Lula Mae's 1.6ish gallons of whatever I want to put in it--tank updates and news and stuff

[natalia_la_loca]

Love that Shelby pic Beautiful corals too.

[Lula_Mae]

On 3/20/2017 at 11:03 AM, natalia_la_loca said:

Love that Shelby pic Beautiful corals too.

Thanks Natalia!  Shelby is da best!  I'm loving your corals too!  Always fun to live vicariously through others' tanks, isn't it?

 

 

I was going to put up the pictures I've been promising tonight but having some issues with my photo storage so I'll have to figure it out tomorrow as I'm too tired tonight lol.

 

Today we had pest control day in our apartment and they require us to turn off filters and pumps and cover tanks with a towel.  I decided to put a small powerhead in there for the duration of the treatment and (since I had to work today) have my husband turn it off and turn on the air pump when he got home (after taking Violet with him since pets can't be inside...apparently she was the star of the show at his work today lol).  When I got home today, even though he'd uncovered the tank and switched off the powerhead and switched on the air pump, somehow the tank had reached 83 degrees!!! That's a solid 5 degrees warmer than usual!  I unplugged the heater, took off the lid, and turned off the light and started some saltwater mixing.  Temp came down and everything seems to be ok at the moment but stressed.  Shelby and the feather duster seem ok.  Will do a water change tomorrow.  I did put in my new heater but haven't plugged it in yet.  Fingers crossed all will be well!

 

[Lula_Mae]

I think I figured out the issue with the pics so here is the post I was going to share last night lol.

 

I know I've been promising these pics for a few days so I'm gonna put them up right quick before I forget lol.  Last week I did a big water change (about 2 gallons) and in the middle had to recalibrate my refractometer so the stuff in the soap dish sat there for a few minutes out of water (I was making sure to keep them wet but still).  Carlgreni mushroom got peeved lol.  It's kinda pretty looking though, almost like a flower!

 

Shelby went dancing her way across the feather duster and blastos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She's such a ham!

 

Moved some rics around a little.

 

If you look near the top of the St. Thomas up front, you can see a white filament in the bubble!

 

I was happy to see some "sprouts" at the base of the palm macroalgae.  Maybe it's doing better than I thought!

 

Then, at the end of last week, a bunch of packages came in--both the ABI blue & white bulb AND the Reef Radiance bulb came as well as a new heater from Aqua Forest Aquariums.  I set up the Reef Radiance bulb and it's more purple appearing than I like but the corals have seemed to really like it so far.  Then the soap dish decided to bail on me and landed on the St. Thomas which doesn't seem too much worse for wear.

 

So I took it out and moved the carlgrenis behind the rics and beside the St. Thomas rock, and the blue scroll algae behind the St. Thomas mushrooms for now.

 

Trumpets and blastos seem to love the new light!

 

 

I also made a stop by the LFS where I got Shelby and picked up something I've had my eye on for a while...

 

A nice fluffy gorgonian!

 

Guy let it slip that it's from ReefGen so after looking on their website I think it may be a Tracy Morgonian Gorgonian.  Not as pink as I'd hoped but I like its fluffiness and it appears to like the tank so win win!  However, after I put it in the tank, I realized I'd forgotten to dip it.  Derp.  This is why I shouldn't add to my tank when I'm sick lol.

 

FTS

 

Tank is more purple than blue in real life, but I will have to figure out how to photograph with this new light lol.

 

Looking in the tank today, I thought my carlgreni with the green mouth had melted but then I spotted a flash of color behind the St. Thomas rock but it's hard to see since that side of the tank is a couple inches from the wall lol.  Gonna go do a more thorough inspection shortly and change the water.  I did put in the new heater from Aqua Forest Aquarium and it looks so slim!  Tank has been holding steady at just under 79 so hopefully it'll be ok.

 

[Lula_Mae]

Well, I just fished the carlgreni mushroom out from behind the rock and found him in the process of melting. The center of it is completely gone and it's made a brown stringy mess.  Warming up the change water before everything else gets mad.  Also found the shell of my little nass snail I bought when I got Shelby.  Hadn't seen it lately but had hoped he was just doing the zombie snail thing.  Now it appears he is truly a zombie lol.  Super bummed about the mushroom though, it was my favorite of the two.

