Wormie's Flex 32.5G NOOB ADVENTURE

[WormLicker]

First death occurred today. 

One of my two hermits is.. very very dead. Probably the surviving hermit, but who knows.. rip lil guy. 

 

In other news, everything else is going ok. I have a small dino outbreak, but I did a four gallon water change yesterday and I've seen one or two patches of them (removed) previously. I'm not super worried about it, as it is currently under control and just in one place. For now. 

 

I got an injured and heavily discounted green Fungia Plate at the LFS. Plates are definitely my favorite in the hobby, so I admittedly impulse jumped at the opportunity. She looks like she was stung by another coral, and is eating and definitely healing a bit on the white patch. The coral was initially an ugly yellow and flat, but is now puffing up and very bright green. Woohoo! I dipped her in ReVive for ten minutes, gently scrubbed the dead tissue off, and fed her some scallop after placing in the tank. 

[WormLicker]

Goodbye zebras. 

After suspecting my zebra Hermit cannibalised the other, I witnessed the remaining one picking on my palys and he even went up on the plate coral to steal from its mouth. 

Well. That crab is gone now. 

I've replaced the zebras with five red leg hermits. WOW. I love em. They are significantly more docile and seem to avoid the corals. I've thrown some more empty shells in for good measure.

 

The injured plate is HEALING

I was starting to get a bit worried looking at posts about injured Fungia plates. Now, not so much; she is starting to regrow tissue and has REALLY perked up. Regrown sections are clear, but inflated and I see one or two new tentacles popping up. Color has improved and it's eating, I am so happy. This was the coral I wanted most before I started my tank, I'm so pleased to own one !!

 

Added two blue Damsels 

Final fish stock added. I've had my eye on the blue devils at the LFS and decided to add them today. My testing showed flat zero; like a sign! It's worked out very well. They immediately turned black and found hidey holes, as expected. I did see one snacking on some pods under the live rock, so I'm feeling good. 

 

POds LOCO

My copepod and small "insect" population has officially boomed. They are on almost every surface in excess; I'm counting this as a positive because my clown is really excited and they are definitely doing work for me. 

 

Goodbye, Dinos

The two spots of the slimy monsters are gone. I have a small diatom bloom, I'll take that over dinos. It's probably because of my 0/0/0 condition, which I'm hoping the damsels will help out with.

 

[Xj reefing]

Nice to hear the plate is doing good

[WormLicker]

The Skimmate Ghost (medium) does NOT FIT the flex 32.5 aquarium.

Had this headache inducing experience today, although yes the housing fits.. it doesn't. It doesn't fit because the water pump can't scoot over another inch, resulting in the skim mate having to sit on top of the pump. This does not allow the unit to actually function, as the water level is significantly below the operational requirements. It could fit perfectly in the aquarium if it wasn't for this one little issue.. ugh. It feels intentional.

Thankfully my LFS is wonderful and allowed me to return the unit. (Aquatek in Austin Texas is a wonderful and reputable store.)

 

The local pet shop did have the PS1, the skimmer manufactured to fit the flex tank. I wanted to avoid this product due to reviews and other users having trouble, but I also need a skimmer and I'm doubtful anything else would fit. I'm going to give it a try, most bad reviews site microbubbles as being the source of dissatisfaction. (Don't they all make microbubbles...?)

[WormLicker]

Got the PS1 skimmer on.

Bbubbles. So many bubbles. I have it on low, doesn't seem to be producing Skimmate yet. That's ok, I'll give it some time. 

 

ACtual fish photos??

Wow the damsels are FAST. My clown has come out of his hiding pattern and now actually swims around with them. I'm really happy, they all get along just fine. The two damsels will chase each other occasionally, but leave everything else alone. 

 

[WormLicker]

Pancake child is looking pretty nice today. I dosed calcium for the first time this morning and this coral REALLY, REALLY likes that. I did have to move her over because one of the damsels decided to dig a hole nearby. (I haven't read this as normal behavior, this fish is digging hella holes all over the substrate!?)

