Red Sea S-650 - Dave's marine adventure

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melvis

Well-Known Member
Jeez Dave, just caught up on your thread. Sorry to hear you're beauties have got Ich, that's a real bummer as the tank is looking stunning. I do hope you get it wiped out. Those Favites and Xenia are beautiful!
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Green eggs, so they are young eggs. They will turn brown right before they are released. Both shrimps should be carrying and fertilizing each others eggs - simultaneous hermaphrodites
 
DaveR11

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
melvis said:
Jeez Dave, just caught up on your thread. Sorry to hear you're beauties have got Ich, that's a real bummer as the tank is looking stunning. I do hope you get it wiped out. Those Favites and Xenia are beautiful!
Click to expand...

My own fault Martin for not quarantining the fish. Today is going to be the big push to catch more of the fish.... I'm really pleased with the Favites - really nice colour and it is growing really well.
 
DaveR11

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Oxylebius said:
Green eggs, so they are young eggs. They will turn brown right before they are released. Both shrimps should be carrying and fertilizing each others eggs - simultaneous hermaphrodites
Click to expand...

Only the big shrimp is carrying eggs. I have still not plucked up the courage to try to remove the Isopod from the small shrimp (I need to get one of those big magnifying glasses that model makers use as my close in eyesight is not what it was). It has definitely slowed the small shrimp's growth and presumably is taking resources and preventing it from producing eggs....?
 
DaveR11

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Just got the Potter's in the trap. The flame is so quick, twice I have pulled the pin on the trap door and twice he has beaten the door closing....
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
short of tearing down the tank... if you get to the last one(s) and get desperate... some have used a tiny tiny baited hook ... as very last resort, being they have ich... you are catching them to save their lives

daiichi-1110-dime.jpg
 
DaveR11

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
nanoreefing4fun said:
short of tearing down the tank... if you get to the last one(s) and get desperate... some have used a tiny tiny baited hook ... as very last resort, being they have ich... you are catching them to save their lives

daiichi-1110-dime.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks Glenn. I reckon I can get the Kole and the Flame with the trap and I'm going to try Oxy's light out trick with the Chromis. I know where one sleeps so tomorrow morning I'm going to black out the lounge and try with nets and a torch for them.... Got to figure out where the other 4 sleep. I'll let you all know how it goes.....
 
DaveR11

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Well not a terribly productive weekend on the fish catching front. I now have the yellow tang, Potter's angel and the two clowns in the hospital tank. The flame angel is so quick, he has dodged the trap door 3 times this weekend on the fish trap and is now wary of going in. The Kole has stopped trying to go in as well despite the algae sheet now only being in the trap. I think it was only brave enough when the yellow tang went in as well.

I've tried lobster eggs in the trap tonight (everyone's favourite) with no luck. I also tried Oxy's suggestion of checking the rocks after lights out. I managed to locate one Chromy but no luck in trying to extricate it from the rock. Next up is trying @snappa53 suggestion of the perspex tank divider. If I can get the fish in the middle of the tank between the rock piles I reckon I can net the little devils.... Off to the shops tomorrow night for some perspex....

On a more positive note the water change routine is getting smoother. I seem to have got the knack now of dissolving the Red Sea Coral Pro so it doesn't precipitate out and the RO/DI unit is working properly now after changing the membrane. Hopefully this will boost my alk levels. Calcium is fine at 410 but the alk is only 118 (or 6.6dKH).

I've got loads of new critters in the sump (sponges and Stomatella snail) (ID thanks to @Oxylebius) but all good ones though!
 
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DaveR11

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Still not managed to catch all the fish to put them in the hospital tank and I'm working this weekend so not too much time available for having a another go in the next 2 day. Now on plan D...

