3g Cube, 5g Marineland....Now What ????

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Pods are good to have in the tank, a sign of a healthy ecosystem. You might need to introduce a predator into the ecosystem in order to keep them under control. 

 

Because of your level of involvement in the tank - I would suggest a Scooter Blenny/Red Scooter Blenny. He will mow down all but the fastest pods in short order - then you will have to feed him frozen mysis/brine shrimp with a turkey baster morning/evening (maybe early afternoon if possible). 

 

I feed mine 7AM, 5PM, 10PM - only as much as he can eat. 

 

As Lula_Mae said, be careful of panic and knee-jerk reactions. The more you mess with the pods the more your tank will suffer from irritation. Introduce a natural predator and you'll be fine. 

[Weetabix7]

6 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

 

P.S. I don't think there's any way to nuke the tank without nuking everything.  Be careful of panic and knee-jerk reactions.  They are ALWAYS going to make the situation worse.  ALWAYS.

 

100% agreed. 

 

As I have mentioned before, both Pods and Bristleworms are beneficial and fill important functions in the system. 

To try to get rid of every trace of them makes as much sense as panicking and trying to remove every earthworm from the dirt if you are a gardener, just because you don't like the way they look. 

Granted, they aren't "pretty" to look at, but they fill a very important role in keeping dirt "healthy" for plants, which keeps plants healthy from the ground up. 

Ain't no way on earth you're gonna have healthy Roses if you remove all worms from the dirt. 

 

If you keep attempting to remove all of these little "critters" from your tank that seem unattractive to you, you're gonna struggle to have a healthy and balanced tank. 

[cfaye@Delaware]

I want to say right now that I am very sorry if I appear to be rude and nasty. I am still very, very, and I mean very angry at what happened 7/6/17 AM. I want to thank everyone for posting, your words are helpful. The pictures of some pods that I have seen don't look like what attacked the frag. The swarm that was on the frag looked like, almost like shrimp. I have not been able to ID yet. I feel the tank is too small for a fish, the bio-load I'm carrying now is too much for the tank. I'm trying to order the new filter ASAP. With this attack I feel that the tank is slowly dying because I also have dying sand. I have had this issue for about a week. Over in the livestock forum, pinned post, about this. Also I read a thread about something attacking a healthy colony of coral, looking for that. I have been doing a lot of rethinking on this hobby. I have been trying to read about the jar reefs and how they made it thru. I don't want to start one, just how they survived. This to me is not a easy hobby, too much heartache and stress.

 

7/6/17 PM

 

Tank sort of ok......came home from work things still alive. I took off the plastic container that I covered the attacked frag with, the mushrooms were very tiny and had some color. I moved them to the back of the tank close to the intake tube of the filter that I could safely get, hope that anything trying to hop on frag would get sucked in.....watching.

Tank chores......LOL BTW.....I do have roses, like worms hate grubs. 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Amphipod Gammarus I'm guessing. Very natural and usually no threat to most corals except possibly zoas - I had same thread awhile back and we determined it was my hermit crabs. You are dealing with the initial population explosion where they will be competing for food. 

 

Another option is do a freshwater dip of your rocks for 1 to 2 minutes - read up on it before you do so. Other members have had success clearing out *some* of the pods. But the reality is you will need to add a predator to the food chain like a shrimp or a fish. 

 

Don't despair! You are stressing yourself out! It's like having a puppy and getting upset when he digs in your roses or uses your floor as a bathroom. It's all part of the growth process. 

 

How do you know you have too much of a bioload? What even is dying sand. 

 

Please believe me, I'm about three to five months further than you in this hobby and went through the same despair and temptations. Be patient! You got this and will be just fine. 

 

Your tank can and will handle one small fish like a blenny or goby - as long as you "hand feed" them and perform water changes on the regular (which you do).

 

If you don't feel comfortable with a fish a coral-friendly cleaner shrimp will go after the pods too and what a personality they have!

 

Calm down! We are here for you and you will grow out of this in no time!

 

 

[Lula_Mae]

11 hours ago, cfaye@Delaware said:

I want to say right now that I am very sorry if I appear to be rude and nasty. I am still very, very, and I mean very angry at what happened 7/6/17 AM. I want to thank everyone for posting, your words are helpful. The pictures of some pods that I have seen don't look like what attacked the frag. The swarm that was on the frag looked like, almost like shrimp. I have not been able to ID yet. I feel the tank is too small for a fish, the bio-load I'm carrying now is too much for the tank. I'm trying to order the new filter ASAP. With this attack I feel that the tank is slowly dying because I also have dying sand. I have had this issue for about a week. Over in the livestock forum, pinned post, about this. Also I read a thread about something attacking a healthy colony of coral, looking for that. I have been doing a lot of rethinking on this hobby. I have been trying to read about the jar reefs and how they made it thru. I don't want to start one, just how they survived. This to me is not a easy hobby, too much heartache and stress.

 

7/6/17 PM

 

Tank sort of ok......came home from work things still alive. I took off the plastic container that I covered the attacked frag with, the mushrooms were very tiny and had some color. I moved them to the back of the tank close to the intake tube of the filter that I could safely get, hope that anything trying to hop on frag would get sucked in.....watching.

Tank chores......LOL BTW.....I do have roses, like worms hate grubs. 

