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#426
07/19/2007, 09:02 PM
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Thanks Techreef!! I had good luck with this one but the purple one I lost due to me sticking it into a high flow area. I’m at the point where I need to frag this as it is up against the front glass. I’ve read the Gorgonian Propagation Techniques from the December issue of ReefKeeping but have been afraid to cut on it!! I don’t want to mess it up!! Here is one more shot. I need to cut off the two lower branches! How is your tank doing?
 Kenaneu – Yes, more pics! Jay
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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work" - Thomas Alva Edison |
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#427
07/20/2007, 12:46 AM
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Hey Jay- I don't blame you for being scared to cut that beauty! But it does look pretty straightforward from the contents of that article. Interesting about scraping off the soft tissue before glueing in the frag! Thanks for popping that link in here!
If you do frag it, and don't have a place for it, I've got a willing home and would happily give you a few bucks for your troubles! I am absolutely fascinated by my gorgonian and would love to have more vertical corals since my tank is so tall. Well it looks like I am going to be away for the weekend, but I will definitely be taking some new pics next week. I've got something bright yellow and clumpy growing on top of one of my rocks, so I want to see what you all think it is. In the meantime, I'll just keep killing whelks and trying to figure out how to get rid of the two tiny crabs that are boring into my rocks. :P |
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#428
07/20/2007, 08:31 AM
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oh, i didn't know that about those purple sea fans. i watched mine slowly disintegrate before my eyes. It was in a high flow area.
As for how my tank is doing...  lack of QT bit me hard and I've lost all but 3 fish in my tank. My last two fish, a pair of schooling bannerfish, introduced ich to the tank and it went hog wild during (OF COURSE) a stretch of 2 weeks where i had to work out in Sacramento and couldn't tend to the tank. I am very bummed by this, especially since the entire time I've had my tank i've read first, then planned, then purchased. I knew QTing was the only right way to do it, but let my wife convince me to keep 3 knarly guppies and 2 upsidedown catfish living in the FW tank that I needed for my QT. big mistake. I feel horrible for the animals that died, but i've learned a permanent lesson.On the positive side, I have a blue crocea clam that is doing really well, and i'm just finishing up prepping to begin dosing 2-part to my tank, so I'm excited to see some nice coral growth in the future. I need to take some recent pics. |
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#431
07/23/2007, 01:34 PM
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Quote:
If you're actively trying to kill them, why not cut them off with a sharp razor blade? It would work a lot better than pulling. You could likely even successfully cut a nice large clump off as close to the rock as possible and super glue it to a new bit of rock, etc. When I fragged mine, I used a sharp, single-edged razor blade, and was able to even cut through the rock below them a bit. Bottom line, I am sure that there's a way to get them off your rock that A) doesn't involve completely killing them B) doesn't involve destroying the rock. Just need to get creative! 
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#432
07/23/2007, 08:15 PM
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trust me, i,ve tried everything. it's a keys rock with a lot of ups and downs. send me your e mail and i'll shoot you a photo of what i,m up against.looking at lfs prices, this rock is worth a couple hundred now, not that i want to sell it.
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#433
07/25/2007, 12:19 PM
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Well I will take your word for it bob. Just trying to be encouraging.
In other news, I have updates on "bad" hitch hikers from my TBS rock! I am not certain of the list yet, but so far I have seen: - bright green mantis shrimp (less than 1" long) - 2 small gorilla crabs - various whelks (think I finally got most of them) I pulled a few gorillas when I got the rock, but now that the dust has settled and the rock has been in for a while, I think things are really beginning to pop out of the wood work. "Good" hitch hikers include: - Lots of baby brittle stars - Lots of tiny feather dusters I am hearing loud pops occasionally at night as well, so I am wondering how loud a less than 1" mantis shrimp can be, or if I have a pistol shrimp hiding somewhere in there? I ordered a pest trap from smiths and fosters, but I am skeptical of catching much other than my hermit crabs. Any advice on nabbing the mantis? Just pull the rock he/she lives in/under and hope it comes along, then use FW/SodaW to get it out? Thoughts and advice? |
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#434
07/25/2007, 12:55 PM
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i caught one using the pull the rock and soda water it. I tried traps. the only thing I caught was my peppermint shrimp or the serpent starfish would come along and rob the trap.
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Spiffyguy Ain't life spiffy!! Click the little red house to see my fish tank. "The cheese stands alone." |
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#435
07/25/2007, 01:04 PM
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Quote:
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#436
07/25/2007, 02:13 PM
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Quote:
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Pat |
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#437
07/25/2007, 02:31 PM
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Whatever you do watch your fingers........................
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Henry G. Mello |
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#438
07/25/2007, 07:19 PM
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I was not lucky enough to have any mantis shrimp so not much help there.
It took over a year to rid my tank of all gorilla crabs. I have a small candy cane pistol shrimp and I can hear it popping anywhere in my house. Even with the doors shut!
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Dennis |
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#439
07/26/2007, 08:30 PM
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If you stare at the tank long enough at night, you will eventually locate the spots where the mantis are lodging.
