PDR's RSR 350 - Retired

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I ended up moving the gorgonian to the center rockwork. I also moved a 2" "long polyp" toadstool and nepthea to the center rock, but they are kind of hard to see in this pic as things were still closed up from the move.

I'm on the fence about the gorgonian. Do you think it looks better or worse in the center?

Thanks for sharing comrade

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nope lol. I didn’t even know that was a thing, I have just always wanted one of those guys.

Some good Midas Blenny info here

 

[PDR]

So the fish arrived. The midas blenny looks good, but stressed, the anthias however has so weird brown spots on one side of it. I made a thread about it here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brown-spots-on-anthias.564452/#post-5780466

 

[PDR]

The midas is doing great. There was some initial bickering with the flame (the flame is a jerk to all new fish) but the biggest fight was with the striped blenny. Everything was sunshine and rainbows until the midas decided to steal the striped blenny's hidey hole. Commence 10 minutes of WW3.

It was kind of cool to see the blenny's fangs, but man for a minute there I was worried for the midas. After it all settled down, I didn't see any damage, and today they are all good.

The anthias is still not looking great and still not eating. I'm not super confident that he will make it.

In other news, I sold some coral and an anemone. I also traded some frags for a buttkisser. Let's hope it doesn't melt on me...


Lol I love this blenny always so curious...

 

[NY_Caveman]

The Midas has the disadvantage with no swim bladder. Tires quickly.

 

[PDR]

The Midas has the disadvantage with no swim bladder. Tires quickly.

The Midas was actually in the hidey hole for the entire fight. He just didn’t realize that was the other blennys spot and the striped did not appreciate him occupying his spot at all.

The Midas definitely held his ground and let everyone know he’s not going to pushed around. I was mainly concerned because they “lip locked” several times and I wasn’t sure how potent the fang blennys venom is.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Oh yeah, that is scary. Lip lock is bad, but you have a big tank. They should sort it out.

 

[PDR]

Oh yeah, that is scary. Lip lock is bad, but you have a big tank. They should sort it out.

The good news is they were fine today, didn’t even seem to look at each other.

 

[Fudsey]

From what I read, it's like a bee sting.

 

[PDR]

The anthias is in QT being treated for a bacterial infection. It appears to be getting worse and the fish is still not eating.

I got some pictures of the blennies swimming together. See all happy now









Sorry, I couldn't get the midas in focus for whatever reason.

 

[PDR]

The anthias died today. The bacterial infection just kept getting worse and the treatment didn't seem to help. Divers Den has really gone downhill...

 

[Fudsey]

Sorry

 

[DSC reef]

The anthias died today. The bacterial infection just kept getting worse and the treatment didn't seem to help. Divers Den has really gone downhill...

Sorry to hear man.

 

[PDR]

Thanks, yeah I didn’t have super high hopes when I saw the condition he was in.

The only positive is LA did refund the entire amount without question.

 

[PDR]

I meant to update this earlier but work has been crazy. Here are my ICP results.

 

[PDR]

I'm about to leave for a day trip to the Biltmore house, but I'll post an update on the trip to Reef Dreams, the frag tank, new additions and the rest of what's been going on with the DT tonight.

 

[PDR]

Well as you can see I didn't get the update done. We didn't get back until much later than I thought and work has been crazy ever since we started advertising last week (first time in 6 years). I'll hopefully have time tonight or tomorrow for a more complete update.

I reworked the entire frag tank last night. I repositioned the rock, frag rack and powerheads. I also installed a larger return line on the frag tank today. I am hoping it will help with some issues I have been having with the return pump/overflow.

I have been feeding medicated food for the last couple of weeks. I am just about to finish the feeding regimen on Friday. I will then wait a few days before starting the 1st of 2 prazipro treatments. After that, I am planning on starting to quarantine all new fish except maybe certain captive bred fish. I don't really care about crypto, but internal parasites and infections have been giving me some trouble.

 

[PDR]

I finished the medicated food yesterday. All fish and inverts seem to have come through without issue. Unfortunately the mandarin is getting thinner every day despite eating at every meal and having plenty of pods available in the tank. He spends so much time swimming near the powerhead I think he is starving himself. The kamohara blenny has also suffered some kind of injury. I think it is a spinal injury and I'm not sure he will make it. Idk how it happened. All other fish are unaffected.

