Sharkbait’s 40 Breeder Upgrade

[Sharkbait19]

Added some more inverts for the cleanup crew!

 

[Sharkbait19]

New corals! Birdsnest (take 2), montipora setosa, and a sunset psammocora

I was planning to trade in one of my many anemones today, but it unfortunately had a stronger hold on the rock than I had estimated, so I accidentally tore the poor thing’s tentacles from its foot. It now exists as a clump on the sandbed, and I anticipate it dying. I just hope that it doesn’t foul up the entire tank, otherwise I’ll need to remove it.

 

[Sharkbait19]

So some good news and some bad news.
The good news is that the anemone (now two pieces) are doing better.

The bad news is that all the other corals, including the brand new ones, are in quarantine due to a spike in H2S in the 40B. I sadly lost the anacros which were doing very well, and am close to losing the brand new monti setosa colony.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Easy come, easy go. I lost the brand new setosa, which was a beautiful and big colony. It's a shame, because I bought it before the spike in H2S, when I was confident in the parameters, since all the corals (especially SPS) were doing wonderfully. I'm currently tossing around the idea of resetting the tank, this time as a bare bottom, so that less anoxic regions accumulate.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Added seven new brittle stars for better maintenance on detritus and hard-to-reach crevices

 

[Sharkbait19]

So my firefish may have gone carpet surfing today. No body found, but all I know is that before the water change, there was a fish, and afterwards, he is gone. Either way, I hope that I find him, otherwise I will have to just assume he is dead…

 

[JoJosReef]

So my firefish may have gone carpet surfing today. No body found, but all I know is that before the water change, there was a fish, and afterwards, he is gone. Either way, I hope that I find him, otherwise I will have to just assume he is dead…

Oh no! Does he have a cave he usually hangs out in? Mine stayed in a cave for about a month when I introduced the clowns then finally started coming out.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Oh no! Does he have a cave he usually hangs out in? Mine stayed in a cave for about a month when I introduced the clowns then finally started coming out.

No—strangely, he is always out and about, though goes to the corner at nighttime. He’s never hidden this long, though. I hope he shows up, but I’m doubtful since it just seems off for him to be constantly hiding, especially during feedings.

 

[aSaltyKlown]

My purple firefish went missing for 3-4 weeks, and I had written it off. Then I saw it poke its head out of a small hole. It's only come out a few times since then. I think my 6 line is picking on it and a Royal Gramma. Not sure as the RG comes out of a cave at feeding and all fish show up and there is no aggressiveness being shown.

Hope yours makes an appearance.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Took advantage of Black Friday deals and ordered some new fish. Trying again with the gramma, Hawkfish, cardinal, and Blenny. I think without any overly aggressive fish, they should fare well. I had also bought a canary top wrasse and yellow clown goby, but the goby was unfortunately DOA and the wrasse appears to be moribund (fingers crossed that it is in shock, not sure how wrasses react to being shipped).

 

[JoJosReef]

Took advantage of Black Friday deals and ordered some new fish. Trying again with the gramma, Hawkfish, cardinal, and Blenny. I think without any overly aggressive fish, they should fare well. I had also bought a canary top wrasse and yellow clown goby, but the goby was unfortunately DOA and the wrasse appears to be moribund (fingers crossed that it is in shock, not sure how wrasses react to being shipped).

Yeah, sand-sleeping wrasses have a hard time during shipment. They like diving into sand and when they freak out, they dive and sometimes bust up their jaws/head. Hitting a taught plastic bag is like hitting cement. Hopefully it isn't injured and pulls through!

 

[Sharkbait19]

Yeah, sand-sleeping wrasses have a hard time during shipment. They like diving into sand and when they freak out, they dive and sometimes bust up their jaws/head. Hitting a taught plastic bag is like hitting cement. Hopefully it isn't injured and pulls through!

I figured it was likely a spinal injury during shipment. Hopefully it recovers, but it seems as though it’s just unable to keep itself upright for longer than a few seconds. I have a decent sandbed in its qt tank that hopefully it chooses to burrow into, but I’m rather doubtful that it’s going to pull through.

 

[JoJosReef]

I figured it was likely a spinal injury during shipment. Hopefully it recovers, but it seems as though it’s just unable to keep itself upright for longer than a few seconds. I have a decent sandbed in its qt tank that hopefully it chooses to burrow into, but I’m rather doubtful that it’s going to pull through.

If it's not burying itself after an hour or two, not a good sign. I had a leopard wrasse arrive and die like that. Then the second leopard arrived swimming funny and I was worried about it, but it eventually went into the sand and pulled through. They also do better with super slow acclimation, whereas my gobies and blenny did fine with a regular acclimation per protocol.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Picture of the wrasse. It has some scrapes on its sides which seem to confirm that it may have been going crazy in the bag.

The store is offering a replacement free of shipping charge, which is a pretty good deal. I’m a bit reluctant, though, because I’d hate for the same thing to inevitably happen.

 

[JoJosReef]

Picture of the wrasse. It has some scrapes on its sides which seem to confirm that it may have been going crazy in the bag.

The store is offering a replacement free of shipping charge, which is a pretty good deal. I’m a bit reluctant, though, because I’d hate for the same thing to inevitably happen.

Ask them if they can send the replacement with new sand in the bag! That can really help Halichoeres and Macropharyngodon wrasses in shipment, as they bury themselves in the sand and remain calmer.

Then, I set up a "landing pad" tank that starts at lower salinity, about what I expect the shipping water to be at.

When the bag arrives, I take a syringe and pull out some water to check salinity, keeping the bag sealed (scotch tape if the puncture starts letting in air).

While the weasse stays in the sand, I adjust the landing pad tank water salinity up or down to match the bag water.

Then float the bag for 30 min.

Then I just cut the top of the bag off to let the air out, pour out the extra water trying to keep the sand undisturbed, then let the whole bag sink to the bottom.

The wrasse will come out of the sand and explore when it's ready.

Lotta work, but I got 2/2 live (one Halichoeres , one Macropharyngodon) with this method whereas only 1/2 Halichoeres without sand and 0/2 Macropharyngodon without sand.

 

[Sharkbait19]

The wrasse died overnight. I put in a request asking if the next one can be sent with some sand to minimize stress, though I’m not sure whether they’ll be able to fulfill this request. They’re also sending out a new goby. Hopefully the package arrives without any delay so the fish have less of a chance of dying.

 

[i cant think]

Sad to hear about the wrasse, how are the others and the rest of the tank doing?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Sad to hear about the wrasse, how are the others and the rest of the tank doing?

Everyone else is doing well - acting normally and eating. The gramma is shy, but that’s to be expected.
In the dt, everything is good (minus the firefish who is still MIA). All of the corals that didn’t outright die are bouncing back well. I still need to do a deep clean, but just waiting until I have the free time - so long as I don’t mess up the sandbed everything stays happy.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Royal gramma is dead. Not too surprised because it didn’t look phenomenal on arrival, and it was hard to gauge its health as it was hiding all the time. I know these guys don’t ship too well either, so ordering it was a bit of a gamble.

 

[Sharkbait19]

The cardinalfish sadly didn’t make it. It seemed rather off upon arrival, so I’m not too surprised, though it had began to do better and was even eating. I think that having ordered fish in the winter may have not produced the best results. The other two remain in great shape, though, and I’m pretty confident they’ll continue to do well.