to comment
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