chippwalters Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 Yeehaw. Turns out I've got a Sexy Cowboy. This little guy is taking a big chance riding this fiddler crab. Not sure exactly what the deal is, but I did mange to persuade him to get off-- I suppose it's the right thing to do? I can't imagine a sexy is much more than a tasty morsel for the fiddler-- am I wrong? Also, when I looked up Fiddler vs Hermit-- it said Hermit crabs were not water crabs, but rather on land. Is this right? Do I have a Fiddler or a Hermit? -Confused in Texas Link to comment
amiralisomji Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 looks very similar to my hermit... but i'll let the pros answer for sure... Link to comment
.Newman. Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 you have a marine hermit... one that is actually aquatic. there are land hermits that live close to saltwater (on beaches and such) Link to comment
gabe3eb Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Hard to ID the specific type of hermit you have, but I would guess a standard Blue Leg based on the pic (not a scientific name obviously). Link to comment
chippwalters Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 Could use a little help. What is this white stuff hanging down in the shade from my LR? It doesn't look like aiptasia, and I'm not sure if it's friend or foe. That's my sexy checking it out and posing for the picture-- showoff. Also, my candy canes have been looking a little worse lately, so I decide to try hand feeding them. I wait until the light goes out, and when the tentacles become visible, I then turn off the filter and powerhead, and carefully drop a pellet of Spectrum. They gobble it up and seem to like it and are looking a whole bunch better. But, I notice on the Spectrum label it just says Marine Fish Formula. I'm supposing it's safe, but is it? TIA! Link to comment
amiralisomji Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Dont know about the growth. I've got exactly the same candy.. one of the two heads looks perfectly healthy; the other 'puffs' up only half its body. I haven't tried spot feeding, maybe will give that a shot. how do you manage to get a pellet straight into the tentacles/mouth? Link to comment
chippwalters Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 I use long tweezers and carefully drop the pellet. Do you know what that white stuff is? Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 the growth are a species of colonial hydroid. either that or bryozoans but you can't really see the animals on a bryozoan colony usually so i really think those are hydroids. I'd feed those LPS mysis shrimp. they take it way better than pellets probably but can take both. yes the fish pellets are safe, especially if you dont see copper in the ingredients lol (Wardley algae wafers fail) Link to comment
castiel Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Funnily enough I gave my candy canes a nano pellet each earlier and they gobbled it up. As did the duncans, open brain and ricordea. Can't seem to find mysis shrimp here, just brine shrimp that is really small. Ang's tank has lots of things like your 'white stuff' coming from the rock, and I have assumed that most are hydroids of some kind and harmless/beneficial. Link to comment
chippwalters Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 Thanks guys! I have frozen mysis shrimp, and phytoplankton and Coral Frenzy, but it seems both the candy canes really like the pellets-- and they're much easier to feed. The others cloud the water considerably, and I can't really see if the canes are gobbling it up. I do try and feed my brain coral the mysis, carefully. Sometimes it takes, others, nah. The brain coral really doesn't seem to have tentacles-- at least not as pronounced as the candy canes-- more like slime. My LFS guy told me to get it out of the direct light, but I don't really think the lights are affecting it as much as the trip to my tank. I dropped it once IN the tank-- upside down. Ouch. I know that's not good. I did gently clean him up by blowing the little guy off with a small turkey baster. My guess is THAT's the reason for the exposed skeleton. OR... maybe it has something to do with the mexican turbo and/or hermit crabs who mess with him now and then. Oh well-- time will see. Thanks again for all the great feedback. VERY VERY helpful Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 mysis should NOT cloud the water if you feed the individual pieces to each polyp. just put the mysis on a tentacle and it should instantly take. though newer LPS are likely to react less. Link to comment
chippwalters Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 the growth are a species of colonial hydroid. either that or bryozoans but you can't really see the animals on a bryozoan colony usually so i really think those are hydroids. A quick Google on hydroids show them to be a pest equal to aiptasia. Is this your experience? Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I've had a problem with hydroids on a few specific frags for awhile. They grow at a decent pace but they don't seem to immediately kill coral. Just seem like an annoyance. The zoas on the plug that are infested with hydroids are still doing well actually, so I wouldn't really call them an equivalent of aiptasias. Everytime they're about to spread off the plug, I just give them an H2O2 dip and they all shrivel away and die. But after a few weeks they start growing back. Just my experience with them though. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I have thecate ones that have some blue-green florescence (probably photosynthetic via zooxanthellae algae) and i dont touch them much. they grow among my zoas on some rocks, and somewhat irritate them, but they're hard to get rid of so i dont bother =/ Also once their stalk grows tall and past the zoa's reach, they no longer irritate the zoas by contact (its the polyp part of the hydroid that stings) yours look to be athecate and colonial. they might be a problem when they start growing near your coral. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 and just to add Ive never done anything to the droids to me they look like neat pointy live rock populations Link to comment
