Bryan's 220 Build - Wrasses and More

btkrausen · Feb 4, 2012

I haven't tried flash, I'm just afraid that it'll reflect off the glass and ruin the pics. I'll try some tomorrow to see what happens

Thanks. I thought they weren't a bad start.

MarvinsReef · Feb 4, 2012

btkrausen said:
I haven't tried flash, I'm just afraid that it'll reflect off the glass and ruin the pics. I'll try some tomorrow to see what happens

Thanks. I thought they weren't a bad start.

definitely a great start man.

I would like to see a pic of that Filamented flashing.

btkrausen · Feb 4, 2012

MarvinsReef said:
definitely a great start man.

I would like to see a pic of that Filamented flashing.

Will do. I'll try to get some of him tomorrow...his fins are crazy long.

I almost got a good pic of the Adornatus flashing today but wasn't quick enough. Its the first time I've seen him flash so it was pretty awesome. I did see the Hooded Fairy flashing it up towards the bigger Eightline tonight as well.

btkrausen · Feb 5, 2012

Second try today on Manual mode. ISO 800, White Balance Auto +2, F stop at 4.

Help me take better pics

What else would you change to get something better? I'm thinking offhand to use a high FStop to bring more in focus, but then I know I need to slow the shutter down a bit. Might be hard on handheld and I don't see getting good pics of these fast wrasses on a tripod, haha.

Out of focus, but awesome nonetheless. He was flashing quite a bit tonight and this doesn't show all the highlights on his fins that you can barely see on the anal fins.

Aquaph8 · Feb 5, 2012

Nice, you got em flashing.

MarvinsReef · Feb 7, 2012

awesome shots Brian. I like how you flip your Filamented flasher pic on your avatar.

btkrausen · Feb 7, 2012

MarvinsReef said:
awesome shots Brian. I like how you flip your Filamented flasher pic on your avatar.

Haha, thanks. I'm OCD like that

btkrausen · Feb 8, 2012

I think tonight should be my last water change to get the tank to a hypo level. It was at 1.010 before I did the change, so this change should bring me between 1.008 and 1.009. I'm kind of interested to see if my snails and crabs live through hypo. I was at two weeks on my QT and still had a few crabs running around in there.

I did lose my Spotfin Butterfly yesterday, which I was pretty sad about. He was the most personable fish I had and would always follow me around the tank. I will have some more butterfly fish when I'm able to start QT'ing new fish again. Other than that, the other fish seem to be doing fine as I've been dropping the salinity. The Eightline flashers are swimming amongst the wrasse group like they've been there forever.

I'm currently treating my Girdled Fairy with EM-Pro right now in my QT tank, which is a pain cause I have to do a 10-15gal water change everyday. I had to spend $250 on a bigger membrane and new RO booster pump since I needed to be able to make at least 40-50gal each day in the few short hours between getting home and time for bed.

Work has kept me busy both at the office and at home with tons of new server builds, normal maintenance, and keeping up with an endless amount of new projects, so I didn't get to play around with the camera much more since Sunday like I wanted.

Mike&Terry · Feb 9, 2012

Thanks for sharing the pics! Sorry to hear about your Spotfin Butterfly and good luck with hypo in your DT.

MarvinsReef · Feb 9, 2012

btkrausen said:
I think tonight should be my last water change to get the tank to a hypo level. It was at 1.010 before I did the change, so this change should bring me between 1.008 and 1.009. I'm kind of interested to see if my snails and crabs live through hypo. I was at two weeks on my QT and still had a few crabs running around in there.

I did lose my Spotfin Butterfly yesterday, which I was pretty sad about. He was the most personable fish I had and would always follow me around the tank. I will have some more butterfly fish when I'm able to start QT'ing new fish again. Other than that, the other fish seem to be doing fine as I've been dropping the salinity. The Eightline flashers are swimming amongst the wrasse group like they've been there forever.

I'm currently treating my Girdled Fairy with EM-Pro right now in my QT tank, which is a pain cause I have to do a 10-15gal water change everyday. I had to spend $250 on a bigger membrane and new RO booster pump since I needed to be able to make at least 40-50gal each day in the few short hours between getting home and time for bed.

Work has kept me busy both at the office and at home with tons of new server builds, normal maintenance, and keeping up with an endless amount of new projects, so I didn't get to play around with the camera much more since Sunday like I wanted.

keep at it man. I'm sure it gets tiring but I commend you for being on top of things with the hypo and taking care of your fishes. I'm sure when this is done, you'll look back and be proud of what you went through. I'm hoping everything goes well with the hypo. good luck man and keep us posted.

btkrausen · Feb 14, 2012

Well, finally got the tank to a hypo state the other day at 1.009, and now have the tank right at 1.008. A few issues have crept up, but nothing major:

My smallest Eightline Flasher died last night. She had been hiding in the rocks the last few days, and I found her floating around the tank yesterday but still breathing. I tried to acclimate her to my quarantine tank, but she didn't make it. My larger one is still doing awesome.

My Thompsons Tang has developed Pop Eye since going hypo...but can't be sure the two are directly related. I've been feeding them well and adding medications to the food, including Paracite-X. Been trying to keep nori in there as much as possible as well. He's been swimming around mostly like normal, just with a big eye. Hopefully he'll turn around.

A few new things:

Looking for a larger, nicer sump than my current setup. I sold a perfect acrylic sump two years ago that would have been awesome to have now. I'm actually tracking the guy down and talking to him, trying to buy it back, haha. Will really be awesome to have that back and running. My current sump is a 60gal with baffles I added.

I purchased a 57w UV sterilizer tonight to help clear the water, maybe help with cyano, and just kill any protozoa floating in the water. I know it can't get it all, but killing any of them is better than killing none.

I mostly got it to keep the water pristine while I'm going through hypo and thereafter.

My Girdled Fairy wrasse came down with a swimming bladder issue that I've now attested to bacterial infection. He's been in the quarantine tank for 14 days now under a Erythromycin treatment and he's looking 100% better. He was unwillingly floating around, but still using his fins to move around pretty good. Now, after the treatment, he's swimming upright and normal and definitely is eating much better. You can tell he's just a much happier fish. That treatment was a pain in the butt, doing 25% water changes everyday and dosing the Erythromycin everyday, but it was worth it. I'm going to let him hang out in the QT for an extra day or two while carbon cleans out the meds, and then I'll slowly drop the salinity so its close enough where I can drip acclimate him back to the DT with the other fish so he can go through hypo with the rest.

Other than that, I'm thinking about getting another MP10 to put on the other side of the tank for more flow. The one side with an MP40 AND MP10 looks much better than the side with just the MP40. Gonna wait a bit since that UV was crazy expensive....don't want to hear any complaining

Eternal · Feb 14, 2012

So you did the Erythromycin treatment for 14 days in a row?

Aquaph8 · Feb 14, 2012

Sorry bout the eightline Bryan. Glad to hear things are moving along though.

btkrausen · Feb 14, 2012

Eternal said:
So you did the Erythromycin treatment for 14 days in a row?

Oh wait...sorry, it was 11 days, haha. I was thinking of today's date

Today makes the 11th day. The directions say to do minimum of 10 days but up to 14 days. Each day I did a 25% water change and then added 5 spoonfuls (I think it was 1/8 teaspoon) since my QT is 40-50 gal.

Between doing those daily water changes and another daily 20 gal fresh for salt for the hypo on the DT, I've been running through water like crazy. haha