Snow's 10G Critters of Chaos (TOTM)

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hungry lobo! 👀

 

 

 

 

Pickle is now solid black! 

 

 

Geralt. 🦀

 

 

 

^That last shot, when he looked directly at me, made me laugh a lot. 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

A few throwback pics! 

 

Here was the Zoa Ledge exactly a year ago. 

 

 

(The duncan only had 1 large visible head at that time)

 

Also, a few other older throwbacks from previous tanks:- 

 

An electric blue legged hermit on my mini maxi nem:

 

 

 

 

And my incredibly elusive sugarcane shrimp - a very rare find at the store since the only way to acquire it was *if it came in mislabeled as peppermint shrimp:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

The Zoa Ledge has been quickly filling out again. Even the second ledge has been partially covered with new polyps. 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gold Mauls finally developed a 7th polyp, but it's hidden away amidst the others. 

 

I actually spent the afternoon swapping the media & scraping the glass. Several corals are a bit upset over this (was thorough with the clean up), but otherwise unhurt. Tentatively all set to WC the tank tomorrow. 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Yumas clustered together:

 

 

Competing with each other:

 

 

 

Rhodactises:

 

 

GSP wall is spreading out:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Can you spot him? 👀

 

 

 

Pickle! 🥰

 

 

 

Here she is, bouncing and rubbing herself all over the brain coral:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca4OopJLA2Z/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

She's absolutely enamored by it. Apologies if the video is too dark. 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

A hint of yellow on the rainbow brain coral this morning: 

 

 

 

 

Yuma pile! 🥰

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I took these pics when I had just turned on the lights, so most of the corals still look shrunken. The forest fire rhodactis has split again:

 

 

And here are all the new tiny blue discosomas coming up in the background:

 

 

Bullseye rhodactis:

 

 

Garf bonsai:

 

 

I managed to do an 80% weekly WC this afternoon too. Am dead exhausted now, but at least the tank looks happier. 

 

Am itching to get a second nanofish for this reef (will definitely QT it first). Would absolutely love a TSB in this. Clown gobies are wonderful too, but they can get nippy with the sticks. 

 

 

Otherwise, perhaps a pygmy perchlet if I could get a hold of one again...? 🤔

 

This was mine years ago:

 

 

 

 

He was very peaceful too. 🥰

[Murphs_Reef]

How's the GSP playing with the zoas? That's bold 😂

[Snow_Phoenix]

36 minutes ago, Murphych said:

How's the GSP playing with the zoas? That's bold 😂

Well, they're currently at a standoff. I have to say that the GSP packs a sting though (odd, I know) - it actually took out the rim of one of my freebie montis. I have to keep trimming it back. Looks beautiful, but can quickly overrun a tank. 

[Murphs_Reef]

Yeah since my rescape, I have found bits all over the place. I'm going to have to scrape it off of some areas as I might end up with a GSP only tank! 

[Snow_Phoenix]

9 minutes ago, Murphych said:

Yeah since my rescape, I have found bits all over the place. I'm going to have to scrape it off of some areas as I might end up with a GSP only tank! 

A GSP-only tank might not look so bad at first, until it smothers over the other corals. Mine literally grew over my red PEs zoas. 

 

Gotta admit that having GSP growing on the back wall looks pretty neat though! 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Multiple admits coming through! 😅

 

I took a *lot of pics today because most of the corals were behaving - they're usually the happiest around 24 to 48 hours after a WC. 😅

 

Here's the Zoa Garden:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Sunny Ds cluster from 2 different angles:

 

 

 

Ironman discosoma and baby shrooms! 🥰

 

 

 

GSP patch. 👀

 

 

 

Weeping willow (shaded by the shadows of my hand) :

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Random mix:

 

 

 

Forest fire digi garden (colors are off in this shot - too dark and a bit cartoonish; not sure why but could be due to the angle of my phone + shadows) 🤷‍♀️ :

 

 

Acans in the middle:

 

 

Red fungia:

 

 

John Deere leptastrea up close (smudges are due to air bubbles on the surface of the water) :

 

 

Pickle! 🥰

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Close ups of growth & PE on the garf bonsai:

 

 

 

 

Critters of Chaos! 👀

 

 

 

 

 

^Look how hard Geralt's clinging on to the brain coral! (Cue me silently screaming internally for him to get off it. )

[kimdawg]

Very beautiful tank.  Every picture shows a healthy vibrant coral.  If I could get any one thing in my tank to look that bright I would be happy.  It amazes me that you get them to grow so close together and play nice.

