Klarion's Tongan Scape

[Krayon]

I've got a cool youngling in the tank. It's another Xenia/anthelia sp. that's growing in the shadow of the larger one. I'm not sure what any of them are, but the small one has grown considerably.

 

lookin good

[klarion]

Another cool customer I've got is the Banded Coral Shrimp. He hangs in the back of the tank during the day time except for when I feed the fish. Then, he goes into a feeding frenzy and the clown has to move fast or the shrimp will get most of the food. Sometimes, he even chases the clown away to get a tasty morsel.

 

At night is when the shrimp does most of his rounds. He crawls all over the rock-work, often passing within millimeters of the sleeping clown. He has 2 pairs of tiny claws that he uses to feel the rocks and the crevices within. There are small hair-like appendages on the claws that the shrimp uses to "taste" the substrate. When he finds something worth eating, he yanks hard at it with the claws. So much so, that he recoils backward when whatever it is he's after detaches from the rock.

 

Here are some pics:

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2008 by klarion

[agileTuan]

Xenia is looking better

nice Shrimp too

[klarion]

Xenia is looking better

nice Shrimp too

 

Thank you,

 

I significantly reduced the flow over it. Hope it'll do well. I have a suspicion that it's "trying to reproduce", whatever that means.

[klarion]

And finally, some better shots of my new Zoas:

 

 

In this picture I left the white balance setting a little cooler to show how the polyp looks in the tank:

 

When I removed the Aptasia anemones from this frag, I broke it in two and established two separate colonies:

 

? Each polyp has a thick off-white thing attached to the head (visible in some pics). Is that normal?

 

I never payed attention to Zoas before I joined this forum because they seemed so small and insignificant at LFS until I saw some of the close ups in peoples threads. So, I don't know much about Zoas. What I did notice is how sensitive they are to the surroundings. Even a light tap on the glass causes them to react--how cool!

 

Edit: Notice a little bump in the encrusting flesh of the polyp. Read on and see what happens.

Edited January 8, 2008 by klarion

[lilredneckman]

I have no idea what the white line is but most of my zoas in this one colony have it too. Those are some nice photos

[klarion]

I have no idea what the white line is but most of my zoas in this one colony have it too. Those are some nice photos

 

Hmm...I hope it's nothing bad. Perhaps someone who knows will come around this thread one day

[klarion]

Love all the new pics, esp. the clown/Xenia series. What sharp fish pics!

 

Fts's are looking nice & colorful as well.

 

I'm lousy at coral ID. Yours just looks more like what I've seen called Anthelia than what I think of as Xenia. But if you ever want to lose all your confidence, read the Sprung & Delbeek books about how truly difficult coral taxonomy is. Maybe you should post this in ID and see what opinions you get. Whatever it is, it's beautiful.

 

Think I'll post a vid in my thread of my Xenia pulsing when I find one (somewhere in the archives!)--I know you know what they look like--it's just a good excuse!

 

Ceriths are very cool, and that's an especially pretty kind you have. BTW, my all-time favorite workhorse of a snail is Trochus--if you find some, I highly recommend them.

 

--Diane

 

I'll keep my eyes out for the Trochus. There isn't much to choose from at the LFS, but if I spy it, I'll buy it.

 

Yes, it would be cool to see more pix and videos of your tank. It's one of my favorites. From the pictures of your Xenia I can see that we've got two different specimens. Mine has longer tentacles on its polyps. They don't pulse like the shorter ones, they seem to periodically curl inward into a ball. I'll try to get better pictures of that.

 

Boris

[klarion]

Tank Update and CUC Algae Battle

 

I'd like to focus on the various types of Algae that are now emerging in my tank, the CUC and their battle to control the reef.

 

Here are the Players:

 

3 Cerith Snails: Move fairly fast, often on the glass. They work on the substrate and

occasionally bury themselves. Good all around cleaners.

 

3 Astraea Snails: Quite slow compared to my other snails. They work in spurts and rest for long periods of time between bouts of cleaning. Eat various types of algae like brown slime, cyano, diatoms and the very softest of GHA.

 

2 Margarita snails (tank temperature is 77-78F): The fastest and most favorite snails I have so far. They eat every form of algae except for the very tough macros and GHA. Since they are temperate snails, I try to keep water temperature as low as I can considering that I'm running a tropical reef setup. I have a suspicion that they're moving fast because the temperature is at the upper range for them .

 

Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab: Works mostly at night, though sometimes he's active during the day too. Picks on various stuff but there is no evidence of what it is. He came to me without a claw and had one molt after which his claw grew out.

