da1001's dead tank update

[da1001]

Quick update: I was right, one of the crabs must have torn the other one to shreds because I got around to pulling out the shell from the rock work and it was empty. I am thinking its the biggest crab I have, he is always busy running around and acting the fool and he is about 1/3 larger than the other 2 are, maybe he has a mean streak in him? I saw the second crab last night cruising around (he finally stopped staring at himself in the glass lol) so I know those 2 are alive and well still. All the snails are doing fine. I kept the empty shell in there in case the smaller crab wanted to change shells and I guess I will pick up some more empty shells next time I am at the LFS so the big crab has some choices too.

 

The Acan is slowly recovering. I think it is finally getting used to my stronger lighting, I fed him again a few minutes ago and he is looking happy and fat. When I originally bought it, they had put it on the $10 rack because I guess they thought it was going to die, it only had 1 of 2 decent heads on it, the second one was shrunken, washed out and half dead looking. The other head was fine, if very slightly bleached. After the recent feedings the second head is now as large as the first one, back upto about 50% orange coloration and the main head is about 90% orange coloration now. Bleaching is almost totally gone and they are looking much larger and happier than they were before.

 

The Ric looks exactly the same, honestly lol. Well except he has this weird corner on the back of him that has remained stuck almost straight up at a 90 degree angle. It looks like when he got glued down he got pissy and tried to crawl away and that little corner of him is all that's holding him onto the frag plug. His coloration is awesome though so I cant complain, maybe someday he will lay it flat again and stop trying to escape.

 

The birdsnest is looking nice and fluffy and maybe microscopically larger than when I got it.

 

The candycane is looking happy and healthy even though I havent had the chance to actually get any Mysis into it yet. I am trying to get it to throw out some feeders during the day so I can feed it next to my Acan and Little Turd all at once each day but no luck yet. Only time I see them out is early morning before the lights come on and I am too groggy to feed them then.

 

All the Zoa's are doing good. The Sunny D's are at 10 heads total now, which is 2 more than when I got them a few weeks ago but no new growths that I can see right now. The rock covered in Eagle Eyes and Wham'n Watermelons are looking good too. Should be growing out onto the rock anytime now since there is no more room on the rock they are on now.

[da1001]

Holy crap, my entire glass has been taken over by copepods. Not sure I like them but not willing to buy a six line just to clean them up, lol.

 

Edit: Also found a teeny tiny baby snail cruising around cleaning the glass, too.

[kimberbee]

Copepods are good!! I want more of em!

[Slowtwitch]

 

The Acan is slowly recovering. I think it is finally getting used to my stronger lighting, I fed him again a few minutes ago and he is looking happy and fat. When I originally bought it, they had put it on the $10 rack because I guess they thought it was going to die, it only had 1 of 2 decent heads on it, the second one was shrunken, washed out and half dead looking. The other head was fine, if very slightly bleached. After the recent feedings the second head is now as large as the first one, back upto about 50% orange coloration and the main head is about 90% orange coloration now. Bleaching is almost totally gone and they are looking much larger and happier than they were before.

 

The candycane is looking happy and healthy even though I havent had the chance to actually get any Mysis into it yet. I am trying to get it to throw out some feeders during the day so I can feed it next to my Acan and Little Turd all at once each day but no luck yet. Only time I see them out is early morning before the lights come on and I am too groggy to feed them then.

 

Holy crap, my entire glass has been taken over by copepods. Not sure I like them but not willing to buy a six line just to clean them up, lol.

 

Edit: Also found a teeny tiny baby snail cruising around cleaning the glass, too.

Adjust your lighting schedule so that the feeders are out later in the morning. You'll likely never see them in daylight. That being said. If you lay a shrimp on their mouth in the daytime with the pumps off so it doesn't get blown away, the mouths will close around it and eat.

 

Don't buy a six-line. Let the pods grow into a healthy population. EVERYTHING eats them. Even your corals when they can catch them. Your first little fish in there will have a field day.

