My Neptune City Tank Thread + My ?'s and to get advice! :)

[Sugar Magnolia]

You can try lowering your temp to around 77-78. See if that makes any difference. I don't think the goby will bother the coral. Frogspawn's can host clowns. Eventually they become accustomed to the fish.

[thebkramer]

[thebkramer]

Isn't he soooo darn cute?!?!!?
This is one of the empty Turbo Snail shells that he has taken residence in.
PRIME REAL ESTATE!!
He also likes to chill inside of a window of the left castle...but haven't been able to get a good shot yet! BUT I will!!

[thebkramer]

So water is still giving me problems!
I don't actually think I posted this part of the problem in this thread.
Last week my Ca was like 580 Alk was 5 and pH was 7.8
Did a water change, added Coral Builder.
Tw days later tested water again:
Ca was 500 Alk was 6 and pH was 8.0
Did another water change and used Kent Superbuffer DkH
Next day water params were:
Ca 440 Alk was 6 and pH was 8.0
Continued to use superbuffer for next two days
Water Params yesterday were:
Ca 480 Alk was 6-7 and pH was 7.8
Today used superbuffer again. Will continue to use next few days with another water change for Monday.

So during all this my froggy has been very very unhappy!!!!
The one head looks as if it will not make it...at all!
But, I did some moving around, and here is where I had decided to put him.



Heres close ups:





Then this morning he was not looking so hot! So under another reefers suggestion (also has helped soooo much though all this!) I put him in
the back-center-middle of the tank which has less water flow.
So now I'm hoping that will help!
Will see what happens................

[thebkramer]

I have no clue what this creepy crawley is!!
It is not a bristleworm..and its not a peanut worm!
Possibly a Eunicid Worm, but I hope not!!!!!!!

[jenjen]

I've been out of town a bit and missed a couple of your posts. I LOVE the pics of your fish!!! Especially Apachii - he is the absolutely cutest!!! Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

[thebkramer]

Originally Posted by jenjen

I've been out of town a bit and missed a couple of your posts. I LOVE the pics of your fish!!! Especially Apachii - he is the absolutely cutest!!! Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Jen! He is the cutest isn't he! I got lucky with this guy. I'm glad I was able to catch the "original" tailspot and replace him with this guy! He's got soooo much personality! He keeps finding new empty shells and empty holes in LR to "hide" in. But...all his spots, and he stil sleeps under the dead monti on right castle! Right out in the open. Ah well, atleast he's happy!!!



Recently Kora has been charging me! She's too much! Like she's gonna hurt me or suttin!! LOL As soon as I put hand in tank...or start scraping glass...She's gone! Poof! lol All "talk" no bite!!
Her HLLE isn't getting better I'm hoping that once I get my water stable again and with the variety of yummy, good food I have; that will be enough.
I know it doesn't seem possible that the Fish Solutions did this, BUT I don't see what else could've been the culprit!!


Frogspawn also looking worse
The one head died completely, there seems to be just a small piece left inside. Atleast I still have the other 2 heads. 1 is doing better than the other and its the one that is in process of splitting. So..fingers crossed!
Really I only need one to survive (even though I hope all do).


Frodo for some reason hasn't learned yet to leave those damn bristleworms alone!!!! He is all bristled up again this morning!! No bristles in his mouth this time though!! Woo hoo! I hope he figured out this time being its #3!!!!

[Palting]

I have no idea what that worm is, but, man, you take some awesome pics!!!

[thebkramer]

Originally Posted by Palting

I have no idea what that worm is, but, man, you take some awesome pics!!!

Thanks Palting, I try!

I still have no clue as to what it is. I do know that its not a Eunicid though!!
It doesn't have 5 mandible/tentalces by its mouth! So thats good. And its not a Bobbit Worm..so thats even better!! LOL

[thebkramer]

Well...
Went away one night, came home late last night so went to bed, woke up this morning and what was left of my frogspawn was falling off...
so I removed it...
thats all I can say for now...