[Snow_Phoenix]

50 minutes ago, kimdawg said:

Very beautiful tank.  Every picture shows a healthy vibrant coral.  If I could get any one thing in my tank to look that bright I would be happy.  It amazes me that you get them to grow so close together and play nice.

Thanks, Kimdawg! They don't always play nice all the time though. There are always turf wars, so I have to keep trimming and fragging to ensure one species doesn't completely overtake the other. 😅

[Snow_Phoenix]

Took some pics today. Not all of the Gold Maul polyps (possibly because Harvey irritated them earlier) were open during my shot, but the tank's overall health appears to be okay so far. 😊👍

 

 

Sunny Ds from above:

 

 

Trumpet coral wedged between the polyps:

 

 

Purple Death palys:

 

 

Geralt scavenging for food:

 

 

Harvey amidst the shrooms:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Mushroom Mountain from above:

 

 

Brains! 🥰

 

 

 

Weeping willow toadstool leather coral:

 

 

The merlettis have gained in number! 😮

 

 

^When I first bought them, there were around 6 or 7 heads only. Now I believe I'm up to 16! The new tiny ones are actually holding their ground against the leptastrea. 🥰

[A.m.P]

Blastos can have a wicked sting.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Letting the ledge give me some peace today.

 

 

 

I'm quite devastated. I think one of the animals shifted the yumas too close to my rainbow brain. The yumas were in contact with the brain overnight - I only separated them this morning. The brain is very badly injured. Even now, at 5.30+ pm, pieces of its flesh are sloughing off. 😭

 

My hands were shaking because I was quite upset, but here we go:

 

 

This coral has been hurt before, but never this badly. Just silently praying it won't develop BJD because I'd genuinely cry if I lose it. 😔

 

Hoping to give it an iodine dip later. Not sure if it'll help, but at least the injured part *might appreciate the dip. 

 

The yumas are growing quite big. I think I'll move the trio out to my 60G, but retain the large one on the rock (it's too far away from the brain to be in contact). Still mulling it over.

[debbeach13]

Oh No! I hope the brain recovers. I think this is a good plan.

2 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

The yumas are growing quite big. I think I'll move the trio out to my 60G, but retain the large one on the rock (it's too far away from the brain to be in contact). Still mulling it over.

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

Oh No! I hope the brain recovers. I think this is a good plan.

 

Thanks, Deb. I've temporarily created a mini rock barrier between them & the injured brain, but I'll move them out after I WC the DT of the 60G (just thoroughly cleaned up the sump today). 

[Snow_Phoenix]

My hands are simply not steady when I try to take a pic of the brain - whether it's stress or anxiety, or a combination of both, I'm not sure. 😕

 

But you can see a small part of the coral's skeleton showing through tonight, after the flesh has sloughed off in that area:

 

 

It really hurts to see it this way for some reason. I have lost corals before, and although I had felt stressed and sad, those feelings weren't persistent. 

 

I think because this particular piece has a special place in my heart - it was one of the last LPSes I picked up from the primary LFS branch near my home before it was forced to shut down due to the pandemic. Whenever I look at this particular coral, I think of all of the fond memories of that store, of the friends I made (and still retain), of all the things I learnt about reefing...so yeah, I guess it means a lot to me. 😔

 

I estimate it will take 3 to 4 months to fully recover from today's trauma, *if it recovers at all. The dip helped a little, but it is still rather shrunken. 

 

Harvey was out in camomode - and my hands were steady this time:

 

 

I really like the fact that he changes color every night. He's an amazing shrimp. 

 

Thinking of picking up *another 'Harvey', but for the 60G. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Some random bits and pieces of the tank today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the colors are a bit off due to the angle of the lighting when the shots were taken. The duncan appears to be bouncing back from being stung by the GSP though. 👍