You don't appear to be rude.  I think you're just letting yourself get worked up over something that is a totally normal part of a tank.  Amphipods are a larger sort of pod that look like tiny shrimp, but are generally harmless.  I'm still confused on whether they were actually eating your mushrooms, or just annoying the heck out of them.  Can you post a picture of the mushrooms?  If you have Lugol's iodine you could do a dip on them if they are looking sad (I think I have mentioned this before).  How many corals do you have in the tank?  I can promise you that the tank can handle a LOT more bioload than it currently has--have you seen Natalia's reef bowl?  Under 2 gallons and packed with coral!  What kind of filter are you trying to get?

 

I've never heard of dying sand and am curious as to what it is, and why you think yours is?  As far as things attacking healthy coral, well...anything from hermit crabs to rogue hitchhiker crabs/worms/stuff can do that.

 

This hobby can be as simple or as complicated as you make it.  Anything from tiny reef bowls with heater and air line to massive sumped systems with everything on controllers is possible!  I will say, though, that this hobby can be tough if you hate surprises or have to be in absolute control, because even though there's ways to minimize the risk (starting with dry rock, dipping and quarantining all new additions, redundancy and backups for every part of the system), sometimes things happen that are out of our control and there is nothing you can do to change that.  A pest could survive a dip, nuisance algae could hitchhike in on a frag, power could go out for days in extreme heat or cold, something could die while you're at work and nuke the tank, pest control could come to your apartment and start a week-long saga of death and dying in your tank (true story, happened to me)...UPS could leave your new fish in their warehouse all weekend .  Heartbreak does happen in this hobby, and you are the only one who can decide whether the potential joys and pleasures of the wonderful side of this hobby are enough to outweigh that for you.

[Weetabix7]

3 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

You don't appear to be rude.  I think you're just letting yourself get worked up over something that is a totally normal part of a tank.  Amphipods are a larger sort of pod that look like tiny shrimp, but are generally harmless.  I'm still confused on whether they were actually eating your mushrooms, or just annoying the heck out of them.  Can you post a picture of the mushrooms?  If you have Lugol's iodine you could do a dip on them if they are looking sad (I think I have mentioned this before).  How many corals do you have in the tank?  I can promise you that the tank can handle a LOT more bioload than it currently has--have you seen Natalia's reef bowl?  Under 2 gallons and packed with coral!  What kind of filter are you trying to get?

 

I've never heard of dying sand and am curious as to what it is, and why you think yours is?  As far as things attacking healthy coral, well...anything from hermit crabs to rogue hitchhiker crabs/worms/stuff can do that.

 

This hobby can be as simple or as complicated as you make it.  Anything from tiny reef bowls with heater and air line to massive sumped systems with everything on controllers is possible!  I will say, though, that this hobby can be tough if you hate surprises or have to be in absolute control, because even though there's ways to minimize the risk (starting with dry rock, dipping and quarantining all new additions, redundancy and backups for every part of the system), sometimes things happen that are out of our control and there is nothing you can do to change that.  A pest could survive a dip, nuisance algae could hitchhike in on a frag, power could go out for days in extreme heat or cold, something could die while you're at work and nuke the tank, pest control could come to your apartment and start a week-long saga of death and dying in your tank (true story, happened to me)...UPS could leave your new fish in their warehouse all weekend .  Heartbreak does happen in this hobby, and you are the only one who can decide whether the potential joys and pleasures of the wonderful side of this hobby are enough to outweigh that for you.

 

Yes, exactly, very well said!!!

[cfaye@Delaware]

Hello, I hope all is well for everyone, thank you for the info given.....the info that was given I have been working on. Right now I don't know how to do quotes so I will try to address each post. Cpl_Wiggles. Thank you for info on Amphipod Gammarus. That looks like it. I will try to post link on info found later. I need to do a W.W.W search. Really can't add anything else until at least get a new filter. Years ago had 5 puppies at the same time.....No problem, also show dogs, Chow Chows, also running my 5g freshwater, marineland, heavy planted, fighting algae, at least my algae is not tank eating. The tank has 2 tetra. All of this.....no problem. Come to saltwater, different world.

 

Lula_Mae always thanks for posting, a given. As far as eating frag, I don't think they were there for a social meeting. It was horrible. If I had been 5 minutes late the mushrooms would have disappeared, I would have thought, oh they just moved. No picture of mushrooms yet, they are so tiny, but hanging in there. Now what I have now in tank:

 

2 inch rock with 4 large coral, 1 baby red, 1 feather duster.

1 frag of what looks like frogspawn from LFS

1 frag with red and 2 feather dusters 

1 mushroom moving around

2 hermit crabs 1 red leg 1 blue leg.....eating and pooping machines 

1 emerald crab lg and growing

lots of micro animals....pods etc.

 

Will try to post link to dying sand and DSB  ( deep sand bed ) 

My bad, info on sand bed in set up forum.

I am still running the stock filter, I want to get Aquaclear 20.

 

Weetabix7  as always thanks for stopping by. I found your pinned thread, reading that.

I will try to post links later they will be here in this post.

 

Info on sand bed:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/260742-biogeochemistry-meiobenthology-microbial-ecology-of-the-sandbed/

 

info on evil Pods:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/284723-huge-amphipods-killing-my-zoas/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7/7/17 AM 

 

tank ok

Well sort of, nothing dead yet.....tank chores.

