Tsubatsu Posted March 28, 2015 Author Share Posted March 28, 2015 Well, I've learned my first hard lesson in this hobby. I've been struggling with a severe outbreak of ich for the past week... First, the firefish died (seemingly of stress) and then the lawn mower blenny soon after. I knew that there was a problem, so I called a friend and he helped me set up and emergency QT tank that night. Unfortunately, my old heater (from a previous tank) malfunctioned in the "ON" state and rose the temp to a staggering 90 degrees over night. I did a 50% WC and brought the temp back down to 81 degrees, but the damage was already done. The timing of my heater breaking couldn't have been worse. The next day, my bangaii was dead. The clown wasn't showing any signs of having ich and was still eating regularly. So, like a fool, I moved him back into the display tank and broke down the QT. The next evening he was COVERED in white spots. I panicked. I setup the QT again, but I didn't have any RO/DI water and my LFS was closed. I would have to wait for the following day. This morning I woke up early to check on my clown - he was swimming around, but looked terrible. I still had two hours before the LFS would open. The plan was to buy some cupramine to treat the QT tank and some garlic to soak the food in. I just went down to check on him prior to this post, only to find that he was dead. I feel devastated. I know that ich is extremely common, and that everyone loses fish at some point, but I can't help feeling like a fool. I should have known better. The Takeaway: Setup a permanent QT tank and quarantine EVERYTHING. Dip your coral. Dip your fish. At the first sign of any kind of bacterial outbreak or fungal infection, act immediately. Have supplies and medicine on hand. I'm going to be letting my tank run fallow for 8 weeks. I'll be replacing my clown, bangaii, and lawnmower blenny afterwards. Each one will be added after spending at least 4 weeks in the QT and never more than one at a time. P.S. The coral are all looking great. I'll post some more pictures later this week. Link to comment
Tsubatsu Posted April 27, 2015 Author Share Posted April 27, 2015 Sorry it's been so long since my last update! Here are a few images of the coral and a few new additions! IMG_5593 by bryan.sekine, on Flickr Finally decided to get some Frog Spawn! Couldn't be happier with it. IMG_5594 by bryan.sekine, on Flickr Left Side: got some new frags! I also fragged my Kenya Tree. IMG_5595 by bryan.sekine, on Flickr Right Side: Babysitting a few coral for a friend and some LPS frags. IMG_5596 by bryan.sekine, on Flickr FTS GOPR0013 by bryan.sekine, on Flickr And just for fun, a FTS with a Fisheye lens! P.s. Sorry for the dirty glass... Link to comment
Dryland Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Sweet! Looking good. How is that cyphastrea doing? Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Tanks coming along very good ? Link to comment
Tsubatsu Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 Wow... It's been SO long since I've posted on Nano Reef! Sorry about that, everyone! A lot has happened since April. Most notably in June, my A/C unit died and I had to have a legal battle with my landlord over getting it replaced. As a result, I was out of A/C for 3.5 weeks and my house got up to 90 degrees during the day. Unfortunately, that meant that my tank was getting to 83 degrees or higher at some points. After fighting to keep the temp down for a week, I decided to move the livestock to my buddy's tank. Thankfully, he had just cycled his new frag tank at the time and was more than willing to take my livestock until I could get my A/C fixed. After the second week, the algae in the tank was getting out of hand and I started to notice signs of aptasia, bubble algae, and amphopods (that were eating on my zoas!). Not good. Seeing as how all of my coral and fish were out of the tank already, I figured this would be my only opportunity to completely reboot the tank. I took all of the rock out, bleached it, let is dry in the hot sun for a week, power washed it, cured it, and then put it back in. I also replaced the sand bed and let the tank cycle for 5 weeks. Since then, I have purchased a few new coral frags and I've been seeing some great success with the tank since then! Here's a few photos of how the tank looks now: Here's a FTS (null) (3) by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr Left Side: (null) (2) by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr Right Side: IMG_1963 by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr I changed the scaping a little bit, but I'm digging this new island feel. My favorite addition to the tank is definitely the Trachy. It's not as puffed out as it normally is in these images though. If i remember right, the lighting is only using my cheat LED strip in these photos, but I also have a t5 fixutre running for a few hours during the day. My next upgrade is definitely going to be getting some nanobox lights. I'm super stoked about that! P.S. After experiencing as many of the major reef-related problems that I can think of (ick, aptasia, bubble algae, amphopods, etc.), I feel much more prepared for my reefing adventures going forward. There were a lot of hard lessons to learn up to this point, but I won't be discouraged from participating in this hobby - I'm too invested at this point to give up! Wish me luck. Link to comment
Tsubatsu Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Today I decided to take some better photos after a good feeding and having the lights on for a few hours: (null) (1) by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr (null) (5) by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr (null) (4) by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr (null) (3) by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr (null) (2) by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr I also discovered that my wrasse likes to photobomb at high speeds! Ha! (null) (8) by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr (null) (7) by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr Link to comment
spectra Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Hopefully that 6 line is a model citizen.....those things can be an arse....... Looking good. Link to comment
Bunster Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Love what you did with the tonga rocks... very nice scape Link to comment
Tsubatsu Posted September 9, 2015 Author Share Posted September 9, 2015 Hopefully that 6 line is a model citizen.....those things can be an arse....... Looking good. Yeah... He already got into a fight with a porcelain crab that I previously owned. I felt really bad about it because he ended up tearing off one of the crabs pincers. I decided to take him to a more peaceful home and gave him to a friend of mine. I really like the wrasse, but I miss having crustaceans Love what you did with the tonga rocks... very nice scape Thank you! I've added a few more pieces of rubble rock - I'll have to post some more pictures soon. in the tank! Link to comment
Tsubatsu Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 Time for a quick update! I've mounted most of my frags and moved some of the rocks around. I added a few pieces of rubble that is covered in coralline algae - I really like the contrasting color it adds to the scape! Here's the left side: I added a small pump to help with circulation along the back of the tank. Left Side by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr And the right side: Right Side by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr Here's my little mushroom garden with some trumpet coral (or are they candy canes?) and a newly added Gorg. Mushroom Garden + Candy Canes by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr I'm starting a little Zoas garden as well! I'm thrilled with how well the Acan is doing: Zoa Garden + Acan by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr I got some more Zoas and a few Palys on the other "island," too. Zoas and Palys by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr I moved the Trachy up a bit and it's lovin' the new spot: Tachy and Candy Canes by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr The Duncans are putting on new heads and I think the Frogspawn likes being mounted where it get a lot of flow and light. Frogspawn and Duncans by Bryan Sekine, on Flickr All and all I'm pretty excited with how the tank is doing. I get a little bit of algae, but who doesn't, right? I'm looking to upgrade my lights to a nanobox fixture soon and I'll probably add another spinstream nozzle around the same time. What do you guys (and girls) think? Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Looking really good! Love your scape! Link to comment
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