Hannah’s tank journal

[Gravity]

Water changes shouldn’t be a problem. I would just do enough to keep ammonia less than 0.5 ppm. Probably hold off for a day or so after bacteria addition. 

[Hannahhhh]

At some point in the last two or three hours, my little tang got his upper fin torn in a few places. 😞 I’ve never seen any signs of aggression between my fish (except occasionally between my two cardinals). I watch them really closely for this. Is there anything else that could have caused this? It doesn’t really look like a bite wound, but idk. I’m positive it happened within the last hour or two because I took a bunch of pictures of him two hours ago and he looked fine. Any thoughts? 

[MrObscura]

Something could have spooked him and he ran into a rock or something.

 

Just a guess.

 

Or he did get into a tussle with another fish.

[Hannahhhh]

2 minutes ago, MrObscura said:

Something could have spooked him and he ran into a rock or something.

 

Just a guess.

 

Or he did get into a tussle with another fish.

He has a tendency to squeeze himself into really tiny spaces. I hope he’s not in too much discomfort. 

[MrObscura]

It looks like just the fin so I dont think  he should be bothered much by it. Just keep an eye on him and make sure it heals.

[Hannahhhh]

6 minutes ago, MrObscura said:

It looks like just the fin so I dont think  he should be bothered much by it. Just keep an eye on him and make sure it heals.

Thanks! That’s a relief!

[Hannahhhh]

I got a gorgeous, huge new rock flower anemone yesterday from my favorite LFS. It’s very light colored, almost white but with a mint green tinge. It’s also got very pretty pink spots on its underside, though I’ll probably never see those again. I asked the guy at the store if it was light colored from stress and he said no, it’s just light (I do trust him). However I tried feeding it mysis last night and it made zero effort to bring the food to its mouth. I’ve never seen a RFA not eat something that was in its grasp, so it made me nervous that it’s sick or super stressed. I’m really hoping it doesn’t change color later on or get sick and die. I think if it changes color my LFS will let me return it, but it’s so pretty I don’t want that to happen. 

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, Hannahhhh said:

I got a gorgeous, huge new rock flower anemone yesterday from my favorite LFS. It’s very light colored, almost white but with a mint green tinge. It’s also got very pretty pink spots on its underside, though I’ll probably never see those again. I asked the guy at the store if it was light colored from stress and he said no, it’s just light (I do trust him). However I tried feeding it mysis last night and it made zero effort to bring the food to its mouth. I’ve never seen a RFA not eat something that was in its grasp, so it made me nervous that it’s sick or super stressed. I’m really hoping it doesn’t change color later on or get sick and die. I think if it changes color my LFS will let me return it, but it’s so pretty I don’t want that to happen. 

It’s very pretty! Some of mine don’t grab food... as long as it stays in the light, hopefully it will get the energy it needs.🤞🤞🤞

[Hannahhhh]

21 minutes ago, banasophia said:

It’s very pretty! Some of mine don’t grab food... as long as it stays in the light, hopefully it will get the energy it needs.🤞🤞🤞

Oh wow I never knew that! I hope it will start eating soon because I got it to put in one of the lower lit areas of my tank 😅

[Hannahhhh]

My tang is looking MUCH better. I’m surprised how quickly his fin is healing up!

[Hannahhhh]

I added a little bubble tip anemone to my tank last week and it promptly hid. I’m trying to decide how long is normal for one to hide. I have almost no idea how it’s doing since I can’t really see it. 

[jservedio]

6 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

I added a little bubble tip anemone to my tank last week and it promptly hid. I’m trying to decide how long is normal for one to hide. I have almost no idea how it’s doing since I can’t really see it. 

Your new tank is looking good - tons of corals now! Do you know where the RBTA is? The smaller ones can find spots that are behind your rockwork, but still getting enough light. If they are unhappy, they will go for a walk. As long as you can see him (even if you have to use a mirror), I wouldn't worry about it. You can adjust your flow (like pointing a powerhead near it) to force it to move. Don't worry about feeding it - I very, very rarely feed mine and they just keeping getting bigger and bigger.

 

When my RBTA split for the first time, the baby hid mostly underneath the rock against my back glass, totally out of sight for a few months and slowly made its way out with the other nems.

