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Sleeping with the Fishes [a pe(s)t project]


holy carp

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, surprisingly, in every dance, the Yuma comes out on top and the Catalaphyllia retreats.

2ykhla8.jpg

 

 

Other news:

I tried that BA salt again for a couple weeks. My results weren't as bad this time, but my birdsnest started to have problems. First the polyps retracted.

ve3u46.jpg

 

Then after another week or so, the flesh started to form blisters:

6i60pc.jpg

 

Another week later, the blisters started to rupture. At this point I had switched back to Tropic Marin, but the damage was done. After another week, it's stable but not improving yet. We'll see if it recovers.

20zql4j.jpg

 

(you may need to zoom in to see the blisters and coral skin better)

 

Tank parameters remained pretty consistent throughout, with the exception that Mg dropped a little more between water changes than it typically had before, so it got it got down to 1200 at one point.

 

 

Otherwise, the tank seems to be doing pretty well. I got a new circulation pump - Reef Octopus VarioS 2 - and installed it yesterday. Running at 35% gave me about the equivalent flow as the DC Runner 1.2, so I reconfigured the drains today to handle a little extra. At comparable flow, they are both silent pumps. When I turn it up, it makes a slight hum, but not enough to hear it over the skimmer. So far, playing with the Apex control is pretty nice, but I still have to figure out how I want to program it.

 

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This morning, the smaller Yuma on the right had contracted and moved up the rock a bit - looks like the beginning of some pedal laceration! Another baby Yuma on the way? :)

2laycdk.jpg

 

The arrow actually points right to where the yuma used to sit. I'll keep an eye on that little blob for progress.

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Was out on my weekly valonia hunt... Came up empty handed. :) But I did come across this little guy... I can only see him from the top, and I have no idea where he came from. He clamps shut and drops down deeper into the rock if I squirt a little water at him...

2rm32p5.jpg

11sjos8.jpg

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Oh my god!

:haha:

 

We're having... TWINS!!!! :happydance:

 

2m2cj6w.jpg

 

Wait... What? They're Siamese? :wacko:

 

 

:lol:

 

This is funny. It needs a famous Holy Carp Cartoon.

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Still wondering what this little guy is...

I gave it a little squirt of water with a pipette to see it snap shut.

 

At first I thought it might be a mussel, but I'm thinking it's more likely a little clam of some sort.

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New CUC:

 

My 1mm picoconch is hard at work cleaning the glass. :lol:

 

2cmup3t.jpg

 

He still hangs out with isopods:

14iec0i.jpg

 

Yay for mini conch babies! I have a ton all of a sudden as well!

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Still wondering what this little guy is...

I gave it a little squirt of water with a pipette to see it snap shut.

 

At first I thought it might be a mussel, but I'm thinking it's more likely a little clam of some sort.

I agree, some kind of bivalve. Which narrows it down to about 10,000 possibilities.

 

I found a little green bivalve in my 4g frag tank and posted some pictures of it recently. I had the same question - and I guess "some kind of little clam" too :lol:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got back from a 15 day vacation today.

 

Good news:

Nothing died except a couple snails and maybe a tiny acro frag that got tipped over onto the darth maul porites. The porites had all its mesenterial filaments out eating it, but it must have happened recently, because it looks like some of it might actually survive. Short story: Porites>Acro

 

Bad news:

Valonia has reappeared all over - worse than I've ever seen it, and I'm a little surprised since I hadn't spotted any in weeks before leaving. Seems like whenever I go away they reappear. Ugh! They must like the pellets I use with the auto feeder.

Also, some digitate hydroids have reappeared, and I haven't seen any of those in ages. I'm not worried about them at this point, though. Once the water gets back to normal, I'm sure they'll disappear. Looks like I've got some weekend projects cut out for me.

 

Alk got low - down to 6.4, but corals all look happy, except the bonsai. Looks like something's been biting at its base. I haven't introduced anything new in a while, so I'm not sure what to make of it.

 

Pictures tomorrow.

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Fifteen days of filth upon arrival:

1izfuu.jpg

 

Valonia... ARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!:

2pz9zlx.jpg

 

 

But the bosai is perplexing me...

Here's when I returned from vacay - cleaned the glass off and snapped some photos. Unfortunately, the affected area isn't really in focus, but as far as I can tell, there is negligible damage. Taken at 5pm:

15oy0dk.jpg

 

Later in the evening it looked like this. This was at 9pm shortly after a 5g water change:

5luglk.jpg

 

Now this morning at 8:30 am:

dw2w09.jpg

Perhaps it's sensitive to increasing the Alk with the water change, but it really looks like munch marks.

 

 

At least the baby Yuma twins are doing well:

97ryav.jpg

See posts #228 and #229 for reference

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Welcome back. Things look okay for the most part right? Water changes and inspection of the munch marks are in order.

What do you plan to do about the valonia? Can that little rock be removed from the system?

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Welcome back. Things look okay for the most part right? Water changes and inspection of the munch marks are in order.

What do you plan to do about the valonia? Can that little rock be removed from the system?

 

EVERYTHING in my system is removable. :D

 

I'll be taking each rock out this weekend, one by one. My standard procedure is to remove the valonia with tweezers (carefully to avoid rupturing them if possible) and then applying straight 35% h2o2 to the rock in the affected vicinity with an eyedropper, while trying to minimize contact with corals and corneas. I usually treat about 1-2 square centimeters around the spot the valonia was attached, but I'm not concerned about losing a little coralline algae. I let it fizzle for 2-3 minutes. I used to use drug store 3% stuff, but the 35% is super way more awesome. Total time out of the tank is usually between 5-7 minutes per rock (I try to go faster with the rock that has the jack-o-lantern - it suffers from exposure to air). Unfortunately, this time the algae has appeared on all 3 rocks, so it will be more involved (That photo is probably <10% of what I saw :scarry: ). I'm used to removing a couple of little bubbles at a time, but since this is so much more, after treating all the rocks, I'll do a 4g WC and add a capful of MB7. I normally don't bother with that, but figure MB7 is a precaution just in case the h2o2 affects some of the nitrifying bacteria.

 

I'll probably add some phosguard and replace the carbon as well.

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I'd be careful with treating all the rocks at once and not rinsing in some saltwater before putting them back in the tank. The oxygen levels might rise too high in the tank itself after..

 

Good luck!

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You think oxygen would really hurt much? I've always watched the rocks bubble when I put them back in the water, but it seems like most of the o2 gas just bubbles up to the top and leaves. I've never really thought of oxygen as harming anything except possibly denitrifying bacteria.

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It hurts algae, too - including the symbiotic algae living in the corals' cells. It'd be like a very diluted version of getting the H2O2 on the coral itself? And if it bubbles (have you seen zoas bubble?!)...

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