[jenjen]

Oh man, that stinks! I was successful with my 3rd frogspawn, but not so with 2 before that. The first one I put in a bad spot, and didn't know enough to move it. And the second one, I don't think was healthy when I got it. Don't give up!

How's the water chemistry coming along?

[jason2459]

Love the starry blenny! I'm thinking of getting one of those.

Sucks about the frogspawn. I'm thinking of getting one of those soon too. Looks like the rest of your inhabitants are healthy and doing good.

[thebkramer]

I feel as though it has been forever since I've posted anything!!

I went through some pretty horrid hiccups recently.. some tank related, some not

To start, I went away for 3 days and when I came home, I came home to about 15 gallons missing from my tank.. the floor was soaked.. and my skimmer and powerhead were not in the water. I went to unplug them to find that there was a fire under the damn tank!! I quickly went to the main power of the house and shut it down. Upon inspection.. I found the power strip had burned a hole straight through where the powerhead had been plugged in. It was a mess.. I am lucky that my whole house didn't burn down!! Thank gushness my stand is made of wrought iron and slate!! I am not sure still what happened.. I'm thinking maybe the water evaporated and the level came down to the powerhead and it started spitting out the rest of the water? Don't know.. then I thought maybe my tank had a crack in it.. but found nothing.. I wish I had taken pictures of everything, but the last thing you think of when you have a crisis on your hands is taking pictures!!! Of course I quickly added water back to tank and got another power strip and powerhead. I was surprised to see that all my other plugs were okay.. kinda melted, but nothing to worry about. I will be replacing my skimmer and filter soon, cause they were the only other strip that had any damage to it. THANK gushness my lights did not get damaged!!! Phew!! BTW.. all my fish made it!!! I couldn't believe it!!! My McCosker's was the only one with visible injury.. with a burn on her abdomen.. but she healed very quickly!! The only thing I think that saved me is it must have happened just hours before I got home!! I am beyond lucky that I did not lose my house to a fire though!! Needless to say, I have not left my house for long periods of time since!!
Then after that.. my power went out for over 8 hours.. I don't know how, but the tank made it through that too!! And my power has gone out 4 more times since then! I am ready to move LOL I don't know what is wrong with this area.. but it is ridiculous to have the damn power go out so often! Then last month.. my tigertail cucumber decided to take an adventure out of my tank!?!?!? Weirdo.. he made it though. BUT.. days later I wake up to find him sucked in my intake tube of the filter!! It took me hours to get him detangled!! He was hurt.. but alive.. I made a "hospital" area for him inside the tank and he healed up within a week. I went and got netting to cover the tube and I thought everything was ok.. til I woke up and again the tigertail had been sucked inside the damn tube!! This time he was really hurting and I didn't think he would make it. Again.. took me hours to get him detached from the tubing!! I then decided he would be better in someone elses tank until I can get a fuge, sump, or a better filtering system so I wouldn't have to worry about him! I called my LFS and they agreed to foster him for me til I figure something out. THEY NEVER do this for people.. so, I owe them ALOT!! I've checked on him daily and he is healing nicely
So.. I've been dealing with alot of bumps and bruises and needed to take a time out from all things Saltwater! I've been of course taking care of my tank.. but have not been putting in as much as I use to. BUT I'm back lmao.. I've missed my "other" family!!

Now that I've taken this "time out" I'm hoping I can get back on track!!

[jason2459]

Yikes! Hope everything calms down for you now. I'm glad everything is still alive.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[thebkramer]

Thanks Jason... ME TOO!!!

