Mark's 40B and 46 bow

[Sunar357]

Sorry to hear, man. Hopefully what you have left recovers just fine.

[markalot]

I was delayed by some snow this morning and by the time I left for work the sixline was about and acting much better than yesterday. Let's hope I only lost one fish! I have yet to see the rusty Goby but that's fairly normal.

 

Sorry to hear, man. Hopefully what you have left recovers just fine.

 

Thanks, I appreciate the well wishes.

[Arkayology]

I removed one pretty large smooth brownish worm living under one of the rocks. No idea if it was good or bad but it was not a bristle worm so I don't want it.

Hah, those little guys are vicious!

 

BTW, I had a similar experience with an ORA purple stylo. It was mostly green with very, very little purple on the inside.

[markalot]

Hah, those little guys are vicious!

 

BTW, I had a similar experience with an ORA purple stylo. It was mostly green with very, very little purple on the inside.

 

My purple stylo has always been purple, even through tank crashes it remained purple. I want to get my hands on a pink stylo to see if it stays pink. My favorite coral at the moment is an unknown pocillapora with yellow skin and bright purple polyps. It looks no worse for wear during this incident.

[markalot]

So here are some photos of the damage. It's odd how some corals look awful and others with little damage. I'm still not sure if I'm going to lose any corals or not.

 

40 FTS

 

Closeup showign damage to both the Supernatural and Setosa montis

 

For comparison here is a similar shot prior to the problems. Note how bright the Setosa is?

 

My Red Planet is alive, not very happy, but alive none the less.

[markalot]

Everything looking pretty darn good this morning. The tang has some shredded fins but he's eating so hopefully he'll be ok. I have been dosing Prime in case I'm having an ammonia spike. I think I will lose a wild monti, it's looking really bad, but the rest of the corals seem stable, just a bit bruised. The duncans are the first to come out when the water is good, and they were fully extended this morning.

[markalot]

No changes for the worst, no more deaths.

 

I did a second FWE treatment, 30 gallons of new water ready. Had some flatworms enter the water column after dosing, siphoned them out. After 30 minutes I added another full dose of FWE and turned all the pumps on full blast to blow everything around. A few more flatworms but nothing major. Duncans and Zoas never closed, so I don't believe any toxin ever rose to dangerous levels. This makes me happy since even if all the flatworms aren't dead I can safely treat without risking the tank. Now it becomes an exercise in keeping the population to a bare minimum.

 

Did a 15 gallon water change, added 3 new bags of carbon, and then noticed the tank temp (my thermometer battery had died a week earlier) was 84F. It has been 79 - 80 for over a year. Re-adjusted the heater and it was 78.5 this morning and everything looking well. My dosing pump is off and I'm manually topping off and dosing until everything stabilizes. KH usage is way down at the moment.

 

Most of my montipora look horrible, but they are not dead. It appears they shed some skin, but did not RTN as blue light will reveal some of the colors underneath the gunk. I blew some of them off with a baster and they look better. It appears this is mainly a browning incident rather than a die off ... I have my fingers crossed anyway.

[Arkayology]

Im glad that things are looking up here, Mark.

[Sunar357]

Yep! Glad to hear things are getting better also.

[markalot]

Latest pics.

 

40

 

 

Center closeup. You can see the Supernatural Monti has lost almost all its green polyps. Birdsnest and poccis, especially the yellow and purple one, look fantastic. Oh, and not one flatworm can be found.

 

46

 

 

RBTA with its Xenia friends.

[Sunar357]

Glad flatworms are gone! Hopefully the monti gets it back together.

[markalot]

I threw out all my acros in the 20 gallon. AEFW kept coming back and I'm tired of dipping. I hope that the acros in the main tank will remain un-infected, but realistically that's probably not going to happen.

 

So, I am slowly and secretly turning the 20 into a mushroom / softie tank. Very low maintenance, no skimmer, just 3 low flow pumps and the HOB filter. Right now it gets waste water from the 46 for food ... not sure if I'll put anything more than a cleanup crew in this tank.

[markalot]

Operation Purple Firefish a success. I took apart the 46 to find him, cowering in fear below the rocks. He's moved into the 20 now which was mysteriously filled with a 1" sandbed and a couple of rocks. He ate this morning but still hasn't figured out he's the only fish in the tank.

 

So, I removed a bunch of algae infested corals from the 46, including the large rock on the left, then carefully rearranged everything without the anemone noticing anything had happened (hopefully!). Adding Iodine to this tank was a huge huge mistake. Xenia is everywhere, my crop that had been contained for 6 months amongst a field of bubble algae has now exploded into 15, 20, 25 clumps. I love it, but there's a few spots that must go. I'll have my hands back in the tank tonight to do some final cleanup.

 

Moved to the 20:

 

Big stinky yellow leather

Green polyp leather

Magician Palys (after I carefully removed all the feather caulerpa)

Superman-like Mushrooms

A few blue and red shrooms

Green fuzzy shroom rock

 

Corals in the 20 that need to go:

 

2 decent size Green Stylophora that have never had more than green tips.

1 Rainbow Stylo with only green tips (must be me!) I will probably put this in the 46 and see what happens.

1 neon green birdsnest (currently pale brown due to lack of nutrients in the 20)

German Blue digitata (will probably go in the 46, even though it's pale it has blue polyps. I'm amazed.)

 

The stylophora, hands down, can be blamed for eating the most alkalinity. These things grow like crazy for me, and now I'm struggling to keep Alk up in the 20. I need all SPS out of the 20 so I will probably make a run to the LFS and donate the colorless Green Stylos. I may also donate the big yellow leather coral. Too big, too stinky, too much carbon required.

