Felicia Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I hope its just the death that caused the spike and not another issue. Sounds like you have a good plan to figure it out. Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 Sorry about your pipefish Thanks kimber. I feel bad that I did not catch that it was ailing. I always watched for both seahorses to come and eat individually but I kind of watched the 2 pipefish as 1 unit. As long as I saw a pipefish at the food bowl I assumed all was well. It is easy to see the flaw in that system. Even so it's hard to know if their is anything I could have done. It had no obvious signs of a bacterial infection on its body and I doubt it was parasitic as no new animals have been added since the seahorses and pipefish, plus I run a UV. Maybe it was just it's time? I hope its just the death that caused the spike and not another issue. Sounds like you have a good plan to figure it out. Thanks, i will post what I find out in a day or so. Link to comment
owenj Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 RIP pipefish. Hope you find the source of the nitrates! of course the timing falls right before your trip, blah. Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 RIP pipefish. Hope you find the source of the nitrates! of course the timing falls right before your trip, blah. Thanks Jaime. Isn't that just the way life goes, LOL? Something always has to happen when it is the most inconvenient. I am choosing to look at it that it happened enough ahead of the trip for me to apply corrective action if necessary, (I am a glass half full kind of a gal). Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 Sorry to hear about the pipe fish! I wouldn't worry too much as long as everything else looks ok and you keep up with water changes. Do you think the pipefish's death is what cause the nitrate spike?Good news:I checked nitrates again today and they were down to between 5-10 ppm after doing 2 10g WCs. (I have even been turning the skimmer and return pump off at night to protect any potential fry that might be born then.) I feel fairly certain that the spike in nitrates was caused by the pipefish's body in the tank. It is possible if the pipe died during the night 5 hat he was in the 15 hours before I found him. I do not believe that the tank system is what contributed to the spike in nitrates. Link to comment
Felicia Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Glad to hear it was just the death that caused the spike and not some other issue. I know you don't want to be worrying about your system while you're out of town, so hopefully you can breathe easy. Still sorry about the pipefish, but if there was no sign of illness, I'm sure there was nothing you could have done. Were the full grown when you got them? There'd be no way to tell how old it was, so maybe it was just its time. I always wonder if maybe fish get medical conditions like people too when they just die suddenly like that. Like maybe a heart condition or cancer or something. Its not like we could tell that that was going on. Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 Glad to hear it was just the death that caused the spike and not some other issue. I know you don't want to be worrying about your system while you're out of town, so hopefully you can breathe easy. Still sorry about the pipefish, but if there was no sign of illness, I'm sure there was nothing you could have done. Were the full grown when you got them? There'd be no way to tell how old it was, so maybe it was just its time. I always wonder if maybe fish get medical conditions like people too when they just die suddenly like that. Like maybe a heart condition or cancer or something. Its not like we could tell that that was going on. Yes, this nitrate test surprised me almost as much as the last one, but in a good way. I was hoping for 20 ppm. I bought these pipes from Ocean Rider and I like to think that they would not sell me an aged fish. I got them Oct 2nd, 2014 so it should have been less than 2 years old. I don't even know what a pipefish's lifespan is? Actually many fish do get cancers so it seems reasonable that they get other diseases as well and like you said...how would we know if that happened? I have learned that we don't always know the why's to our fish's demise. Actually I accept that as ok...it's when I do know why they died and I could have prevented it that really hurts! Link to comment
Felicia Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I believe seahorses are supposed to have a lifespan of 4-5 years, but I'm not sure about pipefish. Honestly, we always assume with fish that it has to be one of the main fish diseases like ich, a parasite, or a physical injury. But I wonder how often its other things that we don't often think of with fish, but seem like would be pretty common such as cancer. Point being, all we can do is give them a healthy environment to live in and sometimes their health is out of our control. Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 I believe seahorses are supposed to have a lifespan of 4-5 years, but I'm not sure about pipefish. Honestly, we always assume with fish that it has to be one of the main fish diseases like ich, a parasite, or a physical injury. But I wonder how often its other things that we don't often think of with fish, but seem like would be pretty common such as cancer. Point being, all we can do is give them a healthy environment to live in and sometimes their health is out of our control.I have been reading lately that seahorses fed on live food can live longer in an aquarium than 5 years, more like 7 or 8 years. I guess frozen mysis can float around and get caught in rocks or macro algae and harbor bacteria that can infect a seahorses gut. I try to feed mine enriched live food 3 Xs a week. I can't feed live for all their meals but this seems like a reasonable compromise.Yep, that is exactly how it is. Anytime you invest resources, time and love on a living creature there are risks. Considering how much beauty and fullness they bring to our lives, I would say it is worth it! Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 Some bulldozing hermits have been wreaking havoc on the reef tank lately. One such crab inhabits a turbo snail shell of epic proportions. When he motors around he can even displace fairly large rocks, which he did last night. It happened to be the rock my birdsnest was on. The rock was laying on the wellso brain but no sign of the birdsnest. Bummer, because it had been doing so well. However, I still have the tiny point I broke off accidently so maybe it will grow! Link to comment
