Snow_Phoenix Posted December 31, 2020 Author Share Posted December 31, 2020 16 minutes ago, debbeach13 said: Too bad Qin isn't craving some Bristles worms looks like a feast of them. Oh and that has to be the smallest and cutest coral banded shrimp ever! He is indeed cute! He keeps trying to clean my fish but I think they're nervous of his claws so they usually swim off. 😛 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 Caught Qin battling his own reflection - I've seen my other dragonets do this from time to time (especially after I've just cleaned the glass) : 😅 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 He's actually a very active fish. Now that he's grown a bit more comfortable in the nano, his true personality is really coming through: Although I'm not too happy over his body condition. Rips in the fins aside, when he turns at certain angles, I can see the faint signs of his lateral lines. From a dorsal view standpoint, he looks okay/medium, but dorsal views can be sometimes deceiving. His belly does look a little fuller though, so dumping in some pods yesterday helped somewhat. I'll only be comfortable if he thickens out and his belly bulges. If he accepts training quickly, he won't lose too much weight before he regains it. But if he's a slow-learner, then that'll be a problem. 🤔 3 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 Well, it turns out Qin is a fast-learner. He moves slowly, but here he is, having his first few bites of frozen copepods: 🤗 And he does examine each pod carefully, and decides which ones are tasty enough to eat: Took a quick topview vid of snicking up a frozen pod on Coralline Ledge: ^Regarding the meteor shower cyphastrea, I scrubbed off the top (which was covered in thick brown algae) using a toothbrush a few days back. I'm not sure if the healthy parts of the coral will re-grow over the dead part (after being cooked by my previous PAR38 LED, this piece never quite healed. 😭) but I hope it does. 😓 Back to Qin - I feed him ReefServe's frozen pods: I also have their frozen mysis & rotifers. Usually I mix up all three to feed all my dragonets (and other fish) in the 60G, but I'll be going slow with Qin. I hope I can get him onto either (or both) mysis & pellets by the end of Jan. Getting him onto prepared must be done quickly, because he doesn't have much body fat and his reserves will deplete quicker than him accepting other food alternatives (talking about live pods). I'll keep this thread updated on Qin's progress. I truly hope he makes it. He's awesome. 👍 2 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 Update #1: Harvey: Zen: Tenuis: Seriatopora: GSP has put out more polyps on the back wall: My additional buffers & extra pack of Furan 2 arrived via courier! They even threw in a pair of freebie filter glasses lol 🤗 : A bit of sad news - the fruit loops zoas have completely vanished (died due to the pox). I believe the Midas, skittles, LA Lakers & incinerator might follow suit as well. 😭 Strangely enough, my Incredible Hulks made a comeback and actually multiplied. They even resemble my Mint greens - the subtle differences between the two morphs are the color at the edges of the zoas' skirts. 👍 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 Update #2: Some wonderful news about this amazing boy: 🤗 He ate 5 *pellets today evening on the Zoa Ledge. In fact, he keeps circling around the ledge so it's pretty much a giant food dish to him: So I'll drop pellets in this spot repeatedly until he associates this = food. Training is going well. 👍 2 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 Update #3: Meeting Harvey properly for the first time: 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 Update #4: Examining the Zoa Ledge: Sapphire providing company: Zen is slightly antisocial today: 😅 I found 2 spare HOBs that can be used as external fuges for as long as Qin is in here. I might skip out on the larger one because it's too big. But the smaller one is too small, so there is a dilemma there. But I did spot a lot of pods crawling around in the mini macro forest though. 🤔 I guess I'll keep stuffing macro into the back corners of the tank then. 🤷♀️ Tomorrow is WC day. I have a sense I'll have to WC this tank 2x a week to keep the NO3 and PO4 levels within a manageable range to accomodate all the extra feedings for Qin. 🤔 2 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 WCed the tank today morning. Swapped out the floss and carbon for new ones, and scraped the glass & basted the rocks/sand. Tank was relatively clean, although I will need to swish the macro around every now and then so that it doesn't trap detritus. Zen found a new cozy spot under Coralline Ledge: 🤗 Qin was a bit uncomfortable when I touched the mini macro forest (I was trying to baste it and clean the filter intake to prevent it from being clogged by caulerpa), but he settled down once I stopped poking around the tank with a pipette and chopstick: He has an odd lump on one side of his body, but I'm not entirely sure what it is. He did arrive with that lump, and the lump has not shrunk or moved in any way. But he doesn't seem to be affected by it: 🤷♀️ My favites are recovering very well after being repeatedly tossed all over the sandbed by Sapphire the damsel. Most of the flesh has regrown rather quickly, although it needs more time & WCs to heal fully: The microgoni is slowly taking off and growing down the sides of the frag, one polyp at a time: And my montis are having a bit of a coral war of some sort. My red cap is plating out very quickly and actually growing around my B.O.P. seriatopora, but it tried to fuse with the unknown purple monti with green polyps: The purple monti is rejecting the fusion, the same way it's slowly dying off at the parts where the chili pepper monti is touching it. I think the purple frag won't last. 