PeeperKeeper

I accidentally brushed against a bristleworm as I was cleaning the tank earlier and I wondered, what is the best way to get rid of the little bristles that stick in your fingers? I'm at my office and was able to look at my finger under the biomicroscope (usualy used for looking at eyes) and tried to pull them out with a pair of tweezers, but they just broke off as soon as I tried to grip them with the tweezers. Finally I just gave up and washed my hands and kinda brushed at them, but I think that just broke off the part that was sticking out and the bristles are still in there. It doesn't hurt badly, and I'm sure they'll work their way out, but I wondered if anyone has come up with a better thing to do? Maybe use something sticky to pull them out? Elmers glue, maybe?

Everything went flawlessly. Just wanted to say thanks again to everyone that helped. Everyone is welcome to check out the tank anytime.

Glad to hear everything's in place. Pics please!

Ok back to the second question then... Does anyone know of a Vet that will prescribe Interceptor for fish use?

I have a friend who is a vet. I will ask her.

We are in N. Austin, around Mo Pac and Duval, and Clint is only 4 miles away from my house.

Wow, we are neighbors! I'm over on Scribe, off of Amherst between Duval and Parmer. Unfortunately, I think we have a full weekend planned. Wish I could help. Good luck with the tank. I'm glad it's going to a good home! I was very sad to hear that Clint was selling it.

Well, I wish that had been the case, but I'm sure I lost him. The last time I saw him was Thursday and I was encouraged because he actually came out and swam around briefly. But alas, he never did eat, and he went back in the rocks never to be seen again. I'm sure he's gone because I saw a little piece of what could only be part of his skeleton Tuesday. What a bummer!

I asked the guy at Aquatek about them and he said part of the reason they're so hit and miss is that because they're "sand divers," when they are collected, they tend to dive into the sand so forcefully that the sand damages their gills. He said if you can get one that they managed to catch while it was still above the sand, they do well, but you can't ever tell if that's the case. I don't know if that's true, but it sounds reasonable.

I'm sure you know the benefits of researching fish before you buy them.

Leopard Wrasses are considered 'Expert only' by most people, as they eat primarily live foods, ie: amphipods on live rock. I'm sure they can be taught to eat frozen, but this is the risk. Much like Copperband Butterflys or Mandarins.

You can try feeding them a variety of live foods, clams or mussels and feeder shrimp, but unltimately they want live amphipods in the tank to constantly feed on.

Good luck! They're beautiful fish, but picky as ****.

Oh, I guess H-E-double-hockey-sticks is a banned word :D

Yes, as I said, normally I research before buying, but we all get caught up sometimes. I have researched and/or kept many other wrasses, so I at least had some idea of the type of fish. Wrasses always freak me out with their little lying on the bottom habits and I just needed some reassurance.

I've had reef tanks for the past 13 years, at home and at my office with the exception of 4 or 5 years when my tank was just a FOWLR for the most part. This tank has been up and running in my office for about 8 years. I have one refugium connected to it and another separate one with no fish which is teeming with pods so I occasionally move a rock from there into the main tank. I understood from Carlos and Randy that Leopard Wrasses normally eat PE mysis and that this one did eat at the store before I picked it up.

As far as an update, he was lying with just his head buried in the sand at the FRONT of the tank the whole time I was at the office today, which was just a few hours in the morning. Several patients commented that we had a dead fish, but I assured them he was definitely breathing, and is just stressed. One of my staffmembers suggested stress management counseling for him.

I'm wondering if he's up at night. It was suggested in the link referenced above at RC that they may "have their days and nights mixed up" initially after being shipped from elsewhere in the world. He has been in a different location each morning from where I last saw him with the exception of yesterday. I also noticed when looking at him today that he has a bulge where I suppose his stomach might be, indicating he may have been eating when I wasn't there to see. The bulge does seem kinda low to be his stomach though. I think it's right in front of his cloaca, or whatever you call a fish's "exit orifice". I hope he's not "irregular".

Okay, you're probably right, John. I'll just hope for the best and stop buggin him. That makes me feel better that you've had them go so long.

Well, he still hadn't come out this morning, so I started worrying that he was stuck under the rock he had gone under. I could still see his tail and it still moved. I put some food in the tank and the tail started moving more, like he smelled it and was interested, but he didn't come out. It wasn't like he was struggling, just flipping the tail a little.

So I decided to make sure he could get out. I moved all the rocks around to get to where I could just lift the one he was under straight up. When I did, he came out and looked stressed of course, but generally intact. He was out in the front while I put all the rocks back, but then went back in to hide in basically the same place when I was done, only now I can't see him like I could before. While he was out, he swam okay, but also layed down across a rock at one point. I could actually move him with my hand without him darting away like a normal fish would. Is that normal wrasse behavior?

I'm just worried that he hasn't eaten yet. Carlos said he ate some mysis before I picked him up, but that would have been either Friday night or Saturday morning.

When I tried to delete the cookies, I got this error message:

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Safari browser checking in here and it works for me!

Andrew, I had a similar thing going on. Looked like I had more PM's than I can see.

Also, I sent a PM to Joe the other day and I don't see it in my sent box. Does that mean it didn't go through or do I have to tell it to put mail in the sent folder?

