Couple random questions that need answers!

m0nkie

Well-known member
Hi folks.. I got a few random questions that I need some answers.. pretty random but it's been bothering me..

1) Chiller issue. maybe just my luck, but my 1/3 and 1/4 JBJ chiller broke this summer. multiple times.. all similar issue. Temp Probe gone wrong, or Temp relay gone wrong, or Temp controller..

Do I need to give chiller lots of empty space around them to cool? I left some space in front and behind the chiller (the vents areas). The chiller itself is squished in between my cabinet and tank stand. Is this the reason why my chillers are dying left and right? Or just my luck...

2) Flukes.. What is the fallow period for Flukes? 1 month good enough

3) Inferno BTA anemone hates my tank I'm having trouble keeping Infernos.. I have 3 different colors of BTA in my tank. everyone is doing fine but the inferno. tank is about 2 years old.

Kessil A360WE: ramped to 40% intensity max. 40% color (blue). 8am-6pm
Kessil A150 Deep Blue: 100%. 8am-10pm.
Alk: ~9
Calc: 450
Mag: 1450
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: recently shot up to 50... found out my vinegar dosing tube was bad. So switched that up and now slowly getting down to ~15.

symptoms.. while all other BTA are doing great. the inferno keeps pooping out zoo at night. only at night. during the day it's fully expanded. sticky. eating.. I've had this one for almost a month now. He started expelling zoo at night recently. This exact same thing happened to my last inferno. It died after 3 months of shrinking..

I thought my last inferno died due to bad light acclimation. I had my kessils at 80% intensity. It was weird because my other BTAs (even ones introduced AFTER the inferno) were doing great. this inferno started with 40% intensity.

It expel zoo every single night . fully expands during the day..

Any suggestions on what to do? If this keeps up for another few weeks, I am going to move him to my 6 month old 150 gallon under T5 lighting. hopefully a new environment can save it? or shall I attempt treating in a QT? (i am not very confident with)

thanks guys!

there's good months and bad months.. this summer has been pretty rough for my tanks. With my chillers still not working, I'm keeping my room at 70 degrees to keep the tanks cool. freeeeeeeeeeezing my arse off
 
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1. can't help/no experience.
2. I don't know of any studies about life cycle of flukes but I think 4-6 weeks should be enough if they reproduce like Cryptocaryon.
3. I would stop feeding the inferno to start with. Also, have you tried not dosing vinegar for a week or two just to see if that help?
I wish you the best of luck.
 
If you have the AC keeping the room at 80 degree, I would think having strong fan(s) blowing across the surface of the water is enough to keep the tank at 78 degree.
 
my tank has a glass top for now (I will remove as soon as I make the mesh screen top).. but keeping my room at 70 keeps the tank running at 82 daily. crazy! i tried 75 room temperature and my tank shot up to 84..
 
even if you have a glass top blowing air towards your tank with a fan will cool your tank over time.
 
thanks guys. I have stopped feeding the anemones since it started pooping zoo again..

I just started vinegar dosing last week after checking my nitrate. anemone started expelling zoo before I dosed vinegar. I thought maybe the issue was high nitrate. I've been doing large WC weekly to lower it.

I don't think vinegar is the issue because my last inferno died and I was not dosing vinegar.
 
even if you have a glass top blowing air towards your tank with a fan will cool your tank over time.

ok. I'll install another fan in the sump and keep cabinet open.. temperature isn't too much of an issue because I can solve it with money.. I'm so frustrated with the anemone.. I can't find the cause

I wear a thick jacket in my room.. lol
 
Try the mesh top and put the fan blowing across the water surface and you will be surprised how good that turns out. The A/C also take out the humidity in the room which makes the fans work very efficiently.
ATO will kick in more often also as evaporation for sure will increase

i tried 75 room temperature and my tank shot up to 84..
 
What type of pump do you have? Some put out lots of heat and I'm not sure about your tank and what you have.
 
What type of pump do you have? Some put out lots of heat and I'm not sure about your tank and what you have.