 

First aggression issue

El Presidente, how could you?? Skunk cleaner is displaying some aggression towards the damsel that has been digging. He's only been grouchy once, to the clown just before a molt. I love this shrimp so much, I hope the poking is just his way of trying to clean the fish. 

 

PS1 skimmer is still giving me all of these beautiful micro bubbles. It is definitely improving, in all seriousness. It has produced some wet skim, I'm trying to tune it for dry.

[WormLicker]

Well, today I caved and added a turbo snail. 

I have so. Much. Bubble. Algae.

I've been spot removing the bubble and cyano on the gravel bed, but oh boy it's... A lot. But honestly I'm sorta happy, because I have sufficient food for a turbo. Trade offs, right?

I've also added sone macro algae, the only one I can ID is the Mexican caulerpa. I'll post the other two for identification, I got em in a grab bag from Florida and washed them in tap before planting in the tank. 

Water is very murky because I completed a 20% change before work, had to run shortly after. 

[WormLicker]

Went away for three days.

Water was crystal and beautiful when I left, algae was doing good.

Came back to literally every surface caked in blue green.. macro dead, cloudy nasty water.

I'm trying to feel ok, I manually removed what I could and dosed 10ml peroxide since my macros died anyways.

My GSP and Kenya seem to have been hit especially hard, they where completely covered and do not want to open up now. 

Fish and inverts seem to be fine, I'm trying to stay positive but that was a very unwanted surprise.. 

 

I did bring back some live rock from Corpus Christi, some sand and shells, too. I won't be adding them until I get this nonsense figured out. 

[M. Tournesol]

Any updates?

[WormLicker]

12 hours ago, M. Tournesol said:

Any updates?

Yeah!

I've replaced my media with chemi clean blue and it's definitely helped me to fight the algae outbreak. 

However well that knocked out the green bubble algae, I'm now dealing with the red variety which seems to be more resilient, but easier to manually remove. (Kindof crazy how it just slid right in without me noticing it..)

 

I did add my barnacle and tubeworm oyster shells, they seem to be pretty happy.

 

I've also added a new heater to stabilize the temperature to 78°f.

 

Big blue butthole fish is still the king of the tank and is constantly attempting to thwart my attempts at.. doing anything.. whatsoever in the actual aquarium. Luckily he is small hahah!

 

Otherwise not much is going on. The injured plate has good days and bad ones, but hasn't displayed more decay. My GSP and fire and ice palys are starting to spread pretty fast, I'm happy about that!

[WormLicker]

[M. Tournesol]

7 hours ago, WormLicker said:

Big blue butthole fish is still the king of the tank and is constantly attempting to thwart my attempts at.. doing anything.. whatsoever in the actual aquarium. Luckily he is small hahah!

haa damsel ...
If it is a Chrysiptera cyanea, it's will grow to a size of 2¾" (6cm). 🤚 🐟 

 

 

[WormLicker]

19 hours ago, M. Tournesol said:

haa damsel ...
If it is a Chrysiptera cyanea, it's will grow to a size of 2¾" (6cm). 🤚 🐟 

 

 

Yeah, I believe they are cyanea! The male is already shy of 2 inches, the other (I presume female because it has a clear tail fin) is only an inch. 

They can't grab me, I'm unsure their mouth will ever be large enough to do so.

Honestly they are fantastic little guys. Just when I think I understand their shenanigans they do something new.. 

Side note, mine do not like blood worms. Just. Incase that is ever relevant. 

[WormLicker]

Mystery murder is on the loose 

 

SO when my zebra Hermit ate his buddy, I banished him away. I was pretty sure he was the culprit.

 

Ah. Two more hermits have been killed now. Their front half is more or less untouched and their back end gone. Whatever is doing this commits the crime at night time.

 

I have... No idea what is going on here. I highly doubt it's the damsels, they bully the crabs but I just can't see them being able to pull em from the shell like this. 

 

Just hoping nothing larger than a hermit falls prey.. keeping my eyes peeled for a mantis shrimp or something elusive like that. 👀

[Ratvan]

4 hours ago, WormLicker said:

Mystery murder is on the loose 

 

SO when my zebra Hermit ate his buddy, I banished him away. I was pretty sure he was the culprit.

