jimsflies Invert Ranch

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Originally Posted by Tankster

Jim, don't give up yet. I think your problem is that you haven't had the right fish......try a pair of these http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/li...ra-nice-19102/. I'm sure they'll last. :roll:

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Tried that once already... ::fishslap:

Figured I would give a little tank update....

Well the past couple months haven't been real good with regard to my reef. :(

Besides all my anemone and Peterson's shrimp becoming a snack (I think for the squat lobster...but could be a serpent star too), I've been watching the flat worm population explode in my tank. I bought a blue lined nudi in hopes it would chow them down. It did the first hour I put it in the tank, then I watched it crawl behind some rocks and never saw it again. :(

So, here is how bad my flat worms got:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/...s/60ebb30f.jpg

Today I broke down and treated the tank with Flat Worm Exit. Hopefully between siphoning and carbon, I can limit the ill effects of dead flat worms.

I still have no fish in the tank. I'm hopefully will try getting a fish or two soon. I'm trying to eliminate all potential suspects before dropping more $$ on fish. I have caught all but a couple of the maxi minis now and also captured the serpent star today. I will likely start with something pretty inexpensive to see how it does.

My goal is to eventually get a nice pair of Picasso clownfish and maybe a couple shrimp gobies since I still have two pistol shrimp in the tank.

As far as corals, many of my zoas are growing as are my softies. Only recently when the flat worms reached epic numbers have I seen any issues. I think the sheer numbers of flatworms are bothering the corals now. They don't seem to eat anything as near as I can tell. I think they are nearly 100% photosynthetic since they come out during the day and seem to align themselves similarly to the light.

OMG Jim, this is terrible news about your tank. I feel so bad for you :( I'm confused a little:doh: Are the nems responsible for eating your fish? Did the lobster eat the nems? Are you getting rid of the nems? :hypnotized: You know why I'm asking cause I got 3 in my tank!!! My fish don't bother with them though and the only funny thing I've seen the nems eat are a couple of snails :)
Keep us updated :)

Wow! I got a six-line wrasse and he demolished the flat worms in my tank in a couple days...though it wasn't that bad! They are pretty cheap and good looking fish you could try one though some people say they can be a pain i've got a lot of rock in my small tank and it can hide all it wants. It ignores my clown totally.

~Fred

Don't fear your Peterson's yet. Mine disappeared for two months then came back one day. After another week gone again. I have not seen them for awhile now, but as you know they are pretty hard to find. Your flat worm problem is crazy!!! Best of luck with it. You could try the 6 line but it will make keeping the littl inverts impossible later, which I'm sure is the reason you haven't gone there yet. Keep us in the loop in case one of is next.

Yeah...there are reasons I'm where I'm at (or was). So between not wanting a 6-line (or lemon damsel, etc.) , possibly having the it get eaten by whatever is taking out my fish, the 6-line possibly eating the various shrimp I have, and the relative hit or mis of a fish actually taking care of the flat worms I decided not to go with a fish to solve the problem.

Time will tell, but I nuked the flat worms pretty good this morning with FWE so we will see if they are gone now.

Pretty sure the maxi minis are taking out any fish I put in the tank...but I could be wrong. I'm now down to only a couple more maxi minis and will work to remove those when I can get them.

I'm, 99.999% sure the petersons and anemone shrimp are no more. I had to tear the tank apart last week to get a find a couple frags that went missing when I rearranged everything after the power outage. (Water level dropped a bit lower than my top shelf, so on the quick I moved some of my corals and things had come up missing.) I had not been wanting to treat the tank with FWE for fear of killing off the small shrimp. But since they seem to be MIA, figured it was time to pull the trigger on the treatment.

A few updated pics... Tank is looking a little scruffy and possible needing some pruning soon.

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/...s/781fbe91.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/...s/e25d40fd.jpg

New watchman...hopefully he's smart enough to stay out of the remaining nems.
http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/...s/7653e5c4.jpg

If that is scruffy sign me up. Looks great Jim!

The tank is looking good Jim. Congrats on the new fish. Has the goby bonded with one of your pistol shrimp yet?

Keep me in mind if you decide to trim the plume/purple frilly gorgonian.

Tom

I picked these up in MACNA and they just seem to get better and better :)

Anyone seen them before? Name?