Peter's petite pair of picos

[brandon429]

some people would choose to leave that and let it run its course as its not an algae. If it were my tank Id take out the rock, scrub it off in another container and continue to guide the tank the way I want it. It looks like a sponge variant or something, seems like a normal cycling of populations for a new tank and using oceanwater this is expected, the stuff will feed any spore or progrowth and bring it to its full potential. A nice middle ground might be watching to see if it grows, then handle it if it starts to take over. We can get away with mystery growth in the early phases when there's no coral loading to block our access to the rock. two years from now when its twisted with SPS, you'd never catch me letting a ? organism wind among the rocks because if it was virulent it could kill the corals. In never taking chances with hitchhikers I miss out on all the cool ones lol

either way you proceed is cool we are all learning from the pics and outcomes of this approach.

[Builder Anthony]

Im not sure what that white stuff is but i think it is a bacterial bloom of some sort.I see it on live rock and i think the stuff is cleaning the rock of dead things.

[castiel]

Well as you say, it's doing no harm for now and there's nothing for it to kill, so I'll leave it be and see if it grows.

[castiel]

Okay, this evening's updates include:

- Crab!

- Life

- White ####

 

Crab and a much larger snail growth in my tank:

 

Spotted the crab when I broke the rock up, dumped him in and haven't seen him since. The snail(?) was showing very slightly but today was much more extended and prominent.

 

Similar snail in my wife's tank, this one with a much whiter body:

 

And also, the white #### I showed yesterday seems to be spreading. Still not sure at this point whether to be concerned with it or not ...

 

 

I see all of the above as positive signs that the tank is settling in somewhat. Still haven't done the water change yet, but the heater arrived today (of course I missed the delivery so will be picking up tomorrow), so will do so in the next couple of days.

[Bug]

that white stuff, looks like cobwebs yeah?

 

I had the same thing in my tank, no idea what it was but i figured out that it had a tendency to develop on any side that was low on "flow/water movement". mine just faded in time - and it happened during cycling period (i used NSW as well…) any way to increase water movement across the rocks?

[castiel]

Yeah looks like cobwebs, and I have just started cycling. So not too concerned yet, I'll see how it goes. As for flow I am planning on getting another pump or powerhead soon, which should help.

 

Also, just spotted more life! What I think is another crab - hard to see as he popped back into the hole:

Also another worm of some kind you can just see at the bottom.

 

And another WTF? thing! Looks a but like a weird starfish?

[castiel]

I only just realised that the last crab pic also shows a shrimp! Just spotted him hanging out on the 'starfish' thing. I've actually now spotted three of the same kind of shrimp ... man they have a big claw!

 

 

And just saw another 'ewww wtf?'

 

The amount of life that has become active today is crazy!

 

Here's even more:

A huge worm I think, though it's so thick I thought at first it was another starfish tentacle:

 

And spotted a small star on the glass:

 

Just spotted another crab in the same tank! That's three, and they are all different. It's quite a bright red colour, bobbly shell, about half an inch. Bad quality pic showing both (red one is bottom right):

[Bug]

you have more life in your live rock than ive had in my tank FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR gah!

[castiel]

Indeed! One of my pieces of rock just fell over as I was on my way for another look, and it revealed yet another crab! and yet another kind too! This one was similar in size to the others, but a dirty brown colour - unless it was dirty brown just because it was dirty =0)

 

So four crabs, all half an inch or so wide ... in the same tank. Think I need to transfer a couple next door!

[DonnieP]

Be careful with the crabs, although they look cool right now they may be very detrimental to your tank as most will eat your coral and anything else you put in there. Pretty much if they are hairy they are bad although an emerald crab is pretty reef safe they can have hairy legs but smooth body. You should try to determine the species while you can still get them out pretty easy, it will be harder to get them later. Also if the shrimp have a big claw on one side its probaby a pistol shrimp which is ok. they will make a loud clicking noise in the tank sounds like a gun shot sometimes. Three of these in that small tank is stretching it though.

 

That crab on the left side of the last pic looks like a gorilla crab, not good! Can't tell about the red one. If you see two hind legs that stick out like paddles these are swimming crabs, not good either.

[castiel]

Yeah I totally figured that four crabs it too many to start with, nevermind what kind they are! But would be great to ID so I can decide which stay and go.

 

That one could be a gorilla crab. The pics I can find show it is hairy, but mine is smooth ... thought it has the same black tips to the claws, so maybe it's a variant.

 

Here is a better pic of the red one:

 

And here's a better pic of that large bristle worm thing (euchnid?):

[tylernt]

I have the cobwebs in my new LR too. I believe they are terebellid or spaghetti worms. The sticky threads are their filter feeding mechanism.

 

My poor little Astrea snail actually has two of those worms attached to his shell.

 

The worms seem to be harmless, other than the unsightly mess.

[brandon429]

on that very last pic Im sure its a hermodice not a eunice, but I think one of the top worm pics was a eunicid or bobbit worm. you know why they named it a bobbit worm>? cuz its incisors looks like they could take off a pee pee. seriously thats why they call them bobbitts, after Lorena Bobbitt the casey anthony villainess of the 90's

[castiel]

Haha, bobbit worm, love it.

