Fishroom Reality Check

[User]

Great updates Neil. I love following your adventure. Sorry I have not replied enough lately. I have had vertigo pretty bad. The scrolling makes it worse. I am seeing a physical therapist who specializes in vestibular disorders. So hopefully it will get better soon.

No worries Victoria. Glad to hear from you whenever you drop in. I have fun knowing you are sharing the journey

I’m so sorry about your health issues. You’ll have them beat in no time and be back to 100%. Sending best wishes your way

 

[User]

3 x water changes on the QT tanks, cleaned and vinegar washed 3 x pretzel barrels, and now I’ve got general organization and basement clean out to do.

Wrasses and Midas look great, all hanging out kid water column. I think they might be waiting for me to bring the BBS, lol. I was late getting those set up so that’ll be an evening snack

 

[User]

So, instead of tidying I o- I made some copepod/brine shrimp sieves out of bottles and a 300micron media bag

The brine shrimp filter kit...

And started the @Paul B dragonet feeder- but I’m having issues sourcing netting.

Going to use it to feed BBS to the wrasses in observation, and the dragonets through QT. Once done, I’m going to install it in the corner of the display.

 

[User]

Scale- up: 500ml to 2500ml.

 

[User]

Here’s my ‘Pod ‘tank’- $3.88 from Target. 4.25g capacity

 

[User]

Baby brine shrimp harvest- 300micron sock sieve didn’t work, so I used the 58 copepod nauplii sieve

 

[DS204]

Love it. I look forward to stuff like this on a Saturday afternoon!

 

[User]

Algae experts- quick question

The small clumps of GHA I had starting to take hold have been replaced by this stuff. Over the past 10 days, crazy growth.

Very dense- feels like moss- spongy, hard to pick off by hand. Very hard to remove with a brush. Very short green hairs, around 1/4-1/3”.

Any ideas?

 

[User]

Lol, pics might help

Was

 

[User]

Green turf algae.

Apparently that’s what it looks like when it’s not in a turf scrubber.

Fluconazole to knock it out.

Uugghh. So I have Chrysophytes, Cyanobacteria and turf algae.

 

[Greg P]

Your new wrasses are quite the little piggies. Good to see the blennie come out to eat too.
Looking forward to seeing them eat larger prey soon.

Not so great to see your newest algae issue.
Did you ever read this thread? Post #49 there's a video from the OP. Interesting method.
Makes me wonder with all that you've been through.
Sure, it won't fix your tank now, but maybe moving forward?

" MY WHITE SAND METHOD "

I've always talked about this in the fb groups because i get so many questions and compliments on my sand bed ....well here's my method....note: I've never tried this on a tank older than 3 years !!!! I'm well aware of the problems that can occur on older tanks...this is a "DAILY" method i use...

www.reef2reef.com

And my apologies for my headspace in the phyto/nutrients thread.
Never got my question out correctly to start with, then it all went downhill.
Just chalk it up to my inability to get my thoughts across.

 

[User]

Just got the little guys out of TTM4 and into the 20long observation tank. Looking good at this point!

 

[User]

Carpenters flasher wrasse: RIP

After transferring the fish from TTM 4 to the 20g long observation tank (salinity and temp matched perfectly) I put this mornings harbest if BBS in there for their first feeding of the day, checked for normal activity -ate like pigs- then took the family out for breakfast and some grocery shopping.

Get back at 1pm, go check the tanks, and find Carpenters wrasse deceased, laying on the bottom. Literally zero physical signs of anything wrong. Looks normal as far as I can tell.

Mccoskers and the Midas blenny are acting completely consistently with the past 13 days, seem to be enjoying the expanded space and the rock and decorations.

I’m at a loss. Speechless. Have no idea what happened. I don’t get it. Just as I thought we were past the hard stressful part of TTM.

Bummed. I did do the change early this morning, and they seemed to be just waking up from sleep- he was the first one I scooped out with the colander- is it possible I spooked him so bad that he passed away?

@Victoria M @HotRocks @4FordFamily

 

[User]

Green turf algae.

Apparently that’s what it looks like when it’s not in a turf scrubber.

Fluconazole to knock it out.