[da1001]

 

The Acan is slowly recovering. I think it is finally getting used to my stronger lighting, I fed him again a few minutes ago and he is looking happy and fat. When I originally bought it, they had put it on the $10 rack because I guess they thought it was going to die, it only had 1 of 2 decent heads on it, the second one was shrunken, washed out and half dead looking. The other head was fine, if very slightly bleached. After the recent feedings the second head is now as large as the first one, back upto about 50% orange coloration and the main head is about 90% orange coloration now. Bleaching is almost totally gone and they are looking much larger and happier than they were before.

 

The candycane is looking happy and healthy even though I havent had the chance to actually get any Mysis into it yet. I am trying to get it to throw out some feeders during the day so I can feed it next to my Acan and Little Turd all at once each day but no luck yet. Only time I see them out is early morning before the lights come on and I am too groggy to feed them then.

 

Adjust your lighting schedule so that the feeders are out later in the morning. You'll likely never see them in daylight. That being said. If you lay a shrimp on their mouth in the daytime with the pumps off so it doesn't get blown away, the mouths will close around it and eat.

 

Don't buy a six-line. Let the pods grow into a healthy population. EVERYTHING eats them. Even your corals when they can catch them. Your first little fish in there will have a field day.

 

 

Ya ya, I know. They are still ugly as sin though

[da1001]

Did my weekly water change a day late, glad I got a skimmer to help me with gunk. The skimmate I am pulling is about the color of white tea right now but it is slowly darkening as everything breaks in and I get a dryer skimmate going. This illness really whooped my arse, I came pretty damn close to croaking. It's taken me 6 full days to recover enough to even move around much. Little turd is looking slightly skinny. I think I might need to start feeding him just a little bit more. I give him about 20 New Life Spectrum pellets once a day but it looks like he might need just a little bit more to be fat and healthy. Live and learn, he aint going to croak on me anytime soon so I can up his food supply next time I feed him. I really need to get another pump for my water change mixing bucket, this hand mixing is getting old quick. Managed to get some mysis into a couple of the candy cane heads, the rest didnt have feeders out so they got nothing. Cleaned the tank the best I could, replaced the filter floss and called it a night. Got about 500 copepod's on each glass side. The little buggers are all over the place. Makes me wish I could toss a Mandarin in, but I know better. I will toss some pics up sometime when I have the energy, I just don't have it in me right now though. Hope everyone else is having a great weekend.

[Uphoric]

Hmmm, 20 pellets for one fish? I use the same stuff, wasn't really sure how much to feed. I've been really underfeeding

[da1001]

Hmmm, 20 pellets for one fish? I use the same stuff, wasn't really sure how much to feed. I've been really underfeeding

 

Well, they always say feed em enough for 5 mins worth of eating. 20 pellets lasts him about 30 seconds, but then again I am not one to put much stock into that feeding guide either. I will switch back to about 40 a day, or until he starts looking too fat.

 

P.S. I have the 1mm pellets, if you have the larger ones then thats a lot more food than me.

[Uphoric]

 

Well, they always say feed em enough for 5 mins worth of eating. 20 pellets lasts him about 30 seconds, but then again I am not one to put much stock into that feeding guide either. I will switch back to about 40 a day, or until he starts looking too fat.

 

P.S. I have the 1mm pellets, if you have the larger ones then thats a lot more food than me.

I just did this added around 30 pellets for both fish, I use 1mm but my clowns spit it out unless i crush it and when its crushed they're so picky! They eat half and ignore the rest :/ Might give the "NLS Thera A" a shot.

[da1001]

Weirdness abounds today apparently. So I saw another bit of hermit crab in the tank, considering I already turkey basted the last one out that had been torn to shreds, I was worried one of the remaining 2 had died but when I checked, both remaining hermit crabs were safely hiding in their shells giving me the bird, so I guess one of them must have molted instead.

 

My clownfish has been swimming weakly and sort of vertical in the tank since this morning, I am not sure what is wrong with him. Other than being slightly thin looking, he is the picture of good health and nothing appears torn or hurt on him. Water parameters are all good and nothing else seems stressed either. (the sunny d's have actually started 2 new polyps so now its almost at a dozen) I tried to feed ole Clowney, but he was only able to eat one pellet, it was like he had the strength to swim near the surface, but not that extra oomph to get him to the surface itself where all the pellets were floating? *shrugs* Weird as hell if you ask me. I will try again tomorrow I guess and hope this is just a temporary thing. When I was sick, my cat was acting sick too but I think that was from her distemper and rabies vaccines kicking in after I took her to the vet for her yearly visit, maybe Little Turd felt like crap too so we were all sick? haha, if only that was the case. I will be keeping a close eye on him.

