220 Inwall - Plan

[tgunn]

Well, look at it this way, the puppy was telling you it's time to get that new dgital SLR. Heh....

Yeah, aptasia is a pain; it seems to pop up where you can't reach it; and ONLY there..

Here's a decent pic of an aptasia I nuked in my tank; it's in pretty much the center of the frame:

Tyler

 

[gkarshens]

I found that peppermint shrimp are great for controlling aptasia. I had several come in on corals and live rock. I bought 2 peppermints and the next morning they were gone. Since then I have never had to worry about buying a coral with one on it because they always clean it up for me. They even ate one that was as big as them!

 

[bheron]

Marc -

It could be ich, it could be grains of sand since you saw it when it was trying to sleep - right? You could treat it in quarantine, but I thought they basically were in quarantine all this time anyway.

- You know, Marc, its definitely some kind of disease or parasite. I came home from work today and he still has them. The only thing, however, is that he's not doing the "Ich Itch". So mayne its not ich, but another disease? Off to the other forum to find out.

EDIT: just read in the disease forum something about ich being "encrusted on LR"? Is that possible? Thought it needs a host?


- MArc, Nope, these fish arent in QT. They're in the main display.

To remove the offending aiptasia, you can pull out the rock and break off the piece along with the aiptasia if that is your only one.

- Thats a great idea!

Knyght -

Since you also have micro bubbles it could be that as well. Are they completely white?????

- Nope, still there. They're definitely in his skin, but they're more of a clear color. I think, as I'll check, ich is very opaque white. These are mostly clear.

Sad but funny about the puppy. I can relate if I may,

Yep! You know what I'm dealin with!

At least the camera was old and out of date.

Exactly. I just mentioned the other day we needed a new one. We'll see what Santa brings.

Tyler -

Well, look at it this way, the puppy was telling you it's time to get that new dgital SLR. Heh....

Ha! Yes, I like that thought. Wont happen though most likely.

Here's a decent pic of an aptasia I nuked in my tank

The stuff I see looks a little different. BUt, from what I've seen, there are different types. I'll post a pic of what I think I see.

Here's one I found on the forum:

-The type I see is the top row, last two on right.

Gkarshens -

I found that peppermint shrimp are great for controlling aptasia.

- Yea, I heard that too!


Ok, a question about Aptasia while I search: How does it spread?

For example, if lets just say, its on one peice of LR - for sure. And you moved the LR to your sump, all by itself. Is it "waterborne"? Or does it spead only though touching somerhing?

 

[tgunn]

Bryan,
I suspecf aptasia is waterborne; it's popped up on two other rocks; both being cooked dead rock.; one was nearer the original aptasia, the other is on the other side of the tank.

Tyler

 

[Airman]

Thanks for the pictures of the sponges. I have these sponges in my tank and refugium. I don't mind except when they get in between my zoos. Here is an ideal for your mico bubbles. I can not take credit for this ideal. I read it on the RC. Put a pvc T-fitting on your intake going to your sump. Have the one open end of the T-fitting in the water and the other pointed up in the air. This allows the air to go up and the water to go down.

 

[bheron]

Tyler - thanks - thats what I thought and was afraid of. Ihave to say , the more I look like it the more it might not be aptasia. WIll just have to continue to watch closely.

Airman - thanks. that sounds like it might work? I am planning on implementing a bubble trap like Melev designed. BUt maybe this will do the trick.

Since I dont have a camera right now, Marc, you asked for more pics of my sump. This is how it looked a few weeks ago. Right now, its the same except I have my euroreef skimmer in the inlet partition on the right, exactly next to the three pipes dumping water in.

Also, I've been inspecting my hippo tang some more. here's what I know:

1) the spots seemto be almost clear, or black. they appear white on his black stripe area, and clear and white on his blue area.

2) He's still not itching at all. Not once.

3) His appetite, demeanor, and activity level are the same as usual.

After some research in the disease forum, maybe its black ich. Or not ich at all.

And, for those interested, a shot of the little bugger who eats digital cameras...

So cute and harmless, right??

To be continued....

 

[melev]

They can let go and land elsewhere. It is my impression that each time I kill one it releases tiny babies in the process. I could be wrong, but that tends to be the end result of my vigilante practices.

The trick is to keep feeding all that you see with kalk paste on a daily basis, to reduce their population and hopefully stop them dead in their tracks. I should follow my own advice though. I tend to do it once, feel much better and don't deal with it for at least a month or more. Then there are many again and I get motivated to :uzi: them again.

 

[melev]

Your sump looks set up perfectly, and shouldn't result in microbubbles in that layout. Do you see microbubbles in the return section?

 

[bheron]

Thanks Marc. I'm gonna continue to monitor to see if this stuff really is Aptasia.

Thats good to know about the sump setup! Well, I dont see any bubbles in the return area - but I think I really need to get down there with a strong flashlight to inspect. Thanks.

 

[melev]

If you see nothing in the water there, then I would imagine your microbubbles are coming from either cavitation in the pump, a pinhole leak in your return plumbing, or from locline that isn't fully submerged.