Uugghh. So I have Chrysophytes, Cyanobacteria and turf algae.

@Dean Smith no need to be sad bro.

At least now I have a good ID and know that my ‘natural’ strategy of upping nutrients and keeping to a WC and cleaning schedule isn’t going to work.

With this combo- I *need* to use s chemical approach. I know that now.

I’m thinking Fluconazole to knock out the Turf algae (14 days) followed by chemiclean to finally get rid of the Cyanobacteria (2 days) and clean it all out with a very good scrub, filter, and big water change. I can do up to 130gallons of saltwater change at a time. That would be a 55% WC. That ought to balance everything out.

If it doesn’t, a couple weeks dosing Vibrant will tell me if I have something more insidious going on. Fortunately, I’m low enough on stocking that a complete tear down and reboot- while the thought makes me feel nauseated- isn’t a total impossibility

Then dose my nutrients, and set up an auto water changer at 4g/day to keep on top of water quality.

 

[HotRocks]

Carpenters flasher wrasse: RIP

After transferring the fish from TTM 4 to the 20g long observation tank (salinity and temp matched perfectly) I put this mornings harbest if BBS in there for their first feeding of the day, checked for normal activity -ate like pigs- then took the family out for breakfast and some grocery shopping.

Get back at 1pm, go check the tanks, and find Carpenters wrasse deceased, laying on the bottom. Literally zero physical signs of anything wrong. Looks normal as far as I can tell.

Mccoskers and the Midas blenny are acting completely consistently with the past 13 days, seem to be enjoying the expanded space and the rock and decorations.

I’m at a loss. Speechless. Have no idea what happened. I don’t get it. Just as I thought we were past the hard stressful part of TTM.

Bummed. I did do the change early this morning, and they seemed to be just waking up from sleep- he was the first one I scooped out with the colander- is it possible I spooked him so bad that he passed away?

@Victoria M @HotRocks @4FordFamily

It could be anything. Sometimes it just happens unfortunately. Sorry to hear about the loss

 

[User]

It could be anything. Sometimes it just happens unfortunately. Sorry to hear about the loss

Just feels like a total gut punch. Think you do everything right, look good one minute, gone the next.

 

[DS204]

I'm trying Prodibio BioDigest to combat my GHA in the 13.5g observation tank. Not sure if you're familiar with that product or not. It's cheap and easy. 2 things I like. Only a week into my trial with it though, so time will tell.

 

[User]

I'm trying Prodibio BioDigest to combat my GHA in the 13.5g observation tank. Not sure if you're familiar with that product or not. It's cheap and easy. 2 things I like. Only a week into my trial with it though, so time will tell.

Thanks for the tip. I’ve just been scraping the little GHA I get in the QTs, and I got a couple emerald crabs to help take care of it. They manage, but only as high as they can reach. I’m actually thinking of pulling one out and putting it on top of the turf to see if it’ll go for it.

Ive tried a biological approach for close to 4 months now. With the added complication of turf algae, time to get aggressive and knock it out fast, then keep my water clean and my numbers up.

Good luck in your battle

 

[DS204]

Interested to see your results on vibrant - I've read mostly good things about it. Sorry about your wrasse. That's so bizarre. Sad face. Some real highs and lows in this hobby. Gotta take the good with the bad.

 

[User]

Interested to see your results on vibrant - I've read mostly good things about it. Sorry about your wrasse. That's so bizarre. Sad face. Some real highs and lows in this hobby. Gotta take the good with the bad.

I’ve read that big vibrant thread and am mostly convinced, but every few pages you read about a bad case. Enough frequency to make me hesitant. Plus, as a career microbiologist, some of the ‘proposed biology’ that some people seem to think makes sense, makes me throw up in my mouth a little and shake my head furiously. But most people don’t care about mechanism as long as it works.

I’m going to do the fluconazole, then chemiclean- that way I can combine the require water changes into a big 50%. After that, if I see a resurgence of the Chrysophytes due to niche availability, I will try the vibrant. Nothing else has worked against it, but at least I have it stale-mated.

True about taking the bad with the good. I have a small group of apparently healthy livestock, a very understanding wife and something the girls will grow up seeing at a time when natural populations are in danger. Got to keep positive!