chippwalters Posted October 8, 2011 Author Share Posted October 8, 2011 Hey guys, Out of the clear blue, my Mexican Turbo Snail up and died-- or at least I think it's dead. It was upside down on the floor of the aquarium. I took it out and put it in a cup of saltwater, just in case it's playing possum. I noticed he had been 'falling' off the glass and rocks for a couple of days, just didn't think much about it. I did install a heater as it's been getting cooler in the evenings and I came home one day to find the tank in the high 75's. Since the heater has been installed, the snail has been next to it on several occasions. Don't know if that means anything. Everything else seems to be doing fine. I moved the brain coral so it's not in directly light, and have been feeding it when I can. I'm not sure it will make it, but I do think I see new growth (fingers crossed). The candy canes are puffy and looking great. I've added an Acan and he looks OK and the rest of the criters are doing fine (except I somehow lost one of the sexy shrimps...not sure what happened just haven't seem him in a number of days. The second Sexy pretty much jumps between the torch and the Zoas. He doesn't seem to be bothering the Zoas any and I'm careful to watch for him. The Pom Pom Crab shows himself only rarely, but when he does, he seems in good health. One BAD thing that did happen was that YESTERDAY I took the opportunity to try and hand feed the Brain Coral as his mouth was wide open. I turned off the filter and powerhead, dropped a shrimp pellet and squirted some Coral Frenzy on him and waited for him to feed. Damn, letf the powerhead and filter off for about 6 hours. When I came home, I immediately realized what I had done and of course turned everything on and checked on everybody. They all seemed OK, and today as well. Only this afternoon, I came in as found the snail upside down. Any ideas? Does this JUST happen? Latest FTS: (right click on it an "Open Image in New Tab" for a bigger version) Link to comment
castiel Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 I believe that most snails can't right themselves if they get completely upside down, so expect that happened and he just died. If everything else looks healthy then I wouldn't worry too much. Tank is looking really good! Link to comment
iball1804 Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Like Castiel said, 9 times out of 10, turbo snails die because they can't right themselves after falling. Yes you would think that after thousands of years of evolution the most basic operations would be mastered, but nay. That's why Dwarf Ceriths are the kings. Check out this kit: http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?page=sho...t&Itemid=34 Link to comment
chippwalters Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Did a 50% water change and put together my lighting design (more at: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3551416 ) Lost ANOTHER snail. This time a small snail climbed out of the tank. Found him behind the aquarium. Bummer. So, I'm doing some thermal tests on the lamp design to see how hot it makes the water. I also have a fan blowing on the top of the water. Need an ATO next! Here are the pics: Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 looks clearer than my setup Link to comment
chippwalters Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Ugh, Lost my Green Open Brain today. It has been doing awful and I could never figure out why. I tried hand feeding, and moving it out of direct light, but the little guy just never ever seemed to like my Pico. The mouth has been 'frozen' open for the last couple days, so I touched it, and it was hard as a rock. Bummer. RIP little guy. Funny, the Candy Canes I purchased at the same time from my LFS are doing great-- as is just about everything else. I have some new Acros which I'm being careful with. They've lost their color but they have their tentacles out at night for feeding and I'm trying to spot feed them with a Coral Frenzy mixture. I have them in direct light and decent current-- which I suppose is what they like. Any suggestions are welcome! I believe that most snails can't right themselves if they get completely upside down, so expect that happened and he just died. If everything else looks healthy then I wouldn't worry too much. Tank is looking really good! I suppose that is exactly what happened. Thanks for that info! Much appreciated. :-) Like Castiel said, 9 times out of 10, turbo snails die because they can't right themselves after falling. Yes you would think that after thousands of years of evolution the most basic operations would be mastered, but nay. That's why Dwarf Ceriths are the kings. Check out this kit: http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?page=sho...t&Itemid=34 Thanks. Checked out your home build..very nice! Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 The one in the center of your tank?It looked like it had flesh on it.Have any pictures of its current state?Preferably a close up. Link to comment
chippwalters Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 The one in the center of your tank?It looked like it had flesh on it.Have any pictures of its current state?Preferably a close up. I did keep it in a cup with saltwater, 'just in case.' But, I have touched the whole mouth and it's hard as a rock and you can see the skeleton through the mouth. I can't imagine it's still alive. Right-click and open in new tab for larger pic. Link to comment
_Mitch_ Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Sorry about your loss. The tank is looking great though! I love the scape! Link to comment
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