Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

[Myka]

More goodies from a friend's tank (from July 15th). He decided to remove most of his SPS in favor of LPS (crazy talk!). I took advantage of his weakness!

Sorry...my pics suck. I'll turn down the blue T5s on the next try.

Garf Bonsai

Hawkins Echinata

Unidentified mariculture piece

Setosa

Maricultured "red dragon"

 

[Myka]

On July 19th I figured the frags could handle being epoxied to the rocks, so I went ahead and did that (until I ran out of epoxy) on that Friday. I was away for the weekend, and I came back to the frags being mad. The skimmer was fine on Friday, but was going crazy when I got home Sunday. I only used 6 epoxy balls about the size of a small marble. Some of the frags didn't mind the manhandling, but a few of them were very stressed including the Green Dragon. The Green Dragon and the Christmas Hyacinthus RTN'd overnight that Sunday.

I lost a few more pieces that week to overnight RTN including the Red Planet and the DWI (A. awi).

What's a SPS tank with out a little RTN here and there?

 

[Myka]

That brings the build up to speed now. Yesterday I picked up a Glowstick Sarmentosa from a buddy. It's a beauty. Hopefully the RTN is all done.

Current parameters are:

Cal 410 (Elos)
Alk 8.0 (Hanna)
Mg 1320 (Salifert)
K ~400 (Elos)
NO3 0 (Salifert)
PO4 0.00 (Hanna)
SG 1.026 (refractometer)

So I'm feeding the crap out of the fish hoping to get some nutrients in the tank. The fish are enjoying this. I am starting to get a good growth of diatoms now, so I think I might see some numbers on Friday's test and water change.

Yup, me too, following.

Thank you and welcome!

 

[ifarmer]

Really like those species on that list.
I am too trying to dtock my tank with some of the same frags

 

[Myka]

Really like those species on that list.
I am too trying to dtock my tank with some of the same frags

That's the thing with SPS - we pretty much all have the same pieces. The fun is trying to get optimal color out of them. I need some sweet Tenuis - don't have any right now.

 

[ethridge78]

Very nice tank

 

[Myka]

Well, I finally got some nitrate in the tank! I took a 5-gallon pail from a client's tank and put it into my tank.

The client's tank is 0.04 ppm PO4 and ~25 ppm NO3. Perfect dose of nitrate for my tank. I ordered some sodium nitrate from The Science Company as two weeks of searching produced nothing locally.

Here's today's readings:

Cal 435 ppm (Salifert)
Alk 160 ppm 8.9 dKH (Hanna)
Mg 1320 ppm (Salifert)
NO3 0.5 ppm (Salifert)
PO4 0.00 ppm (Hanna 713)

I ordered a group of Maldives Flame Anthias (P. ignitus) from my LFS. This species is very similar to Dispar Anthias and similarly are difficult to get eating. I waited until Quality Marine had them in stock so that I could get the healthiest fish possible rather than getting my LFS to order the (cheaper) Anthias from an overseas supplier. They arrived on Wednesday evening, and picked them up straight out of the shipping box. There are 6 small females and 2 big males. I put them into a 40-gallon quarantine tank and got some brine shrimp eggs in the hatcher. I also ordered some live blackworms from Petland, but they won't be here until next week. Thursday morning I fed a mix of PE Mysis, R.O.E., and frozen Cyclopeeze. 5 of the females came out to eat, and pecked around, ate a few bits. Very good.

The two males and one female stayed hiding behind the pot. Thursday afternoon they were fed again and they all came out and ate a few bits. I fed them twice more and most of them ate a few bits, but not as well as earlier in the day. They were all most interested in the Cyclopeeze, but ate a few Mysis. This morning the 5 females were out pecking and eating a bit, and the males and one female were interested, but no action. The Brine Shrimp eggs failed to hatch. So I mixed up a cube of Hikari Mysis, Hikari Spirulina Brine Shrimp, and R.O.E. All the fish except the one shy female were very excited about the Brine Shrimp, and quickly grabbed a piece, but promptly spat it out. They repeatedly did this. Grrr! I did see one female eat one Brine Shrimp. No interest in the R.O.E. nor the Mysis. The two males and one female remain very shy.