Removing the rock will help (if you haven't bolted them into pvc or anything). The next steps were what I did (I caught 3 mantis this way) - again these are the smashers, not the pinchers. Just in case anyone reads this thread and has no idea where TBS is from (gulf of mexico rock has smashers...its the pacific with the spearers). Have a bucket of saltwater to place the rock in. Hopefully it's small enough to fit. Have a cup of saltwater ready, and when you lift the rock out of the bucket, pour the saltwater into the hole. This exercise is to see where the water exits. It's possible there is a backexit that the mantis will come out of. This is so that you don't get startled by the green mantis when you use (approx 5 ounces or so of) fresh water. Anyways - if you determine the hole is a deadend, then clearly it's going to come right out at you. Next pour the freshwater in - be prepared - they are very fast. All of mine came out and plopped into the bucket of saltwater. The fresh water should not be so much that it will impact the salinity of the bucket too much. This way I was able to save them for the brooklyn aquarium society. You could possible save them and turn them to a petshop or club nearby as well. Feel free to feed them your whelks and xanthid crabs. It's amusing to watch them ambush them. Be sure to remove the crabs once eaten though as they can foul whatever your keeping the mantis in. To be safe you may just want to feed them a bit of shrimp. By the way...less than 1 inch pistol shrimp are extremely loud in a glass cage. Pat had some huge one(s) in her tank. I only had these tiny clear ones. Too small to impact any of the cleaning crew. Pat's on the other hand probably needed to eat something... Finally - most of the mantis from the TBS rock is not big enough to "thumbsplit" your fingers. I never tested it - but they are pretty small compared to say the peacock mantis. mine were all about 3~4 inches in size...(sorry old camera, old pics)  
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Phil |
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#440
07/27/2007, 03:00 AM
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Very nice, helpful post Phil! Thanks very much. I am going to try to get the bugger out this weekend. I am hoping not to have to use much FW at all, and definitely will try not to have to do a FW dip, but we'll see how it all goes.
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#441
07/27/2007, 06:36 AM
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A little squirt of unflavored cabonated water has been known to get them out also.
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Henry G. Mello |
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#442
07/27/2007, 09:52 AM
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Fire Coral???
I remember a while back someone posted about fire coral on their TBS rock staging a take-over of all the surrounding rocks, but I'm not sure exactly who it was (Dennis maybe????)
Anyway, I am having a similar situation. It's even taking over my zoas and encrusting them with fire coral. Any suggestions on how to stop the advance, keeping in mind one of the rocks it's spread to is totally covered in zoas, which I'd like to keep. (I'll try to post a pic tonight)
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Danielle |
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#444
07/27/2007, 10:01 AM
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Henry G. Mello |
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#445
07/31/2007, 11:12 PM
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It was me. I have tried brushing with a wire brush and nipping at it with some pointed cutters. Nothing really does anything to it. It does seem to move as a whole. Where I originally had it on the rock it is all gone but it gradually moves around on the other side of the rock. It doesn't really seem to get larger in area but it seems to move. It grows over a new area but goes away in others.
If I can remember to take a pic I will and also post a before and after.
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Dennis |
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#446
08/02/2007, 06:51 PM
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I don't have any "nice" pictures today, but I did manage to remove a couple of hitchhikers today:
  Anybody know what that worm is? It didn't look like anything I wanted in the tank and frankly was kind of nasty, so it's been removed. Additionally, I was unsuccessful in getting my mantis out. I pulled the rock he was in, and verified he was still cowering in one of the holes/tubes after I got it out of the water, but pouring fresh water into the hole just drove him deeper into the rock. After about 45 min of trying to get him out, I decided the other life on the rock needed to get back into some saltwater, so I let it sit in a bucket with a small piece of silverside over night, but in the morning, no sign of the mantis, and no missing fish at all. I tried the fresh water flush of the holes again, with no results. Haven't been home to check for him yet, but either I accidentally killed it somehow with the fresh water (seems doubtful), or it's still in there and I will have to try again. I also discovered that I have at least two more crabs of unknown type that need to go. I put a trap in last night, but only caught a bunch of my hermit crabs. Ah well, patience is on my side and I'll get them eventually! |
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#447
08/02/2007, 10:35 PM
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Fire Coral pics...
Well it's taken me a while but I'm finally posting those pictures.
Initially the fire coral was only on the bottom right-hand side of this picture:  You can see how much it's spread. The bigger problem is that it's starting to "encrust" my zoas: 
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Danielle |
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#448
08/02/2007, 11:37 PM
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Kenaneu,
Try putting the rock in a bucket with neither salt or fresh water. No water at all. The shrimp won't be able to breath and come out and the corals won't have fresh water in the bucket to hurt them. This is how I get my pistol shrimp out of holes in the rock and it works every time.
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tests as of 1/04/08 Ca>480ppm, I'm bringing it down dKH=9, ok PO4=0ppm, ideal 1/06/08 after a water change Ca= 480ppm, still a little high pH= 8.2, I'd like it at 8.3 NO3= 10ppm, acceptable |
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#450
08/03/2007, 12:48 AM
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Quote:
If I see the mantis in that rock again, I will try your idea of letting it sit in an empty bucket for a bit. Last edited by Kenaneu; 08/03/2007 at 12:58 AM. |
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