Snow's Mantis Menagerie - Losing everyone.

[Pinner Reef]

Happy New Year! Tank looks good:)

[FlowerMama]

Best picture I've ever seen of your tank! Love it. It has a nice open look, not overdone or overcrowded. Best wishes to you for the new year!

[Snow_Phoenix]

Happy New Year! Tank looks good:)

 

Thank you, Pinner.

 

Best picture I've ever seen of your tank! Love it. It has a nice open look, not overdone or overcrowded. Best wishes to you for the new year!

 

Thank you very much, Flower! I hope everything goes well with your move - unfortunately I don't know much about properties/moving, so I'm useless in this area. However, I do wish you the best in all your endeavors for the upcoming year ahead!

 

 

[shawnd08]

When you say dwarf puffers are you referring to the "pea puffers" ?

[Snow_Phoenix]

When you say dwarf puffers are you referring to the "pea puffers" ?

 

For freshwater, yes. Pea puffers. There's a huge stock that came in and I already have a tank prepped for them.

 

For saltwater, I'm referring to the Valentini and Blue Dot puffer, which would have a FOWLR setup on their own.

[shawnd08]

 

For freshwater, yes. Pea puffers. There's a huge stock that came in and I already have a tank prepped for them.

 

For saltwater, I'm referring to the Valentini and Blue Dot puffer, which would have a FOWLR setup on their own.

My girlfriend wanted puffers so we setup a 25g cube and got 5 of the pea puffers. They are awesome little guys. We also have 3 bumblebee gobys with them, they have been getting along well for over 6 months now. Once you get it all set up you should upload a few pictures I'd be interested in seein the tank and the little guys. Good luck on all of your tanks. Look forward to seeing them.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Before I introduce my latest project, here's the semantics of my 8G nano marine tank:

 

Corals:

 

GSP

Red Finger Leather

Dual-colored Candycane (26+ heads and still splitting)

Red-skirt Zoas

Green Bay Packers

Implosion Green Palys

Unknown Purple Morph Zoas

Unknown Orange Morph Zoas

Purple Mushroom

Red Mushroom

Green Mushroom

Quad-Colored Rhodactis Mushroom

Green Hairy Mushroom

Purple-tipped Elegance

Green Pagoda/Cup

Green Goniopora

 

Macro:

 

Caulerpa peltata

Galaxaura

 

Invertebrates:

 

Brown Banded Brittle Starfish

Trochus Snail

Cowrie

3.5" Purple-Spotted Mantis Shrimp (Freya)

 

Fish:

 

3" Red Dwarf Zebra Lionfish (Cairo)

1" Occy Clownfish (Elmo)

 

Equipment:

 

500 Hr/L HOB filter with floss, a small pouch of PhosBan and a small pouch of Activated Carbon

18" Aquazonic LED Light (14W) + 12" Wavepoint LED Light (Dual color) (16W)

No skimmer/sump/wavemaker/refugium/chiller/fan

Regular IO salt

 

Now on to my little pygmy puffers, that just arrived! The largest guy (lead male) is about 1cm long, and the smallest is roughly 3mm long. They were incredibly difficult to photograph due to their size.

 

 

The pygmy puffer penthouse. I wanted to originally go with different types of branching plants, but I was on a tight budget and using a low-light bulb, so I could only pick up low-light/hardy ferns for the time being.

 

 

Here's one of the smaller juveniles checking things out. They are very inquisitive, but didn't arrive in the best condition. Even the largest puffer had a sunken belly. I'm thinking of picking up some Cherry shrimp for them to snack on in a few days time. I'll be giving them tiny frozen bloodworms in the meantime.

 

 

 

So adorable.

 

Lastly, my slightly deformed 1" Pinto knifefish baby is temporarily sharing this habitat with my puffers.

 

[FlowerMama]

Those are cute little guys.

[Snow_Phoenix]

On to some pic updates:

 

My red finger leather is branching out and growing very nicely (Time difference between first and second pic is 1 week):

 

 

 

Dual colored candycane bopped out two more new heads within 1.5 weeks, but one of the older heads died after coming into contact with my rapidly growing leather. I had no choice but to swap the candycane's place with my Quad-colored shrooms. My leather hasn't opened up fully since then, so I'm not sure if there's a chemical warfare going on between the shrooms and itself. Still shuffling things around to find everyone a comfy spot to grow.