The smallest female has a mark on her back - I haven't been able to look close enough to tell what it is. She is one of the more active ones. It may be bruising or it may be aberrant markings which would be cool. There's a possibility that it's a sore, but at this point I don't think it is. That's where we're at now.

Here's most of the herd:

 

[Tahoe61]

The Anthias are stunning, a beautiful addition.

 

[Myka]

The Anthias are stunning, a beautiful addition.

I can't wait to put them in the tank!

New clam!

Sarmentosa I got a couple weeks ago. Browned out for now.

Blenny

 

[Tahoe61]

Fantastic clam.

 

[Myka]

It's been 4 weeks now, and I'm finally I'm starting to see some color coming back to the SPS after the epoxy spaz my tank had. It certainly took long enough. I'm sure it's helping now that there is a bit of nitrate in there too. It's been 8 1/2 weeks since the tank transfer.

The Flame Anthias are doing well so far. The one male remains very, very skittish. He doesn't eat much, but he is eating. The second male is also skittish, but he eats pretty well. The females are all pigs. Once I have them fattened up I will dose them with PraziPro. Since Praziquantel can cause temporary anorexia in fish, I want to make sure they are fat enough to make it through the treatment should they choose to be anorexic.

Fantastic clam.

Thanks! I love it - it's subtle. There was a spectacular turquoise Squammy too, but I liked this one almost as much and it was half the price. Score!

 

[Myka]

So I was traveling yesterday and stopped by an LFS. I picked up a few frags; Lokani, Echinata, Desawlii, and unknown (possibly a second Desalwii, possibly a Tenuis). There was AEFW in the system, but didn't seem to be affecting any of the pieces I bought. So they came home with me. I clipped them off the plugs, dipped them in Bayer (5 mL per 250 mL tank water, rinse in tank water well). No AEFW came off, and I didn't see any eggs on the plugs. I chucked them in the QT with the Anthias.

So this is where things get complicated...

I dosed PraziPro to the QT with the Anthias last Tuesday (a week ago), and the treatment should be complete now. I check on the Anthias this morning, and they look rough. They have the "rough scales" appearance. One has some whitish edges on a couple spots on fins. Half of them look a bit Ich-y. So this isn't really the complicated part - except I just put SPS frags into the QT!!!

So I think I'm going to move the SPS frags into the display tank, and hope for the best. The tank is just frags right now, so if worst comes to worst, I can remove them for AEFW dips. Le sigh...

 

[ifarmer]

Subscribed. Looki g forward to see more of your updates.
Thanks

 

[Myka]

I gave 2 of the Anthias FW dips last night as they appeared like maybe they had some flukes, but nothing came off. I'm going to go ahead with a copper treatment for them. Unfortunately, I haven't had the spare time to scoop out the sand bed in the QT. Today I should get that done and begin treatment.

Subscribed. Looki g forward to see more of your updates.
Thanks

Thanks for joining in!

 

[Myka]

Well the tank is settling in nicely. After the tank's absolute over-reaction to the epoxy, I'm starting to see colors coming back. Finally. Really though, the tank had a lot going against it. First, I did tank transfer. 9 days later I added a whack of SPS frags. A week or so later I epoxied everything and the system became extremely stressed because of this. At that point most of the frags in the system were 100% brown - like not a hint of color. So now that I'm beginning to see color again, I'm quite happy!

Also, FWIW, I took a video of the Blennies during feeding, bt it's not uploading properly. Once I figure that out I'll post it. The Anthias in the QT got their first dose of Cupramine today. Dang, I was hoping they could go in the tank soon! I did put the quarantined SPS frags into the display tank today (freaking out a bit) so I could medicate the Anthias. I left the sand bed in the QT.

This tabling piece I bought just before the tank transfer (late June). It was entirely cream/beige. Now I'm seeing what may be purple tips - eee!

 

[Myka]

A couple new pics of the clam. I can't quite catch the blue in it - it's bluer than the photo, also the pattern is sharper. I just can't really get it right.

Here are the two LPS that are allowed to stay in my tank. The Rainbow Trachy I've had for several years now - it bleaches at the drop of a hat. This time it has a good reason as it's had a hard time getting used to the new lights. The Space Invader Pectina is also a bit bleached, but not as bad.

