Banasophia’s Biocube 16 & IM Nuvo 10 ☀️

[JonathanS]

Your tank still looks great. 

[banasophia]

5 minutes ago, JonathanS said:

Your tank still looks great. 

Thanks. 🤗  I don’t mind the bubble algae or bristleworms too much, but the aiptasia really spread to the point of stinging the corals badly and killed the candy canes in this tank. Once I get the aiptasia under control I hope to add some candy cane frags back in from my other tanks. 

[banasophia]

My supposed peppermint shrimp are taunting me by hanging out near the aiptasia without touching them, you can see two of the shrimp in this pic I just took. On the bright side, they also do not seem to be messing with my rock flower anemones, which was a concern.

[banasophia]

[banasophia]

[LazyFish]

Arrow crabs eat feather dusters too...mine killed a Hawaiian duster I had.

It takes a while for the nudis to make a dent in aiptasia. They will they only come out at night so you wont see them feeding unless you check at night. You can use something like "f" aiptasia to kill the largest ones off and that seems to help them out getting  them under controll. Just dont let it get on anything else especialy the rfa. I started with 4 in mine and they have nearly cleared my peninsula of a prety bad infestation of aiptasia in about a month and a half. I'm about to move them to my other 20 I have a few in there too. After that I'm gona try to give them to a friend that has some.

Emerald crabs will eat bubble algae.

[banasophia]

46 minutes ago, LazyFish said:

Arrow crabs eat feather dusters too...mine killed a Hawaiian duster I had.

It takes a while for the nudis to make a dent in aiptasia. They will they only come out at night so you wont see them feeding unless you check at night. You can use something like "f" aiptasia to kill the largest ones off and that seems to help them out getting  them under controll. Just dont let it get on anything else especialy the rfa. I started with 4 in mine and they have nearly cleared my peninsula of a prety bad infestation of aiptasia in about a month and a half. I'm about to move them to my other 20 I have a few in there too. After that I'm gona try to give them to a friend that has some.

Emerald crabs will eat bubble algae.

Thanks! Yes, I’ve used berghias successfully several times in the past and know they can be effective. However, my last two batches did not seem to eat the aiptasia for some reason in this tank even after waiting over 2-3 months… I would see them from time to time but they did not seem to make any dent in the aiptasia population, or even seem to be interested in them… as in they would go up to the aiptasia and check them out then turn away and crawl off. (It’s almost like they aren’t really aiptasia, or the berghias aren’t really berghias.) Thus I did use Aiptasia X and added the peppermints since my first choice (the berghias) for some reason are not doing the trick. 
 

I added emeralds from Reef Cleaners so the bubble algae is almost all gone in this tank and my 32.

 

The arrow crab is a desperate measure to control my hundreds of bristleworms. Good point about the feather dusters. They can also potentially attack slow moving fish, so it’s a worry with my YCG and my mandarin, but I’m hoping since he has so many bristleworms he will leave the fish alone, he has been polite so far. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I don’t want to have to break the tank down. I also need to resume setting my bristleworm traps daily. 

[banasophia]

I can never get too much cowbell, or Hank:

 

 

Using an effect in PicsArt:

 

 

 

 

 

[LazyFish]

Ooh I need that program. Could make yourself some nice prints and get them framed.

[banasophia]

5 hours ago, LazyFish said:

Ooh I need that program. Could make yourself some nice prints and get them framed.

Yes, you just can’t sell them if you use their filters… I checked at one point because I made some greeting cards. 

[banasophia]

I can’t remember if I’ve posted about Finnick’s popeye in here… I don’t think so, I think I’ve just talked about it in the reef/life/chat thread. So he’s had popeye for a few weeks now. I thought it was due to an eye injury until this weekend.

 

It has not been getting better, though he was continuing to swim around and eat normally so I was hopeful.
 