[Weetabix7]

Noooooo!!!!!!! 

[Lula_Mae]

It's the one in the first picture of my update post on this page, the one spitting his innards out at me lol.  Very temperamental but oh so beautiful!

[Weetabix7]

Very sorry. 

[Lula_Mae]

Thanks Weetie. Always stinks to lose nice pieces but I guess that means I need to start looking at adding more, eh?

[Lula_Mae]

Aww some of my rics are melting too!  This stinks.  Just changed most of the water, hope that helps.

[Weetabix7]

Oh no!!!

Changing most of the water should definitely help, and so should using carbon, so if you have some fresh carbon you can use that would be good. 

If the rics aren't terrible and you have lugol's iodine, a lugol's dip might help. 1 cup tankwater, 1-2 drops lugol's, 3 minutes or so. 

If you have Prime or a bacteria supplement it might help to add that to control any ammonia in the water. 

[Lula_Mae]

 

6 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

Oh no!!!

Changing most of the water should definitely help, and so should using carbon, so if you have some fresh carbon you can use that would be good. 

If the rics aren't terrible and you have lugol's iodine, a lugol's dip might help. 1 cup tankwater, 1-2 drops lugol's, 3 minutes or so. 

If you have Prime or a bacteria supplement it might help to add that to control any ammonia in the water. 

I have an old bag of Purigen still in the box.  Probably 4+ years old lol.  Think that would be ok if I just drop it in the tank?  I think my husband might have some Prime, lemme go check.

 

[Lula_Mae]

Ok, my hubby did have a brand new bottle of Prime so I put five drops in (since it said two per gallon).  Gotta get more distilled water tomorrow when I go run errands.  Going to look for a small portable a/c unit for this apartment too lol.  I do NOT want this happening again. 

[Lula_Mae]

Disaster continues to unfold.  I've lost most of the rics, the blastos look bad, and I think I'm losing the other carlgreni mushroom and maybe one of the St. Thomas.  Gave them all a dip tonight in Lugol's before a water change.  This is so disheartening.

 

Thinking back, it was a combination of factors.  I had to work the day pest control was coming so I decided to put a little powerhead in for circulation.  I was sick and tired and didn't take the time to make sure the flow wasn't going to blast sand everywhere, which was a huge mistake.  My theory is that some sand started irritating some of the rics, and then when the tank was covered and the apartment warmed up, the temps in the tank shot up (had never been over 80 before), and the combination probably caused some of the smaller rics to melt, and the toxins released from that led to the other corals getting stressed and the subsequent melting seen since.

 

The good news is, Shelby, the trumpets, and the zoas and macros are all ok lol.  Going to go ahead and get water ready for another water change tomorrow when I get off work.  Gonna leave the lights off too, to avoid adding the stress of the new, brighter light on them. 

 

Oh!  And today I got a package of stuff from Weetie, a great little mug and teas, some frag plugs, and a coralline starter and frag of GSP!  It's still closed up but hopefully it survives the mess in the tank.

[LazyFish]

Aw sry about your rics...& the shrooms. I had a shipment melt from heat once. Rics seem to really not like getting too hot. That pom pom is so cute!

 

[Weetabix7]

I absolutely hate that this is happening, but it does sound like a "perfect storm" kind of cascade of events. 

 

For future problem control, it might not hurt to have some kind of cheap, small HOB on hand and some carbon. 

 

I'm crossing my fingers that you wake up to a much more stable tank today. 

[SeaFurn]

Sorry to hear of your troubles.  I think the idea of having a back-up HOB on hand in case of an emergency is probably a good idea. So.....I think I'm going to order a small canister filter myself just in case.  Can't really fit an HOB on the reef bowl.  Let us know how it's going after the water change.  

[Lula_Mae]

21 hours ago, LazyFish said:

Aw sry about your rics...& the shrooms. I had a shipment melt from heat once. Rics seem to really not like getting too hot. That pom pom is so cute!

