MrJDanP's Nano Reef Build

[MrJDanP]

Got some news and it's a little bit of a bummer, but I'm hopeful... I noticed the cappuccino has white spots around 8/24. Guessing its probably Brooklynella since its more common in clowns than other white spot diseases. 

This is kind of interesting to me as one of the classes I'm currently taking is Diseases and Parasites of Aquatic Organisms. Since its been about a week or longer since the clown started displaying signs of ailment leads me to believe its defense is working and hopefully the parasite will be eliminated and carrier state won't be established. The clown hasn't been acting any differently as far as I've been able to tell. It still dominates the snowflake and feeds aggressively. I'm confident this will pass by the next week. 

 

I believe the snowflake is cyst free right now, I haven't been able to spot any. Though they would be hard to see on the white scales.

 

In other news, I've noticed that a couple of my hermits have hitchhikers on their shells. "Captain Barnacle" has two tube worms in its shell and another has a fan worm on its shell. Pretty cool and not a bad place for these filter feeders to set up camp 

[Lula_Mae]

11 minutes ago, MrJDanP said:

Got some news and it's a little bit of a bummer, but I'm hopeful... I noticed the cappuccino has white spots around 8/24. Guessing its probably Brooklynella since its more common in clowns than other white spot diseases. 

This is kind of interesting to me as one of the classes I'm currently taking is Diseases and Parasites of Aquatic Organisms. Since its been about a week or longer since the clown started displaying signs of ailment leads me to believe its defense is working and hopefully the parasite will be eliminated and carrier state won't be established. The clown hasn't been acting any differently as far as I've been able to tell. It still dominates the snowflake and feeds aggressively. I'm confident this will pass by the next week. 

 

I believe the snowflake is cyst free right now, I haven't been able to spot any. Though they would be hard to see on the white scales.

 

In other news, I've noticed that a couple of my hermits have hitchhikers on their shells. "Captain Barnacle" has two tube worms in its shell and another has a fan worm on its shell. Pretty cool and not a bad place for these filter feeders to set up camp 

Since the clown's still alive, I'd guess ich since I believe brook can kill quickly and easily.

[MrJDanP]

Yeah I guess crypto because as I read more I'm noticing that brook is associated with scale loss and more mucus? There is no scale loss currently and I haven't noticed any mucus discharge. I also haven't seen any scratching thats common with ich. I feel like that's something to be positive about.

 

I don't know how it got in the tank, I was more careful than I've ever been in the past. Oh well, its just the common cold in the saltwater tank am I right? Or at least thats what people used to say a few years ago in Va.

[Mckinney0171]

i have heard that theory as well.  i'm not really sure.  if it is ich then something is out of whack or stressing the fish in some way.  sometimes you will get one fish with it and all the rest are unaffected.  kind of like to know what your current parameters are..

[MrJDanP]

Just finished testing everything I have a test for:

 

• Salinity 1.024
• NO3 is about 30 ppm
• NO2 0 ppm
• NH4 0 ppm
• pH 8.0
• Alk (KH) is about 200 ppm

I know my Phosphates are relatively high at the moment too because I've been going through a diatom bloom for the last week or so. I only feed twice a day though and feed from my fingers to make sure everything is eaten. I do weekly water changes. Besides the moderately high nitrates everything should be pretty stress free

[Mckinney0171]

those look fine.  high phosphates wouldn't really bother fish that I can think of.  nitrates also.  30 is fine.  

 

any temperature swings?  

 

is the other clownfish harrassing it?

[MrJDanP]

No temp swings, stable at 26.3. No harassing either, besides the cappuccino chasing the snowflake. So white spots aside, she's healthy as can be.

 

When I use my TDS meter on the water I buy from my LFS I read about 150 ppm (which I know is terribly high, but I've only had to get water twice so far). I've been hoping he's in-between filter changes but I might just switch to the RO/micron filtration/ozonation water from walmart because I get a stable reading of 5 ppm TDS from that. This is the only other source I can think of

[Mckinney0171]

i hear you man.  that's very high (150).  i think you should switch to the other source.  5 is much better.  i think i remember you saying you were in college.  so, an RODI unit is probably not an option.  but, it is the best way to control TDS.   chloramines in there maybe?

[MrJDanP]

I would like to get an RODI unit but yeah as a college student thats not entirely possible haha. So switching to the walmart water I suppose. I'm going to end up bleeding them dry of their gallon jugs lol. And yeah Myrtle Beach tap water is pretty dirty from all the runoff from residential areas so I know their are chloramines for certain. Don't even want to know what goes through the sewage system in "Dirty Myrtle" 

[MrJDanP]

Has anyone ever had luck with herbal parasite remedies? I don't expect it to be a miracle cure for ich, just looking for away to give my clowns some relief. I picked some up yesterday but haven't used it yet due to mixed reviews I've read. I also found some anti-parasitic food from Dr. G's, but I wouldn't be able to get that in the mail until sometime around the end of the week probably. I've also read that fish don't readily eat that anyways. Just looking for a way to help my clowns win this fight. 

 

Thanks for any input!

[Mckinney0171]

I swear by Selcon.   I have used it for years and never had a case of ich.  I soak all my food in it.   I think it strengthens their immune  systems.  I feed it every day.

