Tank update:
Lots of not tank related life stuff going on. Maintenance and documenting have taken a back seat, but lots of enjoyment still going on.
So, rearranged again (and again and again). I finally decided to consolidate everything towards the middle and just leave free space on the side to fill out later. Livestock doing well, snails keeping stuff clean, fish/shrimp doing their thing, and crab causing trouble. The zoas were actually starting to spread and I saw two tiny new heads forming, with tiny bright yellow tentacles. Then suddenly the new purple growth starting turning whitish and the mouths were looking all deformed. I had no idea, looked at them carefully (as I had removed some sponge a few weeks ago) and nothing. Then I saw hermie casually go up to it and grab a chunk of mouth and shove it in his mouth. Knocked him off the rock and up to the rack, zoa went.
Acan is also on the rack because of hermie, but has had a much more difficult time in my tank. I dipped with ReVive when first introduced and spent some time trying to figure out location and feeding. After a few weeks, was definitely seeing grown from the 3 minor heads and most of the major head. All except for this section of what I originally thought was a rim of exposed plug but now I realize was actually exposed skeleton. Could not figure out until one evening when feeding and then I saw it (time to make your guess)… A little piece of food was hanging off the periphery and then it stuck its little orange head out and pulled in a piece of food, a fireworm. It’s hole was exactly where the acan was most retracted, and I made the connection.
I had fireworms in my 5 gallon but my method of removal would not work here. I would tempt them out with food and then quickly stab them with a homemade pitchfork made from splaying the nonpointed end of a wooden kabob skewer, kinda like spear-worming. In this case, I would end up stabbing the acan too. So, redipped in ReVive and tried multiple FAILING variations of a food type worm trap, during which I found its second hole which correlated to the full extent of the exposed skeleton. At this point, a week later, I finally gave in and went with a fresh water dip. 90 seconds later, out comes the worm, I flick it off and put the acan back in my tank. I don’t know if acclimating would have helped, but the acan took almost 48 hours for it to start to look better and another day before it started eating. Today was second day in a row he ate (1 pellet of FM LPS yesterday and 2 pellets today) and he still looks hungry and nicely filled out. He had to move to the rack because hermie keeps trying to steal food.
Which leads to hermie. I am thinking that the addition of the snails has so affected his food sources, algae and detritus, that his aggressive is probably some sort of hunger drive, so moved the vulnerable corals to the rack and started to target feed him as well. Maybe I can get him to like expensive coral food more than the more expensive coral.
Sorry about the appearance of the front glass. I’ve been studying for a recert exam (which is much harder in your 40s) this Sat and plan on major tank maintenance this weekend.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/cPVMDwZMx9xyYuWeA
Lots of not tank related life stuff going on. Maintenance and documenting have taken a back seat, but lots of enjoyment still going on.
So, rearranged again (and again and again). I finally decided to consolidate everything towards the middle and just leave free space on the side to fill out later. Livestock doing well, snails keeping stuff clean, fish/shrimp doing their thing, and crab causing trouble. The zoas were actually starting to spread and I saw two tiny new heads forming, with tiny bright yellow tentacles. Then suddenly the new purple growth starting turning whitish and the mouths were looking all deformed. I had no idea, looked at them carefully (as I had removed some sponge a few weeks ago) and nothing. Then I saw hermie casually go up to it and grab a chunk of mouth and shove it in his mouth. Knocked him off the rock and up to the rack, zoa went.
Acan is also on the rack because of hermie, but has had a much more difficult time in my tank. I dipped with ReVive when first introduced and spent some time trying to figure out location and feeding. After a few weeks, was definitely seeing grown from the 3 minor heads and most of the major head. All except for this section of what I originally thought was a rim of exposed plug but now I realize was actually exposed skeleton. Could not figure out until one evening when feeding and then I saw it (time to make your guess)… A little piece of food was hanging off the periphery and then it stuck its little orange head out and pulled in a piece of food, a fireworm. It’s hole was exactly where the acan was most retracted, and I made the connection.
I had fireworms in my 5 gallon but my method of removal would not work here. I would tempt them out with food and then quickly stab them with a homemade pitchfork made from splaying the nonpointed end of a wooden kabob skewer, kinda like spear-worming. In this case, I would end up stabbing the acan too. So, redipped in ReVive and tried multiple FAILING variations of a food type worm trap, during which I found its second hole which correlated to the full extent of the exposed skeleton. At this point, a week later, I finally gave in and went with a fresh water dip. 90 seconds later, out comes the worm, I flick it off and put the acan back in my tank. I don’t know if acclimating would have helped, but the acan took almost 48 hours for it to start to look better and another day before it started eating. Today was second day in a row he ate (1 pellet of FM LPS yesterday and 2 pellets today) and he still looks hungry and nicely filled out. He had to move to the rack because hermie keeps trying to steal food.
Which leads to hermie. I am thinking that the addition of the snails has so affected his food sources, algae and detritus, that his aggressive is probably some sort of hunger drive, so moved the vulnerable corals to the rack and started to target feed him as well. Maybe I can get him to like expensive coral food more than the more expensive coral.
Sorry about the appearance of the front glass. I’ve been studying for a recert exam (which is much harder in your 40s) this Sat and plan on major tank maintenance this weekend.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/cPVMDwZMx9xyYuWeA
