Almost Ready to Order Dwarves!

[Franco724]

Hello everyone.

My 10gal Dwarf Seahorse tank has been set up for almost 5 weeks now and the conditions seem stable. The tank water is still slightly cloudy but the Green Star Poylps that I've had for about 48 hours are already 25% open. So things must be getting stable. The tank is set up with pea gravel, a faux coral skeleton, and some plastic plants (no live rock or live sand). I have the brine shrimp hatcheries set up and have hatched a test batch perfectly.

Now my question is hydroids. Since i have these polyps I'm afraid that hydroids have been introduced to the tank with them. After acclimation with the coral I dipped it in freshwater for about 30 seconds, though that probably didn't do much. What do you guys think?

Perhaps it would be a wise idea to treat the tank with Fluke Tabs before I order these horses (planning to order around mid-april)? I heard this is an efficient way to rid of hydroids and easier than the dosage and water changes with panacur ...

Thanks in advance for the help - I just want to make sure the tank is alright before I order the horses. With my luck I'd order them and have hydroids kill them.

- Franco

 

[timinnl]

Greetings from Amsterdam Franco,

May I suggest using dry base rock & carbribsea coral sand. I am afraid with the pea gravel you do not have a natural way to buffer your PH. Also would it be possible for you to rehouse the GSP into a hospital tank tank. Double check to make sure the fluke away is safe to use. Otherwise you could end up killing the GSP.

Normally cycling a tank takes 6 to 12 weeks depending on the method you use.

Kind Regards,

Tim

 

[Franco724]

I do plan to get some base rock probably this weekend. So the coral isn't sitting on the gravel. I test my water twice a week and the PH has been constant at 8.0 so I'm not worried about that and I have PH buffer on hand. And i do not have any other tanks that the coral could be moved to, so it's stuck staying either way.

I want to make sure I have hydroids before i go ahead with the Fluke Away or Panacur. Anyone have any opinions or a sure fire way to see if there are any?

 

[timinnl]

Panacur is toxic to the coral & most of the cuc you might want to put into the tank later. It has a very long lasting effect in the tank. Please read this. http://forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=37207

Surefire way to check for hydroids is to feed the tank a little bit of baby brine shrimp daily for a week. Within the week if you have hydroids you will see it. This also works for any macroalgae you want to put into the tank.

Best of luck.