[Lula_Mae]

3 hours ago, cfaye@Delaware said:

Hello, I hope all is well for everyone, thank you for the info given.....the info that was given I have been working on. Right now I don't know how to do quotes so I will try to address each post. Cpl_Wiggles. Thank you for info on Amphipod Gammarus. That looks like it. I will try to post link on info found later. I need to do a W.W.W search. Really can't add anything else until at least get a new filter. Years ago had 5 puppies at the same time.....No problem, also show dogs, Chow Chows, also running my 5g freshwater, marineland, heavy planted, fighting algae, at least my algae is not tank eating. The tank has 2 tetra. All of this.....no problem. Come to saltwater, different world.

 

Lula_Mae always thanks for posting, a given. As far as eating frag, I don't think they were there for a social meeting. It was horrible. If I had been 5 minutes late the mushrooms would have disappeared, I would have thought, oh they just moved. No picture of mushrooms yet, they are so tiny, but hanging in there. Now what I have now in tank:

 

2 inch rock with 4 large coral, 1 baby red, 1 feather duster.

1 frag of what looks like frogspawn from LFS

1 frag with red and 2 feather dusters 

1 mushroom moving around

2 hermit crabs 1 red leg 1 blue leg.....eating and pooping machines 

1 emerald crab lg and growing

lots of micro animals....pods etc.

 

Will try to post link to dying sand and DSB  ( deep sand bed ) 

My bad, info on sand bed in set up forum.

I am still running the stock filter, I want to get Aquaclear 20.

 

Weetabix7  as always thanks for stopping by. I found your pinned thread, reading that.

I will try to post links later they will be here in this post.

 

Info on sand bed:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/260742-biogeochemistry-meiobenthology-microbial-ecology-of-the-sandbed/

 

info on evil Pods:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/284723-huge-amphipods-killing-my-zoas/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7/7/17 AM 

 

tank ok

Well sort of, nothing dead yet.....tank chores.

I took a quick look at the sand bed link and skimmed through it but I am a little confused as to why you think your sand is dying.  The link in question is discussing deep sand beds from what I can tell, and those would be about as deep as your tank is tall lol.  There is some thought, iirc (been a while since I read about dsb's because they're not really relevant in the nano world) that the dsb layers trap gunk and yuckiness over time, but that's over the course of YEARS, not the couple months your tank has been up.  When you do your water changes, just stir up and vacuum a portion of the sand bed each time (don't do it all at once) and you'll be fine.  If you ever transfer it to a different tank, rinse it over and over until clear (Brandon429 says you can use plain old tap for this and rinse with distilled or fresh saltwater before adding back to tank--and he's kept his vase alive for about a decade).  And honestly, that thread is kind of an advanced topic that can be confusing to someone starting out in the hobby.  All you really need at this point is to know that detritus buildup is undesirable and remember to clean the sandbed.

 

Regarding the amphipods--you could probably rig up something similar to a bristleworm trap and get a bunch of them.  Right now their population is probably at a high so they're going after whatever food sources they can.  They usually don't attack coral to eat it but I never say never lol.  Most of the time they're just eating dead flesh when they look like they're swarming, and people tend to panic, so we tend to base our responses on what is the norm for these critters (i.e. not attacking corals).  Get some Lugol's iodine like I suggested to dip those mushrooms in.  It will help, and might kill any pods that are on the frag.  It's 1-2 drops Lugol's in 1 cup tank water for 3-5 minutes.  And mushrooms can grow from a tiny sliver of flesh (like when a mushie walks around its rock and drops babies in its wake lol) so I wouldn't worry too much, as long as the rock stays in the tank.

 

Regarding the AC20, you could even do a bit bigger and just turn the flow down as needed.  I have a 70 on my 5.5 with an AC20 impeller in it (mostly cuz I forgot where I put the AC70 impeller lol) and flow turned down some.  The mod was actually very easy and my first "big" diy project so I'm pretty proud how it turned out.  El Fab's guide in the pico guide thread sticky is the one I followed (except I simplified by using superglue and not silicone, and didn't have to saw the intake tube shorter).  A bigger one may also allow you to stick your heater in it and get it out of your display.  If the stock filter on the tank is the Tetra internal filter that you hook up to an air pump, it's not doing any real filtering, it's mostly providing some circulation.

 

P.S. When you refer to "red" in your stock list, do you mean red mushrooms?

[cfaye@Delaware]

Hi, good to see you. As far as the sand bed info, to me it is a hard read, some of it I know about. Having a hard time trying to highlight some of the info, I am sorry but you might have to read the whole thing. I will keep trying. I clean my sand bed twice a day because of the crabs. As of right now going for the Aquaclear 20, still checking it out. yep, thats the filter. It can't take care of what's in tank now. I never put my heaters in my filters, I have read some awful stories about that, I don't use heaters until winter, I keep a warm house in the summer. I am running a so called DSB because with this sand, it is easy to clean but you take a lot out. If you rinse this sand, I don't think you would have any left.....this some fine sand. Also you have to be careful of stirring the sand bed, from what I understand it can be toxic. I did not deep clean the bed until I could test for toxic levels. When I did the deep cleaning with turkey baster, the water and sand in baster smelled awful, like dirty beach water on a hot day. That is not a healthy smell. Not sure could be sulfur smell, Not good ??? Also running DSB because I felt easier to take out than put in. In the thread it will tell you what the sand bed looks like and what the cause might be. Also read not sure here or not, can't remember, but the sand bed has a life span.....not too sure of the years but at some point you do need to add sand ??? I am talking about if you use live sand, I think not sure, well any way, about that part, confusing. Bristle worms and them evil pods are smart. I will have to look into traps......Well as always thanks for posting.

