Fishfreak2009's 75 Gallon Mixed Reef

[Crabby48]

Nice haul from aqua sd! Sorry about flukes but they aren’t an emergency and more safe to treat.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Nice haul from aqua sd! Sorry about flukes but they aren’t an emergency and more safe to treat.

Haven't seen any flukes since the prazi pro treatment, but the clowns showed spots of ich within 24 hrs of moving over to the quarantine. So started treatment with cupramine. So far they seem to be doing fine in it, and no more spots, so we will continue that. Their nano is sitting fallow anyways because of the brooklynella.

I'm just glad I quarantined everything going into the 75 gallon and have avoided a similar situation. No way I want to tear all that rockwork apart and break all those frags trying to catch the fish.

Although the new fairy wrasses from ReefPros will be just getting a prazi bath, then moved into the display, as they've both been there for quite a while apparently, and in both cupramine and praziquantel while there. I also don't want to stress them out in a 13.5 gallon evo, and think they have a better chance in the 75 with all the live rock and corals to hide in. And we are getting the UV sterilizer hooked up today, and are already dosing peroxide anyway because of the dinoflagellates.

 

[Crabby48]

Sorry I missed read the post. Glad clowns are doing good in treatment. Soon it will be over. Agree it’s easier to deal with sickness before they are in bigger displays

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Corals and fairy wrasses are all arriving Thursday instead of Tuesday, due to the cold Michigan temps. Wednesday is supposed to reach almost 30, with Thursday getting into the 40s, so should be much safer for the fish.

The Pintail fairy wrasse is also transitioning to full supermale coloration, and is looking spectacular.

The wifey did a 10 gallon water change today, siphoned out most of the dinos, and hooked up the UV sterilizer. What an amazing Valentine!

 

[Crabby48]

Very exciting. Good luck sleeping lol.

 

[SaltyT]

Looking good! Love all the pics!

Can't wait to see the new additions!

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Mixed bag of news today:

The ReefPro order is delayed until next week now due to delays in Fedex shipping through Memphis. So the wrasses should now be arriving Wednesday. I appreciate they are looking out for the fish, but it is pretty disappointing, especially when I've now received multiple shipments from other vendors via UPS with no issues (actually arrived by 9AM).

I received my order from AquaSD today, and they forgot to ship both orders I placed off their website with my ebay auction order. I already spoke to them on the phone, and since I saw some frags I liked in the auction tonight, I bid on a few pieces, and they will be shipping the other orders with the ebay auction from tonight. It was an honest mistake, they were super apologetic, and I know they'll make it right. The corals that did arrive have opened up beautifully, the acros even had polyp extension within an hour of going into the tank. I'll add some pics of the new corals ordered tonight as well.

And lastly, my order from CoralReefTN (the retail store for Sustainable Aquatics) arrived today. Everything was perfectly packaged and the fish look amazing! Fish skipped quarantine, just got a bath in ruby reef rally pro, and a praziquantel bath since they've been there for a while now and are sensitive fish I felt wouldn't do well in a more sterile quarantine. We are also running a UV sterilizer on the tank and dosing peroxide to help fight the dinoflagellates, so hoping if something made it past the baths that the peroxide+UV takes care of it.

Timor wrasse instantly buried himself, so no pics of him yet, but the skunk tilefish came out within 20 minutes and is actively swimming about and eating with the other fish. The black line fang blenny pair, and the pair of red headed gobies are also out and about like nothing happened, and all the baby clowns are floating in net breeder boxes at the top until I can set up the tanks they will be moved into.

Between the 4 net breeder boxes (3 with different types of clowns and 1 with maxi mini nems) and the 2 frag racks, plus the current dinoflagellate bloom, the tank looks like a disaster, but the corals and fish are thriving, so no major complaints.

And lastly, a couple pics of the skunk tilefish for tax.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Timor wrasse was out and about today eating like it should and behaving perfectly, but couldn't get a decent pic.

Zoa garden seems to be doing well though, even with the dinoflagellate outbreak going on. Trying to get nitrates up, hoping all the new fish helps with that. May shut the skimmer off for a bit and see if that helps as well. I feel like they've only gotten worse, even with us adding a UV sterilizer and cutting back on water changes. Also dosing Microbacter7 and PNS to help outcompete the dinoflagellates, with seemingly no effect.

 

[revhtree]

Looking good and love the zoa garden!!

