Weeds

Michael, do not give up on the gorg yet. I have seen them do that and still recover, they can be funny that way.
 
Well, here's hoping that it makes a recovery in spite of how bad it looks. That will be a bummer if it does not make it cause I think it would be a cool addition.
 
Guess who decided to move hidey holes? My one remaining Barnacle Blenny has relocated from the back wall, where she was all but invisible, to a prime location in an actual barnacle. Right in front. Sometimes they go back to their old homes, so I had to snap a pic, before she changes her mind.

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Welcome back to primetime, Belinda!

Scarlett is still doing well in QT. I noticed today that she has been working on the tank glass film algae, which is good. She's still as timid as ever, but I think she'll loosen up once she has some neighbors, in the display.

There has been some communication and confusion with KP Aquatics regarding the grammas, and I decided last night to cancel my order. They weren't able to get six small ones similar in size, so I gave up. However, this morning they emailed me back, saying they were getting more tonight and should have what I wanted, so I told them to go ahead and ship them to me. SO! After giving up on the idea of having a harem of Royal Grammas, it looks like it's going to happen after all. Rollercoaster!


QT30
 
I only have 1 barnacle blenny too but Barney, has always taken up residence in a coco worm tube that faces the front of the tank. It's great because I can always see his cute little face staring right at me when I look in the tank. Maybe yours will stay put so you can continue to enjoy her. I hope so.

I am glad that Scarlett has done so well in QT. I think that you are right about her relaxing once she gets in your tank and not acting so timid.

So when do you expect KP to ship the grammas? Today maybe????
 
Well, she's back in the back wall. It's okay. I know where she is, so I know where to look.

No word yet from KP.

QT31
 
KP Aquatics has shipped my order! Now I will get psyched up for acclimating six Royal Grammas. The last time I did it, I remember it was stressful, but successful. Six different vessels is a lot to keep up with, throughout the process.

I'm excited for the upcoming transformation of my tank. More than doubling the number of fish will do that. Up until now, my focus has been almost entirely on the plants. Now things will shift a little, but still the overall ecosystem has priority.

I should think about what things I can do to accommodate the new fish, before they finish their quarantine. I was thinking of getting more pods and also adding coarse crushed coral to provide refuge and structure for them. But before I do that, I should get my grasses transplanted. And before I do that, I should remove the shoal grass! Oh yeah, I also need to crop the Caulerpa back, so they can find their caves. It's like pealing an onion…
 
The grammas are here. I'm in the process of acclimating them to the quarantine tank's hypo salinity water. We're just about there. Maybe another half hour. Then I'll get them in, and get them started with General Cure.

I decided to use just two buckets for acclimation, since I figured they all came in basically the same water. I put three in each bucket. I put a bunch of Caulerpa in there for them to hide in and feel secure. There are tons of pods zipping around, so if any of them get hungry…

They sent me five small fish and one larger one. This should work out perfectly, as no-one will feel the need to assert dominance, with one fish obviously larger. They should settle right into their respective roles of a harem. In v1 it took months for one to emerge as the dominant male. So there was a lot of bickering and challenging. I expect these guys to 'come to an agreement' without too much fuss.

Also in my order was another, different gorgonian and a smallish tree sponge. I got them into the display after floating their bags for a half hour. I think the Candelabra gorgonian is a goner. It's lost a lot of flesh and none of the remaining looks alive either. I'll keep it in for a while longer, to see if any of it makes it, but it doesn't look good.
 
Hooray for grammas arriving safe and sound! That is nice that the bigger one should emerge as the alpha. Exciting times.

How does CO weather look? We just had some awesome unseasonably warm weather, today was probably 70! I hear that is ending tomorrow and we will be more in the mid 40s after Friday. I got a lot of yard work done these last 3 days however. What do you think the optimal temperature to ship marine life is?
 
We've gotten some snow and we're expecting more, possibly a lot. It's good. We need the water. We had some warmer weather last week. I got some bike rides in. Now I'll be back on the skis.

The new grammas have been hiding in the rocks mostly. I'm hoping they'll venture out more tomorrow. The new gorgonian already has it's polyps out. I target fed the new sponge with some phytoplankton. I'll feed the gorg tomorrow.

Good question about shipping temps. Maybe in the 70s? I look forward to trading!
 
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Today I was finally able to account for all six grammas. I fed them some frozen mysis and cyclops. That got them out a bit more, so I could count them. One looks to have a swim bladder issue, as she has to swim downwards. She seems fine otherwise. I'm hoping she'll get past it, but I'm not sure that will happen. She's eating well so I'm hopeful. The largest one hasn't been very aggressive, but I've seen it 'encourage' a small one to retreat into the rock work. I'll keep an eye on that. I want to make sure everyone gets enough to eat. If he becomes an issue, I'll move him into the last remaining quarantine tank. That's a last resort though. I don't want another fish to decide she wants to be Big Daddy. So I think it's best to keep them altogether.

