oxycorynia fascicularis( grape tunicate)

[sasquatch]

In a moment of weakness/stupidity I have broken one of the most basic commandments, it was PRETTY so I bought it and now the piper must be paid, somehow I haveto find a way to keep it alive . I was informed it was a softie(like my brain lol) so if anyone has info on this I would be gratefull for a sharing as Ive GOOGLED it to very little avail. Im off to the woodshed now for a well deserved spanking, Steve

[Dentoid]

Cool Steve! Try stirring up the sand bed from time to time. I have read that they feed off of bacteria. There go your nitrifying bacteria.

[boozeman]

we have all been in that situation and made an impulse purchase
Tunicates or Sea Squirts: A Wet Link by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

[reefjitsu]

You may also try searching for Nephtheis fascicularis which is another name this species is commonly listed as. Sorry but I don't have much else useful to add.

[sasquatch]

Thanks guys,maybe not impossible just very tricky, liquid plankton and "other" disolved food, no lighting requirements and good flow

[boozeman]

You can do it !!!!

[cheeks69]

I have seen these before and they are quite beautiful. Do you have access to DT's Phytoplankton ? They also feed on dissolved organic material from what I read and since our tanks are loaded with it I'm surprised they have such a poor record in captivity. Maybe shutting down the skimmer would be good for them ???

[sasquatch]

I think I have a solution, I built a 1 gal pico satellite tank thats plumbed to the display, as this requires little to no light and I can turn the supply on and off for feeding it should work, going to pick up some phyto tomorrow.

[cheeks69]

Ron Shimek:

Very fine particulate organic material, mostly bacterioplankton or small phytoplankton, is filtered from the water and is caught on the mucous layer lining the branchial basket. Tunicates are awesomely effective suspension-feeders; even small ones can filter hundreds of liters of water per day and remove well over 95% of its bacteria.

How much flow do you have in your tank Sasquatch ? Since bacterioplankton makes up a large part of their diet possibly using very small amount of vinegar when you dose kalk could increased your bacteria levels also.

[sasquatch]

Cheeks? tons of flow, but I never heard of vinegar increasing bacterial growth, (so much to learn, so hard to remember lol)

[cheeks69]

Some people use sugar others vodka or even vinegar to help increase bacterial levels but of course it should be very small amounts otherwise the bacterial explosion could decrease oxygen to dangerous levels.

Here's a good info:

Reef Central Online Community - dosing vodka to bring down N and P


aquariofilia marinha - REEFFORUM

[sasquatch]

Robert, again thank you for the help, Ive researched the sugar/vodka carbon addition thing on numerous occasions, slight problem for me, I have 0 po4 and 0 nitrate like for ever, to the point of me wondering if I need to (shudder) add nitrates somehow, lol this is so bad I now have 5 different nitrate test kits just to be sure

[cheeks69]

AFA PO4 is constantly introduced into your tank through the food you add, salt, supplements etc. there's organic and inorganic phosphates the first being very difficult to test for. Now for the nitrate there's an easy solution for that Dt's phyto...lol

[sasquatch]

Well I guess its better to have to add them than fight to remove them

[boozeman]

Originally Posted by cheeks69

AFA PO4 is constantly introduced into your tank through the food you add...

Elos makes some pretty good PO free food