Nano Tank Diary...

[parker313]

I am so glad I switched the light fixtures back out. I liked the old one that I had on there, but I think it was just too strong. Since I've switched back to the original light fixture, the color has already come back to a lot of the coraline algae and my zoos.

 

[parker313]

Alrighty! On my way to some more corals

I just used buy it now over on Aquabid and got a nice blue mushroom. It comes with a free gift of a soft coral, can't wait to see it The color looks great in the pic and I am very happy with the other mushrooms I have in terms of how much they've propogated. As I said before, my one mushroom is now 12 or 13!

Here's the link to the closed auction...

...and here's the picture...

The big thing I like about Aquabid is that some of the sellers will ship USPS Priority. This time of year, it's just not necessary to ship Express or Overnight Express or whatever...

 

[parker313]

I almost had a real disaster in my tank today. I fed my little guys some Cyclopeze, like I often do and suddenly my poor little clownfish was swimming *really* erratically (even for him, which is saying a lot) just lying there on the top of the water, limp as could be. He'd drift into the current from the filter, tumble down, struggle to right himself and then just float again. I was just beside myself - my little clownfish is my absolute favorite out of either of my tanks and I've had him since he was sooooo tiny. We had to go out for the afternoon/evening and when I left, he had managed to get himself to a quiet spot behind the skimmer with not any real current and was just lying there, completely still I thought he was a goner for sure and was having all sorts of thoughts about just packing the nano tank in b/c he's practically my whole reason for keeping it now.

I don't know what happened. I don't know if fish can choke, or get a piece of food in them that's too big to digest or that blocks off water flow through its gills or what, but that's what I think happened. Something similar, but on a MUCH less dramatic and serious level when I've put in little bits of dried brine shrimp that are still a bit big for his bitty mouth. He's always been just fine within minutes, this time we had to leave nearly 5-10mins after I fed him and he was just lying there.

THANK GOODNESS, but when we got home, he was just swimming around the front of the tank like nothing had happened This little guy is such a trooper!!

Oh - I got an aquabid auction for a blue mushroom and "a freebie" and I got an email from the guy that my freebie is a frag of purple corky gorgonia. I don't know much about those, but it seems like they like moderate light and moderate/high waterflow - I think we can accomodate that just fine The blue and purple should be a nice addition!

 

[Ethos]

Good he's alive.
I've always liked clownfish, especailly since Finding Nemo came out. Lol.

 

[Navarre]

Im really pleased he pulled through!
Its heartbreaking when they look like they arent going to make it. It shows that he is a real little trooper!
As for the couses.. i really wouldnt like to guess. Might be something as simple as a sudden change in PH due to something you couldnt see in the tank. BUt he is ok now and that is what is most important.

I would check your water perameters around the same time he got into trouble for the next few days just in case there is something going on at this time of day that effects your water perameters.

 

[parker313]

Good he's alive.
I've always liked clownfish, especailly since Finding Nemo came out. Lol.

LOL~ I've always liked them since my mother in law had a tank with a clownfish and he was the strongest of that tank too. She and her now ex-husband had a gorgeous reef tank - I think it was nearly 100 gallons, maybe the one they upgraded to was even 125.... Anyway. They had some mystery deaths that they never could pinpoint and ended up losing all of their fish but their clownfish, who was also their first fish. I've had a real soft spot for them since then and that was before Finding Nemo

Good idea Navarre. As I said before, I'm horribly embarrassed to admit to my shoddy fishkeeping practices lately, but I don't even remember the last time I checked the water parameters, even the salinity ) ) ) I've been trying to keep up with water changes and that's about it. I'll be keeping a much closer eye on things now though

I can't wait for my mushroom and gorgonia to get here

 

[Malawiandude]

Good to hear! I really just wish aquabid would get way more SW dudes in there to sell.

I recently put a post on nano-reef about people not knowing how to ship corals correctly, as last couple boxes i got were falling apart.

 

[parker313]

Oh gosh, I haven't been to nano-reef in forever!

I've only ordered off aquabid once before for coral and the other corals I've ordered have been from businesses. Everything has come very well packed. Actually... My last Aquabid order (the ricordea) came on the day that Mason was born, so I didn't even see how it was packed My mother in law was here taking care of our older son while Mason was being born so she unpacked it, acclimatized it and set it in the tank for me... It settled in very well though.

More and more color is coming back to the coraline algae I still need to scrape it off the glass...

 

[parker313]

Well, it was bound to happen eventually... I knew there was a very limited number of times that I could go to the lfs to get my water and say "no, nothing else for me today, thank you" I decided to get some new corals. They had some really pretty red zoos that were a bit more than I'd been hoping to pay, but the rock is completely covered and they are a really nice red.

Plus, tomorrow my mushrooms and gorgonia should be here and that should hold me for a while

 

[steelhealr]

What kind of gorgonia did you get Parker? Photosynthetic hopefully for your 10G. SH

 

[parker313]

I'm not sure. He called it a "purple corky gorgonia". It was the freebie that he included with the mushrooms. I should email him back and ask him.... I have a great spot picked out for it. Should be here today....

I had to put the new heater in. I had gotten a heater back in the summer sometime but never needed to put it in b/c the house stayed warm enough that the water temp stayed stable. With the cool turn of weather this past week, I noticed that the tank's temp had dipped as well. I got a good spot for it, started it low and am working on getting the temp up. I figured that was better than starting too high and cooking everything in there!

The red zoos didn't get a chance to open last night before the lights went off, so I'm hoping they will today.

Also at the lfs that I was *really* tempted by were some WHITE mushrooms! I'd never seen them before, but they were just stunning. If I didn't already have red in there plus the blue ones on the way, I might have gotten those, but they were $40 for a 6-7" rock with maybe 5 mushrooms!

Here's what the email said...

your free gift will be a piece of purple corkey finger gorgonian

 

[parker313]

Yeah, bay-bee! I just saw the mailman put a box into the mailbox. I'm gonna go grab it now...

OK, the mushroom and gorgonian are acclimating now. They were packed *very* well

 

[steelhealr]

Hi Parker...I checked it out. It is actually a briareum...seems like it can do OK. It needs high flow and high lighting. It is encrusting, so, place it appropriately since it is fast growing. Take some pix. SH

 

[parker313]

Oh good, thanks for that SH. I was surprised to see that it was encrusting since I'd been expecting an upright cactus looking kind of gorgonian. It's in a nice prominent spot in the tank with good lighting and good flow. It's a nice sized piece too! The blue mushroom separated from its shell it had been attached to so right now I've got it sitting near the back of the tank out of the way of much flow to give it a chance to reattach to a rock and will then move it back out front.

I need to get the coraline algae off the front of the tank before I take any pics )

 

[steelhealr]

I've been having the same problem of late, ie, starting to grow on the glass instead of just the back panel. Credit card without the magnetic strip works great. SH