Where the Wild Things Are: 100 Days (rezing the thread)

[vlangel]

Our prayers go with you!

[kimberbee]

Update on how you're doing??

[lkoechle]

Update:

 

Still on the road home. 

 We were very, very, very lucky.  Stuck on highways coming home, but we have a home to come back to.  My mom and her friends who evacuated from the beaches stayed at the house and says the tanks did fine. we only lost power for about 12 hours and it happened in the early morning so my mom was awake to turn bubblers on since she was getting alarms from her bank in central florida about power outages (she is the point of contact for alarms for some reason)

 

There are shingles in the yard she said, but thinks they belong to the neighbor.  we will find out tomorrow.  Our normal 6 hour drive to our family's farm in GA has been 12 hours one way and will be 10 going back if traffic holds how its been.  But we came out very lucky.  where we had our family photos done, 20 minutes away at ponte vedra is totally destroyed.  

 

I am thinking about setting up the 10g when we get home to reach out to fellow reefers who may still be without power to fish sit and loan out my bubblers.  Some are starting to report deaths  But I am concerned for most who are posting, I wont be home in time.  And then it's to helping who we can.  

 

Its crazy because neighbors have reported minimal damage in our neighborhood. but only a few minutes away to these east or west is flooded by the river or washed out from the ocean.

 

[Thunder Goose]

Glad to hear you got minimal damage. Nice of you to help out. Feel free to post Picts once you get home.

[Lula_Mae]

55 minutes ago, lkoechle said:

Update:

 

Still on the road home. 

 We were very, very, very lucky.  Stuck on highways coming home, but we have a home to come back to.  My mom and her friends who evacuated from the beaches stayed at the house and says the tanks did fine. we only lost power for about 12 hours and it happened in the early morning so my mom was awake to turn bubblers on since she was getting alarms from her bank in central florida about power outages (she is the point of contact for alarms for some reason)

 

There are shingles in the yard she said, but thinks they belong to the neighbor.  we will find out tomorrow.  Our normal 6 hour drive to our family's farm in GA has been 12 hours one way and will be 10 going back if traffic holds how its been.  But we came out very lucky.  where we had our family photos done, 20 minutes away at ponte vedra is totally destroyed.  

 

I am thinking about setting up the 10g when we get home to reach out to fellow reefers who may still be without power to fish sit and loan out my bubblers.  Some are starting to report deaths  But I am concerned for most who are posting, I wont be home in time.  And then it's to helping who we can.  

 

Its crazy because neighbors have reported minimal damage in our neighborhood. but only a few minutes away to these east or west is flooded by the river or washed out from the ocean.

 

Glad you guys are safe and hope your mom and her friends did not suffer devastating losses.  I helped out in Joplin, MO after the tornadoes there a few years ago and seeing the devastation of people's lives scattered and destroyed is heartbreaking.

[lkoechle]

11 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Glad you guys are safe and hope your mom and her friends did not suffer devastating losses.  I helped out in Joplin, MO after the tornadoes there a few years ago and seeing the devastation of people's lives scattered and destroyed is heartbreaking.

Yeah, her friends house only flooded 5 inches.  compared to Matthew dumping 4 ft in her house last year, thats a win.  they moved everything to the second story. so hopefully its all good.  The first floor is all concrete and tile with storm surge in mind after last year. My mom is home and she hasnt mentioned damage, so i think thats good

[lkoechle]

Just got home after 14 hours of driving (normally 6 hours).  Preliminary checks look really good.  sps look fine, yoshii's looks fine with a gha outbreak, and this tank looks like a mini war went off with my stuff.   Maru is a bulldozer and ripped apart some of my dragons breath that was getting some nice orange tips, and set loose some caulerpa, and ultimately I have to do some soft rescaping.  But overall, everything lived (on prelim check, we will see for real tomorrow when lights are on).  Yay!