 

So anything I should be concerned about? Are there too many worms in there, are any harmful? Feel like I should transfer some to the other tank, which doesn't have anywhere near as much life ... just the scallop, a feather duster and a peanut worm (I think that's what the white things are on the rock with green end?).

[.Newman.]

probably a nereid in there as well (possibly the bobbit-looking one). if its big, and bigger than 4 inches, i would remove it.

[castiel]

Nah it's not that big so I'll leave it be for now. Just read a good article (forget the link now) that suggests all but fireworms (brightly red coloured) are good for the tank.

[brandon429]

good call Newman I agree that could be a nereid. guard pp either way when handling heh

the jaw structure and number of mandibles differs between the two.

 

other than the possible predation listed they won't hurt your tank in terms of bioload, another reason for the frequent water changes. all unpredictables will be absorbed harmlessly with them, including the occasional death that won't hurt your tank. Many inverts have died in my bowl over the years and it just absorbed the carcass just fine cuz the regular changes were like clockwork. The day I saw my boxer crabs two anemones climbing up the glass I knew he was done, about 4o months in the vase, hella lifespan but the bed just absorbed his carcass and I assume the pods ate him from the inside out. Amazing consumption these picos can exhibit. Feel free to mix and match any of the animals across tanks, dump the ones you don't like down the toilet etc, its all flexible.

[castiel]

Cool, well at the water change stage this weekend there will be a bit of swapping going on. Though Ang (wife) isn't keen on the worms!!

[Builder Anthony]

Cool looking crab

[castiel]

DISASTER =0(

 

Came home today and the house STANK of rotten sea. Rushed over to the tanks and my tank is really cloudy, and doesn't take long to notice all of the dead worms on teh sand or the crab that isn't moving. EVERYTHING in the tank seems to be dead. Crabs, worms, shrimps, probably the brittle star. Maybe a worm or three survived, but I am so sad right now.

 

I did a water change, but it still smelled bad so I decided to empty everything out, drain fully and fill with entirely new water.

 

The irony is that my heater arrived today, but in the rush to try and save things ended up using fairly cold water straight from teh container. I figured there wasn't much more I could harm.

 

My wife's tank also didn't look great, but had nowhere near as many dead bodies, but then it didn't have the volume of stuff mine did anyway. So she just did a water change and hopefully it is not as badly affected.

 

 

I need to try and work out what happened so I can avoid it happening again. Was it just an ammonia spike? Too much bioload all at once in an uncycled tank?

 

 

=0(

[brandon429]

were you running the tanks without a heater? ammonia only comes from a dead organism and it can cause a chain reaction very easily. one benefit of smaller tanks is the quick start over, glad it wasn't packed with coral.

 

how long had the tank been set up running without a water change?

[DonnieP]

I need to try and work out what happened so I can avoid it happening again. Was it just an ammonia spike? Too much bioload all at once in an uncycled tank?

 

I would say you hit the nail on the head, Too much too soon. Probably started with the death of one worm or crab, then ammonia and ended up with the domino effect. Its kinda like minnows in a fishing bucket, one dies and starts the ammonia which causes another to die and so on. These little tanks when mature can handle a death but new tanks are doomed in this case. I would say to clean up your liverock, scrub it if necessary and start over. There was probably just too much life in there during a cycle.

[castiel]

The tanks had a heater, temperature was steady at 80F.

 

We put the rock in on Saturday, yesterday was Thursday, so five days.

 

I think it was just teh number of organisms in there, there were literally worms crawling over every rock the last few days including several large ones as I posted pictures of. Plus the four crabs, three shrimp and whatever else.

 

My wife's tank seems fine, and probably didn't need the panic water change. Saw the cute feather duster again this morning in there and the snail/worm/whatever on top (white tube body stuck to the rock, green end sticking out).

 

I'm wondering whether I should properly empty the tank this weekend and really start again, or just let it run again to see what happens. The sand has crap still in/on it, I can see worms that burrowed their way in and are now probably dead. Or maybe the small amount of 'dead' will help the cycling.

 

I took the opportunity to remove a piece of rock too, so the tank looks less crowded which will be better long term.

[brandon429]

any organism that is alive can stay if you want them to, but any dead should go, no ammonia should be present in the tank going forward. fully cycled means the live rock has sensitive animals, allowing organic decay/ammonia in the system stresses them

 

if you choose to let it run and rebalance by internally degrading the animals that can work too. any algae spores or progrowths of algae will be fed during an extended reduction of organic material in the tank so the worst case scenario is a little more algae work but there was life inside that live rock that made it through the ammonia spike and it will keep the rock live

[castiel]

What I think I will do tomorrow is rinse the rock in some saltwater, and also rinse the sand to get some of the dead bodies out of there.

 

I may also take the opportunity to dry the tank off and install that extra pump in the back compartment.

 

It's a setback for sure, but I'll get over it =0)