  • Plan A - just net them out - never going to work. I did try it but even with 2 nets the fish are far too fast and there are far too many hiding places and I don't really want to dismantle my scape.
  • Plan B - fish trap - worked for the yellow tang and Potter's angel when baited with an algae sheet. The Flame angel managed to dodge the trap door 3 times and now both he and the kole tang refuse to go into the trap.
  • Plan C - with the lights out find where the fish sleep using a torch and catch them that way. Only managed to locate one Chromis and couldn't winkle him out of the rocks.
  • Plan D partition off the tank. I got 2 clear plastic sheets which I have cut to size and drilled small holes (for water flow) in. The plan is to place one either side of the two big rock piles and trap the fish in the middle where there are only small easily moved rocks and then net the fish. Just got to find the time to do that....
  • Plan E I guess will be remove all the rocks.....
Otherwise the fish seem fairly healthy. The 4 in the hospital tank are eating well and parameters are good in that tank. In the main tank I think the kole is missing his mate the yellow tang but again they all seem well. Parameters in the tank are fine though alkalinity is still a little low. I'm seeing good growth on the corals with further extension of the Favites, Seriatopora guttatus and this S. hysterix (though it is not very green.....)



and lots of growth on the various Zoas.

The red cyano is almost all gone now and I reckon the Cerith snails and hermits have done a good job there. As well the nitrate is down to 0.2ppm. I wonder which algae horror awaits next....



The Certhis are grazing on the rocks and glass now, presumably as there is now little to eat on the sand which is back to a pristine white. Finally I have extra filtration in the sump now due to a profusion of these guys:



Which I gather from @Oxylebius are Scypha sponges.....
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Best of luck... when I moved from my RSM 130D to my RSM 250 - I gave up after many an hour of trying... then went with Plan E ;)
  • Plan E I guess will be remove all the rocks.....
 
DaveR11

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Well so far Plan D is working. I got the perspex sheets (with small holes drilled in them for water flow) in the tank yesterday and after a little persuasion moved all the fish to the left hand side of the tank, sealing off the right side from fish access. Tonight the Kole tang and the flame angel went into the middle between the left hand sheet that wasn't fully across the tank and the right hand one that was stopping access to the right hand rock pile and bingo a gradual move of the left sheet, both fish trapped and easily netted out. They are now in the hospital tank.



The Chromis saw all this happening and have been hiding in the rocks for the last hour but hoping it will work on them too.... So 6 down 5 to go..... I have a day off tomorrow so hoping to finally finish the fish move and get on with treating them and letting the DT go fallow for 8 weeks. Finger crossed....
 
DaveR11

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Well that has been a frustrating week trying to catch the green Chromis. They now mostly hide in the rocks and only venture out for food. They won't go beyond the left hand perspex sheet so have been impossible to trap in the middle where I can net them out. The only options now are to remove the rock pile or to try blocking up all the holes so that there is nowhere to bolt into. Removing the rocks will be a nightmare however as most of it is fixed together with epoxy putty. Suggestions welcomed......

All the other fish are in the hospital tank but I have yet to start the Ich treatment as I wanted to treat all the fish together at the same time. I guess the other option is to give up. None of the fish have died and all look pretty healthy so has some immunity developed....? Again thoughts welcomed...

As a result of all the perspex sheets and moving things around the DT looks a mess. I have bought a few more frags though including this nice little Acan.



I have been doing some target feeding with Mysis on some of the LPS corals and I think my Duncan is about to sprout 2 new polyps. The Favites continues to show really good growth. Here are a before (26th June) and after (yesterday) photos...





For me the trick with the target feeding seems to be get the cleaner shrimps fed first to keep them from stealing from the corals.... I have also seen my peppermint shrimp a little more this week @DianaKay. It is still not very brave but does venture out at dinner time.... I wonder if it because all the bigger fish are in the hospital tank?



Also seeing lots of small critters in the tank. The Stomatella snails are everywhere now with lots of tiny ones so I guess some of those eggs made it. I'm seeing lots of pods (tiny Mysis shrimp?) zooming around and small polychaete worms in the sand.
 
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