 

Blue Leg Hermit Crab (Just after he examined the shell for a possible move):

When he moves, it seems like he's in a hurry to get somewhere. Works most of the time, though right now he's stationery. I think he's preparing to molt.

 

Clarkii Clown (Yes, he's a vegetarian):

Since he's not getting as much food as he would wish, the clown needs to supplement his diet with some algae. He mostly picks on a field of very soft and short Hair Algae.

 

 

The Contenders

There are several areas of problem algae in the tank. Diatom bloom came and went. Cyanobacteria were decimated by the CUC. Here is what's growing now:

 

This red hair-like algae is different from cyanobacteria it seems. It may not be as clear from the picture, but there are definite individual strains growing from the substrate and no film cover like with cyano outbreaks.

Several problem algae are visible in the next picture. There are just a few areas like this in the tank. Some soft and short GHA, a bit of cyano and some brown colored algae that's unsightly. Also there is a patch of Caulerpa and some obviously overgrown pink coralline.

An interesting looking red macro algae, or so it seems.

Another Macro Sp. that I don't recognize

 

 

Tall GHA that grows from a small patch on the rock. It's the most problematic of all GHA sp. that I can see because none of my CUC are touching it. Thankfully, it's only growing in a couple of spots.

 

Previously shot caulerpa sp. patch that's growing out a bit (but very slowly)

 

My least favorite-brown encrusting algae. The CUC are handling it nicely.

 

This stuff is not so bad. It's some sort of encrusting coralline that's almost burgundy in color and looks like it has velvety texture.

 

In the next post. The progress pics with more detail.

Edited January 8, 2008 by klarion

[klarion]

Continued......

 

These are some general progress pics to show the battle fields where my CUC have gone after the Algae.

 

In this picture, you may see what I mean by soft and short green hair algae. My CUC are actually eating that stuff as opposed to the Long Hair Green Algae sp.

 

Some good snail ate the nasty brown algae.

 

 

The results

Thanks to the snails and crabs, I've got some clear areas for the nice and pretty pink coralline to develop.

 

 

 

 

Overal, I think my CUC are winning this battle. Status: Happy

Edited January 8, 2008 by klarion

[klarion]

New Arrivals

Three days after I introduced a new colony of zoas, I noticed that one of the separated polyps is growing something.

 

 

Some sort of sessile feather worm. There were three just yesterday, but I think 2 either receded or were eaten

[c est ma]

Very nice photo-documentation! You don't miss a thing. You also have a varied CUC which is highly desirable, I think. Yay, CUC!

 

Nice coralline, esp. that last shot.

 

Watch out for that new green macro--may be Bryopsis...

 

Also, that tube worm looks like a hydroid to me. You have something that eats these? Tell me who!

 

--Diane

[klarion]

Very nice photo-documentation! You don't miss a thing. You also have a varied CUC which is highly desirable, I think. Yay, CUC!

 

Nice coralline, esp. that last shot.

 

Watch out for that new green macro--may be Bryopsis...

 

Also, that tube worm looks like a hydroid to me. You have something that eats these? Tell me who!

 

--Diane

 

Bryopsis?! I just read this--scary Bryopsis Sp.

I'll pull it out tomorrow. Now I'm not surprised why my CUC won't touch that stuff. It may be toxic for them!

 

Hydroid? Does it mean I'll have medusae swimming about my tank

Hydroid Life Cycle

 

I was thinking of getting an Emerald crab, but would that render my dream of the Pom-Pom crab impossible? And, would the Emerald eat something like a Bryopsis sp. alagae?

Thank you for your help, Diane.

Edited January 8, 2008 by klarion

[klarion]

Well, the situation around my ailing Mushroom Leather Coral took a turn for the worse. Today I noticed that it was starting to get frayed on the sides confirming my suspicions that the discoloration and yellowish covering were in fact areas of necrosis and the tissues were dying.

I decided to try a last ditch effort at stopping the process and remove the affected areas by cutting like it was suggested on this WetWebMedia thread. Admittedly, I had to remove very large areas of the coral and the prognosis is not very good, imo.

 

Also did today:

1. Removed the pesky bushes of suspected Bryopsis sp. algae. It was very easy because they were growing from a narrow spot on the substrate.

 

2. Replaced the Eheim pump with a MaxiJet 900. The fow is better with this pump and it takes much less space in the tank. Now, I'll be using the Eheim for my salt water mixing.

 

3. Did a water change of 25%

 

The Xenia is doing remarkably well and the bumps on it are developing into what I think will be new polyps. And the Zoas are doing very well too including the new growth.

