Project 58!! (Image intense)

[Craig Manoukian]

Maxx,

Is that hair algea in those pics, and if so good luck controlling it? I have been lucky to avoid that algea in my tank.

[strat]

cool maxx, good to know. i thought that LR left to cook or whatever would grow tonnes of corraline by themselves.... guess not. btw cute fish....

i gotta get some sleep, im outta here

strat

[mps9506]

Maxx, just order yourself about 40 or so astrea snails. that will take care of that algae ASAP.

[Maxx]

Yeah, But I think I'll wait until the Tomini is fully adjusted and see what he does to the tank. I know they pretty much eat the microscopic algae and the diatoms etc on the rock work, but I'd hate to add something to compete with the Tomini so soon before I can get him acclimated fully.
Nick

[Brucey]

Hi Maxx . . . . like all the tangs in my tank he grazes all day, continually picking over the rocks which is great . . . . . and yes, he is the first up to my hand when it's feeding time as well bud.
Brucey

[Maxx]

Brucey, Just out of curiosity, what are you feeding your tangs?

Nick

[Brucey]

Nori every two or three days to supplement any lack of algae in the tank, then everyone gets Mysis, plankton, mussle, cockle etc etc etc. All the good frozen stuff. All looking fat and healthy on it
HTH
Brucey

[Gina]

How's the Tomini doing?

[Maxx]

He's doing well. Still healthy and grazing off the rock work. He's still a little on the shy side, (darts off and hides when a dog comes sniffling up, or a curious person), but is getting over that. I've seen him suck up some food that I feed the Chalk Bass and the Bellus too, so I have very good feelings about this Tomini.

I lost one of the Chalk Bass for a couple of days. It just freakin disappeared. I couldnt find it in the overflow, couldnt find a dried up crusty fish on the floor...so I guessed that maybe he had jumped out when Rocio was feeding the fish and didnt put the eggcrate back in place, and a curious dog ate him.
I was kinda bummed, because I really liked the two of them. And it was the one in the pics before hanging out in its little rock tunnel. Well, I found him in the overflow. It was PITA to get him out, but I went ahead and did it, and made an egg crate cover over the overflow, which fills in the 1 inch gap between the bottom of my full tank egg crate lid and the overflow. Next day, the little booger was missing again. Found him in the overflow....again. Wnet through another PITA effort to get him out. Left him in the net this time while I zip-tied some of the polycloth stuff, (think black, flexible egg crate) over the overflow teeth. If he gets into the overflow again, he's staying until he grows large enough that he cant fit through anymore.

The Blood shrimp both molted, which is good since they tore the crap out of each other when acclimating, (until I realized what was going on and just dumped them into the tank, acclimating the quick way).
And my ETSS skimmer clone sold. The guy who bought it traded some frags too. So now I have 3 frags in my tank. Two unknown acros, and 1 stylophora.

So its been an interesting two days.

Nick

[Craig Manoukian]

Good news about the Tomini and CB! Post some pics of the frags please!

[Gina]

Ditto, show the frags! Our Dusky Jawfish took a swim in the overflow box once, have to agree, it was a hugh PITA to get him out!! Thankfully, he hasn't taken the plunge again.

Good news to hear your Tomini is doing well.

[Maxx]

03-02-05

Its been awhile since I posted up anything so I guess its time for some updates...
Nikki (Nah20) had an issue with her clams that I found interesting. She was dealing with what Barry from ClamsDirect calls "Pinched Mantle". Basically the clams mantle begins to curl up and over, and pinch up on itself. Barry has absolutely no idea what causes it, or what it really is, although he has noticed a few things.
It is fatal to the clam if untreated.
It is not something that is communicable to other clams (Other clams cant "catch it" from an affected clam. He has placed affected clams in tanks with healthy clams, and hasnt seen any mantle pinching appear in the healthy clams)
It appears to be most common in Crocea's, although he has seen it in Maxima's as well. He says he has not seen it in Derasa's or Squamosa's at all.
Its relatively easy to treat.
He suspects its a parasite of some sort, but he doesnt know what type. Personally, I disagree with this part. If its not able to be passed to healthy clams, I dont feel its a parasite. But thats just me.

