Our Tbs

[drk70]

Originally posted by krajacich
Sorry Dennis. That sucks. I'm impressed you were able to get any pictures that good....ich is so tiny and fish swim so fast. Any idea which fish brought ich into the tank? What do you think you'll do to treat it?

I never saw any signs of this until the last few days.

I was bad today. I went to TFP to get stuff for ich and bought 2 more sun corals. I couldn't help myself. One is maybe alittle bigger than the one I already have and it cost $22.49 (this was a mistake on their part it was suppose to cost $29.99) and the other was $19.99. I also got 10 more astrea snails.

I will let you know the name of the stuff I got for ich later. It is suppose to be OK to put in your reef tank.

[patsan]

Pictures of the sun corals?

Here are a few I took this afternoon:

[drk70]

OK, here you go.

Black sun coral


Yelow sun coral



Here is also a pic of my tang and butterfly today. I don't see many white spots from the ich like I saw the other day. You can see some spots where they were.





Does ich have a cycle and go away or will it only really go away if you treat for it?

[skippy2]

Try feeding your fish with garlic and vitamins. Maybe they can fight it off on their own that way. That's what I would do before medicating the main tank or trying to catch them for a hospital tank.
I need to qualify that answer by saying I have never had to deal with ich but I have read numerous posts about this treatment.

[drk70]

I have added garlic with the last few feedings. Figured it couldn't hurt.

I will never catch them to put in QT so if I have to treat it will be the main tank.

[Randall_James]

Well if you find a true "Reef Safe" ich treatment, it will be a first (there is none I know of)

To catch the fish, you can always start draining the tank into brute containers. about the time there is 1 or 2 " of water left, they are easy pickings.

[mudder]

CirolanidHunter
Saw the picts. of your nudibranchs. Any tips on raising and feeding aips?

[patsan]

I got the neatest picture today. I named it "PHOTO FINISH". Please note, it's not ich on the tang....the front of the glass has those little dots on it and will be cleaned today when I do the water change. I can't believe the camera picked them up.

[patsan]

I also got these nice pictures:



Can you count the pods? (like where's waldo)

[bkelley02]

Awesome pics Pat!!!

I think you've pushed me over the edge and I'll have to get a Macro Lens after the holidays!

[patsan]

Originally posted by bkelley02
Awesome pics Pat!!!

I think you've pushed me over the edge and I'll have to get a Macro Lens after the holidays!

Go for it. It will outlast your camera body and you can always use it with another camera.

[patsan]

Today's pictures:



and can you believe there are still whelks?

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by mudder
CirolanidHunter
Saw the picts. of your nudibranchs. Any tips on raising and feeding aips?

mudder,

raising and feeding aips? What do you mean by that? I was not able to raise the nudibranchs, too time intensive.

Brian

[bobt2]

i noticed that both my tbs tanks have a few patches of bubble algea the biggest ball is about 1/4" in dia and their very hard to the touch.are these good or bad. i think i heard if you break them they will spread, so how do you remove them?

[mhe]

Hi All,

It's been a while - nice to see this thread's still here and everyone's doing well!

I'm still working my TBS 90 gal tank - I've added some fish, now I have:

2 clowns (small 1.5" & 2")
1 hippo tang (small, 3")
1 rabbitfish
1 firefish
2 pj cardinalfish

I really haven't added anything else, and my current problem is hair algae. I've been fighting it for two months, and boy is it a PITA.

I've done "everything" that "everyone" suggests - raised ALK, reduced feeding (1/2 frozen cube a day, the fish eat it all in about 15 seconds, I'm somewhat concerned I'm actually starving the fish and other critters as there's nothing left over), water changes, rock scrubbing with toothbrush, etc. I can't seem to get ahead of it.

So I was thinking - I got about a dozen turkey wing bi-valves on the TBS rock, and they're doing fine, but they seem to expel a lot of "stuff" - I'm wondering if my bioload is really quite high, even with the few fish, due to the large number of large (3"+ in length) turkey wings?

Has any other TBS folks had similar problems, and/or do any of you have a sense of the load created by the turkey wings?

Thanks!!!

- Michael

[patsan]

I've had luck removing mine with a tweezer Bob.

[bobt2]

ill try it pat? as for the turkey wings, i,ve heard inverts don't really put any load on the tank, the bivalves are just filter feeders,therefore cleaning the water

[mhe]

Originally posted by bobt2
ill try it pat? as for the turkey wings, i,ve heard inverts don't really put any load on the tank, the bivalves are just filter feeders,therefore cleaning the water

Yeah, I guess I heard that too - but I've seen them spew "stuff" into the water, I find when I blow off my rock there's detritus that I can only think came from them, and I'm guessing their output is at least somewhat nutrient rich - right?