 

[Myka]

I rearranged the rock a bit to make it more appealing until the corals grow in. The frags on the sand on the right won't be there long. I found a nice shady spot for the Trachy, and it's very happy. The anemone was migrating, so I peeled it off, and banned it to an island. It took the dummy Clowns a full 24 hours to find it even though it was only moved 10". You can see them in the pics hovering around where the anemone was.

I even found a shady spot for the Zoas.

Here's the new Desalwii frag.

The unknown piece (which is probably a second Desalwii, oops)

Echinata

Lokani (didn't make it)

 

[shred5]

I ordered a group of Maldives Flame Anthias (P. ignitus) from my LFS. This species is very similar to Dispar Anthias and similarly are difficult to get eating. I waited until Quality Marine had them in stock so that I could get the healthiest fish possible rather than getting my LFS to order the (cheaper) Anthias from an overseas supplier. They arrived on Wednesday evening, and picked them up straight out of the shipping box. There are 6 small females and 2 big males. I put them into a 40-gallon quarantine tank and got some brine shrimp eggs in the hatcher. I also ordered some live blackworms from Petland, but they won't be here until next week. Thursday morning I fed a mix of PE Mysis, R.O.E., and frozen Cyclopeeze. 5 of the females came out to eat, and pecked around, ate a few bits. Very good.

The two males and one female stayed hiding behind the pot. Thursday afternoon they were fed again and they all came out and ate a few bits. I fed them twice more and most of them ate a few bits, but not as well as earlier in the day. They were all most interested in the Cyclopeeze, but ate a few Mysis. This morning the 5 females were out pecking and eating a bit, and the males and one female were interested, but no action. The Brine Shrimp eggs failed to hatch. So I mixed up a cube of Hikari Mysis, Hikari Spirulina Brine Shrimp, and R.O.E. All the fish except the one shy female were very excited about the Brine Shrimp, and quickly grabbed a piece, but promptly spat it out. They repeatedly did this. Grrr! I did see one female eat one Brine Shrimp. No interest in the R.O.E. nor the Mysis. The two males and one female remain very shy.

The smallest female has a mark on her back - I haven't been able to look close enough to tell what it is. She is one of the more active ones. It may be bruising or it may be aberrant markings which would be cool. There's a possibility that it's a sore, but at this point I don't think it is. That's where we're at now.

Here's most of the herd:

They are like dispar in allot of ways.
I have Ignitus and find them very easy to get eat depending on what you feed.. They are very hard to get to eat flake or pellet but will eat pretty much anything frozen as long as it is small enough. I have 3 different batches and all ate the first day. They love mysis and cyclopeese and their favorite is the new Piscene Energetics Frozen Food Calanus. P/E mysis needs to be shaved because they are generally to big for them.

Ignitus ship bad but if you get them past the first few days they are as hardy as any lyretail. They come from shallow water too.. They also tend to shoal more than any other anthias except maybe dispar and dont have the aggression of lyretails where they kill each other off. They do need to be fed lots of food or they will wither away, I feed mine 6 times aday most of the time. I have one eating flake but even with it non of the others will touch it.

Also they are smaller and work in smaller than normal tanks suggested for anthias. My favorite of all anthias.. I highly suggest them to anybody.

 

[Myka]

Hi Dave, thank you for your input. The Flame Anthias did very well in the beginning, but as of late they are not. A week in I gave them a dose of Prazipro to worm them and make sure they didn't have flukes. They went through this well, but a couple days after that treatment was finished they started showing signs of a bacterial infection. I suspect it may be a Vibrio infection, and I know that antibiotic treatment in the water isn't usually sufficient, but the Anthias won't eat my frozen mash, so I can't get them to ingest the medication. I started treatment with Furan 2 and lost 2 on day two, and 2 more on day 3. I currently have 4 left, and they look terrible. None of them are eating now. I doubt any will pull through. I'm very disappointed as they were looking so good for the first few weeks.

 

[shred5]

Sorry to hear that.. Prazipro was a good idea for Anthias. My lfs store treated them with prazipro when they came in. Mine came from Quality Marine also.. I try to leave them at the lfs for a bit since they don't ship well, it seems like 1 out of 3 die. Sounds like you did everything you could. Might want to try some flow to get them moving, anthias like current.

My lfs got 3 in for me and I took them home 1 died right away. They got me 3 more and one died in the store and one looked bad so I took one home. He got 3 more and I took two home. So I have 5 total now.