To everyone:

 

 

 

 

 

7/7/17 PM

 

Tank ok......Target fed the tank, everybody happy.....I was looking for evil pods, large, saw none. Waited about 2hrs. cleaned up mess.....took out large amount of water to clean mess. Checked salt water level......1.024 and 1/2.....matched everything and added new salt water, almost like a water change......tank chores. Now them evil pods, I shall call them.....whatthehell.....as in what the hell happened here. (WTH) So when I say looking for WTH that's them.....Since emerald has been in tank ain't seen them bristle worms. 

 

Edited July 8, 2017 by cfaye@Delaware
update info....

[Lula_Mae]

18 hours ago, cfaye@Delaware said:

Hi, good to see you. As far as the sand bed info, to me it is a hard read, some of it I know about. Having a hard time trying to highlight some of the info, I am sorry but you might have to read the whole thing. I will keep trying. I clean my sand bed twice a day because of the crabs. As of right now going for the Aquaclear 20, still checking it out. yep, thats the filter. It can't take care of what's in tank now. I never put my heaters in my filters, I have read some awful stories about that, I don't use heaters until winter, I keep a warm house in the summer. I am running a so called DSB because with this sand, it is easy to clean but you take a lot out. If you rinse this sand, I don't think you would have any left.....this some fine sand. Also you have to be careful of stirring the sand bed, from what I understand it can be toxic. I did not deep clean the bed until I could test for toxic levels. When I did the deep cleaning with turkey baster, the water and sand in baster smelled awful, like dirty beach water on a hot day. That is not a healthy smell. Not sure could be sulfur smell, Not good ??? Also running DSB because I felt easier to take out than put in. In the thread it will tell you what the sand bed looks like and what the cause might be. Also read not sure here or not, can't remember, but the sand bed has a life span.....not too sure of the years but at some point you do need to add sand ??? I am talking about if you use live sand, I think not sure, well any way, about that part, confusing. Bristle worms and them evil pods are smart. I will have to look into traps......Well as always thanks for posting.

To everyone:

 

 

 

 

 

7/7/17 PM

 

Tank ok......Target fed the tank, everybody happy.....I was looking for evil pods, large, saw none. Waited about 2hrs. cleaned up mess.....took out large amount of water to clean mess. Checked salt water level......1.024 and 1/2.....matched everything and added new salt water, almost like a water change......tank chores. Now them evil pods, I shall call them.....whatthehell.....as in what the hell happened here. (WTH) So when I say looking for WTH that's them.....Since emerald has been in tank ain't seen them bristle worms. 

 

In saltwater, your filters aren't really doing much of the filtering, the live rock is your primary filtration and provides the surface area to grow the bacteria that convert the ammonia to nitrite to nitrate.  People like to add filters like AquaClears because you can add filter floss, carbon, and other media to the tank.  If you're not using a heater, make sure the tank is staying a steady temperature between 78-80 degrees, not really any higher or lower and with as little fluctuation as possible.  As far as the sand bed--DSBs have to be a good 6 inches deep to work; the whole anaerobic bacteria thing doesn't work in a shallower sand bed, and sand beds in-between 2 and 6 inches are great for trapping detritus and nitrates, and not much else.  Running a DSB isn't really possible in a pico.  Don't deep clean the whole sandbed at once.  Do a small section every time you do a water change.  It's just like vacuuming the gravel in freshwater.  You do a small section each time.  The only time there's a risk of it being toxic is if you haven't cleaned it in ages and then you suddenly clean a lot of it, releasing pockets of gas and detritus and yuckiness into the water.  That isn't likely to happen if you regularly maintain your sand bed.  And when you do the deep cleaning, just do a big water change.  You can do a 3 gallon water change on your 3 gallon tank if you match temp and salinity.  If you suck up some of your sand doing water changes, some people just rinse it clean and put it back.  If you read Brandon429's posts, he does what he calls "blast cleaning," pouring gallons of water through his pico, stirring the sand bed up completely and getting all the yucky stuff out.  And his vase is a decade old and I believe the sand bed is original so I'd say he knows a thing or two about what he's doing.

[cfaye@Delaware]

Tank ok:

 

Good to see you, advice being used. Very busy weekend not home much so tank was pretty much on its own. The whole weekend I was on pins and needles, wondering what I would see after I turned on lights. So far tank is holding it's own. I upgraded the filter, it's not the aquaclear, I felt I needed to do something, I felt the tank was turning into a cesspool. Nothing was dead yet but I felt that it was close and would happen fast. With no test kit ( stupid ) I knew something was wrong with the tank. I could not wait for the aquaclear, I'm still getting it but it takes a few days to get here. After adding the filter, tank happy, just like adding new light, tank happy. I have seen some WTH, small and medium no large ones yet. Still watching and searching on what to do about these things. Let me give you a little history on the 3g I'm using. I have had it for a few years, sitting in the box, brand new, never used. I was thinking of setting up a tank with only African Dwarf Frogs, after reading some about them I thought nope not right now, so never got tank wet. When I started this, after reading some things about jar reefs, I thought of the 3g and here we are, with the upgrades. Yes cleaned it out with strong vinegar, rinse like forever with tap water, let it dry out for a few days, then setup using prime. It was suggested that I should get some type of live stock that might help reduce the WTH , I would like to get a fish, but the trouble is where I get my livestock from don't have many Blenny, like scooter blenny, and red scooter blenny, unless they are called Dragnet ?? I wonder if there are any other small fish that might eat the WTH. Yes Goby was also suggested, not sure what type ?? Since the upgrade of the filter I think the tank can hold one fish. I also posted for help on the beginners form. Once again I want to thank everyone for the help.

