Mark's 40B and 46 bow

[markalot]

Order some coral foods, 5 micron golden pearls, reef coral smoothie, rotifers, phyto, and hatch some BBS. Your system is far too clean. Your phosguard may be too much for your tank too. I feed my corals daily, they grow and stay vibrant. I feed actual foods, not liquids although in your case soaking the foods in coral amino will help. You can also try zeovit phols xtra. Although only small amounts.

 

Without amping up the nutrients in the system, you're looking at those paling out as well. Start feeding corals and monitor color progress with pictures.

I have to agree here, start with small additions of quality food and slowly increase, this way your biology has the ability to keep up. I have dosed phytoplankton, and Zeovit Coral Vitalizer and Sponge Power (among others) with good results on colour.

 

 

Christine

Thanks to both of you for the suggestions. I have reef roids that I haven't used in a while, going to try that and work up from there.

 

Just got back from the frag swap. Oogie!

[metrokat]

I have some reef cleaners food which is good for everything int he tank, be happy to send you some. PM me your addy.

[markalot]

Added new frags, re-arranged and tried to improve things a bit. Hands in the tank for a couple of hours, then another hour getting the superglue off my hands! Why does the color look so much better today? Reefbright LED? No dosing for 2 days? That Kent Coral Accel snake oil? Dumb luck?

 

 

I don't have pictures of everything.

 

Things bought that I wanted:

 

- ORA Green polyp Birdsnest. I thought I had this before but it ends up I was sent ORA Green Tip birdsnest. They say it grows fast and they aren't kidding, but only the tips are green.

 

Here's a poor picture of the new bird:

 

 

- ORA Bird of Paradise

 

 

 

- Montipora spongodes. Finally I have it, and when trying to remove it from the plug it broke into 3 :/ One is here in my 40, another in the 46, and a third very small piece on a plug in the 46.

 

 

 

- Neon green polyp Purple Acro, possible GARF Bonsai or similar looking.

 

After that I looked for fairly cheap Zoanthids or Palys. Picked up some Keds Reds (maybe), a nice orange zoa, some greenish something that I do not remember buying, plus some pink Palys I'm told spread very fast.

 

Here's a blurry pic of the orange and green.

 

 

 

And here's the reds.

 

 

 

It was a fun first frag swap, but I don't think I can afford any more.

[NanoTopia]

Glad you found some nice pieces Mark. I wish we had frag swaps in Western Canada, we have a lot of hobbyists up here.

[gena]

You picked up some great pieces!!!! I love the look of the spongodes!!!

[markalot]

I'm a fool not to notice.

 

AEFW on at least one Acro ... could this be the beginning of a non-acro tank?

 

Look at the full tank shot above, then this closeup from days ago.

 

 

I don't have a clear photo of the coral but it's out of the tank. I was up late tonight and decided to do a flashlight tour, which I will be doing more often now. That discoloration below the coral shows up with a flashlight clearly as egg masses. Upon further inspection the polyp holes on the right side of the coral were unusually dark and white marks clearly evident around the area.

 

Time will tell if I lucked out and all were on the coral with eggs below it, or not. I was able to cleanly remove the coral and the putty area it was on. I buy all my acro frags cheap, so no great loss of money, but if I have to I'll try and save the big slimer.

[Felicia]

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear about the AEFW's. I hope you got them all out and that all the other corals will be ok.

[NanoTopia]

Do you see bite marks on the acro? You won't see the worm only it's trail of destruction.

[markalot]

Do you see bite marks on the acro? You won't see the worm only it's trail of destruction.

 

Yep. Not many, but clearly white bite marks on the right side.

[markalot]

My test acropora has bite marks visible, so it gets removed tomorrow. Nothing else shows any damage so far.

[NanoTopia]

Look what the buggers did to my A.prostrata last year, it never recovered.

 

 

Mark, dip everything now before you start seeing the bit marks just to be safe.

Christine

[gena]

My test acropora has bite marks visible, so it gets removed tomorrow. Nothing else shows any damage so far.

Oh wow...so sorry to hear about the worms! Keeping my fingers crossed for you!!! Good thing you did a late night tour and discovered them!!!! I REALLY don't want you to lose the slimer...it's my favorite

[markalot]

Look what the buggers did to my A.prostrata last year, it never recovered.

 

 

 

Mark, dip everything now before you start seeing the bit marks just to be safe.

 

 

Christine

 

What did you dip in? I was thinking super overdose of flatworm exit and then placing the slimer in my 46 acroless tank for a while.

[markalot]

A quick tour of closeups. So far only the test acro shows damage.

 

 

Test acro, note numerous bite marks.

 

 

My largest, and rather ugly acro

 

 

 

ORA Blue Voodoo, paid $35 for this, most expensive Acro in the tank.

 

My just purchased neon polyp acro ... it took me 15 minutes to get it attached to the edge of this rock.

 

 

The slimer

 

 

So here's my current plan. Remove and dip slimer and neon polyp acro in a solution of tank water plus flatworm exit at 20X dosage. Sounds like this dosage won't kill the flatworms but will stun them. Blow the corals to try and remove all flatworms, if any are on it, and then place in the 46 for now.

 

Once that is done I have to consider what to do with the remaining acros in this tank.

[NanoTopia]

Flat Worm Exit will not kill AEFW at any dose. I don't recommend OD anything Brad, you may fix one problem but cause another. The Valida in the top picture is not in good shape. I suggest carefully removing it being careful not to let AEFW blow off the coral and spread throughout the tank. I personally would not return it to the display tank. The others look okay at this point but I would keep a close eye on them.