 

 

14 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

I absolutely hate that this is happening, but it does sound like a "perfect storm" kind of cascade of events. 

 

For future problem control, it might not hurt to have some kind of cheap, small HOB on hand and some carbon. 

 

I'm crossing my fingers that you wake up to a much more stable tank today. 

 

56 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

Sorry to hear of your troubles.  I think the idea of having a back-up HOB on hand in case of an emergency is probably a good idea. So.....I think I'm going to order a small canister filter myself just in case.  Can't really fit an HOB on the reef bowl.  Let us know how it's going after the water change.  

Thanks guys.

 

Rics also don't like sand so between the two it was a bad combination!

 

It definitely has been the perfect storm.  I used to have some cheap HOBs but most everything went into storage when I moved up here.  Gonna put that on the priority list to buy, along with some good ol' carbon. 

 

The tank doesn't look better, but it doesn't look much worse, either.  The blastos look bad but there are still about 8-10 polyps with flesh.  After Lugol's dipping all the shrooms, I put them in the soap dish frag rack.  The carlgreni absconded overnight and the St. Thomas while I was at work today.  I guess they are holding out for better accomodations. But they at least look alive and not melting.  I think all the surviving rics are still alive.  Zoas and trumpets are still trucking along and the feather duster is finally out.  Shelby looks great.

 

I think I am gonna keep doing 1 gallon+ water changes for the next few days until I see how things are going.  I also think I am going to take the sand out.  I know I had previously expressed reservations about the sand bed, and this particular sand, while very pretty, is also very fine and easily coats things (like rics...) and given that I think it looks dirty in spots and I don't appreciate its role in this whole disastrous mess, it's gonna go.  If I find a coarser grain sand in a small bag, I may replace it, but for now I just want to go back to barebottom as I've had good success with it.  Only problem is keeping the bottom from looking dirty from detritus cover lol.

[LazyFish]

I know its a small tank but maybe you could get something that encrusts to cover the bare bottom if you don't like it.

I kind of like the idea of a coral carpet in a tank something like green star polyps or pink star polyps or both there are some different shades of green gsp.I know they grow well together & the green dosn't seem to mind the pink ones. You could mix them up together or um Montipora if you have the light for it....Can different color encrusting monti grow together that could look cool.

[Weetabix7]

I think it's a good sign that the featherduster is out. 

As long as a few heads of the Blastos survive, they can easily grow again once things stabilize, esp if you feed them.

I also think your plan of continued 1g WC's is a good one. 

I thought the sand in there looked kinda fine, and I can understand possibly replacing it with something with a larger grain. 

Your sand is finer than mine, and mine is fine enough that it gives me issues at times. 

Seems like there's a minor upward trend, here's hoping that snowballs. 

[natalia_la_loca]

Really sorry all this has happened I hope things continue to improve.

[Lula_Mae]

16 hours ago, LazyFish said:

I know its a small tank but maybe you could get something that encrusts to cover the bare bottom if you don't like it.

I kind of like the idea of a coral carpet in a tank something like green star polyps or pink star polyps or both there are some different shades of green gsp.I know they grow well together & the green dosn't seem to mind the pink ones. You could mix them up together or um Montipora if you have the light for it....Can different color encrusting monti grow together that could look cool.

Coincidentally, I just got a GSP frag in the mail from Weetie's wondrous waterfall pico!  I may well just glue it down and let it grow haha.  I'd love some purple star polyps if I could find them.  A monti would be cool too!

 

15 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

I think it's a good sign that the featherduster is out. 

As long as a few heads of the Blastos survive, they can easily grow again once things stabilize, esp if you feed them.

I also think your plan of continued 1g WC's is a good one. 

I thought the sand in there looked kinda fine, and I can understand possibly replacing it with something with a larger grain. 

Your sand is finer than mine, and mine is fine enough that it gives me issues at times. 

Seems like there's a minor upward trend, here's hoping that snowballs. 