[Pjanssen]

Glad to hear all is well. Welcome home

[debbeach13]

So glad you got home all safe and sound. Very encouraging first glance:)

[lkoechle]

So long time no see, quick update.  Tank is still going but its not happy.  I feel like I'm losing the tank.  I am trying to tell myself its "evolving" and remember the other contestants that had a bad time.  There were people in my house who stayed during the hurricane.  I know my mom wouldn't have done anything, but her friend (who's she is not friends with as a result of the friend's crappy kids behavior at my house)  I don't know.  She (the friend) did unplug the battery back ups at one point, my mom doesn't know when because the friend refused to fess up.  

 

Anyways, all three tanks have been in a downward spiral since then. Yoshii died (or is very strongly assumed dead) about a week ago.  He was out when my mother in law was here, but then nothing.  And I know he had just molted.  So I'm wondering if something went wrong with the molt   Snails and crabs have been in and out of his burrow and I haven't seen any sign of him.  So I think he's dead.  

 

In the contest tank I lost more sponges and a tunicate.  I'm doing water changes, running carbon and purigen and nothing seems to be helping.  The main indicators are my candelabra gorgs are refusing to open.  But the other stuff is open.  Sea whips are partially closed, I'm losing the tube coral colony, nothing makes sense.  My urchin still has all his spins though, so whatever is in the water (all tests are fine so its something I don't have a kit for), isn't affecting the inverts or verts (is that a "thing"? verts? lol).  But the candelabra gorg is open in the pico.  And my 25 g, I'm slowly losing my SPS.  I'm thinking of calling it quits on SPS in the 25 and move to softies and lps until we have a larger tank. Oh man, I miss a bigger tank.  

 

Overall, I'm frustrated and overwhelmed by the tanks.  With the exception of the hurricane, I very diligently care for them on a daily basis.  It's very frustrating to be going through this.  So watching them slowly decline, not one, but all three! is so so grrrrrr.... I didn't think 4 or 5 days of me not being there would do this.  And maybe it has nothing to do with it.  Maybe I am just a crappy tank keeper and they just die so slowly.  I don't know.  It's super aggravating.   

[Pjanssen]

Sorry to hear all of this Leah. I don't think anyone would ever consider you to be a crappy tank keeper, I think we all are aware of how diligent you are, and how much you care for all of your animals. My 29 is also spiraling downhill, but I know it's my own damn fault probably due to overdosing. Hopefully you can turn it around-I think you can!

[TatorTaco]

I was perusing the TOTM threads and stumbled across Pongpit's 2G Pico while looking into starting a contest tank.  Here's Pongpit's thread:    

One common and disturbing fact was everyone kept saying  was that pico's just.don't.last.  Like, it was stated several times throughout the thread, and everyone was genuinely surprised the tank lasted as long as it did.  I wasn't aware this was a "thing".  

 

Now, I know your tank isn't a 2G Vase, but if you you agree with the previously mentioned commentators, do you think it's time to do a hard reset on your tanks and start anew?  

 

Just spit-balling here.  

[lkoechle]

50 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

I was perusing the TOTM threads and stumbled across Pongpit's 2G Pico while looking into starting a contest tank.  Here's Pongpit's thread:    

One common and disturbing fact was everyone kept saying  was that pico's just.don't.last.  Like, it was stated several times throughout the thread, and everyone was genuinely surprised the tank lasted as long as it did.  I wasn't aware this was a "thing".  

 

Now, I know your tank isn't a 2G Vase, but if you you agree with the previously mentioned commentators, do you think it's time to do a hard reset on your tanks and start anew?  

 

Just spit-balling here.  

No, everything is recoverable.  I dont really believe in hard resets unless going in a totally new direction (ie building a complex new scape or massive plumbing overhaul).  There are things I am thinking about doing like removing the sand bed from the 5 gallon and turning it into a shrimp tank (sexies and a cleaner maybe?) and removing rock and some sand from the 14 and maybe going in a little bit of a new/non-native direction.  But everything has to die at once to persuade me to do a hard reset. lol until then I will keep chugging along until the train stops.

