Rummaging through old files and found the first pics taken of our Spanish greyhoud (fish pics to follow). This was my boy in 2011 when he was found on the streets outside of Sevilla, Spain emaciated and with a busted up knee.
Here he is now on the new rug I bought this week, which promptly became his. Spoiled rotten.
Right, so what does this dog have to do with reef aquariums? I'd say never count your animals out--they can come back from the brink. This dog was about a week away from death by starvation. I've had corals that I thought were D-E-A-D come back with full fluffy polyps. A little TLC can do wonders. Most recently, received a blue star leopard wrasse (M. bipartitis), shipped in sand, half its body laying out of the sand. Almost called time of death, but it did move when jostled by my fingers through the bag. I had set up a "landing pad" tank salinity matched for the fish with new sand and live rocks for observation and a slow salinity acclimation over days (knowing that leopards are sensitive to shipping stress).
In the landing pad tank, the M. bipartitis was acting erratically, pacing at the surface, swimming in circles and laying against the overflow. Outlook not so good.
Finally went into the sand, which was a relief. Long story short, raised the salinity from 1.020 to 1.025sg over about 6 days (factor in the weekend where I only let evaporation increase salinity), started hatching baby brine shrimp to stimulate a feeding response, and eventually got her into my DT, which gets fed really well. Knock on wood, but happy to say that she's doing great.
That yellow pig wasse was always doing great.
I've been amazed at the level of care given by the reefkeeping community to our tank inhabitants, even the brainless ones. Nursing anemones back to health in hospital tanks. Hand feeding urchins when they run out of algae. I saw a post by someone who performed surgery on a shrimp to get an isopod out of its carapace. For sure, seeing your animals grow and be healthy is very rewarding. For those of us in a rut with our tanks, chin up! With help, we'll get through it and back to a thriving tank!
Here he is now on the new rug I bought this week, which promptly became his. Spoiled rotten.
Right, so what does this dog have to do with reef aquariums? I'd say never count your animals out--they can come back from the brink. This dog was about a week away from death by starvation. I've had corals that I thought were D-E-A-D come back with full fluffy polyps. A little TLC can do wonders. Most recently, received a blue star leopard wrasse (M. bipartitis), shipped in sand, half its body laying out of the sand. Almost called time of death, but it did move when jostled by my fingers through the bag. I had set up a "landing pad" tank salinity matched for the fish with new sand and live rocks for observation and a slow salinity acclimation over days (knowing that leopards are sensitive to shipping stress).
In the landing pad tank, the M. bipartitis was acting erratically, pacing at the surface, swimming in circles and laying against the overflow. Outlook not so good.
Finally went into the sand, which was a relief. Long story short, raised the salinity from 1.020 to 1.025sg over about 6 days (factor in the weekend where I only let evaporation increase salinity), started hatching baby brine shrimp to stimulate a feeding response, and eventually got her into my DT, which gets fed really well. Knock on wood, but happy to say that she's doing great.
That yellow pig wasse was always doing great.
I've been amazed at the level of care given by the reefkeeping community to our tank inhabitants, even the brainless ones. Nursing anemones back to health in hospital tanks. Hand feeding urchins when they run out of algae. I saw a post by someone who performed surgery on a shrimp to get an isopod out of its carapace. For sure, seeing your animals grow and be healthy is very rewarding. For those of us in a rut with our tanks, chin up! With help, we'll get through it and back to a thriving tank!
