The Nano is dead. Long Live THE 23!!!

[Uslanja]

We have eradicated three Aptasia so far. This is the last one that we know of. We've stabbed him 3 times with lemon juice so far but it can pull inside the rock quite fast and quite far. It has clearly been hurt each time but keeps coming back out of the rock. We just don't seem to get enough juice into it. We also have Joes Juice but at the speed this thing can move we're not sure how to get the juice on the oral disk quick enough.

The last of the nasties!

 

[Uslanja]

We have a rock that is covered with little hair like things. The best way we can describe it is that they are all short and the same length. There seems to be two hairs coming out of each centre, and each centre appears to be a slightly glowing white colour. They are fairly easy to see with a magnifying glass but more challenging to capture with a camera.
Anyone have any idea what they might be?

 

[GlassMunky]

no idea, but i have TONS of them....

 

[Uslanja]

Hi GlassMunky! We have tons of them also, they do not seem to be spreading or reducing in area. We're guessing that they must be some type of filter feeder and along that thought we're also guessing that filter feeders would indicate that things are good in the tank and that they would also help to keep the water column clean? But at the end of the day; we still have no idea what we're talking about!

Happy Labour Day Everyone! Hope your all enjoying the day!

 

[Uslanja]

We purchased this small group of feather dusters. At the store it was called "Cluster Dusters". Well, we have several feather dusters doing very well that came in as hitch hikers. This little sponge with a group of feather dusters looked very nice and we thought it would make a nice addition to our tank, so we brought it home with us. Fatal error, and one that we have made before; we didn't research what we were buying! So home they go with us and we discovered that within three days they were completely gone. But where? Well, Tracy was watching the tank on evening number three after the daylights went out and the lunars were on. These little guys have been eaten by amphipods! So now we do the research, kind of like closing the barn door after the horse is out! Well, we didn't find much on these little critters other than they do not survive in aquaria! So go ahead, someone hit me with a big stick for being dumb again! Lesson learned, lets hope it sticks; Research before you bring a life home to make sure you can keep it alive! Not one of our better decisions!

They did look nice!

 

[greneis7]

Sorry about your dusters, but your tank is looking GREAT!!!!

 

[Eric]

Niceeeeeeeee!!!!

 

[Uslanja]

Tracy has been at it again ! Here is a spaghetti worm trying to lift a blue leg hermit molt up the reef wall from the substrate. It almost got it, but then a snail came along and the molt was gone!

 

[Uslanja]

Some type of worm that crawls all over the tank. It is clearly not afraid to go where ever it wishes. Not sure what type of worm it is?

 

[Uslanja]

Last night we returned from our favorite salt water store with a small piece of rubble that has a very small (smaller than an astrea snail) coral attached to it. We have placed the rubble on our reef but haven't secured it yet. We think it is some type of leather and have been scouring the net for photos to try and identify it. The shape at this times looks like a toadstool to us, but we're not sure. Any ideas? Any advice on how to care for it, place it, etc.?

 

[Uslanja]

We decided to get another duster. Not sure what type this is but it is the kind that creates a mucous casing and then covers that with substrate. It is very soft and flexible. Shortly after bringing it home it opened up and every time we look in there it is open. We hope its happy there.

Some shots under the actinics.

 

[Uslanja]

The little piece of rubble that we brought home with the leather coral on it has been getting knocked around quite a bit, so we glued it to the rock. Hope we have it in a good place. We haven't seen it open in a few days but we're hoping now that it is firmly secured to the rock it will settle in. This little fella is pretty small. You can see the astrea snail next to it is quite a bit larger.

 

[Uslanja]

We have spaghetti worms and brittle stars everywhere. We watch the brittle stars closely but have never seen one out of the rock. We have seen their round bodies at the opening of the rock a few times but haven't been able to get a good shot of that yet.

More legs hanging out in the water column.

 

[Uslanja]

We have been watching something on a rock slowly growing. It has been taking on a shape similar to a "paper wasp nest" and finally getting large enough to get a photo of. We think it is some kind of squirt, but we're not sure, maybe a sponge?

 

[Uslanja]

Just for fun we grabbed a shot of the middle section of our tank. We have an affinity for macro algae as well as live rock. We don't trim the macro back until it gets to large and then only enough to get it back under control.

Here are some of our macros and a torch in the background.

 

[GlassMunky]

That worm looks crazy...... Feather dusters are cool, looks like yours is happy too. You guys get some awesome shots btw

 

[Uslanja]

Hi GlassMunky! There are a number of things in the tank we just can't get a picture of. We're going to make one of those waterproof glass/acrylic boxes with a clear bottom that allows you to get your camera below the water surface and eliminate the glare for taking "tank top down" shots. We're hoping that will help us get a bunch more photos. We're still learning about photography as well, we're hoping to get a few "Killer shots" someday! Keep checking back, one of these days we'll get one! We love looking at the photos in the "POTM" contests. Check out their history of photos, some of those are absolutely incredible!

 

[Uslanja]

Here are some barnacles on one of the rocks. They have these little basket looking things that they sweep through the water and filter out/catch food with. It is pretty tough to get a photo of the baskets, they sweep them quite quickly and sporadically at times.

 

[Uslanja]

A type of "sea Squirt". There are many different types of squirts and allot of them are see through and hard to get a photo of. These ones are easy to see on the rock and if you look close you can see many of the inlet and outlet tubes/mouths that it has.

 

[Uslanja]

The leather has started to open after being glued to the rock. We're hoping that means that we have it in the right location. Time will tell.

Polyps extending and beginning to open.