 

 

Elmo still loves my Goni and defends it with all his might:

 

 

Cairo, the spiky show-off:

 

 

Saw a mini orange plate for sale - I just had to get it. Probably should have saved that money to buy the liverock for my upcoming SW build (a separate one for a puffer pair), but I couldn't resist.

 

 

And here's the hungry plate eating a 0.5" chunk of raw thawed jumbo prawn flesh:

 

 

FTS on 9/1/2015. I really need to mow the lawn on the right side.

 

 

Here's the Vid. Take note that the coral placements were different because the vid was taken about a week ago and only uploaded recently. I only changed the position of the Candycane and mushrooms yesterday evening.

 

 

[vlangel]

Loved the video. Your tank is really lookin' good!

[FlowerMama]

This is by far your best tank so far. I think before you tried to do so much at once, and simplifying it and having larger pieces of coral has made it very pretty. So Cairo doesn't bother your clown?

[Snow_Phoenix]

Loved the video. Your tank is really lookin' good!

 

Thank you so much!

 

This is by far your best tank so far. I think before you tried to do so much at once, and simplifying it and having larger pieces of coral has made it very pretty. So Cairo doesn't bother your clown?

 

Thanks, Flower! I agree - I rushed the whole process and kept getting in over my head. I admit that even this tank isn't perfect - just yesterday I spotted a pair of flatworms on my purple mushroom and about a week ago I had a small spot of cyano over Freya's rock (which I siphoned out and hasn't returned since), but I'm feeling more content and comfortable with this setup than anything I've ever owned.

 

I do have an issue of green algae spots on the tank glass that require manual scrubbing by a bladed scraper every two to three days, but that's because I'm presently using tap until I can accumulate more money to restock on several gallons of DI.

 

Cairo doesn't bother him at all, surprisingly. I try to keep everyone well-fed - feed Freya 2x to 3x a week, Cairo some live ghost shrimp everyday (although this isn't advisable since they usually eat two to three days once in the wild) and Elmo some Hikari Marine S pellets. I feed the corals some Cyclops and Hikari Coral Delite 2x a week as well. The larger LPS get direct chunks of raw shrimp flesh.

[Snow_Phoenix]

I developed a large aphthous ulcer in my pharynx (layman's terms: huge painful ulcer in my throat) several days back. I have been through several surgeries in my life but nothing prepared me for this degree of pain last night. I couldn't even swallow my own saliva and any liquids. Anything that went down my throat pretty much brought tears to my eyes and I was on painkillers for the past few days. Last night, it affected my left ear and the pain radiated all the way from the ear to the base of my neck so I couldn't turn properly, plus my hearing was blocked a little.

 

My mother feared it was mumps, even though I've been vaccinated twice in my lifetime already. My father has tasked himself with bringing back stronger antibiotics from his clinic.

 

Of course, I couldn't get anything done for the past five days (going on six now), including changing my tank water. Forced to stick with dosing since I was left with limited options - had to place 3 drops of Kent Marine's dKH buffer first, wait three days and then add another 3 drops of Marinium's Aragonate. Levels look good, but my Candycane is waging a losing battle and losing more heads.

 

 

 

On top of all that, my beautiful 4-month-old Sun Conure chick is very sick with a flaky beak/claws, diarrhea and really bad feather loss. I raised the little guy since 3-weeks-old and am very attached to him. I'll only be able to take him to the vet tomorrow unfortunately.

 

[vlangel]

Ah, I am so sorry that you are going through all that. My heart goes out to you that both yourself and your pets are suffering. I am praying for you.

[Weetabix7]

Sorry to hear of your difficulties, glad you have good parental support.

We are rooting for you.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Ah, I am so sorry that you are going through all that. My heart goes out to you that both yourself and your pets are suffering. I am praying for you.

 

 

Sorry to hear of your difficulties, glad you have good parental support.

We are rooting for you.

 

Thank you both. But unfortunately, my tank doesn't look good right now - the candycane doesn't look like it'll be around for much longer. My bird on the other hand, is mercifully eating normally. I've already made an appointment with the vet - it's just a matter of taking him there for treatment.

 

My mother outdid herself today by making some nice chicken soup and zero-spice curry chicken. She even boiled the chicken for one extra hour so that I can swallow it more easily. Am feeling a bit better, but still in pain. Can't get much done until this debacle is over. In the meantime, I'll try to see if I can make minor WCs (maybe 5% changes daily) to correct any imbalances in the tank.