I just did this added around 30 pellets for both fish, I use 1mm but my clowns spit it out unless i crush it and when its crushed they're so picky! They eat half and ignore the rest :/ Might give the "NLS Thera A" a shot.

That's what I am new using, New Life Spectrum Thera A+ or whatever it is in 1mm pellet size.

[da1001]

I woke up to find poor Little Turd dead on the bottom of the tank this morning. Nothing else seems stressed in the slightest, so I am not sure what may have killed him off. The only changed variables I can think of: the water change, and the appearance of copepods. Obviously its probably not the pods. When I did the most recent water change, I made sure the water was heated to tank temps and the same salinity and I poured it in extra slowly so I didn't make anything mad and that's pretty much it. The corals seem fine, the water parameters checked out fine, Little Turd looked fine. There were no diseases that got him from what I can tell because his poor little body looked the picture of health and up until last night when he only ate one pellet he was eating just fine too. True, he may not have been fat at all but he sure wasn't starve-to-death skinny either. I am at a loss, but I do know that I am going fish-free for a week or two until I can come to terms with losing my little buddy.

[kimberbee]

It's hard to lose your first fish. Sorry about Little Turd.

[Smithjm5]

If you said he was skinny and swimming around funny and not eating it was probably a parasite that killed him. How long had you had him?

[Slowtwitch]

Sorry to hear about the clown. Glad to hear the rest of the tank is doing well though.

[teenyreef]

So sorry to hear! RIP, Little Turd Like Smith said, it probably was a parasite and nothing that you could have really prevented.

[da1001]

If you said he was skinny and swimming around funny and not eating it was probably a parasite that killed him. How long had you had him?

 

I had him for about a week and a half before he bit the bullet.

 

I came in from work tonight to another small diatom bloom on my sand bed and some of the rockwork, but the CUC is busy cleaning it up as we speak other than one stupid snail who fell off a rock and onto his back, I need to go roll him over and save him in a few but I just walked in the door and I am tired.

[da1001]

It's been awhile since I had any pics to add after getting over this hellacious illness I had, but I figured I would add a few tonight in my spare time so you all had some more eye candy to peep on.

 

Here is a much better shot of the Asterina starfish I have cruising around in my tank from time to time.

 

Here is one that is zoomed out a bit, the birdsnest is top left, starfish front and center, and the Ric in the background. The Ric is finally flattening out and not trying to crawl his happy ass off of the frag plug anymore.

 

Here is a shot of my smaller of the 2 hermits chilling in front of the Acan

 

And another zoomed out shot of the crab, Acan, and you can see the bajillions of pods I have all over my glass now too, I must have thousands of the damn things.

 

 

And finally, my piece de resistance....a macro video of the hermit doing what hermits do. Wiggling his assorted appendages, sorry its kind of out of focus, he kept moving around lol.

 

[teenyreef]

Looks great! That asterina is so cute!

[da1001]

Looks great! That asterina is so cute!

 

Thanks, teeny. It's a cutie, that's for sure.

[kimberbee]

I like when asterinas have all their legs. Much cuter!

[Matthewdvm]

Good looking start to your tank! Sorry to hear about Little Turd.

[da1001]

Good looking start to your tank! Sorry to hear about Little Turd.

Ya, whatcha going to do they all cant be perfectly healthy when we get them. I was going to head over to the LFS again last night or today but it has been dumping snow and I just don't feel like driving 20 miles at 15 mph each way just to check their frag tank and not find exactly what I want. Maybe Sunday when it all turns to rain instead?

 

I have noticed that the flatworms are back. IDK, too many to catch with a turkey baster this time. They don't seem to be hurting anything though and I have read several posts where people have them and they don't hurt anything so I am going to hope for the best. They are currently on my glass or on the sand so as long as they don't mess with the corals I could care less at this moment.

