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Thread: Amphiprion's Coral and Seagrass 40g Breeder

  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo View Post
    Who sold you rock with isopods anyways? I would be talking to them!!
    I did speak with them and they were already fully aware of the situation. Never mentioned their presence for obvious, unethical reasons nor did the person really seem to be concerned. Said person does not house fish in the systems where the rock is, only corals, nor do they add this rock to their own displays, so it is of little immediate concern to the LFS owner. Able to pass off the blame on "luck of the draw" when it comes to rock and act like it was never their fault to start with. Pretty crummy, but I'm stuck with it--may as well do the best I can to make it usable.

  2. #12
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    I swear I have those in my 60G, or at least they look similar. So far I have never had any problems with my fish, so maybe I have something that just looks similar. I have never seen anything that big come out of my 75G though, which leads to the question, do you think certain wrasses would feed on them?

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Amphiprion View Post
    I did speak with them and they were already fully aware of the situation. Never mentioned their presence for obvious, unethical reasons nor did the person really seem to be concerned. Said person does not house fish in the systems where the rock is, only corals, nor do they add this rock to their own displays, so it is of little immediate concern to the LFS owner. Able to pass off the blame on "luck of the draw" when it comes to rock and act like it was never their fault to start with. Pretty crummy, but I'm stuck with it--may as well do the best I can to make it usable.
    You got those from an LFS and they just threw their hands up and said "Not my problem"?? I would be irate! I would find every forum I could and tell that story man. Sheesh!

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ace25 View Post
    I swear I have those in my 60G, or at least they look similar. So far I have never had any problems with my fish, so maybe I have something that just looks similar. I have never seen anything that big come out of my 75G though, which leads to the question, do you think certain wrasses would feed on them?
    You may either have a different type altogether, like sphaeromatids, or one of the few relatively benign cirolanids. These have no problem latching on to my arm--haven't been bitten yet, but they swim right up and grab on if I allow it. There are a bunch of fish that would attempt to eat them and may succeed. However, these buggers are so bad, they've been known to bore out of the stomachs of fishes or just latch on inside the mouth of the fish when eaten. I wouldn't let any fish try to eat them, honestly.

  5. #15

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    Funny. I'd see those and think they were cute. Never knowing any better.
    Looking at this thread again makes me want to buy a similar set up.

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Amphiprion View Post
    You may either have a different type altogether, like sphaeromatids, or one of the few relatively benign cirolanids. These have no problem latching on to my arm--haven't been bitten yet, but they swim right up and grab on if I allow it. There are a bunch of fish that would attempt to eat them and may succeed. However, these buggers are so bad, they've been known to bore out of the stomachs of fishes or just latch on inside the mouth of the fish when eaten. I wouldn't let any fish try to eat them, honestly.
    To me they look like average copepods, but won't they be reproducing in the tank as you attempt their removal by manual means? How about baiting a trap with meaty food? Glass jar? The other alternative is to dose the tank with a bit of copper or fresh water dip the rock.

  7. #17
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    FW dip is a good idea. Kills copepods, wouldn't it also kill the isopods?

    As it turns out...yup

    http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums...pod-22911.html

    http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums...ods-16960.html

    But would also kill some micro fauna if you have much.

  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo View Post
    FW dip is a good idea. Kills copepods, wouldn't it also kill the isopods?

    As it turns out...yup

    http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums...pod-22911.html

    http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums...ods-16960.html

    But would also kill some micro fauna if you have much.
    It will make them inactive or drop off fish, but it won't kill them--not unless you dip for a long time. I tried that with a few test specimens and dipped them for about 1 hour. I put them back in saltwater (simulating putting my rock back in my tank) and they perked up in about 10 mins and were fine a week later. I don't want to use my fish as sacrificial lambs to get this done, either, especially with the potential for infection to set in. I'd be upset if they killed my clownfish, one of which I've had for about 15 years.

