Sleeping with the Fishes [a pe(s)t project]

[Mariaface]

Maybe it sat up really high and bleached the coralline on its shell?

[metrokat]

Maybe it sat up really high and bleached the coralline on its shell?

This

[holy carp]

Interesting thought. I'll hit it with a blue flashlight tonight to see if it fluoresces. If it's bleached/affected coralline, I think I would expect it to glow. Maybe it was hanging out above the waterline laying eggs or something.

[holy carp]

[ninjamyst]

congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[holy carp]

congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you! I feel very honored.

[Mariaface]

Congrats!!!

[metrokat]

YOU SNEAK! Congratulations.

[teenyreef]

I was just wondering what this meant, congratulations! Great job!

[cherokee2871]

Congratulations!!

[holy carp]

Good news bad news.

Blue Hornet finally had a baby:


Over the last week, the plate coral has gone from this:


To this:


I don't know what to suspect except that my skimmer is not producing... Basic parameters haven't changed, but I'll test more tonight.

[Mariaface]

Maybe the water's too clean? D:

 

I had to give up on my little orange guy; it didn't make it. Green one's still having a parade at the bottom of my tank, though, so there's that?

[cherokee2871]

Those Hornets are gorgeous. Sorry to hear about the plate though. I just turned my skimmer off yesterday, had some recession on an acan and wanted to see what would happened if I left more nutrients in the water to see if it fixed it. Hopefully it helps.

[holy carp]

Those Hornets are gorgeous. Sorry to hear about the plate though. I just turned my skimmer off yesterday, had some recession on an acan and wanted to see what would happened if I left more nutrients in the water to see if it fixed it. Hopefully it helps.

Do you feed your acans? Mine eat mysis pretty readily around dusk, and I feed them a few times per week.

[cherokee2871]

_{Do you feed your acans? Mine eat mysis pretty readily around dusk, and I feed them a few times per week.}

 

_{Absolutely. I feed them Mysis and Oyster eggs mixed with tank water spot fed. I alternate those two. I do feed the tank oyster feast as well at night one drop with an MP10 for displacement around the tank. The funny thing is its recessing on one side but has three new baby heads on the other so I'm at a loss. Just testing with the skimmer off to see if this helps this one as well as how my other corals react with it off. I maintain 20% water changes weekly for nutrient export. I thought I might be starving them a little with weekly water changes and running a skimmer 24/7. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.}

[holy carp]

I think I mentioned this before, and now it's happened again.  

 

My Darth Maul Porites is somehow seeding nearby rock that it doesn't touch.  I won't go so far as to call it a pest infestation, but I'm pretty blown away by these 'spontaneous corals.'

 

Here's a top-down of the coral.  Below it, you can see spots where new coral is growing.  I can assure you that at no point did I ever knock or break off a bit of this one that could have fallen down there.  

 

Here's a close-up.  The baby on the left I had noticed a while back.  The one on the right is new.  They are clearly not connected to one another or to the parent colony situated above them.

 

[Edit: Here was the original post when I discovered the first 'spontaneous coral']

[Weetabix7]

That is SO COOL!!!

[Glauber Carvalho]

Beautiful tank!

 

[metrokat]

Hey it doesn't do that in my tank!

[Mariaface]

I think HC's tank has the Koolaid..

[StinkyBunny]

Polyp bail out is how it happens. Watch the underside of the coral and they sorta pop out and drop or roll to a new location. I've had about a dozen bubble corals do this over the years. Leptastrea does this regularly too.

[holy carp]

Really interesting. Those are some ballsy little pioneer polyps. I can't see anything at the moment, but I'm guessing it doesn't happen that often... 

 

Here's another view where you can see the bottom of the main colony.

[holy carp]

So I got my first Triton test. I did so in response to some struggling montis and the surprising decline of my plate coral.  I got the results today, and I think this service is nothing short of amazing.  However, I'm still confused as to possible reasons behind the elements that are out of whack.  I'm pasting the results below (sorry for the challenging formatting translation), and would love any insights. 

 

Triton makes their own salt, but I've read that they recommend Tropic Marin Pro Reef, which is what I've been using for my weekly water changes since mid May last year.  And yes, always RODI that has always been tested at 0 TDS...

 

Essentially, I have high selenium, some copper, high lithium, high silicon.

 

(Oh, but no aluminum...  so that may debunk the whole claim that MarinePure leaches aluminum...  I've been using their big block in a little tank since day 1.)

 

Also, low phosphorus?  WTF...  I think if that's the case that the Hanna checker may be more garbage than I've ever imagined...  The lowest reading I ever get on that is 8ppb phosphorus, which is .025ppm phosphate. 

 

 

DATA

Unwanted heavy metals (15 Gallons)

Element	Analysis	Setpoint	Deviation	Warning lamp
Hg	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
Se	16 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	15.90	▲
Cd	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
Sn	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
Sb	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
As	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
Al	11 µg/l	2 µg/l	9.00	▲
Pb	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
Ti	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
Cu	4.844 µg/l	0.1 µg/l	4.74	▲
La	0 µg/l	0.1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
Sc	0 µg/l	0.1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
W	0 µg/l	0.1 µg/l	-0.10	▲

Macro-Elements (15 Gallons)

Element	Analysis	Setpoint	Deviation	Warning lamp
Na	10237 mg/l	10700 mg/l	-463.00	▲
Ca	417 mg/l	440 mg/l	-23.00	▲
Mg	1373 mg/l	1370 mg/l	3.00	▲
K	339 mg/l	400 mg/l	-61.00	▲
Br	54 mg/l	62 mg/l	-8.00	▲
B	4.281 mg/l	4,5 mg/l	-0.22	▲
Sr	6.708 mg/l	8 mg/l	-1.29	▲
S	916 mg/l	900 mg/l	16.00	▲