kimberbee Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 F-ing hermits. I think the 3-4 hermits in my biocube ate most of the snails I just restocked with... Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 F-ing hermits. I think the 3-4 hermits in my biocube ate most of the snails I just restocked with... Haha same here- sucks! Get a few snails that live in the sand bed Link to comment
ReefWeeds Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Aww. Sorry about the pipefish, Dawn! And your upcoming trip sounds awesome. I hope you post pictures here! Link to comment
markalot Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Just read about the pipe fish, sorry to hear that but I doubt it was a husbandry issue. Those nitrates can be sneaky, and I bet it was only after the death that they spiked. Some corals do tend to look good with higher nitrates, don't they? Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 F-ing hermits. I think the 3-4 hermits in my biocube ate most of the snails I just restocked with...O that's terrible kimber,I don't even have snails in the reef tank, just hermits. I would be tempted to switch to only snails but the hermits do an awesome at cleaning up so I will forbear with them. Aww. Sorry about the pipefish, Dawn! And your upcoming trip sounds awesome. I hope you post pictures here!Thanks Stella. I will miss seeing the 2 pipes swim side by side with just the moonlight LEDs.I am taking my tablet so I will take pics on our trip! Link to comment
ReefWeeds Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Hey Dawn! When you harvest the rose petal macro, are you able to start a new colony? I would love to have a piece for my 12L, but am not sure if that's the type of macro you can propagate. Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 Just read about the pipe fish, sorry to hear that but I doubt it was a husbandry issue. Those nitrates can be sneaky, and I bet it was only after the death that they spiked. Some corals do tend to look good with higher nitrates, don't they? You are right Mark, I don't think the pipefish died from a husbandry issue either. The fact that the nitrates dropped immediately with 2 WCs proves to me that they only spiked because of its death. I knew some corals like the high nitrates because in my 1st 90g reef tank (when it was skimmerless and had some predators like an eel) I could never get the nitrates below 40 ppm and everything flourished. I had mostly softies back then but they looked great. Hey Dawn! When you harvest the rose petal macro, are you able to start a new colony? I would love to have a piece for my 12L, but am not sure if that's the type of macro you can propagate. I would love to give you a piece but it's tricky with just a fragment of the macro. I think I noticed a new piece growing on another rock. I will keep an eye on it and if it is I will chip a piece of the rock with the rose pedal and send it to you. It might be better to wait til fall when the weather cools anyway. Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 I almost forgot, Adam had his brood this morning. They appear to be a robust batch of fry. Hopefully Rick my lfs owner will come and get them. He started hatching bb 2 days ago in preparation so he should be in good shape. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I almost forgot, Adam had his brood this morning. They appear to be a robust batch of fry. Hopefully Rick my lfs owner will come and get them. He started hatching bb 2 days ago in preparation so he should be in good shape. Awesome! How many do you think? Link to comment
ReefWeeds Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 You are right Mark, I don't think the pipefish died from a husbandry issue either. The fact that the nitrates dropped immediately with 2 WCs proves to me that they only spiked because of its death. I knew some corals like the high nitrates because in my 1st 90g reef tank (when it was skimmerless and had some predators like an eel) I could never get the nitrates below 40 ppm and everything flourished. I had mostly softies back then but they looked great. I would love to give you a piece but it's tricky with just a fragment of the macro. I think I noticed a new piece growing on another rock. I will keep an eye on it and if it is I will chip a piece of the rock with the rose pedal and send it to you. It might be better to wait til fall when the weather cools anyway. That would be so awesome, Dawn! And that gives time for MarineDepot to get the tank in stock Link to comment
ReefWeeds Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I almost forgot, Adam had his brood this morning. They appear to be a robust batch of fry. Hopefully Rick my lfs owner will come and get them. He started hatching bb 2 days ago in preparation so he should be in good shape. How do you get them out of the main tank into this one? Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 Harry, I am estimating about 150 fry. This looks like the biggest brood so far and last one was over 100. Stella, I get a small container and just scoop them out with some tank water. I read that you should never use a net. I had already siphoned about half a 5 gallon bucket worth of water out of the tank. I have a battery back up pump aerating the 5 gallon bucket until Rick picks the babies up. Link to comment
ReefWeeds Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Really cool! I can see why you wouldn't want to use a net. They may get hung up in there and not make it. This is very cool. Will your guy give you photos as they grow? I'd love to see the progress. Link to comment
vlangel Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 Really cool! I can see why you wouldn't want to use a net. They may get hung up in there and not make it. This is very cool. Will your guy give you photos as they grow? I'd love to see the progress. I doubt that he will send photos as he has a customer raising them for him. However, I raised 15 out of 22 this past winter and it is all covered in this thread. When you have time check the dates between Nov and Feb. I posted pics and videos. Start at page 5 and you will experience the whole drama! I will probably try another batch this winter. Link to comment
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