 

The Clarkii clown has gotten used to me and pecks on my fingers when I'm in the tank. He reminds me of a bumble bee. I'm thinking of naming him that. What do you think? I don't feed him a lot, every third day or every other day depending on how persistent he gets at following me around. Is that a good regiment for a small clown fish??

 

That's about it for now. I will be posting test results soon.....

[c est ma]

Bryopsis?! I just read this--scary Bryopsis Sp.

I'll pull it out tomorrow. Now I'm not surprised why my CUC won't touch that stuff. It may be toxic for them!

 

Indeed a sobering link. And the pic looks more like your last alga than the one I was thinking of, but there are many spp of Bryopsis...But don't panic, we've almost all had it, sooner or later...

 

Hydroid? Does it mean I'll have medusae swimming about my tank

Hydroid Life Cycle

 

Oh, that's the most fun part about having hydroids! The medusae are very cute but very small...there are some pics in the links I sent you...you may notice them first clinging to the glass rather than pulsing through the water...

 

 

I was thinking of getting an Emerald crab, but would that render my dream of the Pom-Pom crab impossible? And, would the Emerald eat something like a Bryopsis sp. alagae?

Thank you for your help, Diane.

 

No, yes. Emeralds will eat just about anything, and seem to eat more or less constantly. My pom pom, though reclusive, seems to fear nothing in my tank, and has no trouble pushing emeralds (which respond) and hermits (which seem imperturbable--or just clueless) away from the choicest food morsels...I'd recommend them, esp. with your interest in diversity.

 

The rap on emeralds is that they sometimes decide to eat corals. Often, I think, this is when they are not getting enough food otherwise...But you should be aware of that...Some of us feel that it helps to get a female emerald, which if nothing else remains smaller than the males, which can grow quite quickly.

 

 

 

 

Well, the situation around my ailing Mushroom Leather Coral took a turn for the worse. Today I noticed that it was starting to get frayed on the sides confirming my suspicions that the discoloration and yellowish covering were in fact areas of necrosis and the tissues were dying.

I decided to try a last ditch effort at stopping the process and remove the affected areas by cutting like it was suggested on <a href="http://"http://www.wetwebmedia.com/softcorhealth.htm"" target="_blank">this WetWebMedia thread.</a> Admittedly, I had to remove very large areas of the coral and the prognosis is not very good, imo.

 

Sorry to hear that! They are notoriously touchy, as I've probably mentioned and you no doubt knew, anyway. But it's just as likely that the next leather you try will be bullet proof.

 

I think I've heard that (some?) leathers, like many other softies, prefer slightly nutrient rich tanks...maybe your tank needs to mature a bit more before they'll be happy. Though, that said, I'm sure some have had them as a first coral...

 

Also did today:

1. Removed the pesky bushes of suspected Bryopsis sp. algae. It was very easy because they were growing from a narrow spot on the substrate.

 

2. Replaced the Eheim pump with a MaxiJet 900. The fow is better with this pump and it takes much less space in the tank. Now, I'll be using the Eheim for my salt water mixing.

 

3. Did a water change of 25%

 

The Xenia is doing remarkably well and the bumps on it are developing into what I think will be new polyps. And the Zoas are doing very well too including the new growth.

 

The Clarkii clown has gotten used to me and pecks on my fingers when I'm in the tank. He reminds me of a bumble bee. I'm thinking of naming him that. What do you think?

 

I think our favorite animal names are the ones that they somehow inspire us to come up with. And also that naming is very much a matter of individual preference!

 

I don't feed him a lot, every third day or every other day depending on how persistent he gets at following me around. Is that a good regiment for a small clown fish??

 

This again is as much a matter of "reef philosophy" as it is of "science," as it were. I think many will tell you that's perfectly sufficient. Many will say it's essential to maintaining a "clean" tank.

 

In general, I think a wild fish would probably be more or less constantly on the prowl for food, esp. a juvenile. I would tend to feed very tiny amounts more frequently, maybe even more than once a day...just a few sinking morsels, for instance. Gives the fish something to do...and maybe evens out the nutritional needs...Of course, I wouldn't feed fresh/frozen meaty foods more than once or twice a week, unless I had a lot more critters to feed...Just my opinion, you understand, and I've never had a clown fish, either.

 

Nice updates! And don't sweat the algae--you'll find a way to defeat it!

 

--Diane

[klarion]

Indeed a sobering link. And the pic looks more like your last alga than the one I was thinking of, but there are many spp of Bryopsis...But don't panic, we've almost all had it, sooner or later...

