Herbert T. Kornfeld
In Memoriam
Well, My croceas have been doing fine, going on 18 months now. I never thought they were growing, but when I looked at old photos I suppose they have!
All of a sudden, the 4 of them all closed up and have retracted into their shells. They used to all stay out 24/7. They dont appear to be that worse off, but Im starting to get worried...its been 3 days now of this. They appear responsive.
Recently, I was battling a case of organics because my SPS were browning out. I think it was just the tank cycling however, as all my fuzzy black algae has disappeared, my nitrates and phosphates have gone to 0, or near that (less than 1 of either). My SPS have all colored back in (wow, my purple milli is awesome looking!), and through it all my clams have been nothing but very happy. I am also running more carbon and phosguard 24/7.
The only things that have changed since my tank has seemingly improved are this:
The red flatworm population has gotten a little out of hand. I did do a flatworm exit treatment on them last night in case they were in some way bothering the clams. Odd, I thought they were supposed to go bye-bye when organics go down...guess not.
I added a kalk reactor in the past month. Sometimes it doses after mixing and more white kalk powder gets into the tank. I just need to adjust the reactor more. For now, I have turned it off until things get back to normal.
The other day, I noticed the bicolor blenny taking a swipe at one of the clams. He didnt actually get anything...might have just been algae...but would clams close up permanently like this is they were getting harassed...even if it meant not getting sunlight? The blenny isnt really nasty, and none of them look nipped on the edges...
I have noticed that the clams have all added a layer of calcium to their shells in the last week as well...could their retraction just be for calcium formation?
The odd thing is that on the first day, one was retracted all day and the others were fine. Then, they all were retracted. Then yesterday, the one that retracted first was back out during the day.
Their behavior is confusing me. Anyone have any insight? What should I be looking for? To me it would seem that if something with chemistry were wrong, my SPS would be showing it first, like in the past. Is that correct?
All of a sudden, the 4 of them all closed up and have retracted into their shells. They used to all stay out 24/7. They dont appear to be that worse off, but Im starting to get worried...its been 3 days now of this. They appear responsive.
Recently, I was battling a case of organics because my SPS were browning out. I think it was just the tank cycling however, as all my fuzzy black algae has disappeared, my nitrates and phosphates have gone to 0, or near that (less than 1 of either). My SPS have all colored back in (wow, my purple milli is awesome looking!), and through it all my clams have been nothing but very happy. I am also running more carbon and phosguard 24/7.
The only things that have changed since my tank has seemingly improved are this:
The red flatworm population has gotten a little out of hand. I did do a flatworm exit treatment on them last night in case they were in some way bothering the clams. Odd, I thought they were supposed to go bye-bye when organics go down...guess not.
I added a kalk reactor in the past month. Sometimes it doses after mixing and more white kalk powder gets into the tank. I just need to adjust the reactor more. For now, I have turned it off until things get back to normal.
The other day, I noticed the bicolor blenny taking a swipe at one of the clams. He didnt actually get anything...might have just been algae...but would clams close up permanently like this is they were getting harassed...even if it meant not getting sunlight? The blenny isnt really nasty, and none of them look nipped on the edges...
I have noticed that the clams have all added a layer of calcium to their shells in the last week as well...could their retraction just be for calcium formation?
The odd thing is that on the first day, one was retracted all day and the others were fine. Then, they all were retracted. Then yesterday, the one that retracted first was back out during the day.
Their behavior is confusing me. Anyone have any insight? What should I be looking for? To me it would seem that if something with chemistry were wrong, my SPS would be showing it first, like in the past. Is that correct?
