fraggleRocks
New member
Let me give you some background before I get to the good stuff...
I bought a 33 bare bottom prop tank that was well established for almost 3 years with a 20 gallon sump with DBS/Fuge/ separate compartment for LR. HOB overflow, A lot of nice biodiversity in the tank, zoos growing on the back wall, lots of beautiful diverse colors of coraline everywhere.
Got it as a package deal, just plug it all back up and I was set.
Bonus score, I also got a bunch of nice frags included with the sale. everything from the same tank and the guys main DT.
Brought it home with no problems...its been about a month now and I added 3 kinds of SPS (there were no sps in the 33 when i bought it). My SPS frags were pest free.
Along the way I have now found:
-AEFW's both clear and brown
-Chitons
-Nudi branch eggs (white sticky sacks) on a monti (no nudi branches found...yet)
-Yellow eggs on the base bottom side of the SPS frag (from the aefw's i think)
-And finally...Red bugs. But they are odd red bugs, they dont hang out on the acros (1 of the acros is smooth) they only hang out around the zoas on the back wall (who also dont look too happy, though none have died yet). I studied them under my microscope, I just dont have the ability to post a pic from my 'scope to the comp. Doesnt look like the typical "sps red bug". these are actually red, not yellow or orange.
no wait...remembered another one. a few of my zoa colonies are suffering, and ive repetedly found some asterina starfish directly ON THE ZOA STALK... I also have a nice theory on which ones are the "good" asterinas and which ones are the evil little boogers. Ive noticed the lighter colored ones (white, cream) are harmless to the zoas, and the only culprits have been ones with faint bluish or greenish tint on the top side of them.
Okay, so tomorow i'm arming myself with a crapload of stuff. Revive, Flatworm Exit, Interceptor (my dogs vet should be able to help out here), and Lugols dip.
I know how to go about dipping the various corals, but here is the question: I want to treat the main system. I dont want this kind of problem coming back anytime soon. can i just treat the whole damn tank and corals together? I have a few softies, a candy cane that i found some nudi eggs right on the lobe of one of the heads, a bunch of zoas, some palys, some lps and some sps. Everything except the yumas are showing signs of parasites and distress. Even the chilli coral has a freakin hole in the side of it (looks like a worm hole) though it has polyp extension every night and isnt showing any visible signs of distress.
I know the invertebrates will be killed in the process of dosing the dt, but the damn asterina stars had it coming.
or If I just check them into the fuge afterwards will they still make it back to the dt?
The DBS is pushing 3 years anyway, and the LR is is sitting right on top of it. essentially I wanted to just remove and replace the dbs completely with new aragonite sand (hopefully re-use the LR, but how would I treat it without killing the coraline?). Could I just add more layers of aragonite sand to the already established DBS? I would have the move some of the LR though, as a lot of it is directly on top of it, wouldnt this be a big no-no?
I just want the opinion of others who may have already gone through this. I dont mind sending all the corals (and the lone pair of clowns) to QT for an extended period of time if thats what will be needed to erradicate the problems.
I read an article written by a very reputable man in this hobby, and how he treated his DT, I just dont remember where I found the thread!
Any input would be very much appreciated. Please only comment on a solution if you know exactly what you are saying. I dont mean to be rude, but everybodys 2 cents of what MIGHT work is only going to complicate this a little more and i'm already quite overwhelmed as it is
. A friend of a friend of a guy said he....doesnt count 
I would just love to hear from the people who have had direct experience with this, and thier solution and success rate if possible, please
I can also provide pictures of everything, if anybody wants some, tomorow.
God ive almost written a book....PLEASE HELP! :eek1:
I bought a 33 bare bottom prop tank that was well established for almost 3 years with a 20 gallon sump with DBS/Fuge/ separate compartment for LR. HOB overflow, A lot of nice biodiversity in the tank, zoos growing on the back wall, lots of beautiful diverse colors of coraline everywhere.
Got it as a package deal, just plug it all back up and I was set.
Bonus score, I also got a bunch of nice frags included with the sale. everything from the same tank and the guys main DT.
Brought it home with no problems...its been about a month now and I added 3 kinds of SPS (there were no sps in the 33 when i bought it). My SPS frags were pest free.
Along the way I have now found:
-AEFW's both clear and brown
-Chitons
-Nudi branch eggs (white sticky sacks) on a monti (no nudi branches found...yet)
-Yellow eggs on the base bottom side of the SPS frag (from the aefw's i think)
-And finally...Red bugs. But they are odd red bugs, they dont hang out on the acros (1 of the acros is smooth) they only hang out around the zoas on the back wall (who also dont look too happy, though none have died yet). I studied them under my microscope, I just dont have the ability to post a pic from my 'scope to the comp. Doesnt look like the typical "sps red bug". these are actually red, not yellow or orange.
no wait...remembered another one. a few of my zoa colonies are suffering, and ive repetedly found some asterina starfish directly ON THE ZOA STALK... I also have a nice theory on which ones are the "good" asterinas and which ones are the evil little boogers. Ive noticed the lighter colored ones (white, cream) are harmless to the zoas, and the only culprits have been ones with faint bluish or greenish tint on the top side of them.
Okay, so tomorow i'm arming myself with a crapload of stuff. Revive, Flatworm Exit, Interceptor (my dogs vet should be able to help out here), and Lugols dip.
I know how to go about dipping the various corals, but here is the question: I want to treat the main system. I dont want this kind of problem coming back anytime soon. can i just treat the whole damn tank and corals together? I have a few softies, a candy cane that i found some nudi eggs right on the lobe of one of the heads, a bunch of zoas, some palys, some lps and some sps. Everything except the yumas are showing signs of parasites and distress. Even the chilli coral has a freakin hole in the side of it (looks like a worm hole) though it has polyp extension every night and isnt showing any visible signs of distress.
I know the invertebrates will be killed in the process of dosing the dt, but the damn asterina stars had it coming.
or If I just check them into the fuge afterwards will they still make it back to the dt?
The DBS is pushing 3 years anyway, and the LR is is sitting right on top of it. essentially I wanted to just remove and replace the dbs completely with new aragonite sand (hopefully re-use the LR, but how would I treat it without killing the coraline?). Could I just add more layers of aragonite sand to the already established DBS? I would have the move some of the LR though, as a lot of it is directly on top of it, wouldnt this be a big no-no?
I just want the opinion of others who may have already gone through this. I dont mind sending all the corals (and the lone pair of clowns) to QT for an extended period of time if thats what will be needed to erradicate the problems.
I read an article written by a very reputable man in this hobby, and how he treated his DT, I just dont remember where I found the thread!
Any input would be very much appreciated. Please only comment on a solution if you know exactly what you are saying. I dont mean to be rude, but everybodys 2 cents of what MIGHT work is only going to complicate this a little more and i'm already quite overwhelmed as it is
. A friend of a friend of a guy said he....doesnt count I would just love to hear from the people who have had direct experience with this, and thier solution and success rate if possible, please I can also provide pictures of everything, if anybody wants some, tomorow.
God ive almost written a book....PLEASE HELP! :eek1:
