soaptray Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Love the new frags - will be nice to see them grow. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Thanks! So it looks like the green stag (shown on the left of pic 4) is having some type of STN (slow tissue necrosis), and the amphipods are nibbling away at the dying portion (not to mention most of the other frag bases). What's strange is that the STN doesn't seem to be progressing during the day, so I'm worried the amphipods are going beyond scavenging to eating tissue that could be saved. Unfortunately, I'm going to be harsh and just remove any frag that displays RTN/STN. I might try to frag a healthy section, but I haven't had any success with stopping RTN/STN with that method. In the mean time I will be increasing the photoperiod to 14 hours to help avoid the amphipods. They're like tiny vampires. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Can't you just get a Pod-eating fish? This is the first time I've heard of them eating SPS flesh, but they certainly liked the taste of my Palys at one point. Haven't had any recent issues with it, luckily. Link to comment
k_davies35 Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 i la la love zoas and the frag you got seems to glow under your lighting. Very nice!!! Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Can't you just get a Pod-eating fish?This is the first time I've heard of them eating SPS flesh, but they certainly liked the taste of my Palys at one point. Haven't had any recent issues with it, luckily. I was thinking about that, but I had put that idea away when I stopped feeding my gobies regularly (mainly to starve out the hydroids). They only eat pods, but these gammarid amphipods are really big (nearly 1/2"), and the neon and Eviota are too small to eat them. I may get a sixline or similar wrasse, but I'm kind of worried about any mini cycle that would occur. I might just take a chance and do some water changes. My previous SPS are never harmed by the pods, and I'm not sure if their nibbling is even doing anything to further the necrosis. One option I'm considering is to use a plastic critter keeper, with lots of small holes, as a hang-in refugium. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Refugium as in fuge w/chaeto or as in a safe place to keep frags away from Pods? Cause pods can get through pretty much anything but mesh. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Yes, it was for keeping out the pods. In any case, they could be eating algae off growing on the exposed skeleton. The green stag's STN has not progressed, but I decided to frag it (new piece is 3/4") and remove the diseased portion. I see some small recession on a few other acros, but they don't seem to be getting worse. Also, I'm testing out a theory that my halymenia could possibly be stunting SPS growth (my red "millepora" has had no growth since coming in March). Anyway, I'll probably be doing more water changes over this next week or two, since that seems to be the critical time period to show whether a frag will start to settle down. In the end, I finally am learning my lesson of large frag packs. Even though multiple losses would still result in some financial savings, I don't like having corals dying when they are healthy in other tanks. Also, I shouldn't have got such a large pack since my goal was to have a tank with relatively large colonies. Link to comment
colgan10 Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 I love all your sps frags they really have great color, I hope everything works out with the sps recession, when i first started with sps this happened to me and i figured out that they were using the heck out of the calcium and alk so i had to go to 30ml in the morning and 30ml at night of b-ionic and that took care of the problem. Good luck! Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 Yes, I had been dosing my normal 5 mL of b-ionic, but I decided to stop for a few days and test to see how much I need to dose now. With my first frag pack, I was focused on everything that was dying, so I didn't pay much attention to what the healthy frags did. The STN (if that's what it can be called) of most of the frags (except the green stag) look stable. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 So, everything looks good so far. I was too nervous and fragged the green stag, which promptly STNed on the smaller piece. So, I've had to remove it. However, a separate tiny frag seems to be from the same colony, so hopefully I haven't lost anything. Pics will follow soon! For those who are more knowledgeable about coral pedigrees, here's the list of what I got: purple with blue tips formosa green slimer blue millepora LE idaho grape LE bali tricolor ORA birdsnest blue stag nana teal stag red tip stag LE soli[taryensis] miyagi tort freebies: green plating montipora loisettae (the green stag) The seller was Travis on RC, who had the august 2008 TOTM. Pics of the mother colonies: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...hreadid=1636311 I'm debating how to refer to the frags that have "species-specific" names since I want to avoid that practice. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 So, I decided to try some top down shots to avoid the over-exposed look on some frags. I'll try to explain if the colors don't look like they would when normally viewed from the sides. Green monti (has little blue polyps) and green slimer (not so uniformly neon, but close). Red tip stag. This is very different with the tips looking blue, but they're actually pinkish. The fluorescence of the polyps is not obvious from the side. "Nana", idaho grape, and the older "rose mille". The idaho grape is a not blue as shown, but a purple color. The "nana" is a greenish-blue with only the tip of one branch a pure blue. The "rose mille" has not grown a millimeter in my tank. One possible cause is that the bottom of the frag was dead before I got it. Older "purple valida". This has turned a solid light green with only the tip and the biggest "branch" (more like a stub) having a blue tinge. The base also has a bluish front. Center: older green pocillopora and the suspected broken "green stag/loisettae" on the left. The pocillopora and "valida" have always been hard for me to photograph. From top left to bottom right: Older "yellow tort", bali tricolor, "formosa" (bottom center), and "solitaryensis". The bali tricolor is nearly pure blue with green polyps and base. The formosa is a purple blue stag, and the "soli" is a brownish purple except for the light purple ends. Center: older paletta blue. It's hard to tell but this is a bluish cream color with "transparent" polyps and blue rims on the corallites. center: older yellow bottlebrush. This was one of my favorites even though it is a relatively plain creamish color. It is also a fast grower with a green fringe on the base. From left to right: birdsnest, blue stag, and "blue mille". The birdsnest is a very nice bright green under my lights. The blue stag is not very blue, but hopefully that will change. The "blue mille" is also brownish except for the blue corallites. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Just a quick benchmark to myself that many of the new frags are starting to expand and reverse their browning out. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Thanks! I've realized the aiptasia have popped up in many new areas, so that will be my next goal besides getting new T5 bulbs. Link to comment
pudge1515 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Looking good, I especially love the green birdsnest, I have been trying to get a hold of one myself but can only seem to find them online. Let me know if ever gets big enough to frag, ill buy a piece and I can come pick it up since I probably live only 20 minutes away from you. Link to comment
divecj5 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Glad to see that the frags appear to be turning around...the ones that you took pictures of all look nice and healthy. What bulbs are you going to go with? Are you changing any of them to something different or just replacing them with new ones? Link to comment
DCG1286 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Love what you are doing with the tank ... layout and all ... the frags really look great!!! More pics!!! FTS!!! PLease ... thank you Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 Thanks everyone. FTS will come soon. I've limited scraping the glass to only where I can see corals, so a FTS would be ugly now. Also, my little gobies (eviota and blue neon) have survived for at least a week and a half without any feedings on my part. Today I did a tiny feeding of frozen cyclopeeze (a few shavings from a "bar"), and the Eviota was quickly zipping around. It reminds me a lot like a sixline wrasse always on the lookout for pods. Looking good, I especially love the green birdsnest, I have been trying to get a hold of one myself but can only seem to find them online. Let me know if ever gets big enough to frag, ill buy a piece and I can come pick it up since I probably live only 20 minutes away from you. Yes, the green is amazing, and I would be happy to give you a frag. As I said before, my coral list is a lot bigger than I planned, so I will have to do some fragging soon! Link to comment
Lalani Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I have bright green hydroids like yours. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 I have bright green hydroids like yours. I'm not so fond of mine, but I tolerate them. Link to comment
RandomTabby Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 sweet stuff, you are a master at deal finding. can't wait to see where you will finally place all your beautiful acros. I'm not a fan of stealth heaters, I have seen way too many "fail" and chill tanks, mainly because they don't have an indicator light. I have also been electrocuted by a few. Also by Sera heaters. BTW Sera products are great but their heaters say they will shut off when pulled out of water... NO! they will break, I have seen it twice now. Also, why do you have so much "dead" rock?? Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 Also, why do you have so much "dead" rock?? It can be hard to see in the pictures, but the rocks are covered in algae, including various coralline species. The rock is nearly 1 year old in my tank and came from a local tank that was 2 years old. Link to comment
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