150gal
Marine Aqua DC Pump 9000
MP40 WQD
Gyre 150
ATI 8 bulb (this thing melts everything nearby.. lol)

my 100 gallon tank, located 2 feet away, has mesh top.. runs at 77 with my current room temperature
2 WP40
Sicce Syncra 5 pump
4 Kessils
 
Anyone have any clue on what to do with the nem? I posted this in the nem forum a month back trying to save my last inferno.. no luck.

as of now:
-No more feeding
-extra water change
-lower nitrate (I'll stop vinegar dosing again as soon as I reach desirable nitrate)

thinking about:
-switch tank? complete environment change when it's still healthy
-treat? I have the medication and QT ready. but never done it before on nems.

I've also read stories of other people who can't seem to keep infernos.. could there be something in this anemone that's very different from other color'd morphs?
 
here's how it looks now. It stays this way all day. Can't even tell something is wrong. (except the tentacles are shorter than before). When it's close to light off time, it starts expelling zoo.. purple/brownish poo.

my last inferno took 3 months to die. expelling zoo until it had no more tentacles.. just a flat round piece. then it hid under a cave and died
I'll get a photo in a few hours.

20150904_181635_zpsgwti4yjb.jpg
 
Tony, maybe I missed it but I see you posted that you keep having problems with infernos and you're having one again, it takes several weeks of this phenomenon and they die but I don't think I see you've posted when you actually received this nem.

This is a posting from another forum in regards to a green bta doing the same thing:

"Anemones don't poo brown stuff unless they eat something brown. They don't have dead blood cells, or bile from a liver to turn their poo brown. Like Chalkoutline said, they only poo what wasn't digested. Like bones, scales, and exoskeletons. The brown stuff that's often discharged from anemones, and coral, is actually zooxanthellae (The algae that lives within them.) This is very common with newly introduced critters. If the anemone came from a low light environment, it's likely to have a large population of zooxanthellae. The anemone can't survive in a brighter lit environment with such a large population. It must discharge a portion. This is what we see as brown nasty looking stuff coming out of the mouth. Many hobbyists simply brush this off as being poo, and don't give it another thought. This can be a big mistake. The animal is stressed and trying to make adjustments to alleviate that stress. If the stress continues, the relationship between the anemone and its zooxanthellae can break down, causing the anemone to discharge all of its zooxanthellae. In other words, it bleaches. It's important for us to determine why its discharging such a large portion of its zooxanthellae and fix the problem. Most of the time, its a simple case of reducing the amount of light the anemone is exposed to."

With other nems doing fine it also makes it more frustrating because it leads us to believes are tank conditions are fine but we can't assume that because every animal is different. For instance, I've had Cali tort do well but I've lost every Oregon tort. You ever had one kind of milli thrive and other Millis not. Same with Zoas. I don't know what the environmental issue is but I think it's safe to assume that there's an environmental issue
 
Many reefers have used prazipro in their display successfully without any livestock losses. Sorry that doesnt answer your question though. ;)
 
thanks! I think my clown had flukes. I QT'd for ich only and my anthias was showing signs of Flukes. I already caught all the fish and doing Prazi in the QT.

Rik, thanks! It is expelling zoo. I've had this new inferno for about 1 month now. My last inferno died after 3 months. Lighting was too strong (kessil at 80% intensity).

However, this inferno came from someone who had Radion LED. I have my Kessil at 40% intensity now.

Since it only expel zoo at night time. Maybe my 13hr light schedule is too long? I lowered my Kessil to 30% and reduced it by 3 hours. I'll see how it goes
 
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Hey Tony,

One thing you can try is to keep the Inferno in another tank w/o anemones. I know you're saying they're all BTAs, but it's possible there are still some chemical warfare going on. The symptoms are similar to what I have when I mix Giganteas with BTAs....for me the BTAs always lose and die off.

I have the A/C on at 78 and have two small fans blowing into my sump either when the lights are on or if it's warmer 24 hours a day during the summer. That usually keeps the water temp under 80.

Hope that helps.
 
It's been another week. So far no improvements. I stopped the vinegar dosing first. Increased water change. Then I slowly decreased the light intensity down to 30%. no signs of improvement.

Currently it's doing its nightly zoo expelling. The nem is not as bright as it used to be. I'll wait till it's fully expanded and remove the nem. going to switch to the ATI tank with no other anemones around.
 
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