[Hannahhhh]

1 hour ago, jservedio said:

Your new tank is looking good - tons of corals now! Do you know where the RBTA is? The smaller ones can find spots that are behind your rockwork, but still getting enough light. If they are unhappy, they will go for a walk. As long as you can see him (even if you have to use a mirror), I wouldn't worry about it. You can adjust your flow (like pointing a powerhead near it) to force it to move. Don't worry about feeding it - I very, very rarely feed mine and they just keeping getting bigger and bigger.

 

When my RBTA split for the first time, the baby hid mostly underneath the rock against my back glass, totally out of sight for a few months and slowly made its way out with the other nems.

Thanks! I’m still battling algae all over my sand but I’m working on it.

In terms of the bubble tip, yes I can see it. I guess I’m just nervous since I tried a bubble tip in my tank a few months ago and it didn’t make it. It never tried moving, it just sorta died. 

[jservedio]

1 hour ago, Hannahhhh said:

Thanks! I’m still battling algae all over my sand but I’m working on it.

In terms of the bubble tip, yes I can see it. I guess I’m just nervous since I tried a bubble tip in my tank a few months ago and it didn’t make it. It never tried moving, it just sorta died. 

Try not to worry about the last one - it could have been a thousand things and may not have even been your fault. Try and be as hands-off as possible with a new nem - don't even look at it sideways unless it's mowing down every coral in your tank. Just let them do their thing and when they've been settled for a few months, then you can attempt to herd it where you want it to be using shadowing and flow or moving the whole rock it's attached to. I wouldn't even feed the nem for a few months until it's settled - BTAs will be just fine without eating pretty much indefinitely. I haven't fed either of mine in months - they just get the clowns scraps.

 

Once they are settled and in place, they are basically impossible to kill, but they are very vulnerable when they are being moved or handled - a mistake anywhere from the wholesaler to the LFS or from the LFS to your tank and they just may never recover.

[Hannahhhh]

On 11/13/2019 at 5:06 PM, jservedio said:

Try not to worry about the last one - it could have been a thousand things and may not have even been your fault. Try and be as hands-off as possible with a new nem - don't even look at it sideways unless it's mowing down every coral in your tank. Just let them do their thing and when they've been settled for a few months, then you can attempt to herd it where you want it to be using shadowing and flow or moving the whole rock it's attached to. I wouldn't even feed the nem for a few months until it's settled - BTAs will be just fine without eating pretty much indefinitely. I haven't fed either of mine in months - they just get the clowns scraps.

 

Once they are settled and in place, they are basically impossible to kill, but they are very vulnerable when they are being moved or handled - a mistake anywhere from the wholesaler to the LFS or from the LFS to your tank and they just may never recover.

Thank you! It actually came out this evening! It looks happy enough!

[Reef Aquatics]

Sorry I know this was discussed a few pages back. 

 

I just put a Hang on Back Refugium on my 20 gallon long nano.  I thought the Finnex breeder

box was overpriced. I got the exact same type of breeder box (ista) on Amazon for $10 and the

54gph pump for $5. This one is actually better, as it has adjustable knobs on the bottom to level the box with

the back of the aquarium wall.. I'm surprised the Finnex doesn't have that?.. The light isn't in the photos,

plus I'm waiting for pods and macro algae to come in the mail. 

 

Also as others have said, I don't think you should attempt getting a mandarin. I had one in my 4ft x 3ft

shallow reef that was mature with a 30 gallon refugium. Although he did live for quite awhile, they are

difficult to keep..  and your setup is way too small.  Even with the hob refugium, he would most likely

starve.

[Hannahhhh]

5 hours ago, Reef Aquatics said:

 

Also as others have said, I don't think you should attempt getting a mandarin. I had one in my 4ft x 3ft

shallow reef that was mature with a 30 gallon refugium. Although he did live for quite awhile, they are

difficult to keep..  and your setup is way too small.  Even with the hob refugium, he would most likely

starve.

 

I’ve decided to hold off on a mandarin for now. If I do get one I’ll either set up a separate place to grow pods, or just buy pods fairly often from my LFS. I agree, the current set up of my tank won’t allow for enough pods for one. 

[Hannahhhh]

Added a beautiful yellow branching hammer to my tank this week. The pictures don’t do it justice, it’s highlighter yellow in person. Unfortunately, my yellow frogspawn is declining. I ordered it from liveaquaria a few weeks ago, and it never really settled in. It’s polyps started pretty retracted no matter where in the tank I tried putting it. At this point though, the middle head looks very bad. My LFS is closed until the weekend so I’m hoping it can hold on until they open. I’m going to bring it in and have them hold it in one of their tanks. My alkalinity has been way too high (I was accidentally overdosing it) so maybe that’s what was wrong with it? Although that problem only started a week ago and the frogspawn was unhappy before that. It was an expensive coral, I’d be pretty sad to loose it. Fortunately all my other corals are doing very well!

