Out of Africa (picture intensive)

that's very cool :)

I have a blue spot in QT at present, he has made his way through the overflow to the tank below where it drains, then jumped over the partition to the tank beside it! these guys are like eels at escaping!
 
Kinlayan, your tank is so inspirational. Glad to see your jawfish is enjoying the new home... We would love to see some video of your tank.
 
Nice pictures of Muji. I am so glad to hear this has worked for you as we are getting ready to release a yellow head jawfish into the DT, and I am hoping to prepare a good spot for our little guy, too.
 
you mentioned that there is Ich in your tank, have you lost fish from it? does it appear when stress levels go up when adding new fish? how do you deal with it?
 
jpsika08- thank you!
auem- so true , thank you!
El richie- much appreciated!
prop-frags- thank you so much i will pop in a small poor quality iphone vid for you
8220- i will oblige ;)
Grace tank- you are very kind thank you!
TheFishTeen- Bandit is doing great you will see it in the iphone video, thanks!
Mrs. Music- they are incredible fish you will love them!
doork- update coming thanks!
Elliot- that is correct whitespot/ich is in my tank , it flares up from time to time but it hasnt to my knowledge ever killed any fish , they usually fight it off but a stressed fish shows it more than others
i deal with it on multiple fronts- good water quality, immune boosting nutrition, ozone and Uv sterilization and micron filtration all to reduce the number of parasites.fish that do die in my tank often dont show any signs of it, they develop immunities but the achilles and purple tang always has a little bit of it, i suspect they struggle to develop immunity to it.
 
Update it has been a while! Anyway as always this hobby has its ups and downs like most things in life,
Lets get the downs out of the way first, In October 2011 I noticed one day my regal angel who has been with me for over 10 years was not right, I couldn't put my finger on it but , you get to know your fish and she wasn't acting right over the next 2 months she became more reclusive and her appetite declined, her abdomen looked slightly swollen and her breathing labored, no other fish showed symptoms.
It was impossible to catch her as she spent most of the time in the caves. In December I went on a vacation and on Christmas day, The diligent tank sitters informed me that the body of the regal was stuck to a pump, when they tried to find it later it had vanished but I knew she was gone now. I found her half decomposed body 4 days later when I returned , I have no idea what killed her but I suspect it was an internal organ failure of some kind and not parasites but I will never know.
Regal angels remain one of my most favourite fish and I will likely have another in the future , I hope to find a healthy juvenile at some point again. This was my last picture of her while she was well.


DSC_2196 by Kinlayan, on Flickr

My Queen angel is also getting very old, been with me over 13 years and she has developed a fatty tumour on her upper lip looks like lymphocystis but im not sure it could also be the same kind of fatty tissue that many birdnose wrasse develop on their noses it looks very similar. I don't think this will heal but she is eating normally and otherwise in good health, getting old isn't for sissy's even where fish are concerned!


Queen angel lip by Kinlayan, on Flickr
 
On to the Upside , I have been steadily increasing my corals in the middle section, especially montipora species they appear to be doing well inspite of my high phosphate 0.1-0.2 and nitrates are at 10ppm -25ppm. I did lose my majority of fire coral I suspect it was combination of nipping especially from the bandit angel and lack of light one small piece is still doing ok in the brightest light. I also tried a frag of porites but the cowfish found it too tasty so it will have to stay in my side sections .
Turbinaria reniformis was also introduced with Pachyseris and all are doing well despite a minor bleaching on one coral due to me moving it higher in the light but that is now recovering well, none were attacked by any fish fortunately.
I also was very lucky to get a beautiful new fish with similar colours to my regal angel but of course a different family , here she is trying to act like my blue spotted jawfish “muji”.


copycat by Kinlayan, on Flickr

The feminus wrasse was not easy to quarantine , it developed swimbladder problems and wasn’t eating much dead food at all but it was enjoying the tiny brittle starfish I have living in my sump, methodically tearing them up as I introduced them to her quarantine container, she was treated with antibiotics –kanamycin, Diamox and dewormers- piperazine and praziquantel. After the quarantine she did appear thin but I am hoping she will pick up weight in the display as I have good quantities of live food in it including a sustainable population of live mysids, amphipods, brittle stars etc .


anampses wrasses by Kinlayan, on Flickr


anampses feminus by Kinlayan, on Flickr

She is not my only wrasse species, i do have Hawaii flame pair and a Guinea fowl (yellow tail)tamarin and mystery wrasse, no fish showed any aggression to her except the potters angel who chased her abit the first day, I was more concerned about the mystery wrasse as they can be nasty if they choose to be!


flame wrasse male by Kinlayan, on Flickr


flame wrasse pair by Kinlayan, on Flickr
 
Lastly maybe a coral genius can tell me what kind of coral species this is ? it came in on the live rock but is doing well was brown and turned brownish green over time not a fast grower though


coral id by Kinlayan, on Flickr
 
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