 

I do agree a little with "picos dont last" but it should really be "picos are prone to crash".  I crashed a 4g a few years ago and lost everything. 100%. That was a hard reset. it became a planted betta tank lol

 

1 hour ago, Pjanssen said:

Sorry to hear all of this Leah. I don't think anyone would ever consider you to be a crappy tank keeper, I think we all are aware of how diligent you are, and how much you care for all of your animals. My 29 is also spiraling downhill, but I know it's my own damn fault probably due to overdosing. Hopefully you can turn it around-I think you can!

Thanks for the nice words. Yeah, I am just not sure what they are all going to look like in the end. lol  Probably radically different. but the fish are all healthy and such, so as long as its not a hard crash, I might just need to re-imagine what this tank is going to look like.  I just dont know whats triggering them all.  It makes me wonder if someone sprayed something or... I dont know.  Over all, the pico is normal-ish apart from Yoshii dying. The 14 though... it doesnt look so hot...

[lkoechle]

 

The glass is dirty and it is water change day,  but as you can see its kind of a hot mess I got a lot of micro algae I cant seem to find the source of it.  It really came on in force after the hurricane, so I am thinking temperature influx might have allowed it to get it just enough of a foothold.   So... yeah, deep cleaning going on today. 

 

Ironically, this was suppose to be a "I am considering defeat" post and thats why I have been avoiding Nano Reef. But now I am feeling oddly invigorated.  Lets see what happens today... It might be conservative, or it might be a @Pjanssen post contest overhaul

[lkoechle]

@TatorTaco Oh, and @pongpit is a beast, seriously, follow that dude on Instagram. I have major reef envy.

[Felicia]

I'm so sorry to see the tank is struggling. You had quite a few sponges and NPS items in there right? I put a lot of different sponges into my seahorse tank and most of them would de great for quite some time, like 6 months, and then they'd decline slowly. Only a few varieties of sponges has ever done well for me over time. The same would always happen with any NPS gorgonians or corals. I've also seen others have the same type of issue. Im wondering if the sponges or other NPS gorgonians/corals started to die off and then created too much of a nutrient load in these small tanks. That would then cause some of the algae issues, lack of opening from the photosynthetic gorgonians, and potentially invert deaths. I'm thinking maybe you pull out anything left that's really struggling (like losing flesh, not just not opening) and then do a bunch of big water changes. Luckily the photosynthetic gorgonians are really hardy, so as long as they're just not opening (no losing actual flesh), they should bounce back!

 

I love the Florida collectors and all of the really unique sponges, corals, and inverts you can get, but I've learned that there's a subset of those items that just doesn't do well in aquariums, which is why they haven't become common in the hobby. The majority of the sponges, NPS gorgonians, NPS corals, filter feeding inverts, etc seem to fall in this category. Now when I order from the Florida collectors, such as KPA, I have an idea of what does well and stick to those items. Photosynthetic gorgonians, ricordea, other mushroom corals, and specific inverts generally do really well. I struggled a lot with die off and nutrients in my seahorse tank, which was stocked similarly in terms of the sponges and gorgonians. I could be completely wrong, but just an idea about what may be going on.

[TatorTaco]

1 hour ago, lkoechle said:

@TatorTaco Oh, and @pongpit is a beast, seriously, follow that dude on Instagram. I have major reef envy.

I hadn't even thought to search for him on Instagram.  I have an IG account, but don't go there often.  I love the stories more than the pictures of folks' tanks.  I did dive into his account and realized he stopped posting pretty much immediately after getting TOTM. 

[lkoechle]

1 hour ago, Felicia said:

I'm so sorry to see the tank is struggling. You had quite a few sponges and NPS items in there right? I put a lot of different sponges into my seahorse tank and most of them would de great for quite some time, like 6 months, and then they'd decline slowly. Only a few varieties of sponges has ever done well for me over time. The same would always happen with any NPS gorgonians or corals. I've also seen others have the same type of issue. Im wondering if the sponges or other NPS gorgonians/corals started to die off and then created too much of a nutrient load in these small tanks. That would then cause some of the algae issues, lack of opening from the photosynthetic gorgonians, and potentially invert deaths. I'm thinking maybe you pull out anything left that's really struggling (like losing flesh, not just not opening) and then do a bunch of big water changes. Luckily the photosynthetic gorgonians are really hardy, so as long as they're just not opening (no losing actual flesh), they should bounce back!