 

[Crabby48]

You can dump some filter cup in the tank to help raise nutrients. If I get low I normally dose po4 or No3. Once nutrients are back inline Dino’s would disappear quick. Good luck stuff is messy

 

[Fishfreak2009]

You can dump some filter cup in the tank to help raise nutrients. If I get low I normally dose po4 or No3. Once nutrients are back inline Dino’s would disappear quick. Good luck stuff is messy

Yeah, phosphate is fine, if not a little high (0.07-0.09), but nitrate is always undetectable. It's not from the caulerpa in the sump stripping it out either, as that has stopped growing. I was hoping the high fish load would bring it up, but thinking I may need to just take a step back, shut the skimmer off for a week or so, and do no water changes.

I've been dosing Microbacter7 and PNS sauce in an effort to introduce bacterial biodiversity to compete with the dinoflagellates, but I'm wondering if they're only making things worse by breaking down nitrate before it's able to even start building up.

This is a new issue for me. I've always had heavily stocked tanks, and always struggled with high nitrates. My last 2 tanks were also started with dry rock, and I never had these issues, but also had to vodka dose to keep nitrates below 20ppm.

 

[Crabby48]

Fish load can take awhile before you see a difference. I have pulled the drain line from skimmer cup to help. Your on a good track. My tanks are always stocked heavy also but I would definitely rather struggle keeping nutrients then removal.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Well, tomorrow is going to be a fun day for my wife... as of this morning 3 the percularis clowns have jumped out of their breeder net, and 4 of the saddleback clowns have as well, and are now swimming around in the main tank. She is going to attempt to catch and remove them all as they are destined for other aquariums and no way I want that many clowns in this system, plus once they start growing it would be WW3.

Surprisingly, as of now the clarkii don't seem to care about them, and it's pretty much impossible to catch them the way the tank currently sits with the 4 breeder boxes, the frag racks, and all the SPS sticking up.

They seem to dart to the powerheads to hide when she stuck a net in earlier today, so we are hoping they are asleep there when she gets up early tomorrow and she can scoop them up without them realizing what's going on.

 

[Crabby48]

Try a clear box or container. Nets freak fish before it hits the water. Cream is hard for them to see. Go slow. Let them settle with the box in the tank and move slow. Like catching a dog or other animals. Build trust.

Good luck

 

[Mav88]

I use 2 nets to catch fish, helps me block off exits. I have to swoop my clarkiis up every now and again, about to put them on a prolonged timeout. Best of luck!

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Couple pics from today. Tanks a bit messy between the dinoflagellates and all 4 breeder boxes currently stuck to the front wall. Got pics of the timor wrasse and one of the red headed gobies.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Very excited for the fish shipment from ReefPros and the coral shipment from AquaSD coming Wednesday! Tank is doing well, and dinoflagellates seem to finally be receding, knock on wood. Picking up another aquarium tomorrow, a 20 gallon, just to move all the baby clowns into, so I can get all the net acclimation boxes out of the display tank. We are setting up our 47 gallon rimless for the percularis, converting our 65 gallon into an anemone tank for the saddleback harem, and moving the wyoming white clown pair into one of our fluval evos.

Some quick pics of the sleepy clarkii clowns in their anemone.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Baby clowns, Rollands's damsel, and helfrichi pair for a couple other tanks we are working on.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Corals from AquaSD came as gorgeous as they always do.

Fish from ReefPros seem good except for 1. Helfrichi firefish seem gorgeous and look great. Fathead Anthias also looks perfect. Rhomboid and red velvet look perfect. My pintail male did a little bit of chasing, but seem to be getting over it already, just nipped a bit of the tail of the lineatus. Unfortunately, the female hooded flame has visible flukes. A dose of prazi should fix it up, but disappointed it was shipped like that, after 2 other wrasses in the shipment were cancelled due to not meeting quality to ship. She's also a little thinner than I would expected.

As for the Tilefish and Rolland's damsel from ThatFishPlace/ThatPetPlace, reviews are somewhat similar. The marcosi tilefish has a visible wound on its side. The fourmanoiri tilefish looks perfect and is eating. The Rolland's damsel looks very healthy, although it is the blue headed variety and not the yellow like shown on their website.

In good news, the yellow watchman goby we haven't seen since December showed up today in the burrow with the skunk tilefish, the candy cane pistol shrimp, and both aurora gobies (who are going everywhere together and no longer fighting). He's even grown! And the male Banggai has a mouth full of eggs!

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I thought the purple firefish were my favorites, but honestly these helfrichi have won me over. Absolutely spectacular fish! Can't wait to get their tank running! I'm really enjoying the clowns as well, and I'm excited to see how each group does once moved into their own setups.