illumnae's SPS shallow reef
- Thread starter illumnae
- Start date
things are so stable now... it's just the thought of aefw in the tank that gets to me
Piper27
I love bengals
Aefw are not that bad when things are stable and you have a controller in the tank, either you with a baster or shrimp or fish or all of the above. Flatworm stop really helps with the damage and amount of them in the tank. I am hoping that a true in tank treatments comes out soon so people who have them and collectors can be relieved because it's not as fun reefing when you have pests. I would keep things going, especially with the new radion lenses thoes things look amazing, and that's saying something coming from me!
Piper27
I love bengals
I would keep dosing but cut back the reef actif and other carbon source until you can find a Ballance in nutrients with no fish. I would have some nitrate and phosphate on hand too since you are carbon dosing. And I would use a mixture of oysterfeast reef roids and some very good amino and vitamins supplements, even adding some selcon in the mix will be a good idea. It will help the sps with a feeding response. Hopefully you don't have to cut back on the carbon sources too much, too quickly, would think things might go down hill from there. Good luck! Love the tank.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
In the absence of fish, your corals will start to look pale due to lack of nitrogen. As suggested above, there is perhaps a good case to stop bacto-balance, but I would continue with Reef Actif, albeit with a reduced dose.
I am personally not convinced that reef roids are digested by acroporids. I would use either KZ Pohl's Coral Vitalizer (or Salifert Coral food) or Salifert Coralline amino acids (or KZ Amino Acids) to provide the much needed nitrogen and phosphorus.
I am personally not convinced that reef roids are digested by acroporids. I would use either KZ Pohl's Coral Vitalizer (or Salifert Coral food) or Salifert Coralline amino acids (or KZ Amino Acids) to provide the much needed nitrogen and phosphorus.
Thanks for the advice! Things are definitely looking amazing, but even after a few months of Flatworm Stop and adding fish to eat the aefw, I still have to throw away approximately 1-2 colonies every month. There's definitely a reduction in the destructiveness of the pest, but it's still ongoing, just at a slower rate. All my friends who have seen my tank personally find it a pity/waste that I have to tear everything down to dip, but I feel that it's the only long term solution.
I do happen to have a bottle of KZ Coral Vitalizer that my friend gave to me to try out. I haven't opened it yet, but perhaps now's the time! I also have Oyster Feast in the fridge and Selcon in my fish food cabinet that I can dose into the tank even without any fish. Hopefully with these 3 food sources and reduced Bacto Balance dosage, the tank will continue to maintain the same low but not too low nutrient levels. I have Calcium Nitrate crystals that I can dose as well. Worst case scenario, I can ghost feed the tank too.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Can you please remind me the name of the Caribsea sand you are using? (the heavier grade one)
3 hours of back breaking work last Saturday and everything is torn down and the first dip done. Aside from being exhausted, I was also pretty grossed out at all the dead aefw floating around. A couple of them adhered to my arm as I was swirling corals around in the dipping tub... ugh!
The bad news is one of my favourite colonies has started to stn. I cut a few large frags from it hoping they'll make it. The good news is almost everything else looks salvageable. Most of the colonies are displaying good pe.
This Saturday will be dip #2 plus catching all the fish out to qt.
Quick question: is there a reason for the 6 week treatment instead of 5 or 7 weeks?
The bad news is one of my favourite colonies has started to stn. I cut a few large frags from it hoping they'll make it. The good news is almost everything else looks salvageable. Most of the colonies are displaying good pe.
This Saturday will be dip #2 plus catching all the fish out to qt.
Quick question: is there a reason for the 6 week treatment instead of 5 or 7 weeks?
Piper27
I love bengals
Five works but people like extra dips just to make sure an egg wasn't missed or a worm got through in the beginning. I would do five dips just because I have a lot of experience with them and know how to do the dip process confidently. Good luck!
I have the habit of basting every acro in the tank twice a week or more. It really keeps corals health up with or without flatworms. I would even care to bet that with flatworm stop and basting it's possible to eliminate aefw from a tank. But only if the colonies are smaller and easily reachable.
I have the habit of basting every acro in the tank twice a week or more. It really keeps corals health up with or without flatworms. I would even care to bet that with flatworm stop and basting it's possible to eliminate aefw from a tank. But only if the colonies are smaller and easily reachable.