I'm thinking that they may strain off organics in the water then output other organics/detritus. If I didn't have the turkey wings that organic matter would end up in the skimmer, right? And my hair algae may be living on the more solid waste from the bi-valves?

Other thoughts?

- Michael

[bobt2]

michael, i have a 33long tbs that has more bivalves than i can count and i overfeed and no hair algea. i have 1 patch of red algea on the sand and i have to clean the glass 2x week. i do use a phosban reactor, so no po4. maybe thats the key. i also leave in most hitchhickers, i only get rid of the crabs

[H2OLUVSME]

bi-valves only help Mike. the waste they produce is actually easier for the skimmer to filter out. the waste that is created by your fish is far more toxic. if i were to take a first guess it would be that 1/2 cube every day is too mcuh. if you have so many fish that you need to feed that much then you have too many fish. keep in mind even if all the food gets eaten, it all turns into waste later. if a fish ate 6 cubes of food in 1 minute you wouldnt have to worry about decaying food, but the amount of waste created would be an unimaginable amount.

the only way to combat feedings is by nutrient export. try wetter/heavier skimming. try more and/or larger volume water changes.



bob, ive heard all kinds of horror stories about bubble algae, and i fear im going to become oe of those stories. i got some in on a coral a while back and it has spread and miltuplied massively. emerald crabs ae supposed to be a natural predator, but my experience has been hit and miss. manual removal has been the best for me. i pull it off by hand or with tweezers. usually i try and have the siphon tube close by to catch any spores that float into the water column.

the spores could be a myth though. people say "dont bust them or they will spread", then they say "the only way is emerald crabs", but i want to know where they find these emerald crabs that are swallowing the bubbles whole. the crab has to bust it, there fore if "the bust it and will spread" theory means manual removal is the only way. the worst problem is it is a low light/ low nutrient algae. it doesnt need much of either to thrive, so more nutrient export doesnt help at all.

[jnb]

my response is based on my limited one-time experience - about 9 m months ago my bubble algae was getting out of control - so I went and got 6 female emerald crabs and hoped. I never really studied their activity but they were definitely busy. I believe they went after small forms (young) of the bubble algae and that is why I think they were effective. I still get it in areas where the crabs can not reach or get to which is why I still have it around at all. I never observed them working on the big bubbles but soon those pop/ort whatever and if dump spores that grow - is what the emeralds also got to.

Over all I would use emeralds again - the only irritating thing they do (so far) is sleep on top of various corals (but do not seem to pick at it)

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
bi-valves only help Mike. the waste they produce is actually easier for the skimmer to filter out. the waste that is created by your fish is far more toxic. if I were to take a first guess it would be that 1/2 cube every day is too much. if you have so many fish that you need to feed that much then you have too many fish. keep in mind even if all the food gets eaten, it all turns into waste later. if a fish ate 6 cubes of food in 1 minute you wouldn't have to worry about decaying food, but the amount of waste created would be an unimaginable amount.

the only way to combat feedings is by nutrient export. try wetter/heavier skimming. try more and/or larger volume water changes.



bob, I've heard all kinds of horror stories about bubble algae, and I fear im going to become oe of those stories. i got some in on a coral a while back and it has spread and miltuplied massively. emerald crabs ae supposed to be a natural predator, but my experience has been hit and miss. manual removal has been the best for me. i pull it off by hand or with tweezers. usually i try and have the siphon tube close by to catch any spores that float into the water column.

the spores could be a myth though. people say "dont bust them or they will spread", then they say "the only way is emerald crabs", but i want to know where they find these emerald crabs that are swallowing the bubbles whole. the crab has to bust it, there fore if "the bust it and will spread" theory means manual removal is the only way. the worst problem is it is a low light/ low nutrient algae. it doesnt need much of either to thrive, so more nutrient export doesnt help at all.

[patsan]

My tank wasn't overcome with the valonia. I did have it in a few spots. It seems like where I got it off with the tweezers has remained free and clear of it.
I still have some on one of the rocks where I can't get to (unless I wanted to take the rocks out and move stuff around).
I still wouldn't put crabs in the tank.
I did see that snail and a bubble last week that I showed a picture of.


This morning, when I fed the tank, I watched amphipods fight over a pellet of formula 2. I couldn't believe my eyes.

[BrianPlankis]

Pat,

I just have to say your camera rocks! Nice pictures and great amphipod pics. Nice to see other "pods" on your glass too. Indicates a healthy environment.

Brian

[bobt2]

i only have bubbles in a few spots. i got most out ok but i did break 1 or 2. we'll see. i have or had 1 emerald crab in the 33. all the red algea i hated is gone, now was it the crab or that part of the cycle? i'll get more when the lfs has them again

[gregt]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=718744