    On the plus side, I'm pretty sure I have these guys on the ropes. I haven't seen any at night in a week, but caught a couple swimming in broad daylight. They don't usually do that unless they are hungry, so I'm hoping those individuals were desperate for food. I may actually be near the end of this, but I won't release my fish until I haven't seen or caught any for weeks. I remember years ago the ordeal Brian Plankis went through to get rid of these. Granted, he had much, much more rock and a lot more to lose, but it took him a long time to get rid of them. I don't think I'll have anywhere near the magnitude of his ordeal, but I want to play it relatively safe without being paranoid.

    Also, the scrubber is filling in well and starting to get some green filling in. I put a couple of small pieces of coral in the tank as a bit of a litmus test and they are doing well (except for the small leather coral). They aren't anything special, just Pocillopora and branching Montipora frags, but they will at least give me a reasonable baseline. After a few more months and if I observe biological stability with the tank and scrubber, I'll introduce something a bit more challenging, like Acropora. I probably won't keep the Pocillopora in the long term, but it will function just fine in the meantime in letting me know if I'm screwing something up. My testing regime will likely be pretty minimal, as I don't want to spend the fortune on kits I did in the past. Ideally, I'll have a single crocea clam and 3 or so types of coral on that little bommie, allowing them all to mature into colonies. As I also mentioned before, there may be a sand-dwelling anemone in the future for the clowns, but that would be about it. Nothing crazy, but it should look fairly natural in the end, which is what I'm shooting for. I'm not looking for the rainbow tank, just one that grows corals successfully and looks like what I've seen in the wild. If I can get anywhere close to that, I'll be happy.

  9. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bilk View Post
    To me they look like average copepods, but won't they be reproducing in the tank as you attempt their removal by manual means? How about baiting a trap with meaty food? Glass jar? The other alternative is to dose the tank with a bit of copper or fresh water dip the rock.
    I wish they were copepods...

    Yes, females will brood young, bypassing any sort of planktonic stage altogether. One female can have dozens of young, so it does make it a bit difficult. I did catch it literally the day I put the rock in the tank, so I was pretty proactive about it. I'm not seeing any right now, but gravid females usually stay hidden and won't eat, only to release all the young later. That is why I must wait a few weeks after not seeing any to account for the possibility of the smaller ones hatching. It has been done plenty of times, it's just that it can take a long, long time. As far as removal goes, I've been trying all of the above, with removal via a turkey baster (which becomes easy once you know how they move) and baited traps. I've been using a 13" graduated cylinder for a trap due to the length and it has worked pretty well so far. They especially seem to like it when the food fouls a bit...

  10. #20

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    Well, an update, but not a great one. Everything was going very, very well up until about a week ago. I checked the scrubber one day and noticed that it had completely turned to mush. Not sure what happened--maybe the power went out or something, but I couldn't find any other evidence of it. The tank within a day or so turned into a cyanobacteria sludge pit, with rocks and sand 100% blanketed within the next day or so. Corals that had encrusted and healed substantially suddenly had STN and some with RTN. The water splashing in the sump foamed up like a washing machine and the sump and screen was blanketed in black cyanobacteria. Today, I've taken the screen apart, leaving only one layer, and sprayed it down with a pressure washer. I also took the time to rough up the screen some more. Probably didn't need it, but what the hell. I'm in the process of doing a large water change to hopefully stave off the impending death, but not sure what will happen. Needless to say, the sump will be vacuumed as well.

    Interestingly enough, the very, very small amount of filamentous algae in the display had also turned to goop just a day or so prior to all of this. Not sure what is going on, but this is similar to what happened in the small cube that had no supplementary filtration. To be honest, I think the seagrasses are somehow doing it. In some way, I actually think they are inhibiting filamentous algal growth and encouraging cyanobacterial growth. The one thing I have noticed is that the detritus level with seagrass bits has exploded within the last couple of weeks. It immediately settled on the screen and may have contributed to choking out the algae. I hate to do it, but I may actually have to include some sort of cheap, disposable mechanical filtration prior to the scrubber, such as floss. I need to be able to toss and replace it relatively quickly and easily and a filter sock doesn't fit the bill or application...

    Any ideas or experience into something like this? I've never had a screen do this before.

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