 

[bheron]

whoa! whats that about the locline?? we could have a winner here people. Honestly, marc, that might be it!! Let me check that one first thing tonight.

Thanks!

 

[melev]

Just press those under water and see if the bubbles stop.

 

[simonmr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6223194#post6223194 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bheron
Hey tyler-



Here's how the water enters my sump today:

Actually, its changed since this pic. I now have a third inlet coming in (from holding tank) and also have a micron bag over the water coming in which definitely helps the bubbles.

this may be your problem even with the micron bag

 

[simonmr]

melev is faster on the respond draw

 

[glassbox-design]

tag'n this guy

 

[bheron]

Ok, I checked the loc lines and noticed:

- The one is about an inch submerged.

- The other was only 1/2 inch submerged and, while I didnt see any air bubbles per say, I did see alot of "vortexing" going on near it. Which leads me to beleive, on occasion, these vortexes drew air all the way into the tank.

So, I secured the 2nd one so its now about 1 inch submerged. No more vortexes from what I can see.

I have a feeling this was it. I'll know tomorrow night when I check after work.

will give an update then!

Thanks all.

 

[bheron]

Update - Well, I've fully submerged the loclines and the water hasnt cleared up. I'm beginning to think that its not mircobubbles, but just debris still needing to settle b/c of the high flow.

So, I'm going to give it more time I guess.

in the meantime, I'm still monitoring my Tang's case of Ich (Im pretty sure thats it, just not sure why/how it came out of nowhere).

And also going to give in and buy a large cleaner crew to keep this tank in its current shape, and to battle the green algae (I think its b/c of power of my lights).

 

[bheron]

Update:

Sorry not too much to report recently. And w/out a camera it makes it even tougher to post anything!

Anyway, here's some things going on:

- Ive decided I dont have aptasia. I think the two spots I see are just more sponges or worms. They havent grown and, for sure, I cant see anything spreading. So I'm pretty sure I dont have it!

- Ich: The case of Marine Ich is for real. Interesting, I've been doing alot of reading on the subject the past week and, I think, the ich was intorudced into my tank from some of the Live Rock I got from other people's tanks. I beleived it needed a "fish" host. But somepeople say they think it can stay in LR? Anyway, I will probably most likely wind up doing a whole QT process with my fish in the long run. In the short run, I'm gonna see if the only fish that has it (Hippo Tang) can fight it off into remission. Since I only have three fish, they wont be too much to catch if/when I QT them. Real bummer!!!

- Microbubbles: they're still an issue. And this is after I made sure my loc-lines were far enough below the surface. So...here's my latest theory on it: the Tunzes! yep, I notice that on occasion my Tunzes blow out a bunch of bubbles - definitely enought to cause what I see. I originally thought it was jsut a buildup of really small air bubbles and, over time, they would disintegrate into nothing. Well, I just saw another large bubble burts out of one of my tunzes tonight! They're definitely not drawing/sucking in air from the water surface. How else could air bubbles build up? Again, I thought it was just a collection of many microbubbles in the tank that built up inside the pump to a threshold and, eventually, get kicked out of the pump. I'm stumped on this one!

- Also, I have to cave and get a cleaner crew. My tank looks so nice and I want to keep it that way! Still have smal outbreaks of green hair algae here and there, but they eventually dissipate. I'd like to get a large cleaner crew now so that it will keep it under control and--- I can get my first coral! Especially if I have to QT my fish. But....I've been behaving and staying patient and havent bought any corals yet until I get my CC!

- Speaking of corals, I may have my first "unofficial" coral. It seems my YT has stopped nipping at that smal colony of tiny zoos I have on one piece of LR. So, slowly, they're beginning to grow and color! Too bad I dont have a camera.

- Guess thats it for now. WIll be making some minor improvements soon - those that dont cost $$$ - and will post updates when they happen.

 

[tgunn]

Bryan,

Good to hear there's no aptasia; this stuff keeps popping up in my tank now that I've got it. It must move around because in one day I had a huge aptasia anenome show up on a rock... Oh well, I keep injecting them with kalk; hopefully that's helping.. (sure makes for a dramatic death!)

From what I've read on ich the parasite can lay dormant in the tank anywhere for something like 2 weeks (it's lifecycle) without a host. I think that's why the standard QT is 4 week; 2 weeks for the parasite to lay dormant, and then another 2 weeks for it to possibly show up on a host...

So I guess it could come in on rock, or really anything for that matter.

I wouldn't be surprised if you some how get some microbubbles collecting from other sources in your tunzes and then burping into the impeller and causing a spray of more microbubbles. There's 6000 GPH going into the intake on my closed loop; I have a large cylinder screen on it and microbubbles bubbles some how collect at the TOP of the screen. They keep collecting from the tank until a larger bubble forms and occasionally gets sucked into the loop; causing a new spray of microbubbles.

Tyler

 

[bheron]

Yea, thats what I think's might be happening in mine. So they have to be originating somewhere!!! Or does it take them awile to slowly dissipate from the system. Hmmm. Thanks!