 

7/8/17 AM  Tank ok.

Of course as I'm going out of the house for the day, my last 2hr check, take a look at the tank, red had only one WTH on it and of course I went nuts. All I could do was move red to the back of the tank with the attacked frag and hope for the best, left house. Most of the day spent trying to figure out what to as in Now. I went to the LFS and started looking around maybe I could find something. Don't want no fish from them, the store looked like they were having problems, signs on a few tanks, not for sale and a few other bad things I saw. No livestock from them for awhile. I did get some free hermit crab shells from them, threw those away when I got home I found holes in them. I don't use shells with holes in them I feel that something could get in, hurt crab. Ok back to looking, to help tank, what I'm I waiting on a filter, took me awhile to find one, was not sure.  Tank chores

 

7/8/17 PM Tank ok.

Started up new filter and watching. Tank chores.

 

7/9/17 AM Tank ok

Still seeing WTH, small ones. Huge change in tank for the good I think. Tank chores.

 

7/9/17 PM Tank ok

Looking very well with new filter, watching WTH, tank chores.

 

7/10/17 AM tank ok. 

 

Now thinking about adding one fish to help with the population of the WTH. I did find something about training your fish to eat other things esp. if you run out of pods. Still not sure of what fish to get, short list:

 

Blenny.....is it a special type of them 

Goby.......is it a special type of them

Yellow Coris Wrasse 

That's all I could find so far, I just need one fish for the 3g and was wondering if more choices. as always Help......and always, thank you. Tank chores. Note, now get a lot of evaporation with new filter, stay on top of it. 

Edited July 11, 2017 by cfaye@Delaware
added info

[Lula_Mae]

6 hours ago, cfaye@Delaware said:

Tank ok:

 

Good to see you, advice being used. Very busy weekend not home much so tank was pretty much on its own. The whole weekend I was on pins and needles, wondering what I would see after I turned on lights. So far tank is holding it's own. I upgraded the filter, it's not the aquaclear, I felt I needed to do something, I felt the tank was turning into a cesspool. Nothing was dead yet but I felt that it was close and would happen fast. With no test kit ( stupid ) I knew something was wrong with the tank. I could not wait for the aquaclear, I'm still getting it but it takes a few days to get here. After adding the filter, tank happy, just like adding new light, tank happy. I have seen some WTH, small and medium no large ones yet. Still watching and searching on what to do about these things. Let me give you a little history on the 3g I'm using. I have had it for a few years, sitting in the box, brand new, never used. I was thinking of setting up a tank with only African Dwarf Frogs, after reading some about them I thought nope not right now, so never got tank wet. When I started this, after reading some things about jar reefs, I thought of the 3g and here we are, with the upgrades. Yes cleaned it out with strong vinegar, rinse like forever with tap water, let it dry out for a few days, then setup using prime. It was suggested that I should get some type of live stock that might help reduce the WTH , I would like to get a fish, but the trouble is where I get my livestock from don't have many Blenny, like scooter blenny, and red scooter blenny, unless they are called Dragnet ?? I wonder if there are any other small fish that might eat the WTH. Yes Goby was also suggested, not sure what type ?? Since the upgrade of the filter I think the tank can hold one fish. I also posted for help on the beginners form. Once again I want to thank everyone for the help.

 

7/8/17 AM  Tank ok.

Of course as I'm going out of the house for the day, my last 2hr check, take a look at the tank, red had only one WTH on it and of course I went nuts. All I could do was move red to the back of the tank with the attacked frag and hope for the best, left house. Most of the day spent trying to figure out what to as in Now. I went to the LFS and started looking around maybe I could find something. Don't want no fish from them, the store looked like they were having problems, signs on a few tanks, not for sale and a few other bad things I saw. No livestock from them for awhile. I did get some free hermit crab shells from them, threw those away when I got home I found holes in them. I don't use shells with holes in them I feel that something could get in, hurt crab. Ok back to looking, to help tank, what I'm I waiting on a filter, took me awhile to find one, was not sure.  Tank chores

 

7/8/17 PM Tank ok.

Started up new filter and watching. Tank chores.

 

7/9/17 AM Tank ok

Still seeing WTH, small ones. Huge change in tank for the good I think. Tank chores.

 

7/9/17 PM Tank ok

Looking very well with new filter, watching WTH, tank chores.

 

7/10/17 AM tank ok. 

 

Now thinking about adding one fish to help with the population of the WTH. I did find something about training your fish to eat other things esp. if you run out of pods. Still not sure of what fish to get, short list:

 

Blenny.....is it a special type of them 

Goby.......is it a special type of them

Yellow Coris Wrasse 

That's all I could find so far, I just need one fish for the 3g and was wondering if more choices. as always Help......and always, thank you. Tank chores. Note, now get a lot of evaporation with new filter, stay on top of it. 