 

I have noticed in the past that smaller, maybe baby AEFW will not leave classic bite marks but rather lighten the tissue by only feeding off the surface of the tissue. Larger ones are capable of eating right to the skeleton and leave the visible bit marks. Eggs are found on the bare skeleton areas often in protected areas of the acro. The eggs are not always easy to find but when you do they are unmistakable masses of 10-20 eggs. Removal should only be performed in QT or holding bucket, never in the display.

 

Zeovit Flatworm Stop works by increasing the acro's slime coat making the tissue undesirable to AEFW. But it takes months IMO of dosing to build this on corals, by then it may be too late, this is why dipping is so important. The FWS does not affect the AEFW's directly.

 

 

Christine

[markalot]

Ok,

 

so after a full day of work ... well, ok, I went to one of my favorite LFS mid day as a consolation prize.

 

I did do the flatworm exit shock, which didn't harm any corals but it's unclear if it worked. 1.5 gallons of water in a white bucket, 30 drops of Flatworm Exit, then in goes the Slimer. Stuff jumped off, and I have planaria flatworms still (dammit), but nothing unusual that I could see. My goal here was to move the keepers first, so I dipped and moved the slimer, the green polyp acro, and a new small frag of pink millie, then placed in the 46.

 

Next I broke away the coral I knew was infected and dropped into the dip. I did see a larger pinkish flatworm jump off, so it may have worked, at least for the larger worms. I also broke away and removed the ugly acro on top which was very close to the infected acro. Once that was done I covered the encrusted areas with putty (whatever that stuff is called).

 

Next step was do do some rescaping as I transition the 40 to more of a mixed reef. Acros are not for me, to much effort and not enough color for my taste, so I decided only to keep Acros that will maintain some color with my level of maintenance, and of course the Montis, which is becoming my favorite coral.

 

I lifted the right side with a new rock, being careful not to disturb the back corner where my Rusty Goby lives. I knocked the rock once and the little bugger popped out and hovered for a second, as if he was yelling at me. Fine, I won't touch it! You can see his home rock, with the Anthelia on it, in the reflection on the right side of this FTS. The rescape also required me to move the MP10 to the other side of the tank.

 

 

And my new corals:

 

A large fragle rock of these Zoas. Pretty intense purple with an orange circle around the mouth.

 

 

These next ones are an intense green with a yellow mouth. Sold for $5 because they came with their very own aiptasia. Pffft, this tank is an aiptasia farm, what's one more to kill?

 

 

Next some pink disc pallys of some sort. You can see my only chalice in this shot. I keep moving this bastard around. Purchased 8 months ago and it might have grown 2mm. I puttied it up a few weeks ago and it seems happier to have something to grow on.

 

 

A browned out green monti cap, also dirt cheap due to the poor color.

 

 

 

Finally here is the 46 with the corals mounted. Not the look I was originally going for but that green slimer does make a statement.

 

 

It's unfortunate that the bowfront glass makes taking clear photos nearly impossible due to the distortion.

 

[gena]

It looks great, Mark! That green slimer is gorgeous!!!! I can't wait to get my own. The new zoas/palys are awesome too!!!!!

[metrokat]

Did you try the food yet?

[markalot]

Did you try the food yet?

 

I did, yesterday evening after I was done with everything. Hard to tell since stirring the sand already opened most of the corals, but the hermits and nassarius snails went nuts. I added a Red goniopora as well, which will appreciate the heavier feedings.

[markalot]

Some macro pics for fun, using my poor mans macro (stock lens plus 12mm extension tube).

 

 

 

I got these next pinkish ones at the frag swap last weekend. I think he told me a name, but I forget.

 

 

These greens came on a Zoa rock I purchased 6 months ago, I turned the rock some when i rescaped so I can see them better. Bubble Algae

 

 

Newest Blasto, moved from the 46 so I can see it better.

 

 

Another frag swap purchase, this was named neon orange digitata. Owner says it stays brighter then the ORA orange digitata. We shall see.

 

 

Spongodes

 

[markalot]

So check out this time lapse video of various corals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNv2LK-X2G0 It's an example of how some LED lamp will grow corals, but that's not what I'm interested in.

 

There's one that RTN's from the base, then recovers, but most interesting is the plating coraline that creeps up one of the acros. I have this on a rock in my 46 and it ended up killing a blasto head by covering it. I do not have the patience to setup a camera for daily or weekly pics. Glad someone did.

[Spirofucci]

Hey Markie! Tank and pics look great!!! Is the red worm problem solved???

[markalot]

Hey Markie! Tank and pics look great!!! Is the red worm problem solved???

 

Hi Mark. Yea, that beast was in the 46. Maybe I should have a single thread for both tanks? The 46 is turning into more of a coral summer vacation home for this tank.

 

Flatworms are back in this one ... I'm sure they never left but population is waxing at the moment. And I've got the AEFW so most likely all acros in here are goners. Trying to keep by strawberry colored frag alive by basting it every day. Stupid worms.

[Spirofucci]

 

Hi Mark. Yea, that beast was in the 46. Maybe I should have a single thread for both tanks? The 46 is turning into more of a coral summer vacation home for this tank.

 

Flatworms are back in this one ... I'm sure they never left but population is waxing at the moment. And I've got the AEFW so most likely all acros in here are goners. Trying to keep by strawberry colored frag alive by basting it every day. Stupid worms.

I am easily confused so please combine your tanks to an 80 gal minimum and then one thread!

[markalot]

I mixed up some reef roids, Kat's magic dust, and some cyclopese and made a complete mess in the tank. Everything seemed to respond well except some zoas, which closed up in fear. Wimps.