So.. my next step is to of course get the better skimmer BUT

I want to get a BTA and place him (I hope he will stay!) in my bottom right of the tank.
I have figured out that the mystery crab that I couldn't get a good pic of is a porcelein crab of some sort.. and he is gorgeous and has grown very quickly! Love it!! He is a purple, pink and red.. very different He is becoming more and more adjusted to Neptune City and doesn't hide half as much as he use to! Can't wait til he gets even bigger lol
I would really like to introduce a 2nd starry.. but much smaller than the one I have and of course would like it to be a female. Just not fully convinced it will be a good idea, they can be aggressive.. very aggressive! My starry now has only just started to stop biting me when I go in the tank lol It only took.. what, like 6 months!! Hopefully he will become more of friend and sit in my hand like my original starry did

But.. thats where I'm at.. and I will post pics soon

[thebkramer]

Oh.. one more story to tell.. lol

My Peppermint Shrimps have decided to become my Manicurists!!
Its too funny.. they attack my hand when it comes near their "spots" and go to town with pulling off dead skin and what not.. will post pics and video shortly

[Palting]

He-hey! Sorry to hear about your troubles, But glad everything came out OK. Glad your back! I thought maybe you've moved on 'cuz we weren't good enough for you anymore .

[jason2459]

Originally Posted by thebkramer

Oh.. one more story to tell.. lol

My Peppermint Shrimps have decided to become my Manicurists!!
Its too funny.. they attack my hand when it comes near their "spots" and go to town with pulling off dead skin and what not.. will post pics and video shortly

That's always fun. My peppermints didn't do that but my cleaners did all the time. Hurts when they really dig up in there but not sure if peppermints could.

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[rayn]

I'd wondered where you had been lately. Hope all comes around for you. Pics looks nice too

[thebkramer]

So.. is this abnormal?!?!?
I feel like its a clownfish in an anemone!! HELP!! LMAO
She does this atleast once a day




Video makes more sense lol
Sorry its a bit shakey (sp) bare with me:

View My Video

This is about ten minutes after:




Is she (to be honest.. I don't know if it is a female.. but) trying to mate? or finding a place to lay eggs? Its so bizzare! She is doing what my clownfish use to do with the tentacles of anemone. She is eating it.. or pulling off its tentacles.. she is just mouthing them till they dissappear.. its odd. Then she just rubs her mouth and body on my toadstool when tentacles.. well, polyps, are gone . Odd?!?! Any ideas?!?!

[thebkramer]

These pics are so cute!! Zinger has found a buddy in Frodo!!







I love that these two are so comfortable with each other! I was amazed that Frodo lets Zinger lay right on top of him Sometimes Zinger will go to this spot and it almost seems like he waits for Frodo to come hang with him! They are too cute together!!

[thebkramer]

.. and I now know that he is def a Porcelein Crab of some sort.. but don't know which.. hahahaa He is totally cool though!!
Maybe now that I have a BTA.. they will find one another.. if he is that type of porcelein that is:

Press CTRL and + for closer view... CTRL and - to pull back

[thebkramer]

I happened upon these two last night.. lol It was fun to watch!
Still don't know what the hermit on the left is.. and I have 2 of them
So heres Pinkie and Spaz!








I'm sure Spaz would have won.. but I broke it up before it got too intense! LOL Spaz has already pulled Turk outta his shell few months back.. poor thing! Turk watched the whole thing go down!

[thebkramer]

So went to LFS yesterday to trade in a rock of Buttons. While I was there the owner came to me and ask if I would be willing to take a BTA off their hands and "foster" it. I was told its been there for over a week and has not bubbled up at all no matter what tank they put it in. I of course said sure
He told me if I can make him happy, that I can keep him.
Here he is:







Doesn't look to unhappy huh?!? lol

Then I noticed him battling it out with a cup coral or bulb tip anemone.
I got worried.. but let him be
Press CTRL and + to get a closer look:


[/

[thebkramer]

..then last night I noticed he started to move.. which is fine.. he has alot of options on that side of the tank. But this morning this is what I found








Should I move him.. or let him be? He is not getting any light, but he is fully blooming. I know they need light, and I'm sure if he is unhappy he will move himself, but he could be dumb lol PLUS.. I can't really see him I want to be able to enjoy him, right? Thoughts? Thanks!


He seems to be content now... 10 hours later I'm hoping he will move again tonight to atleast the front of the tank!!!! How dare him be in the back!! lol