I hope so, the blastos looked even worse late last night.  Did another Lugol's dip.  The mushrooms keep jumping from the frag dish lol.  The carlgreni has folded itself into some bizarre origami shape but it doesn't stink so I've left it in the tank till it decides to live or die.  I think my snails (or at least one) may have died though.  Will need to get more from ReefCleaners soon.  Tank is cloudy today, possibly because the carlgreni and one of the rics both jumped from the frag rack and landed side by side.  Silly shrooms!  I've put the old light back on temporarily because the Target lamp decided to turn itself on and off spastically last night while we were trying to sleep.  I think it may have been because we had a fan on, oscillating, but it was bizarre and I'm gonna take it back.

 

35 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Really sorry all this has happened I hope things continue to improve.

Thanks Natalia, me too.  Your little pom pom is too adorable!

[Lula_Mae]

So after talking about the in-tank disaster for the last week, I figured it was time for an update and some pictures of the carnage.

 

I took this picture two nights ago of the blastos.  You can see I've lost some polyps but still have a good number.

 

Another picture from that night that shows the zoas and feather duster.  You can see the surviving carlgreni tucked up under them after it bailed from the frag rack.

 

I've done about a gallon water change every day since I did the initial almost 100% change last week when all this started going down.  Definitely went through my 10 gallon box of Instant Ocean pretty fast!  Tonight I started mixing in my new AquaForest Sea Salt to transition to that--bad timing but I've almost run out of IO (I haven't used the mixture of both yet).  I took all but the two big rocks out of the tank and used the turkey baster to suction out the rest of the sand.  Shelby was either freaked out or mad about her rocks shifting about (Shelby has, by the way, lost one of her poms again and tonight I spotted her with something in her claw that looked suspiciously like a mushroom or zoa polyp...I now think it was probably the superman mushroom).  I put all the loose corals in a plastic container with some tank water, and before putting them back in the tank, I decided to feed them with the Microvert and the new bottles of Kent's Chromaplex and Phytoplex that came in my DFS order the other day.that night

 

Think I've got enough food?

 

Sad topdown:

 

In this one you can see the can see the poor carlgreni (pretty much in the center-left of the pic) that is still hanging on...it's hard to tell how much of his middle is left but he's not yet stringy goo so in he stays.

 

The blastos--only about half a dozen heads still have any flesh on them.  I've done a couple Lugol's dips and last night put it in a cup with lots of food but today it has even fewer heads.

 

Feather duster seems happy though:

 

Very hard to see but in the center of the pic, tucked under the gorg frag plug, Shelby is hanging out.  She wasn't feeling very photogenic tonight after all the disruption lol.  The gorg seems to have lost some flesh/polyps but is still hanging in there.  Hope he'll do alright.

 

I accidentally ripped the blue scroll macro  and took this opportunity to glue it to the back wall.  Hoping it likes being near the light and in the highest flow in the tank.

 

FTS:

 

I've gotta say, I've been super impressed by the trumpets.  Corals dying right and left (total count of survivors so far, the trumpets, zoas, two half-dead St. Thomas and an origami-folded carlgreni, and four rics out of my beautiful collection, plus one superman mushroom and the grandis paly...blastos you saw already) and they just keep trucking along.  I got a new lamp from Walmart which will hopefully work out pretty well to hold the bulb.  Need to take the spazzy touch lamp back to Target lol.  Tank is a little murky looking because there is algae on the walls that the algae scraper can't quite get off.  Haven't tried a razor blade yet.  I do really like the new heater and it's maintaining temperature perfectly.  I love having an external control to adjust it if I need.

 

So, now you've all seen the results of a perfect storm of nastiness in my little pico.  It's been really hard to watch things melting right and left and feel helpless to stop it. Very disheartening week for me.

 

[fishfreak0114]

Aww I'm sorry to hear of your coral troubles . I hope things turn around for you, hang in there! 

[Lula_Mae]

11 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Aww I'm sorry to hear of your coral troubles . I hope things turn around for you, hang in there! 

Thanks, I am trying!  Been a pretty depressing week lol.  The upside is that nothing more appears to be melted or dead since last night so fingers crossed we've finally turned the corner.

[Needreefunds]

Well this stinks. Unfortunately the hobby can break our hearts as easily as fill it. Glad things seem to be stabilizing. Hang in there.