Then, over the past two days he has been getting skinnier, and I’ve noticed what looked like a hole in the swollen area, and something inside, and I was suspecting eye flukes. I sent pics and messages to a couple people yesterday for help with the ID and what to do, and I was waiting on replies to come up with a good plan since I wasn’t sure about the treatment recommendations I was finding because mandarins can respond differently to treatments than other fish.

 

 

 

This afternoon I checked on him and he was sitting on the sandbed, which is not unusual, but then he jumped like he was startled. I looked more closely and saw a bristleworm on his front right fin, and the fin was mostly gone. This seemed to be a sign he’s doing really poorly and may be dying, so I scrambled to figure out what to do. 
 

Special thanks to Amp and Seabass who replied to my pms to help while I was running around trying to get things I needed before the LFSs closed today. 
 

Not really sure what to do in this situation because normally you would treat a fish with eye flukes with a freshwater dip, followed by prazipro, but my LFS guy said he thought that a mandarin wouldn’t survive a freshwater dip.
 

Then the next question was treat in a quarantine tank vs treat with prazipro right in the display tank. Ordinarily it’s not recommended to QT mandarins, I think mainly due to their need for pods, but Finnick loves pellets so I should be able to continue to feed him pellets in addition to tossing in pods from time to time. 
 

Prazipro is reef safe, so I think ordinarily this would be a good option, but prazipro can kill bristleworms and potentially lead to an ammonia spike. As you guys may know, I have a massive overpopulation of bristleworms, so a spike is likely, so I think it would be risky to use prazipro with livestock in the tank. Plus, I was freaked out seeing the bristleworm on Finnick today and don’t want him to be eaten alive by bristleworms if he does succumb. 
 

So, I picked up a 5 gallon QT tank, the prazipro, some BioSpira, thermometer, and ammonia badge. I had a spare air pump, heater, and some egg crate to make a lid. I was able to net him and get him into the QT tank with the freshly mixed saltwater and prazipro. I sure hope he pulls through. I have had him pretty much since I started reefing, over 3 1/2 years ago. I’ve put so much time, love, and money into raising this little fish, I will be heartbroken if he doesn’t make it.
 

Please send good thoughts my way for Finnick, and let me know your ideas on treating him and the tank. I’ve never QTd fish before… I couldn’t get any pvc pipes tonight for him to hide in, so I tossed the castle in… not the greatest plan since it has cyphastrea encrusting on it… I do have a kessil lying around I can use to give it some light.

 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Sounds like you are doing every thing you can. I hope Finnick recovers. 

[banasophia]

Well, he made it through the night. Just threw the kessil over it at a low setting and tossed in half a bottle of tigger pods. 

[TNSRFR]

11 hours ago, banasophia said:

Well, he made it through the night. Just threw the kessil over it at a low setting and tossed in half a bottle of tigger pods. 

I hope finnick makes it.  Sounds to me you are doing everything you can for him.  With your TLC, he will make it. 😊.  Back home now after being gone for 2 months and having my son to look after my tank.  Sadly, I lost my flame just before I came home and some corals.  And Nitrate @ 50 and phosphate @ 2.  😖.  Lots of water changes to get it back to where it was, hopefully. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Is he still eating, Bana? If he's still eating, there is a chance he might pull through. And you're about the FW dip - it stresses out mandarins a lot, and they usually slime up & fare poorly afterwards. 😕

 

If you're using any meds, use half of the required dose. If you're willing to risk it, slowly bump up the dose (even Prazi) but try not to go full dose. They can't handle it well at all. 

 

Wishing the best for Finnick. ❤

[banasophia]

8 minutes ago, TNSRFR said:

I hope finnick makes it.  Sounds to me you are doing everything you can for him.  With your TLC, he will make it. 😊.  Back home now after being gone for 2 months and having my son to look after my tank.  Sadly, I lost my flame just before I came home and some corals.  And Nitrate @ 50 and phosphate @ 2.  😖.  Lots of water changes to get it back to where it was, hopefully. 

Thanks, was just thinking of you. 🤗💛 I’m really sorry to hear about your fish and corals, but sometimes we just can’t give our tanks all the attention we would like when other things are going on in our lives. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. 
 