Thank you! Reason I asked is because I'm away most of the day on the day of the 6th dip. Was wondering if I needed to still go ahead with the dip at night or if I could end at 5. I'm not as familiar with dipping so I'm not so confident. Maybe on week 6 I'll dip once on Tuesday and once on Sunday to play safe.
Man, if I miss out one after all this and the infestation comes back I think I'm throwing in the towel and going back to keeping discus! Maybe Heckel discus eh, Bulent?
Man, if I miss out one after all this and the infestation comes back I think I'm throwing in the towel and going back to keeping discus! Maybe Heckel discus eh, Bulent?
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
If I were to keep discus again, it would have to be S. discus heckel.
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DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
I have received a tub of FM Ultra Phos. Instructions clearly say "do not rinse the material". "For a slower adsorption rinse the filled filter bag with osmotic water before use."
On the other hand, Seachem PhosGuard instructions clearly instruct users to rinse and soak the media before use.
I find this confusing. What do you do with your FM Ultra Phos media?
On the other hand, Seachem PhosGuard instructions clearly instruct users to rinse and soak the media before use.
I find this confusing. What do you do with your FM Ultra Phos media?
I used to keep Heckel discus from the Unini and Paunini rivers. They were very blue, much like the famous "blue moon" heckels from Nhamunda.
2018-02-15_06-53-01 by Yi Xiang Lye, on FlickrI don't rinse my Ultra Phos. I find it cleaner with less fines than the Seachem media. It also adsorbs alot more phosphate per ml than the Seachem media.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
I used to keep Heckel discus from the Unini and Paunini rivers. They were very blue, much like the famous "blue moon" heckels from Nhamunda.
Oh man, this is a delightful picture. Thanks for sharing. It has brought back memories. My discus fish looked a little different compared to yours in that they did not have much "blue face". Also, I kept wild-caught Altum angels.
Thanks for your reply. Looking back nine years ago, I must have followed the instructions because I do not remember any rinsing of the media. A 1000-ml tub of Ultra Phios arrived yesterday from Germany. I am going to replace PhosGuard with UltraPhos probably today. It is a real pain to remove all the dust from PhosGuard. It is just as bad Sachem Matrix carbon.
I used to be a South American cichlid nut. I also had blue/brown discus from Curuai, Alum angels, Atabapo and Tapajos pike cichlid pairs, panda uarus, various eartheaters and plenty of apistogramma. I really have to say those days were much more smooth sailing than when I switched to reefing!
I use Fauna Marin carbon as well. It does have to be rinsed but a lot less than Seachem.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
I find reefkeeping much more rewarding snd stimulating as I developed a vast knowledge base. In discus keeping, parameters are much more smaller and so are the scope of learning.
I use Vertex Rox 0.8 carbon, which is almost dust free.
Vertex Rox 0.8 isn't easily available to me unfortunately.
I did my 2nd weekly dip yesterday. Took 1.5 hours including catching all the fish out to qt. I start the clock for fallow tomorrow and will do 12 weeks. There were still aefw flying off the sps this week, but noticeably less and smaller. I also saw what looked like unhatched eggs but will see again next week to be sure.
Luckily for me, despite using the harsher KCl as my dip of choice, the sps are not reacting badly to it. I've not had to adjust my calcium reactor at all and kh is still maintaining. I had expected consumption to drop during this period. PE is actually better than before the first dip.
I really hope this whole exercise is worth it.
I did my 2nd weekly dip yesterday. Took 1.5 hours including catching all the fish out to qt. I start the clock for fallow tomorrow and will do 12 weeks. There were still aefw flying off the sps this week, but noticeably less and smaller. I also saw what looked like unhatched eggs but will see again next week to be sure.
Luckily for me, despite using the harsher KCl as my dip of choice, the sps are not reacting badly to it. I've not had to adjust my calcium reactor at all and kh is still maintaining. I had expected consumption to drop during this period. PE is actually better than before the first dip.
I really hope this whole exercise is worth it.
Thank you!
So I just completed my 3rd dip. Is it normal to still be finding aefw eggs at this stage? I found 2 colonies with eggs - one had only a few eggs and what looked like recovering bite marks, while the other had 2 big patches of eggs and many fresh bite marks. I glued over the eggs on the first one and threw away the other one. In the dip tub there were still dead flatworms floating around, but less than weeks 1 and 2.
Is this normal or did I mess up somehow?