 

No, yes. Emeralds will eat just about anything, and seem to eat more or less constantly. My pom pom, though reclusive, seems to fear nothing in my tank, and has no trouble pushing emeralds (which respond) and hermits (which seem imperturbable--or just clueless) away from the choicest food morsels...I'd recommend them, esp. with your interest in diversity.

 

The rap on emeralds is that they sometimes decide to eat corals. Often, I think, this is when they are not getting enough food otherwise...But you should be aware of that...Some of us feel that it helps to get a female emerald, which if nothing else remains smaller than the males, which can grow quite quickly.

 

Nice updates! And don't sweat the algae--you'll find a way to defeat it!

 

--Diane

 

Hi, and thanks for your posts. Maybe I misrepresented my feelings on algae a little bit. A lot of people on these threads find them to be problems and I've had an algae problem before as well. But, at this point, I am well prepared to deal with any algae and I relish the opportunity to play "unnatural selection", plus I really do want to have a natural-looking tank (not a breeder with racks), just like yours. Breeder tanks are great, but my light is not strong enough for SPS, nor is my tank configuration suitable for them. So, it's softies and maybe some LPS, leathers and the like for me. Invariably, there is going to be some algae growth and that's fine with me because my inverts have to have something to eat!

 

I love watching them slowly change the way the rock is utilized by different species of algae and so far they've done an outstanding job in most cases.

 

Once again,

 

Thanks to all contributors. I only wish more people let themselves be known on my thread

Edited January 10, 2008 by klarion

[PurpleUP]

Funny, every time I see my leathers with their polyps retracted, I mourn for yours. Is it recovering?

[klarion]

Funny, every time I see my leathers with their polyps retracted, I mourn for yours. Is it recovering?

 

No, the situation got worse yesterday because the edges of it started breaking up. I had to do drastic "Necroscopy" (I'm quoting somebody else on nano-reef) and cut off dead tissues. There were a lot. Now I have what's left tied to a rock. I can tell that it's still alive because it changed shape and has slime, but I'm not sure it will pull through................

 

I'll keep hoping though.

[klarion]

R.I.P

 

The leather continued disintegrating over the last 24 hrs, so I finally decided to remove it from the tank. Everybody else is happy except for an Astrea snail that I found inverted yesterday (must have fallen off a rock) and retracted into it's home. It hasn't come out yet.

 

I read that these snails can not right themselves when fallen, so I'm wondering what's going on with it. And, how long it's going to take for it to come out. I mean, how do I even know if it died? confused....

[klarion]

Rapids Pro Skimmer Fix.

 

The skimming action hasn't been very good with the skimmer on the unit for a while so I bought some new air stones planning to replace the wood ones that came with the unit.

 

The air stones I got were not the correct kind but I did read the instructions about using them, which stated that I should:

 

To get small bubbles and better diffuser action, follow these steps when installing a new air diffuser:

 

a) disconnect air feed line from pump.

Put a new diffuser on the airline nipple

c) Drop the diffuser into a glass of fresh water

d) Suck about ten inches of water from the glass into the airline slowly and then expel it by blowing air into the line

e) Repeat this operation five times.

 

I repeated the procedure with the spare air stone (wooden) I had from the rapids pro unit and installed it.

 

Here is what I got 10 minutes after:

 

And another tem minutes after that:

 

Hope that helps people.

 

Edit: I didn't plan on putting the smiley face in the instructions, but the letter I guess was a code for that face. Kind of funny that it happened on the second line.

Edited January 11, 2008 by klarion

[PurpleUP]

Rapids Pro Skimmer Fix.

 

The skimming action hasn't been very good with the skimmer on the unit for a while so I bought some new air stones planning to replace the wood ones that came with the unit.

 

The air stones I got were not the correct kind but I did read the instructions about using them, which stated that I should:

 

To get small bubbles and better diffuser action, follow these steps when installing a new air diffuser:

 

a) disconnect air feed line from pump.

Put a new diffuser on the airline nipple

c) Drop the diffuser into a glass of fresh water

d) Suck about ten inches of water from the glass into the airline slowly and then expel it by blowing air into the line

e) Repeat this operation five times.

 

I repeated the procedure with the spare air stone (wooden) I had from the rapids pro unit and installed it.

 

Here is what I got 10 minutes after:

 

And another tem minutes after that:

 

Hope that helps people.

 

Edit: I didn't plan on putting the smiley face in the instructions, but the letter I guess was a code for that face. Kind of funny that it happened on the second line.

