Snow's 2.6G Little Monsters Picoreef - Retired!

[Snow_Phoenix]

37 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Good plan. I will be hoping for the best results

Me too. 

 

I'm a bit crushed that this fish-adding-idea didn't work out though. I was truly excited in getting a small picofish for the pico. But I can't really help it if my fish has the munchies for my corals. 😣

[ECLS Reefer]

5 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Large update ahead! 😊

 

Red blastos are regrowing quite well: 👍

 

 

Still no full PE on the orange leptastrea, but at least I can see a *bit of PE after Nox's removal:

 

 

Tricolor blasto is still recovering. It receded a little bit last week for unknown reasons, but is bouncing back again:

 

 

Caught Harvey wearing the montihat: 😅

 

 

 

Duncan coral looks extremely happy in this tank. It has colored back up pretty nicely too:

 

 

And lastly, I'm not sure what this is - lympho? Ich? - but Midnight appears to have develop black pustules all over his body. 😔 :

 

 

 

I also caught him actively pecking the heck out of my red fungias. I'm actually quite torn, atm. I want what's best for him - but not at the cost of seeing my tank and all my work (at nursing these corals) ruined. 

 

If he keeps at it, I'll have no choice but to rehome him, and reconsider my options of ever getting a fish for this little reef. 

 

Maybe I should just stick to fancy inverts and leave it at that. 🤦‍♀️

The monti hat reminds me so much of sorting hat from Harry Potter 😂

[Snow_Phoenix]

Thought I lost this lil' guy, but it was still alive, and still slowly regrowing:

 

 

The green favites is regrowing really well too. Their centers used to be dark red - so far I haven't seen any of it. 🤔 :

 

 

A different angle of the long-polyped toadstool: 

 

 

Remember my baby bullseye rhodactis shrooms? They're green now, and any colored part is very vivid: 🤗

 

 

Love all the new blasto heads popping up all over the place:

 

 

AOGs still growing:

 

 

Despite the difficulties this tank is currently facing, it's actually doing *okay, overall. My furan-2 still hasn't arrived - the delay is now on the part of the courier service, because my vendor posted the items two days ago. 

 

It's out of my hands, either way. All I can do is wait. So far I've lost 3/4 of a zoa frag, and also the shimmery green zoas. But the pox has spread to my multi-mix frag as well. 😔

[Tired]

If I were you, I'd be pulling out everything with the pox. Chop off the infected frag sections and QT them. Or, hell, chop off and get rid of the infected portions, if you have uninfected polyps of the same thing.

[Snow_Phoenix]

10 hours ago, Tired said:

If I were you, I'd be pulling out everything with the pox. Chop off the infected frag sections and QT them. Or, hell, chop off and get rid of the infected portions, if you have uninfected polyps of the same thing.

Well, my zoas beat you to it. The frag melted overnight, leaving nothing except two open polyps and a few shrunken ones. 😔

 

I'm still waiting on my furan-2. It's frustrating, because it's only when you need something very badly, that *something takes forever to reach your doorstep. 😭

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update!

 

This thing is still changing colors - the blue is now turning deeper (but thanks to my filter lens, this can't really be seen) : 🤦‍♀️

 

 

Tricolor blasto looks a bit better today - I wonder if Midnight has been nipping this as well? 🤔 :

 

 

Hmm. Topview shot of the discosoma makes it look a vivid shade of green, by a sideview shot reveals reddish streaks and tiny bumps all over the surface of the shroom. Ah, the wonders of photography: 🙈

 

 

Rainbow brain needs a chunk of shrimp. I feed it, the duncan and red/blue lobo weekly:

 

 

The montihat is still plating out slowly - now that it has regained its original colors, I'm a *bit reluctant to move it to the 60G. Simply because it is doing very well in the pico: 

 

[Ratvan]

I do love the Monti wizard hat

[Snow_Phoenix]

59 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I do love the Monti wizard hat

Me too! 😄

[debbeach13]

Sorry about the zoa loss. I hope your shipment arrives today.

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Sorry about the zoa loss. I hope your shipment arrives today.

Nope, it didn't. 

 

In fact, when I enter the tracking no., it doesn't even come up in the system. Heh.

 

Not giving up on my corals - but definitely giving up on my fish for now. So many issues lately - my head is spinning, thinking on how to try to tackle this and that. 

[debbeach13]

Are you returning the fish to the store? Kind of stinks you can even track that shipment. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

14 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Are you returning the fish to the store? Kind of stinks you can even track that shipment. 

I texted my vendor about the parcel and he said he'll get back to me tomorrow.

 

And yes, I'm considering returning them. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Vendor got back to me again this morning. There was an issue with the courier service - they haven't even picked up my parcel yet. 😔

 

It's been just sitting there, at the office. Had I known there were going to be delivery issues, I'd have paid extra to get it hand-delivered from the vendor himself. 