 

I love the Florida collectors and all of the really unique sponges, corals, and inverts you can get, but I've learned that there's a subset of those items that just doesn't do well in aquariums, which is why they haven't become common in the hobby. The majority of the sponges, NPS gorgonians, NPS corals, filter feeding inverts, etc seem to fall in this category. Now when I order from the Florida collectors, such as KPA, I have an idea of what does well and stick to those items. Photosynthetic gorgonians, ricordea, other mushroom corals, and specific inverts generally do really well. I struggled a lot with die off and nutrients in my seahorse tank, which was stocked similarly in terms of the sponges and gorgonians. I could be completely wrong, but just an idea about what may be going on.

Yeah I just did a careful inspection and I think either a gorg (photosynthetic ironically) or a tunicate started the die off.  I removed anything that appeared to have a less than 50% chance of survival and tossed it and did a 50% water change. Now I have one sponge, a chicken liver sponge, remaining of the sponges. All the remaining gorgs (except 1) are actually NPS.  Like I said, it doesnt make sense.

already though, the remaining gorgs have better polyp extension than I have seen in the last week.

[Lula_Mae]

23 hours ago, lkoechle said:

So long time no see, quick update.  Tank is still going but its not happy.  I feel like I'm losing the tank.  I am trying to tell myself its "evolving" and remember the other contestants that had a bad time.  There were people in my house who stayed during the hurricane.  I know my mom wouldn't have done anything, but her friend (who's she is not friends with as a result of the friend's crappy kids behavior at my house)  I don't know.  She (the friend) did unplug the battery back ups at one point, my mom doesn't know when because the friend refused to fess up.  

 

Anyways, all three tanks have been in a downward spiral since then. Yoshii died (or is very strongly assumed dead) about a week ago.  He was out when my mother in law was here, but then nothing.  And I know he had just molted.  So I'm wondering if something went wrong with the molt   Snails and crabs have been in and out of his burrow and I haven't seen any sign of him.  So I think he's dead.  

 

In the contest tank I lost more sponges and a tunicate.  I'm doing water changes, running carbon and purigen and nothing seems to be helping.  The main indicators are my candelabra gorgs are refusing to open.  But the other stuff is open.  Sea whips are partially closed, I'm losing the tube coral colony, nothing makes sense.  My urchin still has all his spins though, so whatever is in the water (all tests are fine so its something I don't have a kit for), isn't affecting the inverts or verts (is that a "thing"? verts? lol).  But the candelabra gorg is open in the pico.  And my 25 g, I'm slowly losing my SPS.  I'm thinking of calling it quits on SPS in the 25 and move to softies and lps until we have a larger tank. Oh man, I miss a bigger tank.  

 

Overall, I'm frustrated and overwhelmed by the tanks.  With the exception of the hurricane, I very diligently care for them on a daily basis.  It's very frustrating to be going through this.  So watching them slowly decline, not one, but all three! is so so grrrrrr.... I didn't think 4 or 5 days of me not being there would do this.  And maybe it has nothing to do with it.  Maybe I am just a crappy tank keeper and they just die so slowly.  I don't know.  It's super aggravating.   

Oh nooo that stinks! I wonder if your mom's former friend or her kids dumped something in the tanks to show their gratefulness at having somewhere to stay.  Or if it's just a result of power outage/temp fluctuations during the hurricane.

13 hours ago, TatorTaco said:

I was perusing the TOTM threads and stumbled across Pongpit's 2G Pico while looking into starting a contest tank.  Here's Pongpit's thread:    

One common and disturbing fact was everyone kept saying  was that pico's just.don't.last.  Like, it was stated several times throughout the thread, and everyone was genuinely surprised the tank lasted as long as it did.  I wasn't aware this was a "thing".  

