Dan H Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 So after a few nights, no new instances of isopods. I'm cautiously optimistic that perhaps we got rid of the rest of them. I'm suspicious that the Mystery Wrasse may have eaten some. He definitely likes to look around the rock and find interesting things to eat. Certainly I think we can say that it's not an infestation, but I wouldn't say we're in the clear yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 And in other news, Meg found a mantis in the main tank tonight! It swam out and stole a mysis from the blasto when she was feeding. Probably not a problem yet as it was tiny, but we'll try to find a way to get it out somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Got a video of the Mantis. Also, just a video of the fish happy in the DT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 One more... Feeding time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbaxter Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Looks great. Im only a few weeks behind you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Thanks! Check this out! Meg and I caught one of our emerald crabs spawning tonight! Super cool! Plus free fish food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woods Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Dan, do all these pesty critters make you wish you hadn't gotten mariculture live rock? Or are you still happy with the good stuff it makes it worth it? Just wondering your thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Honestly I wish I had bought MORE mariculture live rock. Yes, the Isopods are seriously a PITA, and yeah, there's been some Aiptasia to kill, but the diversity of life we have is amazing. To me, that's a huge part of the hobby is the critters. Now, I would say that could get discouraging to have these problems, especially if you were a noob and didn't really know what's going on... But even then our first systems always had wild live rock and somehow we managed to deal with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 Well today is just one of those sad and frustrating days in the hobby... Woke up to find a dead Wrasse being consumed by a mithrax crab. Haven't figured out which Wrasse as it was just bones by the time I discovered it. I suspect it either was killed by something or died and the mithrax crab found a free meal. Then I found another isopod on one of the Chromis. I decided catching it in time was going to be impossible so I decided to try the laser. Amazingly it worked perfect! The isopod was killed instantly and the fish was essentially undamaged. So I guess that was sorta a win. Next I found one of our across started to STN overnight. I'm watching it closely to see if we will need to take action to stop it. Finally I found a dead Anthia in quarantine. It was the smallest of the 4 we bought, but it wasn't being bullied or showing signs of stress. Water tests fine so not sure what happened there. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Sorry to hear sir. Those isopods sure seem frustrating. How are your water parameters? Has your alk been pretty stable with the CaRX? Was this a new acro or one that's been in the system for a bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 I'm sure the acro was P.O.'d about the Alk. I kept having to increase the CaRX to keep up with the increasing consumption, but I must have pushed the pedal down a bit too hard the last adjustment and it went from 7.3 Friday night to 7.7 this morning. Everything else is stable and has not moved. The acro was not new and had been in there for close to a month now. I slowed down the CaRX and it looks like possibly the STN has stopped. I'm watching it closely and if it gets any worse, I'll frag it into 2 pieces and hope that stops it. This was the first isopod we'd seen in over a week so it's discouraging, but at the same time I'm hopeful that we're at the tail end of the ordeal. We did confirm that the wrasse was our Mystery wrasse. We have to assume he was killed somehow as he was healthy as heck last night and has been doing quite well. In response, we're going to remove any possible culprit that we're aware of including 2 mithrax crabs that are very large (just to be safe!), and we're going to do our best to catch the mantis that's in there - although we doubt he's big enough (yet) to kill a fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 7.3 to 7.7 shouldn't have caused any problems unless maybe the acro was on its way out already. I've had 1.5 dKh jumps in a day and unless it was an unhealthy piece, usually much didn't happen. If it was sustained high or low is when I had the problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 Yeah, there is nothing else obvious that caused it. Here's a pic of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 1 down, 1 to go. Caught the HUGE mithrax crab and he is now banished to the sump. Ended up using a standard 1 pint beer glass, put some mysis in it, and set it at an angle. He couldn't resist the mysis, and after only about 2 minutes, he went in to try and get it. The glass was too slippery for him to get any grip, and he couldn't get out. Bingo! Caught-ya sucka! Now we will try to repeat this success with the other big mithrax. As for the mantis, I will modify our isopod trap so it has a big enough hole for the mantis and see if he goes for it. The problem with the mantis is he can swim really fast, so it has to be a better mousetrap than the simple pint glass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emu1sive Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 This is Dan. GO DAN GO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 LOL. I told Meg that if we can't catch any of them, I'm just going to blast them with the laser. She said it probably wouldn't kill them, which she's probably right. So I said I'd shoot their eyes out. Then we could catch them. Note: I wouldn't actually shoot them with a laser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 Crab trap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiu Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Well today is just one of those sad and frustrating days in the hobby... Woke up to find a dead Wrasse being consumed by a mithrax crab. Haven't figured out which Wrasse as it was just bones by the time I discovered it. I suspect it either was killed by something or died and the mithrax crab found a free meal. Then I found another isopod on one of the Chromis. I decided catching it in time was going to be impossible so I decided to try the laser. Amazingly it worked perfect! The isopod was killed instantly and the fish was essentially undamaged. So I guess that was sorta a win. Next I found one of our across started to STN overnight. I'm watching it closely to see if we will need to take action to stop it. Finally I found a dead Anthia in quarantine. It was the smallest of the 4 we bought, but it wasn't being bullied or showing signs of stress. Water tests fine so not sure what happened there. Ugh. Sorry to hear about the anthias and mystery wrasse. Anthias are tough. They can look great and then die in the next hour, especially if they are new. Once established though, they do great. I had a trio that was with me for two years and once I moved tanks, the stress killed them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emu1sive Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Can't see glass...distracted by ricordea mushrooms. Where did you get them shrooms yo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Got the ricordea in a few different batches. We have a red one that Meg's been dreaming about for a decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 2 down! Only got the mantis to go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Decided to set up a frag rack in the middle sump chamber today. Should work nicely. Lit with a kessil a150w ocean blue. So far it looks like perhaps the craziness is over. No new isopod incidents, no dead fish, and many of the corals seem very happy. Only noteworthy thing would be one of the gyres is making a little bit of noise when it's running forwards. I cleaned them both today just to see if that might help but the noise is still there. Hopefully it isn't dying already as its only about 3 months old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I love the tank and the new frag stand in the sump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Thanks! Now to fill it with frags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 I've got calcium reactor fever. That's a nice looking regulator you've got there. I browsed back through the thread but must have missed your CARX setup info. What kind of regulator is that you're running. And how do you have your reactor feed setup? You controlling the ph via apex/solenoid or did you just dial the needle valve very carefully and have it always on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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