 

But now the courier service promised to finally deliver it, so I have to wait, again. Usually, I'm not impatient with parcels - because I know how strained the courier services are in the country due to the pandemic. But this one has meds that I need urgently. 😕

 

Anyway, back to the pico - my metallic GSP is actually growing over my sandbed: 😮

 

 

Also, my merlettis fell off Coralline Ledge again. But at least it is still getting some light at the back of the tank:

 

 

Red bubble algae is still crawling with pods:

 

 

I plan on removing Midnight and QTing him during the next WC. 

 

Display will go fallow for 76 days. Will probably transfer these leopard discosomas from my 60G to the pico as well:

 

 

I may end up going the invert-only route for this reef (unless I can acquire a healthy *coral-friendly nanofish from my *primary LFS in the future). Will probably try to add a small crab like a pom pom crab or porcelain crab. And add a second small shrimp like a candycane pistol, sugarcane, white spotted anemone or GBCS/BBCS. 

 

Zoa pox is still present, but appears to have stopped spreading for now. Lost 1 whole frag and 1 fraglet so far. Other corals are still alive and open. 

[debbeach13]

I like that you are so good at moving forward no matter what the challenge is. Kudos

[Snow_Phoenix]

28 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I like that you are so good at moving forward no matter what the challenge is. Kudos

It's hard to stay positive all the time though. But reefing has always been a *journey of sorts for everyone - there will be ups, and there will most certainly be downs. I've yet to encounter anyone with a *perfect reef system with *perfect parameters and with *no issues one way or another. I have to say though - this is currently the most challenging hobby I've picked up so far. I'm sure there are much more challenging ones out there, but I love having a piece of the ocean in my home - no matter how big/small that piece is.

 

(Plus, all the marine critters rock! It's so diverse and even the scary-looking ones are fascinating. 🙂 )

[Snow_Phoenix]

Tubbs blue zoas today: 🥰

 

 

Peacocks: 🤗

 

 

Midnight crouching around the tank:

 

 

 

Also, this finally arrived today while I was at the clinic:

 

 

According to my mum, the delivery man apologized profusely for being late. He said he was very sick for 4 days - poor guy. 😔

 

Well, at least the stuff is here. The magnetic seaweed clip box is a bit crushed, but the clip itself is okay. I'll commence treatment for the infected zoas - 2 frags & 1 colony - tomorrow. 👍

[debbeach13]

So glad it has finally arrived. I did dip my 4 frag for 3 days in a row, I used 1 packet with one cup of tank water and one cup of new SW mixed well. My frags only had a few spots and I could still see some if not all. Then let them rest 4 days. I did another dip yesterday, occasionally stirring up the solution for 10 minutes and then actually poured the dip over the frags using a spoon until all the polyps closed. Once they were all closed I used a toothbrush and gently gave a very light scrub on the stems. Soaked for a few more minutes and then holding with tweezers swished the frags in the solution a minute each.  Then rinsed. I am hoping to see a difference today. All of the frags opened everyday including yesterday after the dip. Good luck with your treatment.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Thanks for sharing, Deb. I didn't know that we had to brush the stems after the dip - will do that (gently) tomorrow. 👍

[debbeach13]

I watched a lot of videos and only two did that. I just looked at the frags 2 I could not see any spots and I only saw 1 on 1 frag and 2 or 3 on one frag. So I do think it made a difference. Make sure all polyps are closed and be gentle.

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I watched a lot of videos and only two did that. I just looked at the frags 2 I could not see any spots and I only saw 1 on 1 frag and 2 or 3 on one frag. So I do think it made a difference. Make sure all polyps are closed and be gentle.

Noted. 👍

[cheesesteak]

Good luck with the furan treatment! 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #1:

 

Zoas not affected by the pox are (thankfully!) doing very well: 😊

 

 

 

 

There's a lot of new polyps growing out, especially with regards to the tubbs blue frag. Speaking of new polyps, the purple death paly has grown from 5 to 13 visible heads so far:

 

 

I don't really have any extra frag plugs, but I think I can slowly frag these soon and sell them via my LFS. 🥰👍

 

The blasto colony has also regrown fairly quickly, although there are new blastos still growing out on the rock:

 

 

 

Next update incoming! 😊

[Snow_Phoenix]

Update #2:

 

Meteor shower cyphastrea is still darkening as the days sweep by, and I'm happy by its progress:

 

 

Green leptastrea is as bright and cheerful as ever - I was worried I pissed it off too much while moving rocks and corals around to remove Nox, but it seems to have bounced back rather quickly: 

 

 

Malayan rainbow acans are doing okay. Color is still improving, and a new fourth head is still growing out, but rather slowly: 🤔

 

 

Red pavona has developed more 'ripples' on the surface, which is kinda cool. It also has these odd white *dots on some areas - wonder what that is? 🤔 :

 

 

And of course, the infamous montihat is doing well and plating out little by little every day: 😊

 

 

 

I love it when the previously brown/bleached/paled out pieces regain their original colors over time. Makes me want to get more unhealthy/unfavorable corals from the store, just to watch them bounce back, color up & regrow in the reef. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Coral progress pics for meteor shower cyphastrea from 6/6/2020 until 9/7/2020 (present day) :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full color not regained yet, but this was how much improvement noted over the course of ~1 month. 

[Tired]

The dots I can see on the pavona just look like the centers of the polyps.