AiptasiaI do believe my peppermint shrimp may be on strike, because they have not touched the two aiptasia I can see. I am considering other methods of control and I am worried they may spread. Anyone have any ideas on my next steps?
I think they are too big now, I need to move forward with another method. What is suggested?
I took this photo last night after lights out. I was looking with a red lens and spotted this "trunk" looking thing moving around. It was about 2" long. I have seen snails at the LFS with long snouts, but I didn't buy any. Is that what it looks like?
Also, here is a good example of a cleanup crew in action. I found this after dark as well, its a hermit working on a molt from one of my snails. What you can't see is that inside that molt, there were about 8 pods working on it as well.
Just a note that my Phytoplankton may have crashed. It seemed yellow this time. I dumped on container, split the other and started a second culture from some I had in the fridge. this will be my first attempt to utilize stored phyto to start a new culture.
Phytoplankton
The phytoplankton is growing just fine after the crash. I have already made a gallon on fresh phyto using my stored reserve as an innoc. I was unsure if this would work, but it is doing fine.
New Critters and Coral
I have what I believe to be my last coral, an Ricordia. I picked it up from Phishy Business for $15. I will post a pic sometime soon. In addition I purchased a conch. The little guy has been buried most of the time, but his eyes are popping up out of the sand. He is very neat!
Getting Prepared
I am going out of town for a week and I am getting prepared to turn my tank over to my neice to take care of. I have put together a little manual to help her out and she is coming over the next two days to learn and go through the processes.
Also I did a 20% changeout this week so hopefully I can go two weeks between changes. I also just did my water tests and some of my levels are slightly elevated.
Ammonia - .1 (was 0) Nitrite - .1 (was 0) Nitrate - 5 (was 0) PO4 - .25 (was 0) SG 1.0245 CA - 350 (I will dose Kalk last night to raise this a bit.)
Temp 82 (Looking into this, I may need a fan. Never need one before??) Alk - 3.77
KH - 10.6
I alos used Joe's Juice On Wednesday and shot two Aiptasia. (maybe thats raising my levels)
Below is an excerpt from a Manual I am writing to help my family and my tanksitter care for my tank both while I am at work and while we are out of town. I also took photos of everything and named it in order to help others understand what is what.
Rinse hands and forearms very well under tap water before putting them in the tank. DO NOT USE SOAP.
Prepare a food cube by placing the frozen cube in the cup of tankwater. While waiting for the cube to thaw, continue to step 3. On Monday and Thursday, also thaw out 3 krill.
Look in tank to determine if anything looks out of the ordinary. This could include:
Corals off of the rock. If you find corals on the sand bed simply pick them up and put them back on the rock. You want to make sure that the corals do not touch another coral. Do not handle corals without latex gloves as some corals are toxic. Dispose of used gloves. Tools such as the long grabbing pliers are under the main display tank.
Fish not acting as you would expect them to act. Inspect each of the 5 fish. Yes, the blue tang is a bit odd and hangs out in the rock sometimes.
A powerhead falling loose. Two of the Aquaclear units and one of the Seio units are attached via suction cups that sometimes come loose.
Check the temperature of the water on the Aqua Controller display. Ensure it is between 78.5 and 83.0. If it is out of that range call me ASAP!
Check the PH on the Aqua Controller and ensure it is between 7.7 and 8.3. If it is out of that range, call me ASAP!
Inspect the overflow boxes for any blockages. Make sure the water levels in the overflows are above the pipe openings. If they are below the opening you should hear a loud gurgling noise. The valve may need to be closed just a bit. The valves are very sticky and you may have to play with them a bit.
Clean the inside of the glass using the Magfloat as necessary.
Open the bottom cabinet and look in the sump. Make sure you see bubbles in the skimmer and make sure it doesn’t have waste above the line drawn on the collector cup. If it does, empty, rinse and replace it.
Make sure the water level in the middle chamber is close to the baffles top edge. This ensures that the Auto Top Off Pump is functioning.
Make sure the float switch works by gently pushing down on it and seeing that water flows in.
Open the reservoir tank and make sure it is at least 1 inch from the top. If it is not, refill it using the 5 gallon bucket and RO water. Do not put saltwater in the reservoir.
Retrieve clip from tank, fold a piece of Seaweed select and put in the clip. Suction cup the clip to the tank.
Press the down arrow button on the Aqua Controller. This will initiate feed mode and stop the pumps.
Using a pipette, feed small amounts to the fish. There is no need to feed that crabs, shrimp or starfish, as they will get enough food from the leftovers.
On Monday and Thursday use the ling pliers to feed the three krill to the anemone. If he doesn’t get all three it is OK. You can also hand feed him if you are careful. Just let one tentacle touch the krill and he will latch on. Use gloves because I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.
On Monday and Thursday follow the process below for caring for the phytoplankton.
yeah but it only works if someone takes it all in! a person outside the hobby would look at that list and go "what the $%#"!!
nice run down non the less wildman!
> my misses has been around my tanks longer than i care to remember, yet she still doesn;t know jack on how they run or how to fix or adjust something! the only thing she ever see's or says is "those fish are still hungry, right after i feed them, & why are they taking over the house>u need to prioritise"
I agree and I pray that I will not get into a situation where something is wrong and I get a call to try and help fix it over the phone. I also has her come over and spend an hour going through everyhting and I will do that one more time just to be sure there are no questions. She said "Don't worry, I take care of your kids almost everydya." I said yeah, "But these are my fish!"
Here are a couple shots of all of my current frags. I am not sure on placement on some of these and they may need to be moved based on light and such. I have been so busy with things I have not had any time to research each one. If you have comments please let me know. Thanks!
New Ric
You may notice the Kenya in the above photo. I had 2 kenya, but the one on the right has turned gray. Is it dead or do they sometimes do this?
Great photos and great tank. It IS amazing how quickly things grow. You really notice it with those phots spaced a month apart.
BTW - I have lots of Kenya tree corals (a friend gave me a small frag, now I have about 7 or 8) and they will occassionally get very small and dark, usually at night or if I'm messing with the tank (like accidentally blasting them with a power head!) Mine usually recover in a few hours. How long have yours been like that?
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