Your fish choices are pretty limited in 3 gallons.  A larger tank would give more options.  Definitely no on the yellow coris wrasse, they belong in much larger tanks and though I don't know much about them, I don't believe they are beginner fish.  I thought I saw something earlier from you about dragonets--definitely NO on the dragonets.  They are difficult even for experienced keepers.  Some can be trained to take frozen but I believe they have to be fed several times a day; some never take to frozen and will starve in a pico.  I think most carnivorous fish will munch on pods to some extent.  Something like a yellow clown goby (can be hard to get eating), neon goby, green banded goby like I have, might be able to fit in your tank.  But only one.

[cfaye@Delaware]

Goodness, thank you, thank you for quick reply, I go look now thanks !!!!

 

Update to possible fish list for evil pods (WTH), along with what Lula_Mae suggested :

Citron Clown Goby

Yellow Watchman Shrimp Goby

War Paint Clown Goby

Need just one fish choice for the 3g

Edited July 11, 2017 by cfaye@Delaware
added info

[Lula_Mae]

There are other fish you can look at but I am tired so I'm clean outta ideas lol.

[cfaye@Delaware]

That is ok.....LOL what info you gave me was a big help, get lots of rest, thanks again. 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

Scooter Blenny. You will have to fed him additionally by shooting mysis and brine shrimp in front of his path while he scoots. It will land in front of him and he will stop to have and bite or two.

 

Mine is a joy and really cleared out the pods. He would slowly patrol the rocks - fun to see him climb up. I feed once in the morning at 6-7, once at 4-5 when I get home, once at 9 after night lights come on. Not sure if too much but works for now. Make sure you turn your pump off and let water settle so you can shoot 3 or 4 right in front of him. 

 

Use frozen brine shrimp and dissolve in small measuring cup. Mix with some tank water and put in fridge. 

[Lula_Mae]

33 minutes ago, Cpl_Wiggles said:

Scooter Blenny. You will have to fed him additionally by shooting mysis and brine shrimp in front of his path while he scoots. It will land in front of him and he will stop to have and bite or two.

 

Mine is a joy and really cleared out the pods. He would slowly patrol the rocks - fun to see him climb up. I feed once in the morning at 6-7, once at 4-5 when I get home, once at 9 after night lights come on. Not sure if too much but works for now. Make sure you turn your pump off and let water settle so you can shoot 3 or 4 right in front of him. 

 

Use frozen brine shrimp and dissolve in small measuring cup. Mix with some tank water and put in fridge. 

Yeah I believe scooters are dragonets.  I'd be cautious about them in a 3 gallon personally.

[Weetabix7]

2 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Yeah I believe scooters are dragonets.  I'd be cautious about them in a 3 gallon personally.

 

Agreed.

[cfaye@Delaware]

Tank Ok 

 

I want to thank everyone for stopping by.....help has been great. I am making note of this because what happens when life gets crazy and can't watch tank 24/7......

 

7/10/17 PM

 

Tank ok.....tank chores, watching WTH

 

7/11/17 AM

 

Tank ok 

 

Notice what looks like algae on tank wall, this will be first algae if that's what it is, could be some tank eating thing with my luck. Now the algae looks kind of fuzzy ( Oh Lord ), and maybe different colors, green, orange.....in very small spots on tank wall. Watching it.....thinking if I clean the tank wall will fall to sand bed....need to think how to battle this.....stay on top of it. Yes do tank chores twice a day, maybe try to get chores down to once a day except for top off. New filter helps a lot.

 

7/11/17 PM

 

Tank ok

 

Now for the last few days been on the hunt for a very small fish that might help with WTH. Emerald will eat them but he takes his time snacking, which is very helpful, and yes I have been helping with tweezers and turkey baster. There are a lot of small ones, no large yet, them things smart. Like I say anything smarter than me and don't pay rent, cash, got to go. The frag that was attacked is holding steady in the back. Also on order Coral RX. Now will try to do tank chores once a day in PM....have more time. 

 

7/12/17 AM

 

Tank ok

 

Well sort of, turned on light and my frogspawn was full of small WTH. So I go nuts of course. Still don't have any kind of dip yet, could not find anything at LFS for some strange reason. Now the small ones are not as fast eating as the big ones so had time to think. This time dipped the coral in high salt concentrate for only sec. Goodness lots fell off. Put back in tank, waited a bit, saw more on frag, dipped again, only sec. more fell off. Now watching.....coral is ok. Now once again I am thinking what do people do who can't take rock and coral out. I know that I'm not dreaming but there is info out there somewhere with this problem, I read it, can't find it again, using peroxide, did find info on algae. Now on wall saw something that looked like a half circle, a worm ????? Very small white.....I wish there was something I could use to put in tank that would only get rid of bad things.....LOL that might be my whole tank....nothing but dangerous things. 

 

Now found a fish that I like, will order him late tonight, he might help :

 

Yellow Watchman Shrimp Goby

 

To Weetabix7 :

Found a old post of yours, simply said " Hate hermit crabs "  

LOL.....sounds like me and my bristle worms and pods. I feed my hermits and watching.