Finnick seems to have lost interest in the pellets, maybe a side effect from the prazipro, similar to what happened with the reef flux. I added pods yesterday, but that was the last of my supply so I’ll get more tomorrow. Will try some frozen tonight or tomorrow to see if he will go for them.

[banasophia]

1 minute ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Is he still eating, Bana? If he's still eating, there is a chance he might pull through. And you're about the FW dip - it stresses out mandarins a lot, and they usually slime up & fare poorly afterwards. 😕

 

If you're using any meds, use half of the required dose. If you're willing to risk it, slowly bump up the dose (even Prazi) but try not to go full dose. They can't handle it well at all. 

 

Wishing the best for Finnick. ❤

Thanks so much for the info and support, Snow. I already did what I think was the full dose of prazipro in the QT. He seems to be eating pods but he is refusing his pellets which he was scarfing up until I transferred him to the QT with the prazipro. I’ll go pick up more pods tomorrow, and I’ll see if the brine shrimp eggs I have on hand are viable to hatch some BBS, and try some frozen. 
 

I have not decided yet if I should dose the tank because of the bristleworm issue. On one hand I’d love to get rid of most of the bristleworms, but I don’t want to totally pollute the tank with dead bristleworms and a massive ammonia spike. 
 

The other fish haven’t shown signs of flukes that I’ve noticed. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

3 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Thanks so much for the info and support, Snow. I already did what I think was the full dose of prazipro in the QT. He seems to be eating pods but he is refusing his pellets which he was scarfing up until I transferred him to the QT with the prazipro. I’ll go pick up more pods tomorrow, and I’ll see if the brine shrimp eggs I have on hand are viable to hatch some BBS, and try some frozen. 
 

I have not decided yet if I should dose the tank because of the bristleworm issue. On one hand I’d love to get rid of most of the bristleworms, but I don’t want to totally pollute the tank with dead bristleworms and a massive ammonia spike. 
 

The other fish haven’t shown signs of flukes that I’ve noticed. 

It's quite normal for him to not eat or eat less in QT. But I'm glad he's still eating the pods though! 

 

I'll have to pick up some live pods soon as well. My tank was hit very badly by velvet & a combination of other things recently. Will have to catch & QT all of my fish, including my dragonets, which is quite worrisome. 😕

 

I, too, have an ungodly amount of bristleworms in the 60G. But since the tank is a FOWLR, I don't mind dosing it with Prazi in the DT once all the fish are in QT. I can manually remove any dead bristleworms later. 👍

 

I don't think this would be possible if it was a reef though, for reasons you have cited. Ammonia spikes can be deadly. 🤔

[banasophia]

22 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

It's quite normal for him to not eat or eat less in QT. But I'm glad he's still eating the pods though! 

 

I'll have to pick up some live pods soon as well. My tank was hit very badly by velvet & a combination of other things recently. Will have to catch & QT all of my fish, including my dragonets, which is quite worrisome. 😕

 

I, too, have an ungodly amount of bristleworms in the 60G. But since the tank is a FOWLR, I don't mind dosing it with Prazi in the DT once all the fish are in QT. I can manually remove any dead bristleworms later. 👍

 

I don't think this would be possible if it was a reef though, for reasons you have cited. Ammonia spikes can be deadly. 🤔

Oh no… I hadn’t seen that your tank had velvet… that’s terrible… poor little fishes. 😢 I hope you can catch them and successfully treat it. 

 

[TNSRFR]

38 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Thanks, was just thinking of you. 🤗💛 I’m really sorry to hear about your fish and corals, but sometimes we just can’t give our tanks all the attention we would like when other things are going on in our lives. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. 
 

Finnick seems to have lost interest in the pellets, maybe a side effect from the prazipro, similar to what happened with the reef flux. I added pods yesterday, but that was the last of my supply so I’ll get more tomorrow. Will try some frozen tonight or tomorrow to see if he will go for them.