[vlangel]

I am glad that your sun conure is improving and that your mom is taking such good care of you.

Even a small WC daily will help the tank. Hang in there!

[Weetabix7]

Your parents are there to help and support you with your health (and getting bird to vet?), we are here to help and support you with getting your tank back to it's original beauty.

Between all of us, we'll get you back out to the other side.

[Snow_Phoenix]

I am glad that your sun conure is improving and that your mom is taking such good care of you.

Even a small WC daily will help the tank. Hang in there!

 

Thank you and yes, I think I'll proceed with the small WC. The elegance is now fluffing up and the Candycane is perishing rather quickly. My cowrie seems to be cleaning up the goo left over by some of the dying heads.

 

Your parents are there to help and support you with your health (and getting bird to vet?), we are here to help and support you with getting your tank back to it's original beauty.

Between all of us, we'll get you back out to the other side.

 

Yeah, thankfully health-wise, they're supportive. I'll pop up more updates if I run into any trouble.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Either there's a severe outbreak of BJD in my tank or my lionfish is somehow stinging and killing my corals. My Candycane has pretty much dissolved into brown goop - there's a brown patch on my Elegance and my Purple Mushroom has reddish-brown patches on its surface and shrunk to three times its original size. Even my red mushroom is shrinking, and all my zoas have closed up. I did a 40% WC several days ago and my levels look stable, but I'm not sure what exactly is going on in my tank.

 

However, I observed that any coral that comes into contact with my lionfish's spines for a prolonged period immediately closes up and eventually withers if my lionfish doesn't move. Can lionfish venom even affect corals?

 

I'm completely at a loss because some corals - red finger leather, green Goniopora, Quad-colored shroom, Hairy shroom and orange plate - show normal polyp extension and regular coloring. Others seem to be melting/closed.

 

Help?

 

[vlangel]

Either there's a severe outbreak of BJD in my tank or my lionfish is somehow stinging and killing my corals. My Candycane has pretty much dissolved into brown goop - there's a brown patch on my Elegance and my Purple Mushroom has reddish-brown patches on its surface and shrunk to three times its original size. Even my red mushroom is shrinking, and all my zoas have closed up. I did a 40% WC several days ago and my levels look stable, but I'm not sure what exactly is going on in my tank.

 

However, I observed that any coral that comes into contact with my lionfish's spines for a prolonged period immediately closes up and eventually withers if my lionfish doesn't move. Can lionfish venom even affect corals?

 

I'm completely at a loss because some corals - red finger leather, green Goniopora, Quad-colored shroom, Hairy shroom and orange plate - show normal polyp extension and regular coloring. Others seem to be melting/closed.

 

Help?

 

O no that is terrible, especially after everything you have already been through! I would be really surprised that the lionfish is causing the problem because Felicia never experiences that in her tank. Do you use activated carbon? Maybe there is some serious chemical warfare going on?

[Snow_Phoenix]

O no that is terrible, especially after everything you have already been through! I would be really surprised that the lionfish is causing the problem because Felicia never experiences that in her tank. Do you use activated carbon? Maybe there is some serious chemical warfare going on?

 

Yes, I quickly skimmed through Felicia's tank and she doesn't have any issue of her lionfish's spines actually harming any coral. But with my lion, Cairo, I caught it happening several times for the past few days. I'll try to get it on film if possible and upload it on here. I tried messaging my LFS manager to ask him if he has experienced any of his lions stinging corals before, but he hasn't responded yet.

 

I initially thought of setting up a new tank for Cairo next week, but something happened today and forced me to alter my plans. If anything, I'll have to rehome him if there's actually an issue of his spines hitting the corals and causing them to melt. It's a big loss - he has such amazing personality and is like a little spiky puppy whenever he sees me nearby the tank. He always comes up to the surface to greet me - more than once I nearly petted him until I caught myself at the last moment because I remembered he was venomous and my immune system is currently down = high possibility I might end up in the hospital again.

 

I'll get a vid tomorrow and upload it on here.

 

I think I have to toss out the decaying corals - it's starting to slime really, really badly. I have Activated Carbon and Phosban + filter floss in a HOB filter that powers the tank.

 

Should I do another WC, or will this stress the tank out further?

[Snow_Phoenix]

I probably shouldn't say this on an open forum - but I don't know where to start.