Li-Group (15 Gallons)

Element	Analysis	Setpoint	Deviation	Warning lamp
Li	503 µg/l	200 µg/l	303.00	▲
Ni	0 µg/l	5 µg/l	-5.00	▲
Mo	3.262 µg/l	12 µg/l	-8.74	▲

I-Group (15 Gallons)

Element	Analysis	Setpoint	Deviation	Warning lamp
V	0 µg/l	1,2 µg/l	-1.20	▲
Zn	13 µg/l	4 µg/l	9.00	▲
Mn	0 µg/l	2 µg/l	-2.00	▲
I	6.002 µg/l	60 µg/l	-54.00	▲

Fe-Group (15 Gallons)

Element	Analysis	Setpoint	Deviation	Warning lamp
Cr	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
Co	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲
Fe	12 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	11.90	▲

Ba-Group (15 Gallons)

Element	Analysis	Setpoint	Deviation	Warning lamp
Ba	2.8 µg/l	10 µg/l	-7.20	▲
Be	0 µg/l	0,1 µg/l	-0.10	▲

Si-Group (15 Gallons)

Element	Analysis	Setpoint	Deviation	Warning lamp
Si	705 µg/l	100 µg/l	605.00	▲

Nutrient-Group (15 Gallons)

Element	Analysis	Setpoint	Deviation	Warning lamp
P	2.559 µg/l	6 µg/l	-3.44	▲
PO4	0.00783054 mg/l	0.01836 mg/l	-0.010	▲

 

 

HELP

We detected elements in your water that can be harmful for your tank.
More information about each element is listed below.

We recommend to carry out 6 x 15% water changes with TRITON PURE 2.0 salt, spread over 6 weeks.

-----

Selenium has been found in your system.

As Selenium can be very dangerous to you aquarium you should first try to find the contamination source. To assist you in finding the source of error, we have listed the most common sources of selenium (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Trace element overdose / contamination
2. Food
3. Contaminated salts

-----

Low levels of Copper have been found in your system.

Although not as dangerous at very low levels it is important that you check your system for any possible contaminations.

To help you in your search for the source of error, we have listed them the most common sources of copper (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Contaminated trace element solutions
2. Bio-pellets
3. Contaminated salts
4. Contaminated food
5. Corroding metals or magnets near the water

If you have problems in your tank, we recommend to carry out 4 x 15% water changes with TRITON PURE 2.0 salt, spread over 4 weeks.

Monitor with future ICP-OES tests.

-----

Your Calcium levels are slightly low.

Check for accuracy of home Ca test kit if used.

Please dose as recommended in the DOSE tab.

-----

Your Potassium levels are slightly low.

Please dose as recommended in the DOSE tab.

-----

Your Lithium levels are too high.

Check for possible contamination source. To help you in your search for the source of error, we have listed them the most common lithium sources (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Trace element overdose / contamination
2. Contaminated salts / contaminated magnesium salts
3. Artificial Rock/ Reef ceramics
4. Food

-----

Your Zinc levels are slightly elevated.

Check for possible contamination source. Check for possible contamination source. To assist you in finding the source of error, we have listed the most common sources of zinc (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Contaminated trace elements
2. Hand Cream applied before working in the aquarium
3. Contaminated salts

If you have problems in your tank, we recommend to carry out 4 x 15% water changes with TRITON PURE 2.0 salt, spread over 4 weeks.

-----

Your Iron levels are too high.

Check for possible contamination source. To help you in finding the source of error, we have listed them the most common sources of iron (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Trace element overdose / contamination
2. Metals near or in the aquarium (as rusty clamps or screws)
3. Iron based Phosphate remover (too much flow in reactor)
4. Low pH in the aquarium

Your Phosphorus levels are slightly low.

Increase feedings.

Reduce amount of PO4 media.

-----

Your Silicon levels are too high.

Check for possible contamination source. To help you in finding the source of error, we have listed the most frequent sources of contamination for silicon (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. RO/DI Supply
2. Iron based phosphate remover (not RowaPhos or PhosBan)
3. SIPORAX Type media
4. Ceramics

Renew PO4 remover media, use AL99 or RowaPhos / PhosBan

 

[holy carp]

Presumably related to the water issues:

This was the plate coral this morning after getting back from a long weekend.  

 

(full image)

 

I'm not quite sure you call it polyp bailout when it's a single polyp animal, but it's some kind of tissue evacuation. 

Sadly, just 6 weeks ago this guy was plump and happy.  I'm starting to wonder if dust from the construction in the building could cause these water quality issues.

 

I've also noticed some unusual white circles in the tank that have come about in the last month or so.  They mostly form on the coralline algae, but there are some that are on live rock as well (though they may be forming on green coralline).  They almost look like a tiny flat speck that's killing the surrounding algae making it white.  So far, they've all remained tiny - maybe only about a millimeter in diameter.  Can anyone identify what this is?  (no, they're not spirobid worms, but could be some type of egg... those were the only 2 suggestions from web results I could find).  Photographing isn't easy due to the enlargement necessary to show them.  I'll try again to get better photos later, but here's what I was able to capture so far:

 

[natalia_la_loca]

Sorry about the plate  I could see construction dust being a contamination source.  Are other corals showing ill effects?

 

I came home from a business trip last night to find most of my LPS closed up. Maybe I should get a Triton test too.