[MrJDanP]

I awake this morning with better news, I cannot spot a single cyst on either of the clowns! I picked up some herbal Parasite remedy from Imagitarium and it has been doing the trick. Started using it on Sunday and have completed 4/6 treatments. It says it's reef safe at a smaller dosage, and I decreased that dosage even more and everything has been fine. Except for the waving hand frag, but I think that is flow related and I'm waiting on the Sicce 0.5 pump and Spin stream nozzle in the mail.

 

Here are the clowns this morning

 

Here is the parasite remedy I've been using

 

Now I just need to go pick up a battery powered air pump after class today and hope that Irma takes a ride with the Gulf Stream back out into the Atlantic 

[Mckinney0171]

Same here in Savannah ga.   Glad to hear about the clowns.

[MrJDanP]

I am too, makes me glad to know that they were healthy enough to fight the parasite with just an herbal aid. 

 

Picked up a battery air pump from petco today. Not sure it was worth the $20 I paid for it, sure doesn't have the build quality I would like. Oh well, need to take care of the clowns during the wicked winds so if the power goes out I'll be prepared. Just hope the temp doesn't dip too much. 

[Lula_Mae]

2 hours ago, MrJDanP said:

I am too, makes me glad to know that they were healthy enough to fight the parasite with just an herbal aid. 

 

Picked up a battery air pump from petco today. Not sure it was worth the $20 I paid for it, sure doesn't have the build quality I would like. Oh well, need to take care of the clowns during the wicked winds so if the power goes out I'll be prepared. Just hope the temp doesn't dip too much. 

Later you can look on Amazon for a better/cheaper one.  I have a Marina one that cost around $8-9.  Haven't had to use it yet and fingers crossed I don't!

[MrJDanP]

Upgraded the stock return pump for the Sicce 0.5 and the IM spin stream nozzle (this thing is making itself known, hope it quiets down some soon as its in my bedroom). I had to rearrange my heater to the 2nd chamber because I couldn't get it to fit over the pump without a water trickle sound. And I finally glued down my frags because I hadn't done that yet. 

 

Everything is looking good! Just waiting to see what this hurricane is going to do.

[MrJDanP]

This just in...

 

Green branching hammer - Euphyllia ancora

 super pissed right now from his dip

And some red/purple Acanthastrea

not sure of the hobby name, maybe when I get a picture with the whites on someone can id it

 

[MrJDanP]

And here is a nighttime FTS

 

[MrJDanP]

This is my first time with both of these corals, and have wanted them for awhile. I set my kessil controller to acclimation mode starting at 30% intensity and ramping back up to my usual cycle over a 12 day period. I hope this is good, first time acclimating a coral to my light like this. Also, I'm just noticing both of the lps are ejecting long, transparent projections. These aren't the sweeper tentacles are they? They seem crazy long (like 4-5 inches from the acans). Can anyone give an opinion on that? I did see one of the clowns swim into it just now and it freaked out a little haha.

[MrJDanP]

Been awhile since an update! Everything is doing pretty good.

 

Just shy of 4 months old now, starting to see little spots of coralline algae. Aggression between the clowns has flared up a little this last month. I had reduced the feeding to once a day, thinking about going back to twice a day to help with that. The cappuccinos fins are a little damaged and his color has faded a little. I've been adding some stress coat to help him out some. Besides that both he fish are doing great.

 

The softies, (gsp and waving hand) could be doing a little better. The gsp has some hair algae growing on it that I will need to go in and remove with tweezers or something. The waving hand took a bad from a snail knocking it over before I glued it down. Lost most of its polyps, down to 4/16. I want to start looking around for some cool zoas.

 

The lps are doing great.

 

 

And here's and FTS I just took

 

[Lula_Mae]

Just now, MrJDanP said:

Been awhile since an update! Everything is doing pretty good.

 

Just shy of 4 months old now, starting to see little spots of coralline algae. Aggression between the clowns has flared up a little this last month. I had reduced the feeding to once a day, thinking about going back to twice a day to help with that. The cappuccinos fins are a little damaged and his color has faded a little. I've been adding some stress coat to help him out some. Besides that both he fish are doing great.

 

The softies, (gsp and waving hand) could be doing a little better. The gsp has some hair algae growing on it that I will need to go in and remove with tweezers or something. The waving hand took a bad from a snail knocking it over before I glued it down. Lost most of its polyps, down to 4/16. I want to start looking around for some cool zoas.

 

The lps are doing great.

 

 

Looks nice!  I've ordered zoas from Legendary Corals before and been very pleased.  They have sales a couple times a year too.

[MrJDanP]

Thanks @Lula_Mae! I'll check them out

[MrJDanP]

Got some more coral today!

 

Orange Ricordia

Jedi Mind trick Montipora. Hoping it gets its colors back in my light

Chalice, not sure of the hobby name. Maybe Hills have eyes? Just from looking at pictures

[MrJDanP]

It's been awhile since an update, so here we go.

 

Left the tank for a week for Thanksgiving, everything went well! Had picked up an Eheim auto feeder before I left and it worked, but my fish seemed like they were starving when I got back. And there aggression had picked up some but all is back to normal now.

 

All the corals are doing good. Bought Kent nano reef 2 part to dose because my calcium and alkalinity were getting low between water changes. (375ppm and about 120 ppm for the alk) Did a 2 gallon water change when I got back from Thanksgiving break. Think I ended up giving the motipora a small alk burn, wasn't thinking and changed too much too fast. 

It has turned a nice red under my light though! Not sure that it was the mind trick like I was told.

[MrJDanP]

The hammer is looking much better since I started dosing kent nr