I did find out with 99% certainty that my flame angel is to blame for the sps and lps issues. I decided to run a test where I put 5 sps and 2 lps (war coral and acan) in the DT and sat and watched the tank for the next hour. He would pick at the sps just enough to keep them closed, and he nipped the war coral pretty aggressively. Strangely enough, he left the acan alone. I left the sps in there overnight just to see how they would do and they were still closed this morning. I put them back in the frag tank and they were fully open within an hour.

I also had quite the adventure last night. I decided to clean my return line for the first time in over 3 years. I figured I would clean it like I have my other returns in the past, with a piece of wet paper towel pushed through with some ro tubing. What I didn't realize was that the reefer return pipe has a larger "chamber" around the bulkhead. It's kind of hard to explain, but the approx 1/2" return opens to about a 1" wide and 2" deep where the pipe goes through the bulkhead.

The ro tubing went through the bulkhead without pushing the paper towel through. I assumed it tore the paper towel so I added some more to offer some resistance. That was a terrible mistake because what was really happening was the paper towel was getting stuck in that chamber and eventually the chamber was compacted with paper towel. I proceeded to try and push it through from the bottom (still without realizing the pipe opened up near the bulkhead) and got it jammed real good lol.

After trying for over an hour to get it freed up, I found a wire hanger and was slowly able to hook pieces of the towel and get it out piece by piece. The return was now clean, but I still hadn't cleaned the return pump. I start to clean it but didn't realize the power cord had gotten wrapped around my skimmer...

The skimmer gets knocked off its stand, hits the edge of the sump and the full collection cup pops off and lands upside down in my lap. Nothing quite like the feeling (and smell) of a full cup of skimmate soaking into your crotch. ;Vomit

 

[NY_Caveman]

I finished the medicated food yesterday. All fish and inverts seem to have come through without issue. Unfortunately the mandarin is getting thinner every day despite eating at every meal and having plenty of pods available in the tank. He spends so much time swimming near the powerhead I think he is starving himself. The kamohara blenny has also suffered some kind of injury. I think it is a spinal injury and I'm not sure he will make it. Idk how it happened. All other fish are unaffected.

I did find out with 99% certainty that my flame angel is to blame for the sps and lps issues. I decided to run a test where I put 5 sps and 2 lps (war coral and acan) in the DT and sat and watched the tank for the next hour. He would pick at the sps just enough to keep them closed, and he nipped the war coral pretty aggressively. Strangely enough, he left the acan alone. I left the sps in there overnight just to see how they would do and they were still closed this morning. I put them back in the frag tank and they were fully open within an hour.

I also had quite the adventure last night. I decided to clean my return line for the first time in over 3 years. I figured I would clean it like I have my other returns in the past, with a piece of wet paper towel pushed through with some ro tubing. What I didn't realize was that the reefer return pipe has a larger "chamber" around the bulkhead. It's kind of hard to explain, but the approx 1/2" return opens to about a 1" wide and 2" deep where the pipe goes through the bulkhead.

The ro tubing went through the bulkhead without pushing the paper towel through. I assumed it tore the paper towel so I added some more to offer some resistance. That was a terrible mistake because what was really happening was the paper towel was getting stuck in that chamber and eventually the chamber was compacted with paper towel. I proceeded to try and push it through from the bottom (still without realizing the pipe opened up near the bulkhead) and got it jammed real good lol.

After trying for over an hour to get it freed up, I found a wire hanger and was slowly able to hook pieces of the towel and get it out piece by piece. The return was now clean, but I still hadn't cleaned the return pump. I start to clean it but didn't realize the power cord had gotten wrapped around my skimmer...

The skimmer gets knocked off its stand, hits the edge of the sump and the full collection cup pops off and lands upside down in my lap. Nothing quite like the feeling (and smell) of a full cup of skimmate soaking into your crotch. ;Vomit

LOL! Sorry to laugh, but I wish There was a video of this escapade.

 

[Fudsey]

I got a good chuckle from that, sorry

;Hilarious ;Hilarious ;Hilarious