 

 

Edited July 12, 2017 by cfaye@Delaware
added info

[Clown79]

On 03/07/2017 at 7:05 AM, cfaye@Delaware said:

7/2/17......tested for ammonia, had questions about results:

 

0.5.....could not read color, members suggested reading in sunlight, will do.

 

7/2/17 PM

 

Tank is ok. Started the new light cycle with the new light, everybody loves it. Had to adjust light a bit it is about 11 1/2 inches above tank. I took pictures so I could remember light placement. OMG !!!! I could see everything, the pods are huge, don't like them. The emerald crab is my friend, he is chasing the pods and I have seen no worms since he has been in. I am not sure with new light how long to run it.....trying for 12hr. watching tank.....light on 11:00 pm. Fed coral, looked hungry, broadcast feed. Crabs like coral food. Tank chores.

 

7/3/17 AM

 

Tank ok. Light ok. Tank chores. Been thinking about CUC  for the 5g. Mostly about sand bed cleaners and pest removers.  Also how to aquascape, I want to be able to remove small pieces of rock with coral to treat if I have to and room to clean sand bed.

Lighting:

 

A 12 hr  light cycle is used with lights you can ramp up and down, simulating the sunrise and sunset. The peak lighting hours is usually 6-8hrs.

 

With a par bulb you can't do that. You can set it up with a standard light timer for 8hrs so it turns on and off at the same time every day.

 

 

Salinity:

 

Make a small mark on the side/back of your tank to where you fill it.

Top up with freshwater to this line every day to maintain proper salinity.

 

Maintenance:

 

For waterchanges

 

Pre mix saltwater to proper salinity and temp. Ensure the salt is properly mixed and dissolved

 

Scrub algae off glass, blast rocks with a turkey baster  (new and tank use only)

 

Stir sand bed

 

Vacuum out the water and detritus

 

If using an hob filter: rinse carbon bag 1 time a week, replace filter floss 2 times a week)

 

Replace  new salt water

 

1 time a week is good for waterchanges but Pico tanks can have more for nutrient control.

 

Corals:

 

Corals react. They are animals. They aren't always open and perfect looking.

They can react to waterchanges, lighting changes, movement, parameter changes(this is usually significant changes over time)

 

Testing:

 

The ammonia results. Not sure if it's from not properly cycling or stocking too fast. It may be from decaying food not being eaten.

 

You will need testers for:

 

Nitrate, phosphates, alk, and calcium

Ali is fine to use except the phosphate because it not low range which is what you need.

 

Mushrooms are one of the easiest corals.

 

Don't over react in this hobby. It's usually when ppl make mistakes.

Try not over thinking things and try not having your hands in the tank constantly.

 

Make a schedule for waterchanges and keep things consistent.

 

[Clown79]

On 08/07/2017 at 4:10 AM, cfaye@Delaware said:

Hi, good to see you. As far as the sand bed info, to me it is a hard read, some of it I know about. Having a hard time trying to highlight some of the info, I am sorry but you might have to read the whole thing. I will keep trying. I clean my sand bed twice a day because of the crabs. As of right now going for the Aquaclear 20, still checking it out. yep, thats the filter. It can't take care of what's in tank now. I never put my heaters in my filters, I have read some awful stories about that, I don't use heaters until winter, I keep a warm house in the summer. I am running a so called DSB because with this sand, it is easy to clean but you take a lot out. If you rinse this sand, I don't think you would have any left.....this some fine sand. Also you have to be careful of stirring the sand bed, from what I understand it can be toxic. I did not deep clean the bed until I could test for toxic levels. When I did the deep cleaning with turkey baster, the water and sand in baster smelled awful, like dirty beach water on a hot day. That is not a healthy smell. Not sure could be sulfur smell, Not good ??? Also running DSB because I felt easier to take out than put in. In the thread it will tell you what the sand bed looks like and what the cause might be. Also read not sure here or not, can't remember, but the sand bed has a life span.....not too sure of the years but at some point you do need to add sand ??? I am talking about if you use live sand, I think not sure, well any way, about that part, confusing. Bristle worms and them evil pods are smart. I will have to look into traps......Well as always thanks for posting.

To everyone:

 

 

 

 

 

7/7/17 PM

 

Tank ok......Target fed the tank, everybody happy.....I was looking for evil pods, large, saw none. Waited about 2hrs. cleaned up mess.....took out large amount of water to clean mess. Checked salt water level......1.024 and 1/2.....matched everything and added new salt water, almost like a water change......tank chores. Now them evil pods, I shall call them.....whatthehell.....as in what the hell happened here. (WTH) So when I say looking for WTH that's them.....Since emerald has been in tank ain't seen them bristle worms. 

 

A deep sand bed isn't the type of sand you use but rather how much of it.

 

A deep sand bed is 4 inches and more.

 

If you have less than four inches depth, you should be stirring it lightly everyday for the filter to suck up the food and poop.

Once a week vacuum it.

 

I think you are reading on subjects that Don't apply.

This is getting you stressed and confused. 

 

Keep it simple. It can be very easy until ppl over think.

 

Hang on filter in reef: 

Not used for biological filtration.

Your liverock does that 

 

The filter is used to filter out particles like food and poop. It's trapped by filter floss. Filter floss is changed twice a week so that nutrients don't build up.

 

We also run carbon in media bags in the filter. This polishes the water and removes toxins. Some add phosguard and purigen for other methods of chemical filtration.

