Hemmdog
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+1 lol
Finally! Natalie's 180 Gallon Shallow Reef
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Victoria M
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Total heebie jeebies here!
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The worst was at 3am while I was waiting for the clown to finish his bath, I started setting up the extra QT. At one point I looked over and they’d all crawled off the paper towel. Eeeeeek!
Luckily they didn’t go far and were still on the counter in the “fish room”. Gave me a little thrill though.
Luckily they didn’t go far and were still on the counter in the “fish room”. Gave me a little thrill though.
Victoria M
5000 Club Member
That would have made me freakout!
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Still no beady-eyed buggers on my mollies. I am a little disappointed. I also lost one molly, but I assume to the acclimation to salt as there were no bite marks.
I think the next step will be to let the mollies go and see if they attract the isopods while going in and out of rock work.
In other news, I saw two more tiny white nudis today. Yesterday I voted the single one off the island, but since there are more I think the best plan will be to simply keep an eye on the small handful of frags I moved over from the nano, and dip/pull them to the invert QT if I see damage. I’ll starve them.
I think the next step will be to let the mollies go and see if they attract the isopods while going in and out of rock work.
In other news, I saw two more tiny white nudis today. Yesterday I voted the single one off the island, but since there are more I think the best plan will be to simply keep an eye on the small handful of frags I moved over from the nano, and dip/pull them to the invert QT if I see damage. I’ll starve them.
Miller535
Valuable Member
Thanks
But.... I had a total freak out and @BigG helped me with the plan.
Humblefish posted to someone else to keep an easy to catch yellow fish (easy to see isopods on them) in the tank to attract the remaining isopods. I figure mollies will be great because I can safely add them without worrying they’ll carry some disease from FW to SW. I just think orange will be easier to find than yellow and still easy to see. We will see.
I have a plan in my head for how to make it as easy as possible. I’ll totally do a video! Thanks for the idea.
Could you not let your tank go fallow for a while to get rid of them, while your fish are in isolation/qt?
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Hi — good question! No, it appears from reading others’ experiences that they are able to eat other things as well to survive.
Miller535
Valuable Member
That is unfortunate. I am skeptical of the molly method, as it would only work if a few things happened.
1. (and most importantly) you were catching them faster then they could reproduce
2. They would find there way on to the mollies every night
I just don't imagine that happening.
Miller535
Valuable Member
I don't know, in the article you posted he mentions a few things that could be tried (like Kent's Lugol), maybe try some of those in combination with the mollies.
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Well y’all, I freed the two mollies yesterday. One is in the main tank and one in the refugium. Still no sign of any isopods.
Could it be that those are the only 4? Seems unlikely.
Is the next plan to move my Ocellaris back in, in a week or two? On one hand he’s hardy and easy to catch. On the other, I’m very fond of him and don’t want to use him as a guinea pig. I don’t know.
In other news, I added a container of 5280 Pods from AlgaeBarn and started dosing phyto today.
The cardinals and filefish in QT are doing great.
Also, I finished my first week of grad school today!
Could it be that those are the only 4? Seems unlikely.
Is the next plan to move my Ocellaris back in, in a week or two? On one hand he’s hardy and easy to catch. On the other, I’m very fond of him and don’t want to use him as a guinea pig. I don’t know.
In other news, I added a container of 5280 Pods from AlgaeBarn and started dosing phyto today.
The cardinals and filefish in QT are doing great.
Also, I finished my first week of grad school today!
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Weekend update!
I still haven’t seen any other isopods. Not on the mollies and not on the shrimp I skewered and left in there 18 hours so I could look for them at night with a flashlight. I’ll move my occellaris back in. He’s fat and hardy and easy to catch, so a good test subject I suppose.
The other critters sure liked the shrimp though.
A few updates on the other critters:
Can you find the two decorator crabs in these photos? The big one is a ton easier than the small one. I actually just noticed the small one yesterday. He’s only as big as my thumbnail. I’ll give away their spots at the bottom of this post if you want to try to find them.