 

Now, I know your tank isn't a 2G Vase, but if you you agree with the previously mentioned commentators, do you think it's time to do a hard reset on your tanks and start anew?  

 

Just spit-balling here.  

Heh those people never saw Brandon's tank or Maritza the reef vase lol.

[debbeach13]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I have a softy tank so if you want some blue mushrooms, gsp, clove poylps, kenya tree or xenia. I can make some frags for free. And I am willing to split shipping cost to help. Let me know.

[lkoechle]

Okie doke, so here's the sad situation with my tanks, this one is just... well all of them are a mess.  In their own way.  I'm stressed trying to fix all of them, so instead, I'm consolidating.  I moved Maru, Ursula (the serpent star), and Mr. Cling to the 25g yesterday.  Mrs. Cling is being rehomed Wednesday.  I'm going to keep the tank running and trying to fix it as I get time, and its going to be an observational QT while we finish stocking the 25.  I still want a twin spot hogfish for that tank and I've come to the conclusion I hate having a QT in my bedroom.  So, this fixes that problem barring the incoming fish developing something like ich in which case I'll have to remove it for a medicated QT.  TBH though, I have only gotten ich once from one store (and to be fair, that was a tang) and marine velvet from DD and I don't do either of those stores anymore. I don't live in denver anymore and I don't like paying shipping for dead/dying fish. lol  The stores here locally, well the two that I buy from, I have never seen any sign of ich in their sales tanks. Ever. One I know completely drains and bleaches their systems every week.  The other store I don't know.  I just happened to stop by while they were draining a quarter of their store and found out that nifty info while the boss man was jokingly harassing the drainer for flooding the store a while back. lol 

 

Anyways, what will happen to this tank after that?  I don't know.  I like it, I think it's in a cool spot.  I'm playing with the idea of maybe another mantis shrimp? I don't know, something low maintenance.  Might even copy some of the other contestants like @SeaFurn and go RFAs?  Who knows, it will be a few months before we're there.

[metrokat]

Sorry to see that the tanks weren't thriving but I agree with Felicia about the die-off possibly causing a nutrient spike. Did you by any chance test for ammonia and nitrites which might indicate what is stressing out the livestock. When I had my tank issues and subsequent crash due to alkalinity, my tank was reading nitrites which nobody tests for after the initial cycle.

[lkoechle]

3 minutes ago, metrokat said:

Sorry to see that the tanks weren't thriving but I agree with Felicia about the die-off possibly causing a nutrient spike. Did you by any chance test for ammonia and nitrites which might indicate what is stressing out the livestock. When I had my tank issues and subsequent crash due to alkalinity, my tank was reading nitrites which nobody tests for after the initial cycle.

Well, things are still dying off.  The nutrient spike cause microalgae to go nuts and killed my sea whips which I though were fine, but I was going to move them to the 25 and when I picked it up, the skeleton came with me and the rest of it stayed in the tank.  So there's no doubt there's a nutrient spike.  It's had a near 100% water change at this point over the weekend with me pulling water out for acclimating things into the 25 and a water change on top of it.  But no, I haven't tested nitrites yet.  I didn't think about it.  The ammonia alert still reads zero though (I don't have a kit).  And, I'm not gonna lie, I did throw prime in there for a "Hey, we're so far gone this can only help!" lol  Now its cyano palooza in there.  It's a mess. an ugly mess...  But hey, there can be rebirth. one day. lol

[SeaFurn]

Sorry to see the tanks are struggling. I know it's frustrating. 

 

You've mentioned getting RFAs before and I think you said you've never had them.  I say pull the trigger and copy away!  

I've actually been thinking about getting a bigger tank and getting even more! 

And   I'll have some baby nems in a few weeks.

 

 

[Lula_Mae]

Sorry the tanks are still having troubles.