The treatment for this is relatively simple. Remove the clam from the tank, and place it in freshwater for 25 minutes. Return it to the tank.

Nikki went ahead and got a container of new RO/DI water, floated it in her sump to ensure the temp was the same, adjusted the PH to be as close to her tank as possible, and got the clams in there. She had to cut the byssal threads on the clams though and that was a little nerve wracking. But her clams pulled through just fine.

Edit, here are pics of Nikki's clams.
Before:




Pics of Nikki's clams after 25 minute RO Freshwater water dip.




These are the same clams, as before, in the same order as before.

Well, yesterday I noticed both of my clams showing signs of Mantle Pinching. I didnt take any pics, I was too concerned and went into overdrive problem solving mode. (Fortunately, she did. When she gives me permission, I'll post up a pic of it).Edit, Nikki has graciously allowed me to post up her pics.
I went ahead and got the RO/DI water in a container and in my sump to regulate the temp. St Louis water is pretty hard...7.9 Ph right out of the tap (Glad I dont keep Discus), so I didnt worry about adjusting the PH of the water. I got a razor blade, (actually, I got an X-acto knife), and gently started cutting under the clam.
Heres the tricky part. When you're trying to remove the clam and its attached, you NEED to CUT the byssal threads as opposed to pulling them apart. By pulling, you'll tear and damage the Byssus gland and wind up killing the clam. If you cut the threads as far away from the clam, you do no damage. The Teardrop was no real problem. The Blue Crocea...was a nightmare. I had placed it in a depression in the rock, so I had no real easy access to it. Every time I touched a byssal thread with the knife, the clam freaked and pulled down on the thread...so I thought I was cutting the Byssus. After 30 minutes, I figured out that the byssal threads were still connected to the clam (DUH!) and thats why it was moving like it was. So I finished cutting the threads, and placed both clams in the RO water for 25 minutes. I was really worried about the blue Crocea since I could see little bits of what I thought were flesh attached to the rock. But it wound up being the severed byssal threads and their anchors to the rock. Looking closely, I could see the same thing on the cutting board where the Teardrop was.
While the clams were in the RO water, I went downstairs and found two pieces of rock to put the clams on so I wouldnt have to cut them off anything again. One piece wasnt quite right, it wouldnt sit flat in the angle I wanted. So I cut a nice smooh flat base with my Power Compund Mitre Saw. 2 seconds and a nice flat base later, I had a great clam platform.

Here is how the clams were placed before:

Teardrop



Blue Crocea



Now they are placed like this:

Teardrop



Blue Crocea



Nick

[Maxx]

Barry said Crocea clams will attach to rockwork pretty quickly. I didnt think they would attach within 12 hours. I did get some pics of them attaching.

Here is a pic of the Blue Crocea with its Byssal gland out and secreting the byssal thread. I used Microsoft Paint to kinda highlight the areas so its easier to see. (This camera doesnt exactly take sharp pictures...I'm in the process of shopping around for a better camera.)




It basically looks like a dab of wet silicone between the rock and the clam.

And here are pics of the byssal threads from the Teardrop.




They look like white thick strings. My Teardrop has three threads in place.

Hopefully, I can post up some better pics of the byssal threads later, when I get a hold of a better camera.

Nick

[Maxx]

I also added a bunch of snails from Keys Critters.
I ordered 30 Astrea snails, 90 cerith snails, 3 small emerald crabs, and 8 scarlett hermits. I really only wanted the snails, but Keys has a 100.00 minimum order...so I needed to fill with other critters. I was concerned about having too many snails for my tank. I am very ahppy with how they shipped and what I got. They did ship the snails w/o water, which is the best way to ship them. Overall two thumbs up for Keys critters. I will definately be ordering from them again when I upgrade tanks.

Nick

[Maxx]

Finally, I took some pics of the new frags I have.

Three of these frags i got from a fellow reefer. I'm really hoping they color up in the future.

Rocio says this one looks like a chicken leg



This one has some awesome neon green polyps.



Here is a purpleish stylophora.


And here is my favorite, a gorgeous blue polyped acro. The parent colony of this one is beautiful!



Nick