One other thing, it doesn't seem to want to remember me and keep me logged in anymore. I just tried clearing my cache so we'll see if that works.

Okay, so I usually don't buy a fish I don't know pretty much about already, but I was very taken with a blue Leopard Wrasse at Rivercity last weekend and gave in to the impulse. Carlos is a good guy and I trust him, so he said it will be a cool fish for my eight year old well established 75G reef and I believe him.

But now I want to find out more about them. It's such a gorgeous fish! I put him in Saturday late afternoon. The tank's at my office so I figured it would be good since Sunday no one is there and it would have time to get used to the new surroundings before it has an audience. Today, it's still hiding under a rock, but it's a different rock than the one it went under initially and I can see it's tail move every so often and know it's alive. I know wrasses like to lay on the bottom, so I'm trying not to get too nervous, but I'm anxious to see it swimmin' around.

Carlos said several of the big show tanks around here have these fish so I wanted to hear from some of you who have one. What do you feed? Any quirks or things I should know?

Thanks in advance.

*edited to add: This post at RC makes me feel better about him not being out yet:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1069059

Both people who posted that theirs had been hiding said they eventually came out, and it sounds like it's common for them to do this when new. The only thing that did make me worry a little is that they said it was hard for them to survive shipping.

I wish I could take it, but I'm not sure I have enough light. I've got a std. 75G with the top totally covered with HO T5's. I don't remember the wattage, but I think it's four 4' bulbs and two 3' bulbs. As far as SPS, I only tried one acropora and it didn't last long. I do have a montipora that's still living and growing after over 6 months, but it bleached shortly after I got it. All my LPS and softies are doing great though.

Hey Robert! I've been away from the forum for a while too. Beautiful little girl. They make it hard to keep up with the tank, huh? Are you getting another? Tank, not baby.

Your rock, etc. could have absorbed the phosphates from the crummy water and is now leeching it back into the new water. I agree large water changes and phosphate sponge would be a good place to start. Also, what kind of lighting are you using? Are your bulbs old?

My tank had a horrible year in pretty much all of 2005. I was about ready to take the whole thing down, then as a last ditch, I did a 100% water change and at the same time took every piece of rock out and scrubbed it with a toothbrush to get as much of the HA off as possible. I then added LOTS of snails and hermits. Like 100 snails and 35 crabs (on a 75G tank) I think. That did the trick. When I saw things were improving, I invested in a T5 light set up with about twice as many bulbs as my previous PC set up.

Looks great Clint! So glad to see you getting your dream tank! Love the stand and canopy.

Congrats on the goal achievement, Andrew! I haven't been around much lately, but I'm very impressed to see how much ARC has grown since I joined almost a year ago. Great job! thumbsup.gif

Thanks, Tim Hanson came by.

Didn't really find a leak, but now I think the float switch for the top off tank had gotten stuck, and I guess the power failed for the main pump, causing an overflow. Not sure how both bad things happened in one weekend, but that's what it looks like. My staffmember who filled the top off on Saturday said it looked like the water level was higher than usual in the main sump.

I just came in to my office this morning to find an area about 2 1/2 feet wide around my tank where the carpet is wet. The amount of water in the tank is lower than it should be for the amount of evap that would happen over the weekend, but there was still enough in it for the pump to be running.

I can't figure out where the leak is and I don't have time to deal with this now because I have patients scheduled as well as computer upgrade happening today and a big anniversary party going on at the office this coming weekend to finish planning!

Is there someone on here who is a professional tank maintenance person who can come out and look at it? I left a message for John with Fishworks, but I'm afraid to wait since I don't know where the leak is.

This is NOT a good week for this to happen!

PM sent on birdsnest and zoos.

SShhhhhh! If he posts pics, there will be MORE of us who want them. I don't wanna share!

*psst, Robert...you've got my email addy, right? You can just send me some pics, okay?*

One of my close friends just told me today that her fiance, also a good friend of mine, gets to hang out with Lance Armstrong and two of his other friends when they go to the Tour de France next week! He gets to ride in a helicopter with him and everything. I thought that was really cool. My friend (the one who's going) is a serious, but not professional, cyclist.

Having read Lance's book (at least the first one) I think he's probably a major jerk personally, but you gotta respect athletic ability like his and the determination it took to come back from the "Big C" like he did.

Use Miracle Grow, Robert! I'd like some too! happy2.gif

Thumbs up here on the Sonicare too. My dentist recommended it and I got one a year or two ago.

Clint, I'm so sorry you're going through this. I hope you feel better soon!

The phosban's doing great, Mike. Thanks. It's probably time to change the carbon in it again tho. I got some hydrocarbon the other day. What's that stuff you told me to put in there with it? Carlos never can remember the name of it either, but they said they'd finally gotten some in and sold out of it immediately!

More drama with the roses. One of them is doing great and has finally settled in one place where it's been happy pretty much since I realized I still had two of them. Unfortunately, the other day I found just a very small piece of the other one near my tube anemone. crybaby2.gif I guess they got in a fight and the rose lost. I stuck what was left in a hole in a rock and it's still hanging in there, but there's not much of it. I'm pretty hopeful that it will make it back again though. It did it once already! I was really glad I have two of them though. Insurance.