 

My neurologist is suffering from terminal cancer herself and no longer returning to practice (her cancer has spread to the brain and lungs from the breast) and there's only one neurologist in the entire state, who unfortunately is in a government hospital and is too busy to see me. To make things worse, one of the drugs I am on is completely out of stock throughout the country. Singapore is suffering a shortage as well. I only have 4 quarter pieces of the drug left, and it'll only be back on the shelf in March (if we're lucky). As it is, I'm supposed to be taking 1/2 a tablet a day and now I've limited myself to 1/4 to stretch it out for as long as I can - I'm already have withdrawal symptoms and didn't sleep well these past two days.

 

Two days ago, I didn't see a pothole by the roadside outside a shopping mall and tripped and faceplanted into the asphalt in front of my parents. The sudden impact caused me to twist my left ankle, badly gash my right knee (also severe swelling), nick my right elbow and bruise my right thigh. It took both my parents and a kind stranger to help me up because both my legs couldn't support me. As soon as my father rushed off to get the car to drive me back home and clean my wounds, I nearly blacked out again in front of my mother - I had no idea trauma from a simple fall can actually cause you to pass out. Even today I'm limping very badly, can't walk/stand for prolonged periods of time and feel dizzy.

 

Oh, and my tank? I neglected it for the past week because of what's been happening lately, and my Caulerpa chose this particular time to go sexual, which was brilliant. Woke up to cloudy water, confused occupants, partially dead corals and a dead Elegance. Couldn't do much except to toss in another bag of carbon in the filter and let nature run its course.

 

All this and I'm struggling to decided where to do my PhD as well. My parents told me they cannot take care of any of my animals if I leave and choose a distant uni, so I'll have to sell my parrots, my turtle, my terrapin, my FW tanks and my marine tank. But if I choose the local uni near my house, then they can stay provided I come back everyday to manage them.

 

I feel like crawling under a coconut shell and not peeking out for the next ten years.

 

Hope your week was better, because mine was hell.

[vlangel]

I feel so bad for you. You are really going through a terrible time. I will pray for you but I don't know what else to do.

[Weetabix7]

Believe it or not, I've been where you are.

My exact details were different, but the degree of difficulty was the same.

It is pretty overwhelming, isn't it?

I've come really far since that time, and have overcome a lot.

Having been through that and overcome, here is what I would share with you:

 

-Focus on what is in front of you & take it one step at a time.

In the midst of this kind of scenario, it's really easy to let your mind run away with you and start thinking, "what if this happens, and then this happens, and then..... oh NO, that's too much I won't be able to handle it, aaaargh!!!". It becomes easy to let your thinking snowball and create larger and larger disaster scenarios in your head. Focus on the minor details that are in front of you, tackle one detail at a time, it will take you farther than you think. The more you focus on what you can do and what is possible, the more you get things under control.

Can you set up a separate tank and just move your LR and your Lionfish to that and keep that healthy? You clearly enjoy the fish, and that would give you something simple & stable to maintain til are in a better place to try corals again. If you wanted to, you could try saving the corals, but I'd try doing it in a separate simple hospital tank or something & make your focus maintaining what you can.

-What we focus on becomes larger.

This really is true. You are in the midst of some difficult and discouraging circumstances; you can't change that. Our minds are powerful things and if you allow yourself to focus on that, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy & you defeat yourself. I know this because I've done it.

On the other hand, you do have some positives. Your bird is doing better, correct?

Your parents are very supportive & are doing a lot of things to help you. They are doing things that are making it possible for you to recover & move forward. Yes, you fell & were hurt badly, but your parents picked you up, bandaged your wounds & are taking care of you. You're not trying to do this on your own.

You may be having problems with lack of supply on your medication, but you have health insurance & access to a computer. Try looking up substitutes for that med, or calling your Dr's office & asking for a substitute.

You're having bad luck with your tank, but you also have access to a very supportive community here. We all love Reefing & will happily help you find a way to move forward with your tank.

You can choose where your focus will be. It's hard at first because you may be exercising mental muscles that you're not used to using, but it does become easier and even more importantly than that, it brings literal positive change in what is around you the more you do it.

 

All of the above comes from what I learned in my own difficult, rotten circumstances and it really did make it possible for me to move forward and past those circumstances into a stronger, better place.

 

You have options, it's up to you what you do with them.

Best wishes.