[Sunar357]

Well i'm sure the firefish will eventually figure it out and be happy. LOL

 

Ack! Stinking Xenia! Weeeeeds!

[markalot]

Couple of quick snapshots.

 

20 long with Rocky (survivor) the firefish. Colorless Green Birdsnest and Green Stylo ... may the best coral win. The big yellow leather, green leather, and a lot of shrooms.

 

 

Rescaped 46 (not totally happy with the center, removed over half of the Xenia)

 

[Arkayology]

My purple stylo has always been purple, even through tank crashes it remained purple. I want to get my hands on a pink stylo to see if it stays pink. My favorite coral at the moment is an unknown pocillapora with yellow skin and bright purple polyps. It looks no worse for wear during this incident.

I had a nice pink stylo. I killed it

 

The 40B is looking good!

[markalot]

I had a nice pink stylo. I killed it

 

The 40B is looking good!

 

Thanks! I have read the pinks are hard to keep.

 

This is what I thought I was getting when I bought the Rainbow Stylo, and I may have it but it needs better conditions.

 

(random web picture)

 

Everything colors well in my 46, so we'll see what happens to it. True rainbows tend to not show any green polyps.

[metrokat]

Hi Mark. Looks like I missed a lot. How are you doing with the tanks now. FW are the devil and unless you treat the whole system, rock dipping only kills what is on the rocks, they are still in the sand.

 

It is very frustrating and smelly business. I have them in my sump and they are an eye sore. I tried a flat worm catcher trick. With a magnet attach a black food container to the glass. Make sure it has holes on the sides. After lights out shine a light into this food container all night. The FW are attracted to the light and crawl into the space. From here they are easy to siphon out.

[markalot]

Hi Mark. Looks like I missed a lot. How are you doing with the tanks now. FW are the devil and unless you treat the whole system, rock dipping only kills what is on the rocks, they are still in the sand.

 

It is very frustrating and smelly business. I have them in my sump and they are an eye sore. I tried a flat worm catcher trick. With a magnet attach a black food container to the glass. Make sure it has holes on the sides. After lights out shine a light into this food container all night. The FW are attracted to the light and crawl into the space. From here they are easy to siphon out.

 

I am up to 4 treatments now, the last treatment killed some stragglers but was not enough to even make my Duncans close up. I believe I will have to do repeat treatments twice a week for who knows how long until they are all gone. Last night I noticed one small flatworm on a rock near the sand, so I will retreat tonight. I use a single dose, wait 30 minutes, then another single dose, then wait another 30 minutes, and then turn on the HOB filter (with the carbon) and skimmer.

 

My first treatment smelled up the entire basement! No more smell with the few I have left.

[DannaM]

Sorry about the FW's and the giant PIA you have to go through to get rid of them. Really happy to read that things are looking good now. You have some great corals and your two tanks always look awesome so I'm happy that things are pulling through for you.

 

Love that pink BN too

[markalot]

Sorry about the FW's and the giant PIA you have to go through to get rid of them. Really happy to read that things are looking good now. You have some great corals and your two tanks always look awesome so I'm happy that things are pulling through for you.

 

Love that pink BN too

 

Thanks for the nice words.

[RnMB1988]

WOW !!

I came over here after you stopped in on my thread, I looked a the pic's real quick and liked what I saw, now that I have read your thread, all I can say is DAMN, you are a warrior !!

 

When you get your FW's taken care of and these tanks purring, you will be rewarded with what happens, I am sure of that. I admire your persistence and the fact that you have not just emptied everything out, bleached it, and started over, or bailed on the hobby.

 

Keep going and keep the posts coming!!!

I am now a follower........

[markalot]

WOW !!

I came over here after you stopped in on my thread, I looked a the pic's real quick and liked what I saw, now that I have read your thread, all I can say is DAMN, you are a warrior !!

 

When you get your FW's taken care of and these tanks purring, you will be rewarded with what happens, I am sure of that. I admire your persistence and the fact that you have not just emptied everything out, bleached it, and started over, or bailed on the hobby.

 

Keep going and keep the posts coming!!!

I am now a follower........

 

LOL. thanks!

 

 

A couple of good feeding articles. I posted one of these months ago, posting both links so I can remember.

 

 

 

http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/nutrition-6/how-corals-feed

 

http://www.academia.edu/1647139/Coral_farming_effects_of_light_water_motion_and_artificial_foods

 

 

Hah, those little guys are vicious!

 

BTW, I had a similar experience with an ORA purple stylo. It was mostly green with very, very little purple on the inside.

 

 

 

You are on 5000 posts, exactly. Anyway, quoting this because it did not sink in the first time. You had a purple stylo with green polyps? It makes one wonder if stylo coloring can completely morph based on conditions or a stress episode.

[Arkayology]

You are on 5000 posts, exactly. Anyway, quoting this because it did not sink in the first time. You had a purple stylo with green polyps? It makes one wonder if stylo coloring can completely morph based on conditions or a stress episode.

So I am on 5,000, not 5,0001!

 

Ya, it was only purple at the base and up the branches, but the tips were always green. I always wanted to move it around in the tank to see if it wanted more or less light, but it was encrusted and I didn't want to break it up. It is a weird coral for sure. I am not sure how they get that color out of it. It could morph based on conditions like many SPS, but who knows?

 

My LFS has a metallic blue stylo I have been eying, but 40 for an inch I'll just wait for a frag of it from a local

[markalot]

I don't exactly remember these zoas. I recall there was a loose one in a LFS tank that I got for free ... anyway these appeared when I was doing the rock removal and flatworm treatment so I moved them up front where I could get a better look. Not bad. These are in the 40 ... note single flatworm in this pic.