 

Hey Klarion, I wasn't getting so much skim action from mine during the first couple of months either. Then, it suddenly kick started on it's own. It further improved when I added a nice ball of chaeto inside the sump (in the same chamber as the return pump). I'm now getting almost the same consistency of bubbles as your 1st pic, but not quite as much. That is good information though. I didn't know it came with a spare wooden air stone! I'd be curious to know if it produces the same bubbles over the course of the next few days. Would you mind keeping me posted?

[klarion]

Hey Klarion, I wasn't getting so much skim action from mine during the first couple of months either. Then, it suddenly kick started on it's own. It further improved when I added a nice ball of chaeto inside the sump (in the same chamber as the return pump). I'm now getting almost the same consistency of bubbles as your 1st pic, but not quite as much. That is good information though. I didn't know it came with a spare wooden air stone! I'd be curious to know if it produces the same bubbles over the course of the next few days. Would you mind keeping me posted?

 

Ok, I'll let you know how it does. Also, I got two airstones because I bought my unit on Ebay and the previous owner got me a new set. The replacement airstones are available on Dr.FosterandSmyth and at Tom's aquarium website too.

[c est ma]

R.I.P

 

The leather continued disintegrating over the last 24 hrs, so I finally decided to remove it from the tank. Everybody else is happy except for an Astrea snail that I found inverted yesterday (must have fallen off a rock) and retracted into it's home. It hasn't come out yet.

 

I read that these snails can not right themselves when fallen, so I'm wondering what's going on with it. And, how long it's going to take for it to come out. I mean, how do I even know if it died? confused....

 

 

One reason I love my Nassarius--it lets me know right away whether someone is resting or rotting! Absent one of them, your hermit and bristleworms (did you get any as hitchers?) may do the same thing...but I do remember once, pre-Nassarius, only knowing a snail was a goner by pulling it out and smelling it....

 

IME, Astraeas that start falling are sometimes presaging their ultimate decline...But sometimes all they need is righting.

 

Too bad about the leather!

 

Maybe Princess scared it to death...

 

 

 

Rapids Pro Skimmer Fix.

 

The skimming action hasn't been very good with the skimmer on the unit for a while so I bought some new air stones planning to replace the wood ones that came with the unit.

 

The air stones I got were not the correct kind but I did read the instructions about using them, which stated that I should:

 

To get small bubbles and better diffuser action, follow these steps when installing a new air diffuser:

 

a) disconnect air feed line from pump.

Put a new diffuser on the airline nipple

c) Drop the diffuser into a glass of fresh water

d) Suck about ten inches of water from the glass into the airline slowly and then expel it by blowing air into the line

e) Repeat this operation five times.

 

I repeated the procedure with the spare air stone (wooden) I had from the rapids pro unit and installed it.

 

Here is what I got 10 minutes after:

 

And another tem minutes after that:

 

Hope that helps people.

 

Edit: I didn't plan on putting the smiley face in the instructions, but the letter I guess was a code for that face. Kind of funny that it happened on the second line.

 

LOL! Yeah, right, and it wasn't Freudian that you used a capital letter for that line only, huh?

 

That exact thing has happened to me, too--well, the unexpected shades-face. It wasn't nearly as appropriately placed!

 

Hey, great airstone info. I'm going to put it in my "useful N-R info" file...

 

--Diane

[klarion]

One reason I love my Nassarius--it lets me know right away whether someone is resting or rotting! Absent one of them, your hermit and bristleworms (did you get any as hitchers?) may do the same thing...but I do remember once, pre-Nassarius, only knowing a snail was a goner by pulling it out and smelling it....

 

IME, Astraeas that start falling are sometimes presaging their ultimate decline...But sometimes all they need is righting.

 

I smelled it this morning and it was ok. Didn't smell rotted, and it's been almost 2 days since it closed up. So far, no one has attempted to scavange it either. So, I'll let it be for a little while longer.

 

I have not seen any bristle worms in the tank, but there was one hitcher on a piece with zoas. I tossed it though.......

 

Hey, great airstone info. I'm going to put it in my "useful N-R info" file...

 

--Diane

 

I'm honored. Thank you.

 

The News:

 

My hermit found a new home already and I added an Emerald crab. I thought it was female at first, but on closer observation, it may be a male. It went for the toughest of algae right away. I'm very happy with that.

[klarion]

The Astrea did smell rotten this morning so I removed it. I guess it was one of those cases when it couldn't right its self because I found it upside down and retracted among the live rock. I'm a little sad because it happened 1-2 together with my leather.

 

Aside from that, every one I have in the tank seem to be doing great, corals and other live stock.