 

One of the crabs snatched up a snail and killed it last night. I think the snail wasn't doing too good anyway, he kept flipping upside down and not moving at all so I would flip him right way up again but an hour later he would be upside down again. The crab hasn't looked at taking over the snail's shell, so maybe it died of natural causes and he is just cleaning up the mess. I will be fishing it out of the tank shortly so I don't have an ammonia spike but leaving the shell in just in case either of the crabs want it.

[da1001]

Quick Update:

 

Hmm, weird. Pico Skim seems to be semi-working again. In that I am getting nasty looking water in my collection bottle.

 

Its still snowing so I doubt I will get to the LFS this week to look for a small head of frogspawn for some movement in the tank.

 

I keep getting diatom on my sand bed and the snails are all usually on the glass or the rock work anymore and not on the sand, lazy little buggers.

 

The Sunny D's are working on getting head #13 made. From 8 to 13 in 5 weeks? I'll take it. The big rock chunk with the Eagle Eye's and Whammin' Watermelons on it is also popping out a few new heads. No complaints there, my Zoas are all doing good.

 

The Ric is nice and colorful but he is STILL trying to detach from the frag plug where he had a spot of superglue stuck to his ass so it looks weird because the front half is starting to hang half off the plug and he has bunched up the back half of his body so it is stuck straight up into the air from his exertions to get away from it. I wonder where he wants to go?

 

The birdsnest is getting fluffier and looks slightly larger than when I bought it so I am happy with that.

 

The candy cane coral is getting FAT. Still only at 5 heads but it looks about twice the size as when I bought it a few weeks ago.

 

The Acan is sort of weird. The smaller of the two heads used to be the larger of the two heads, its gotten 90% of its color back from when they had it in the $5 rack at the LFS because they thought it was going to die or something. The smaller of the two heads has gone slightly white in a few spots but is still more colorful than it used to be and has grown to be about twice its original size. I really want their coloration to come back fully though, it is a brilliant fluorescent orange. Guess all I can do is try to feed them more. I also noticed there is like 2 spots of bubble algae on the frag it came in on, not worth getting an emerald crab for. I will keep an eye on it, if it gets crazy I might toss one in to combat that.

 

So other than 7 flatworms on my glass, maybe 6 more on the sand, 2 spots of bubble algae on a frag, diatoms, something causing some micro bubbles once in awhile and a shitload of copepods everywhere, my tank seems to be doing ok.

[Matthewdvm]

Sounds good. I have a bunch of flatworms. I pluck them out with tweezers at feeding time, but there always seems to be more. Never seen one on a coral, so I don't worry too much about it. Also I have a bunch on bubble algae on the right side of the tank (oddly, only one bubble on the left side). I take it off when I can get to it, but figure I could drive myself crazy trying t get rid of it all and never be successful, so as long as it isn't too bad, I don't worry about it.

 

My Acan is crazy healthy. Bought it about a month ago with 4 heads. Now has those 4 mature heads and about 10 baby heads. Birds nest is a slow grower for sure, but is doing well (not sure why people recommend waiting a long time before going SPS - my SPS do better than my LPS, in general).

 

Anyway, keep posting, keep taking pictures to show progress. I'm curious to see how it all turns out.

[da1001]

Sounds good. I have a bunch of flatworms. I pluck them out with tweezers at feeding time, but there always seems to be more. Never seen one on a coral, so I don't worry too much about it. Also I have a bunch on bubble algae on the right side of the tank (oddly, only one bubble on the left side). I take it off when I can get to it, but figure I could drive myself crazy trying t get rid of it all and never be successful, so as long as it isn't too bad, I don't worry about it.

 

My Acan is crazy healthy. Bought it about a month ago with 4 heads. Now has those 4 mature heads and about 10 baby heads. Birds nest is a slow grower for sure, but is doing well (not sure why people recommend waiting a long time before going SPS - my SPS do better than my LPS, in general).

 

Anyway, keep posting, keep taking pictures to show progress. I'm curious to see how it all turns out.

 

Sounds like a plan! I am really hoping to toss in a frogspawn soon or something soon to give my tank a bit of movement, but it just started raining on top of the snow. Looks like it will be an ice rink for the next few days around here!