😕 But I plan on trimming off a small portion of my red cap monti and shifting the piece to my 60G - just to see if it can take off in that tank somehow. The tip of the montihat has a bit of brown algae, but my turban snails should take care of it. I removed the residual plug for the fruit loops zoa polyps from the Zoa Ledge. I also removed the Skittles plug, until I noticed there was still 1 (???) tiny, closed up polyp on it. So I quickly re-glued it back to the Zoa Ledge on the exact same spot my fruit loops used to be. As long as there is still flesh (polyp), there is a chance for recovery (slim, but still a possibility). My incinerator & purple hornets still exist too, but are small and closed up. No more sign of Zoa Pox among the zoas on the Zoa Ledge, but I still need to do one last precautionary dip in Furan 2 next week. Hopefully, my garden will return and grow again. Will need a lot of time & patience to heal. 👍 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Finally caught a glimpse of Prowler: He's the of this reeftank: Sapphire looked fabulous as well: 🤗 Other zoas & palys seemed to be doing okay for now. 😅 : The tubbs blue is a bit overgrown, but I have no heart to frag it so I'm leaving it as it is. 😊 2 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Minx just molted! 🤗 The new carapace appears to be darker & shinier. For now, I have 'two' crabs: 😅 2 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 It's past 9.30pm but some of tge critters are still awake. Zen's very active: And Qin the mandarin is currently arguing with his reflection. 😅 Just waiting for everyone to settle down for sleep. Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 Took a few pics of the corals. Some of the shots came out grainy though - sorry! 😅 Pavona: Setosa: Purple encrusting monti: Lepto: That brownish algae film on the montihat is already peeling off - I'll try to gently scrub it off with a toothbrush later to see if I can get it off completely: 🤔 John Deere leptastrea: Discosoma shroom reattached itself to the rocks: 2 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 The GSP on the back wall has even more polyps today: 😅 Red mini bali carpet nem: Reflection: 2 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 Qin had a nice breakfast of frozen pods today & a dinner of pellets: I checked - and he has a small belly. I'm happy he's eating and getting better. 😊👍 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 Prowler watching me through the pod storm: Nem looking plump after being fed a squirt of mysis: 🤗 Tenuis with slightly retracted polyps after a chunk of mysis accidently landed on it: Gently scrubbed off the algae from the montihat: It looks much better. Some of my zoas are still closed from the pox treatment, but I did manage to save a good portion of the garden. New polyps will regrow in time, I suppose. 🤔 I'll also try to up my WCs to twice a week - thinking every Wed. & Sat. - because the nitrates are bound to rise due to the increased feedings. Need to ensure my SPS don't lose color or stop growing. 👍 3 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 Managed to get two vids of Qin eating pellets today: 🤗 He's still very picky, but at least he's adapting quickly to the nano and eating prepared. 👍 The zoas on the upper right are still recovering from the pox & furan 2 dips - not sure if any of them will make a comeback or not. 😕 2 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 Speaking of the pox, one of the mini mint green colonies appear to be recovering. I saw a few polyps open today: The palys seem relatively untouched by the pox, so I'm grateful that all of them are still intact: GSP bush: Duncan appears to be forming a 4th head, although it might take a while before it develops fully: Zen hanging around: 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 Prowler prowling around: 😊 I'm glad I managed to acquire him 2+ years ago. He's cryptic, but quite the character. Beautiful fins too. 🥰 3 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 Took several unofficial FTSes - white balance probably needs to be tweaked, and light channels adjusted - but I was too tired, so here we go: Can you spot all 4 of my fish? 😊 (And yes, 4 is one fish too plenty for this small reef!) 2 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Clownfish, Qin, Sapphire easy peasy, Prowler took a minute. 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 36 minutes ago, debbeach13 said: Clownfish, Qin, Sapphire easy peasy, Prowler took a minute. Prowler is always the hardest. He blends in so well! 🤗 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 White balance is a bit off again, but here's Sapphire cruising around the tank this morning: 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 These are the 4 shrooms of the nano - 2 discosomas & 2 bullseye rhodactises: Freebie monti has grown a bit more - looks like the colors have settled into a pink base with green polyps: Bits of yellow may pop up here and there on the polyps, but I don't expect it to last. 😕 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 I lost the last Midas polyp today from the pox. 😞 Will yank out the frag plug from the Zoa Ledge later and toss it. Quite upsetting, because the Midas was a new acquisition. I lost one LA Lakers polyp, but another two polyps still remain open, although they're much smaller than before. My Skittles, Incinerator & Purple Hornets are still existing, but not open. In the case of the Incinerator - I *thought I saw it try to open up this morning, but I think it's closed back up. The secondary, follow-up dip in Furan 2 will be done in 2 days (the final dip, hopefully). So far most of the zoas seem to be recovering already. I'm also switching over salt brands from Fritz RPM to Aquaforest Reef Salt this week. Quite nervous - hopefully the whole tank will adjust to the slight shift in parameters and the corals will keep growing. I'm quite happy with the progress of my SPS. Some of them are growing rather quickly - I never knew hoarding sticks could be such fun. I'll have to trim them as they keep growing out though - a 10G doesn't have enough room for large SPS colonies, and without a doser, it'll be a kH-sink in there constantly. I figured any frags I make can always be traded in with my LFS - or *maybe even sold to other reefers (I'm actually considering this). Another option is adding a few tester frags to my 60G, but with the nitrates in that tank at an all-time high, I don't think any SPS pieces will thrive there. 🤔 Quote Link to comment
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