Today I started them on General Cure, in addition to the already established hypo salinity. Second dosage goes in Saturday.

The new gorgonian got knocked over, so I decided to superglue it to a rock. Not long after putting it back in the tank, it's polyps were popping out again. So I target fed it some rotifers, waited awhile, then fed it again, when more polyps were out. This gorg gives me a much better feeling than the candelabra, which looks completely toast.

QT33
QT2
 
Hopefully the big gramma does not turn into a bully. I never have had any luck with swim bladder issues. Maybe one of the meds you are using in QT will help?

Great news about the new gorg. Sorry to hear that the candalabra isn't coming around.
 
Thanks Dawn. Thanks ThePurple12.

I studied up on the swim bladder thing, and one possible cure is antibiotics, so I'll do that after General Cure is done. I think the big guy will do okay.

It's great to have six grammas. I guess it's the 'tetra effect'. One is nice, but six is fantastic!

The new gorg looks to be doing well. Now that I have it glued to a rock, I'll leave it alone and let it settle in. I'm thinking I'll be investing in some Reef Roids for it. I'm not sure if the rotifers are small enough for it's small polyps. It seems like they would be.
 
Thanks Dawn. Thanks ThePurple12.

I studied up on the swim bladder thing, and one possible cure is antibiotics, so I'll do that after General Cure is done. I think the big guy will do okay.

It's great to have six grammas. I guess it's the 'tetra effect'. One is nice, but six is fantastic!

The new gorg looks to be doing well. Now that I have it glued to a rock, I'll leave it alone and let it settle in. I'm thinking I'll be investing in some Reef Roids for it. I'm not sure if the rotifers are small enough for it's small polyps. It seems like they would be.
 
Which antibiotic are you using? I had pretty good luck with triple sulfa. I had quite a pharmacy with the seahorses and still have multiple antibiotics on hand. Anyway, for what it is worth seahorses always responded best to the triple sulfa and furan 2.
 
Erythromycin. Good to know, Dawn, thanks. Triple sulfa and Furan2.

I'll stick with this, since I have it on hand, but I appreciate the input. I'll try one of those next time I need to buy some.
 
One of benefits of having live rock is finding new stuff almost everyday. I love combing over it with my magnifying glass. Today was particularly productive. I spotted two different, tiny red macros. They're less than an inch tall. It will be fascinating to watch them grow. One looks possibly to be Halymenia elongata, while the other looks like nothing I know of, with slender, oval leaves.

I noted that the new tree sponge was showing oscula that weren't visible yesterday. So naturally I target fed it. I went ahead and fed the new gorgonian as well. I'm hoping to improve my dismal record with store-bought gorgs and sponges.

I also spotted some new air bladders on the tallest stem of Sargassum. This is pretty exciting and points to taller growth. It would be amazing to get it growing to the surface.

Scarlett continues to be cryptic in quarantine. She appears to be ready for primetime whenever I'm ready. That will depend on the Royal Grammas. They're still pretty shy about coming out of the rock work, but they're not nearly as skittish as Scarlett.

We're expecting a pretty heavy snow event around here this weekend. Hopefully we won't lose power. I'd like to get my hands wet and putz around with the tank.
 
Sounds like exciting things are happening with the 'Weeds' tank with new macros appearing and QT fish doing pretty well. I think I have used erithomycin as well years ago. I have some in my fish pharmaceudicals.

Good luck with getting snow. It sounds like it's more winter like in CO than here in PA. Dave and I cut and stacked firewood, and burned brush from a downed tree. It was a cloudless day in the 50s so perfect for what we were doing.

I got our patio set up for enjoying including what I am dubbing the Gilson's RazzleBerry cafe. That is because we have blueberries in the garden, strawberries in the window boxes and this year I am planting raspberries in trellis planters. I love spring and summer, so I am ready.
 
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Yep, all is well here in Weedsville. Not a ton of snow so far - maybe nine inches, but the bulk is supposed to come after midnight, so we'll see in the morning. I use erythromycin for both QT and cyanobacteria so it's doubly useful.

It must be nice to get out and do Spring things. I'm jealous of all your berries! I am enjoying this last bit of winter, getting some beautiful cross country skiing in. I do enjoy the snow.

I got my hands wet today, going after the ever-present caulerpa stragglers on the sand bed. I'm itching to start pulling shoal grass, but I better wait until things warm up a bit.

QT36
QT5
 
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