Dawn's 56 gallon natural nutrient garden

[vlangel]

Here is a pic as the tank stands today. Hopefully the new additions will spruce it up a bit.

 

[vlangel]

Well something really strange and tragic happened to my display this weekend. I noticed on Friday evening that the 3 damsels didn't look good. By Saturday evening they had all died. Now Sunday evening I am not too sure that the ocellaris clown is ok nor the yellow watchman goby. Both of them have clamped fins. So far the tomini tang, the coral beauty and the barnacle blenny seem ok. None of the coral seem affected except the colt coral which was the very first thing to die on Thursday. I do not know if it dying is related to the fish or not. I have not added anything to the tank. I only moved a few coral last week to get ready for the macro algae order coming this week. I am sad and perplexed. I will keep you updated. Also I noticed that the shrimp, crabs and snails all seem fine. I had wondered if the nitrates really spiked but if that were the case surely the inverts would have been the first to go. I did about a 25% water change today to dilute any possible contaminant. Also everything in the sump/refugium seem fine including the geriatric percula clown and a citrin goby.

 

[vlangel]

The tank appears to be stabilizing. I think I may have lost the watchman goby and the royal Gramma however as I am not seeing them. The clownfish looks a little better but not totally well. Everyone else seems normal, the tomini tang, the coral beauty, the pajama cardinal and the barnacle blenny, as well as the old percula and the green citrin goby in the sump. I will probably do another water change today and then just let the tank settle for several weeks before I think about adding more fish.

I do have a theory about what happened. The brown/green palys I have are becoming invasive. I thought that I could maybe get a patch of them to wither/melt away if I placed a large-ish rock on top of them to block light. I chose the rock with the colt coral on it. Maybe the palys gave off toxins in an effort to survive and that in turn was killing the colt coral which also began to give off toxins. I used to run carbon to absorb any chemical toxins given off by my softie coral but did not have carbon in the system currently. I do not know if toxins given off by coral can kill fish but I know palys toxins are potent. Anyway, that is my theory for now.

 

[vlangel]

Well, some good news! Guardian, the yellow watchman and Monarch the royal Gramma both look improved. They came out when I fed the tank flake food. Hopefully they will come out longer when I give them frozen tonight.

 

[dstockwell]

Glad you got some good news.

 

[vlangel]

Glad you got some good news.

Thanks dstockwell. Guardian ate some frozen reef plankton tonight. He has a funky white line down the length of his body on his side. Not sure what that is. Monarch is still skittish but he always is anyway. He looks ok but I have been concerned over him for a month or more just because he is so reclusive.

 

[vlangel]

Everything seems to have settled down with my tank which is good because my order from gulf coast ecosystem is coming tomorrow. After losing my 3 damsels, it helps to know that I will be getting some fun macro algae and 2 more gorgonians.

 

[vlangel]

Well my order from GCE came yesterday and it was great. Everything was so well packaged that the inside of the box was bone dry. The macros, gorgs and sponges look wonderful. They sent 2 red sponges even though I only bought 1 and they sent extremely generous amounts of opuntia and lobophora. The purple ribbon gorg is the deepest purple that I have ever seen and the corky finger is so stout and sturdy that it looks like it could withstand a hurricane. I will take close ups when everything settles in.

 

[vlangel]

Viewing from the left side of the tank.

 

[vlangel]

Viewing from the right side. This used to be an ugly side but has improved a lot.

 

[vlangel]

The skeletal stoney plate coral is now home to the BTAs, the lobophora, halimeda opuntia and Coraline fine.

 

[vlangel]

The corky finger is so cool, I love it. I like the caulerpa cupresoides too.

 

[vlangel]

This is the purple ribbon gorg, 2 red tree sponges and some of the halimeda opuntia.

 

[vlangel]

Well folks, I am out of control. I just peeked on KPAquatics and they had masked gobies and a chiton, both of which I have been wanting! Since I had to pay $40 shipping, I decided to make it worth my while by ordering 2 neon gobies, a white flame scallop and a sea cucumber as well. I imagine I will get this order Tuesday or Wednesday.
I guess I better get my QT tank set up!

 

[kevinl]

wow, you have been through a lot since I last checked in (reef2reef is not notifying me anymore).
are you back to running carbon?

 

[vlangel]

wow, you have been through a lot since I last checked in (reef2reef is not notifying me anymore).
are you back to running carbon?

Yes, the tank hummed along without incident for a long time. I am pretty sure that me putting the rock on the palys was what caused the damsels to die. I should have known better as I know palys have strong toxins. I just thought that they would succumb quietly. I won't make that mistake again. I have not put carbon in yet. Today is going to be a water change day and I will add carbon since my new order from KPAquatics has fish coming. After losing the damsels I was not going to get fish for several weeks to a month or so to let the tank really settle.
However, when I saw that KPA had masked gobies and a chiton, (both creatures that I have been wanting) I decided to jump on it.

I bought masked gobies from them a year or so ago and they were really cute. Unfortunately, I think Rice Krispie, my pistol shrimp hunted them down one by one. He has been banished to the sump/refugium, so I am going to try again with the masked gobies.

I also bought 2 neon gobies. I am becoming fascinated with the antics of little fish. Their pint size bodies seem to pack a lot of personality in them. My barnacle blenny is adorable and has lived much longer than I anticipated.

How is your tank doing Kevin?

 

[vlangel]

Tomorrow I get 6 new fish. I want to remember when I acquired the fish that I will have so I went back through my threads to pin point when I acquired my fish pets.

My oldest fish is PJ, pajama cardinal. 2-24-18
Barney, the barnacle blenny. 9-11-18
Jet, green citrin goby. 12-29-18
Monarch, royal Gramma. 3-14-20
Tommy, tomini tang. 10-3-20
Ozzie, ocellaris clownfish 12-2020
Guardian, yellow watchman goby. 3-20-21
Angelica, Coral beauty angel. 2-20-22
Perky, a re-homed Percula clownfish.(who lives in the fuge/sump) about 12 years presently.

4 Masked gobies. 11-2-22
2 neon gobies. 11-2-22

 

[vlangel]

Well, the KP Aquatics creatures have landed and look good. The fish are too small to get pics of right now.

2 of the masked gobies are really tiny so I may keep them in the baby net until they grow a bit more. I have seen them eat the smallest spectra pellets so that is very encouraging. The neon gobies are bigger than I expected and hopefully the tank is large enough for 2 to coexist. The chiton is bigger than I thought and is already motoring around the tank. The scallop is open and appears to be in feeding mode.

I am very pleased with this order.

 

[vlangel]

Oh wow, yesterday I noticed Ozzie nuzzling one of my rainbow BTAs. Not really hosting it but touching it with his nose or rubbing his back on the foot part of the BTA. Well, a few minutes ago Ozzie was actually rubbing enthusiastically among the tentacles of the BTA. It's crazy because Ozzie has been in this tank with the BTAs almost 2 years and has never shown any interest in them. I had given up on him pairing with a anemone. Anyway, I am very excited about this!

 

[vlangel]

Here are some goby pics. The top pic is a
neon goby and the bottom pic is 3 masked gobies in the baby net. I have the net sideways in the tank so the masked gobies can leave the baby net if they want to. One did but 3 are hanging around.