 

Ah. Two more hermits have been killed now. Their front half is more or less untouched and their back end gone. Whatever is doing this commits the crime at night time.

 

I have... No idea what is going on here. I highly doubt it's the damsels, they bully the crabs but I just can't see them being able to pull em from the shell like this. 

 

Just hoping nothing larger than a hermit falls prey.. keeping my eyes peeled for a mantis shrimp or something elusive like that. 👀

Any evidence on the hermit shells as to what has killed them at all? specifically thinking along the lines of a perfect circular hole in the shells

[ninjamyst]

You sure they are not just molting?  

[mitten_reef]

Nice fun journal so far, keep em coming

[WormLicker]

12 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Any evidence on the hermit shells as to what has killed them at all? specifically thinking along the lines of a perfect circular hole in the shells

Since they are so tiny I honestly can't tell, they seem to be separated in half. Their little crabby front remains and their tail end is eaten off. Since I've thrown so many extra shells in, I honestly can't tell if they have pre existing holes or not. But there does appear to be a hole poked through what I think is the most recent victim's shell. (Again could be a discarded one, I thought it was crabicide so I have.. a lot of shells.) What are you thinking ?

 

7 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

You sure they are not just molting?  

Oh for sure, there is flesh left. Their heads primarily. Sometimes a few legs are pulled off, that could just be the tank mates having a snack though. 

 

5 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

Nice fun journal so far, keep em coming

 I'm having fun writing it! It's like.. world building except real. ❤️🦈 And tbh the journal entries keep me feeling sane through all of the nuisance algae and minor problems. LOL

[WormLicker]

 

GSP island is looking a little more colorful

Bottom, El Presidente the shrimp in his normal spot between the Kenya and mushy

Fire palys have much longer tentacles since the addition of the chemipure blue

Got these funky green and purple palys at the LFS the other day, I couldn't resist how spooky they look!

Miss Xenia is finally putting some density on and may be soon growing over the frag shell

[Ratvan]

10 hours ago, WormLicker said:

Since they are so tiny I honestly can't tell, they seem to be separated in half. Their little crabby front remains and their tail end is eaten off. Since I've thrown so many extra shells in, I honestly can't tell if they have pre existing holes or not. But there does appear to be a hole poked through what I think is the most recent victim's shell. (Again could be a discarded one, I thought it was crabicide so I have.. a lot of shells.) What are you thinking ?

 

Oh for sure, there is flesh left. Their heads primarily. Sometimes a few legs are pulled off, that could just be the tank mates having a snack though. 

 

 I'm having fun writing it! It's like.. world building except real. ❤️🦈 And tbh the journal entries keep me feeling sane through all of the nuisance algae and minor problems. LOL

Initial thought would be a predatory whelk, look very much like a nassarius snail

[WormLicker]

8 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Initial thought would be a predatory whelk, look very much like a nassarius snail

...well, I do have one Cerith that doesn't look like the others. 😂😂😂

Different shell and white body color. I never really thought about it as noteworthy. 

 

Snail problems go figure, I'll keep my eye out for it and try to isolate and ID when I catch it. 

[M. Tournesol]

1 hour ago, WormLicker said:

...well, I do have one Cerith that doesn't look like the others. 😂😂😂

Different shell and white body color.

Does he have a trunk like a nassarius?

[WormLicker]

6 minutes ago, M. Tournesol said:

Does he have a trunk like a nassarius?

I can't say for sure, I need to find him ! I know the body is white and it has atleast two little whiskers.

[WormLicker]

Okay @Ratvan and @M. Tournesol

 And any others willing to give a shot at today's game of "cute snail or cold blooded murderer?"

I may keep it if it's a whelk, that would be interesting unless they are asexual or otherwise problematic.

 

You can see a small almost trunk poking at the front of the shell, it's short . And two feelers, a little bit of pink color on the inside of the shell. It also has a brown "foot", white body with some tan speckles.

[M. Tournesol]

I'm sure it's not a cerith. I vote whelk (but may be a nassarius). could you give us more photos?

https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/whelk-versus-nassarius

Edited September 28, 2021 by M. Tournesol