Ak77's Nano Journal

[AK77]

Nice buy AK..gotta love their eyes,lol...good choice with the peppermint too as aip x, etc will take them out quickly but must people find after a few months several young aips will appear from the base of the exploded pest...pepps take em out and keep em out !! He will eventually work his way around the entire tank and eat em as he finds em..

Hi Buddy. lol yeah that's the best thing. They just look like a snail with a trunk. I thought he'd be effective for looking after the sandbed and cleaning up the algae and detritus around the rocks. He's definitely more intresting to watch than vibex snails lol. I was going to get a couple of bumblebee ones, but they were nearly £4 a pop, so the conch worked out cheaper.

The mithrax seems to be enjoying himself, and is frantically picking away at the algae on the rocks. One thing I did think was a bit strange is the two blue knuckles I bought the other day. Both of them are hardly moving. One has retreated into its shell, the other has hidden itself in the rock and again, isn't doing anything. I wonder if they are molting or if there is something wrong. All the other crabs seem fine as does the peppermint, so I doubt very much that its the water parameters.

Any ideas?

 

[Buddyboy67]

Funny you say that AK..recently bought two of the smallest of these guys i've seen for the nano..they did exactly the same and never reappeared from their shells either, yet the bruisers in the big tank are thriving. The mithrax in the nano is thriving as well but every hermit I put in there does the same thing in about two days after introduction..I simply can't work out what the problem is.
Thinking is it some sort of parasite as it simply doesn't make any sense..

 

[daveo_irl]

Some days my hermits are very quiet, just sitting in the one spot, and then the next day they are back to themselves. Also, I have noticed that they can be a lot less active then normal when they are about to shed.

 

[AK77]

Funny you say that AK..recently bought two of the smallest of these guys i've seen for the nano..they did exactly the same and never reappeared from their shells either, yet the bruisers in the big tank are thriving. The mithrax in the nano is thriving as well but every hermit I put in there does the same thing in about two days after introduction..I simply can't work out what the problem is.
Thinking is it some sort of parasite as it simply doesn't make any sense..

Hmm that's really odd. I just flipped the shell over thats on the sandbed and its moving its claws about. They were very quiet in the tank at the LFS too. I hope it is just a case of them molting. I might try to drop a pellet near to one and see if it makes an attempt to eat it.

 

[Buddyboy67]

Try them just after lights out mate..normally more active then

 

[AK77]

Well the shell has been upside down for a couple of hours now and its not bothered correcting itself. The other blue knuckle hasnt moved either. The shrimp seems fine. Its out and about at the moment. Will keep you posted for any development

 

[Luketendo]

Is the conch really good at cleaning the sand as I had some Nassarius but they got eaten by hermits.

 

[Buddyboy67]

Check out fighting conches mate..great little, for a conch anyway, workers

 

[AK77]

Well it looks like one of the blue knuckles died last night. I just saw his body lying next to the shell. Its defintiely not a molting as the rear of the body is intact. I expect the other one to follow suit. The others look to be doing fine. I think the blue knuckles must of had something in the LFS. Come to think of it, all the hermits in the tank were very docile and huddled in their shells.

I wonder what it could be?

 

[AK77]

Just had a shooftie in the tank and thought I found the other blue knuckle's remains behind the LR. Then I looked up and noticed his old shell wedged on the rocks. I was about to remove the shell when I saw a nice bright pair of legs hanging out of it. This one just molted, as did the peppermint shrimp. Hopefully he will pull through without further incident. My 4 red mexicans had been quiet too and I was concerned that there was something wrong with all the hermits but, everything seems to be ok.

The conch really went to town, attacking the cyano on the lower portion of the tank with the snails demolishing the rest. Since I repositioned the LR away from the acrylic sides to allow him access, he's been tearing round the perimeter of the tank like a thing possessed lol. All the gunk that had fallen between the LR and the acyrlic is gone and a nice white, clean trough is in its place. A seriously cool addition to any CUC. I think I'm going to name him Dyson.. purely because there seems to be no end to the amount of cr@p he sucks up lol.

 

[seffieuk]

What sort of conch is he?

Seffie x

 

[AK77]

Hi Seffie,

He's an orange lipped one, if I remember rightly and boy do they have an appetite!!

 

[AK77]

Yesterday I noticed just how much moisture was building up inside the cabinet and the rear hardboard was getting saturated to the point that mildew was forming! So today I cracked out my holesaw and installed some twin turbos, in the form of 80mm pc fans.

They are controlled on an adjustable 12v adapter, which has a switch, from 0v all the way up to 12v.

I also treated the inside of the cabinet with exterior satin varnish, to help seal the wood. Hopefully this will be the last problem. Oh and the other hermit snuffed it.

 

[Buddyboy67]

Nice bit of diy there..bad news on the hermit front too

 

[AK77]

Ty mate. Yeah, I knew something still wasn't right. I'd tried picking it up and moving it to another location in the tank but, it just went back to the same spot and never moved. This morning I found its remains scattered behing the LR. I think it popped its clogs in the night and the mithrax did the rest. Strange though, as the rest seem to be fine. I think there must of been something iffy with the batch at the LFS