Thanks!  Hopefully, I can put this all behind with a great news soon.  Try hatching live brine shrimp for finnick.  Along with pods and freshly hatched brine will help him fight off what he’s going through.  

[banasophia]

I have the day off Wednesday, if Finnick is still hanging on, I think I should rehome my damsel in my Evo 5 and put Finnick back in there, he liked it in that tank… I’ll try to catch Hank and put him in there with him to keep him company. 

[banasophia]

4 minutes ago, TNSRFR said:

Thanks!  Hopefully, I can put this all behind with a great news soon.  Try hatching live brine shrimp for finnick.  Along with pods and freshly hatched brine will help him fight off what he’s going through.  

Yes, I’ll put some brine shrimp eggs in my hatchery tonight… he really likes fresh baby brine shrimp. 
 

I hope you will have good news soon too. 🙏

[seabass]

IDK, just a thought about feeding the mandy.  Do you think it would eat decapsulated brine shrimp eggs?  My Banggai Cardinalfish babies (who are picky eaters) would often eat them, and a good percentage of the uneaten eggs still hatch in the tank, providing food to those holding out for swimming food.

 

Here is how I decapsulate the brine shrimp eggs:

• I put about 40ml of tap water in a glass.  The amount of water isn't that important.
• Then I stir some brine shrimp eggs into the water, and let them sit for an hour.
• After the hour, I add about 20ml of chlorine bleach.  Again, the amount of bleach isn't that important; but I shoot for about 50% of the amount of water I used.  I don't really measure any of this (eyeballing it is fine).
• Stir the eggs occasionally, until the eggs turn orange.  This takes roughly 5 minutes.  The time isn't as important as the color.
• Then I drain the eggs using a 53 micron plankton screen.  I rinse them with tap water, then pour some water with a little Seachem Prime over them, and then rinse them with tap water again.  Basically I'm just trying to get rid of the chlorine.
• Now I flip over the sieve and run a glass of RO water (could be saltwater, or even tank water) through the sieve to release the decapsulated eggs into another container.
• Then I just pour the eggs into the tank.

[banasophia]

43 minutes ago, seabass said:

IDK, just a thought about feeding the mandy.  Do you think it would eat decapsulated brine shrimp eggs?  My Banggai Cardinalfish babies (who are picky eaters) would often eat them, and a good percentage of the unbeaten eggs still hatch in the tank, providing food to those holding out for swimming food.

 

Here is how I decapsulate the brine shrimp eggs:

• I put about 40ml of tap water in a glass.  The amount of water isn't that important.
• Then I stir some brine shrimp eggs into the water, and let them sit for an hour.
• After the hour, I add about 20ml of chlorine bleach.  Again, the amount of bleach isn't that important; but I shoot for about 50% of the amount of water I used.  I don't really measure any of this (eyeballing it is fine).
• Stir the eggs occasionally, until the eggs turn orange.  This takes roughly 5 minutes.  The time isn't as important as the color.
• Then I drain the eggs using a 53 micron plankton screen.  I rinse them with tap water, then pour some water with a little Seachem Prime over them, and then rinse them with tap water again.  Basically I'm just trying to get rid of the chlorine.
• Now I flip over the sieve and run a glass of RO water (could be saltwater, or even tank water) through the sieve to release the decapsulated eggs into another container.
• Then I just pour the eggs into the tank.

Oh that’s a good idea to try! I think he was eating more this evening too… I fed pellets that he usually loves and frozen tiny foods several times today (BBS, cyclopods, rotifers, coral gumbo). I’ll try to catch and rehome the damsel from the evo 5 tomorrow so I can move Finnick in there to be a homier reef environment for him. 

[banasophia]

Oh man Finnick was laying on his back and looked totally dead this morning when I turned the light on… I was so sad, especially that he died on my birthday, but figured at least I would always think of him on my bday each year… went in an hour later and he was swimming around!
 

I’ll stick with the Evo 5 plan…