This purple ribbon gorgonian is doing really well and is even growing. The bigger decorator crab sawed the ends off several branches and it’s grown over those spots already.
As expected, most of that encrusting orange sponge has died off and most of the hydroids (90%?) are gone too. Then there was an explosion of skinny white sponges and then they died back a lot. Now they’re all being replaced by small orange sponges, feather dusters, and really interesting red colonial tunicates.
The tiny mollies look funny in this big tank. They’re always together and they’ve found the lowest flow spot to hang out.
And last but not least, some love for the cukes. Not pretty, but definitely interesting creatures.
Thanks for stopping in! Be well, everyone.
I still haven’t seen any other isopods. Not on the mollies and not on the shrimp I skewered and left in there 18 hours so I could look for them at night with a flashlight. I’ll move my occellaris back in. He’s fat and hardy and easy to catch, so a good test subject I suppose.
The other critters sure liked the shrimp though.
A few updates on the other critters:
Can you find the two decorator crabs in these photos? The big one is a ton easier than the small one. I actually just noticed the small one yesterday. He’s only as big as my thumbnail. I’ll give away their spots at the bottom of this post if you want to try to find them.
This purple ribbon gorgonian is doing really well and is even growing. The bigger decorator crab sawed the ends off several branches and it’s grown over those spots already.
As expected, most of that encrusting orange sponge has died off and most of the hydroids (90%?) are gone too. Then there was an explosion of skinny white sponges and then they died back a lot. Now they’re all being replaced by small orange sponges, feather dusters, and really interesting red colonial tunicates.
The tiny mollies look funny in this big tank. They’re always together and they’ve found the lowest flow spot to hang out.
And last but not least, some love for the cukes. Not pretty, but definitely interesting creatures.
Thanks for stopping in! Be well, everyone.
Love the rock, really loaded with lifeforms! Thanks for sharing the photos.
Victoria M
5000 Club Member
You are excellent at this documenting thing!
seriously love reading your updates. Even with the crabs circled I could not see them.
seriously love reading your updates. Even with the crabs circled I could not see them.
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Still no signs of isopods, even after moving the clown back in last week. So, I moved the other fish into the tank. There are now 9 small fish in here — 1 occelaris, 2 cb pygmy filefish, 2 cb Kaudern’s cardinals, 2 scissortail dartfish, 2 mollies. Cross your fingers and toes for us that the isopods are the thing of the past. We shall see.
I had to polish some brown diatoms and coralline algae off the acrylic today. First time for both. Plain Magic Eraser worked great. I also have a small patch of cyano on one rock that you’ll see in the photos.
I am feeling really good about the RSK600 skimmer. It’s pulling nasty stuff and keeping the water really clear and nice — important in a tank with this shape.
Here’s this week’s photo progress update:
I don’t know what kind of fuzzy pink crab this is, but I’m keeping my eye on him. He doesn’t hide and never leaves the rock in front, so for now he lives... but I’m watching.
I had to polish some brown diatoms and coralline algae off the acrylic today. First time for both. Plain Magic Eraser worked great. I also have a small patch of cyano on one rock that you’ll see in the photos.
I am feeling really good about the RSK600 skimmer. It’s pulling nasty stuff and keeping the water really clear and nice — important in a tank with this shape.
Here’s this week’s photo progress update:
I don’t know what kind of fuzzy pink crab this is, but I’m keeping my eye on him. He doesn’t hide and never leaves the rock in front, so for now he lives... but I’m watching.
Looking good! Nice start even despite the bump in the road.
Finally getting caught up with your progress. You’ve come a long way and your patience and attention to detail have given you quite the display! I remember my first reef wayback , maybe 30 yrs. ago and the live rock it had. Amazing the critters and growth on it. Used to stay up late just to flashlight the rock to see new stuff as it appeared.
Keep up the fine work !
Jim
Keep up the fine work !
Jim
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