[Hannahhhh]

Oh also I was wondering does anyone have any suggestions on getting rid of the mini starfish in my tank (I forget what they’re called). I use to like them a lot, but recently I’ve been pulling them off my zoas almost everyday. They even managed to kill all four of my AOI zoas 😭

[Seadragon]

30 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

Oh also I was wondering does anyone have any suggestions on getting rid of the mini starfish in my tank (I forget what they’re called). I use to like them a lot, but recently I’ve been pulling them off my zoas almost everyday. They even managed to kill all four of my AOI zoas 😭

 

Asterina Starfish?  If so, some people use Harlequin Shrimp if there's an epidemic of them, but they only eat Starfish and will starve to death once their food source has been eliminated.  Others only remove the Asterina Starfish that is on the corals themselves since there are some types that eat corals and many others that do not that usually stay on the glass, sand, and rocks.

[Hannahhhh]

39 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

 

Asterina Starfish?  If so, some people use Harlequin Shrimp if there's an epidemic of them, but they only eat Starfish and will starve to death once their food source has been eliminated.  Others only remove the Asterina Starfish that is on the corals themselves since there are some types that eat corals and many others that do not that usually stay on the glass, sand, and rocks.

Yes that’s what they’re called. I’ve heard about harlequin shrimp, but I can’t commit to buying starfish to feed it regularly, and I wouldn’t feel right letting it starve in my tank.

I’ve been removing all of the ones that I see, I had no idea that there are different types that eat different things. 

[Seadragon]

I binged-read your epic journey and I'm glad your eye is OK after the "incident".  I've never owned any zoas or any corals that may have palytoxins in them since I've read too many crazy stories of things that can go wrong (knowing me, Murphy's Law would get me and I'd be the one who'd lose the eye).

 

I was curious if you felt wearing all that special protection (due to the risk) was worth the reward of having a few dangerous corals?  I do love your tank though, it's pretty amazing!

[Hannahhhh]

1 hour ago, Seadragon said:

I binged-read your epic journey and I'm glad your eye is OK after the "incident".  I've never owned any zoas or any corals that may have palytoxins in them since I've read too many crazy stories of things that can go wrong (knowing me, Murphy's Law would get me and I'd be the one who'd lose the eye).

 

I was curious if you felt wearing all that special protection (due to the risk) was worth the reward of having a few dangerous corals?  I do love your tank though, it's pretty amazing!

Thank you! Yes the incident was bad, but I do think having my zoas are worth it. Realistically, they’re not too dangerous unless you’re fragging them or working with them out of the water. In those moments, eye protection is crucial, although lots of experienced reefers choose not to protect their eyes. After what happened to me, I think it’s stupid not to cover your eyes and mouth while fragging. It’s a bit uncomfortable I know, but far more comfortable than your eye reacting to toxins! I also learned a trick to frag them under the water, which theoretically prevents them from spraying at you.

I think zoas and palys are mostly dangerous to people who don’t know about palytoxin and therefore don’t do basic things like wash their hands or cover their eyes/mouth/any cuts while fragging. Assuming you know the potential dangers, it’s very easy to treat them with the respect they deserve and avoid danger. I love the way zoas look so keeping them feels extra worth it to me. 

[Hannahhhh]

Ugh in the last 5 hours or so, my frogspawn went way down hill. It’s got brown jelly 😞 I tried siphoning off as much as possible but I have pretty low hopes for it. I’ve been pretty disappointing with my last few coral purchases from liveaquaria including this one. It never fully recovered after shipping and just went slowly downhill. Unfortunately I’m out of the 14 day money back guarantee. 

[Hannahhhh]

My dad bought me an AI prime HD as a birthday present (I don’t have it yet though). I’m super excited to have it, since my tank is 3ft long and I currently just have one AI prime over it. The only thing I’m worried about is increasing Cyanobacteria when I add more light. Is that something that happens? I’m seriously battling the cyano in my tank. 

 

I also just ordered a male harlequin shrimp. I have astaria starfish everywhere in my tank and they keep eating my zoas. My LFS offered to sell me starfish to feed it if it eats all the ones in my tank. I’m hoping my cleaner shrimp and the harlequin get along.