 

The ac20 will be fine on that tank.

 

For fish.

 

Get a clown goby or a tailspot blenny.

These are great for your size tank and will reduce the pods.

8 hours ago, cfaye@Delaware said:

Tank Ok 

 

I want to thank everyone for stopping by.....help has been great. I am making note of this because what happens when life gets crazy and can't watch tank 24/7......

 

7/10/17 PM

 

Tank ok.....tank chores, watching WTH

 

7/11/17 AM

 

Tank ok 

 

Notice what looks like algae on tank wall, this will be first algae if that's what it is, could be some tank eating thing with my luck. Now the algae looks kind of fuzzy ( Oh Lord ), and maybe different colors, green, orange.....in very small spots on tank wall. Watching it.....thinking if I clean the tank wall will fall to sand bed....need to think how to battle this.....stay on top of it. Yes do tank chores twice a day, maybe try to get chores down to once a day except for top off. New filter helps a lot.

 

7/11/17 PM

 

Tank ok

 

Now for the last few days been on the hunt for a very small fish that might help with WTH. Emerald will eat them but he takes his time snacking, which is very helpful, and yes I have been helping with tweezers and turkey baster. There are a lot of small ones, no large yet, them things smart. Like I say anything smarter than me and don't pay rent, cash, got to go. The frag that was attacked is holding steady in the back. Also on order Coral RX. Now will try to do tank chores once a day in PM....have more time. 

 

7/12/17 AM

 

Tank ok

 

Well sort of, turned on light and my frogspawn was full of small WTH. So I go nuts of course. Still don't have any kind of dip yet, could not find anything at LFS for some strange reason. Now the small ones are not as fast eating as the big ones so had time to think. This time dipped the coral in high salt concentrate for only sec. Goodness lots fell off. Put back in tank, waited a bit, saw more on frag, dipped again, only sec. more fell off. Now watching.....coral is ok. Now once again I am thinking what do people do who can't take rock and coral out. I know that I'm not dreaming but there is info out there somewhere with this problem, I read it, can't find it again, using peroxide, did find info on algae. Now on wall saw something that looked like a half circle, a worm ????? Very small white.....I wish there was something I could use to put in tank that would only get rid of bad things.....LOL that might be my whole tank....nothing but dangerous things. 

 

Now found a fish that I like, will order him late tonight, he might help :

 

Yellow Watchman Shrimp Goby

 

To Weetabix7 :

Found a old post of yours, simply said " Hate hermit crabs "  

LOL.....sounds like me and my bristle worms and pods. I feed my hermits and watching.

 

 

You need to post pics because we can't verify what you have without them

[Weetabix7]

9 hours ago, cfaye@Delaware said:

 

To Weetabix7 :

Found a old post of yours, simply said " Hate hermit crabs "  

LOL.....sounds like me and my bristle worms and pods. I feed my hermits and watching.

 

 

 

This made me laugh. 

If you want to tag someone in a post, just do it like this: @cfaye@Delaware

[Lula_Mae]

What clown said.

 

And I'm with Weetie.  Hermits are trouble lol.

[cfaye@Delaware]

7/14/17 AM

 

Tank ok.....

 

A very sad day for me, the fish I ordered online was DOA.....this was a new seller for me.....this is my first fish lost since I have been ordering online.....More on this much, much later.

 

I want to thank everyone for stopping by......

Clown79.....good to see you and thank you for posting. Now posting that list all in one place makes it very easy, nice piece of work.....thanks.

Posting pictures is hard, everything is so tiny right now, using phone camera. Plus I cleaned up sand bed and tank for the fish. I will try to get pics of what is on tank wall, I saved that for fish, maybe nibble on it. I also had the 5g tetra set up just in case I needed it. Holding tank in case I ran into trouble. With 3 crabs, you never know. 

Weetabix7.....yeah them crabs, you got to watch them esp. Emerald crabs....they are strong and can be mean, he grabbed at the long tweezers while feeding, thought I would fall in tank.....LOL  but they are strong. I had a small cave ready to go also, it is made of ceramic, I tried to see if it was salt water safe, it was just a stone type thing that I used for fresh water fish, could find no info.....there are very bad companies in freshwater fish, where their hiding places leach bad things in water....I soaked the rock for like at least 24hr in saltwater to see if the water color changed....nope not so far.....did the soak in a glass bowl.....them crabs.....could also use as feeding den.....

 

Lula_Mae.....I Love your QT, I would like to make one just like it.....Yeah them crabs, got to keep close eye on them things.....

 

7/12/17 PM  Tank ok

 

Order fish, should be coming Fri. 7/14/17......Fri AM DOA took pictures.....

In pictures, he looked like he could do a lot of damage.....In real life, looked like he had teeth, big ones. 

 

7/13/17 AM tank ok

 

7/13/17 PM Tank ok

 

Target fed the tank everybody loves the frozen thaw out food, waited about 2hr cleaned up mess, did water change. Salt level 1.025, will stop there. I fed everything in tank because I didn't want fights when it came to feed new fish......plus deep clean sand bed because this type of fish like to dig.

 

7/14/17 Am Tank ok

Fish DOA 

[Clown79]

What fish did you order?

 

You shouldn't need to feed a small tank with just inverts that much that you need to clean the sand that much.

 

Every other day and tiny amounts is enough.