mystery aptasia. this one is a stumper (long post)

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

foma2000

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Nov 13, 2004
Messages
325
Location
santa cruz california
so hears the problem. a cupple of weeks ago the amount aptaisia in the 700 gal that i take care of was amazing. so much that i had no clue how to get rid of it. then about 2 weeks ago it all started to shrink. then i replaced all the gravle in the display tank with crushed coral (the amount of sand in the 700 gal display tank is nothing compared to the amount of sand that is in the 200 cal sump/displacement tank) and now almost all of the aptaisia is gone(i really cant remember weather i noticed the missing aptaisia befor or after i put the cc in) and its stagering how much is missing. you can barly see any more at all. now i have no problem with missing aptaisia, but now the three stalks of capnella(my boss says that its xenia but its really capnella) are starting to shrink as well. they used to be about 6" each and now there only 1" or 2". and nothing else is going wrong with the tank. its filled with other soft corals but nothing else has shrunk. and the capnella has been shrinking for almost 2 weeks and every week i do a 50 gal water change so ive almost eleminated the posibility of a mini cycle. and when i checked the salinity it was a bit higher then normal.
my boss thinks it might be low calcium levels (i realy dont think so seeing as i just threw in a ton of cc) and he wants me to build a calcium reactor for the tank.
would a calcium reactor have any ill effects?
and why is this happening?
 
i was using a hydrometer and it was around 1.025. my calcium test kit is very unreliable but ill do the tests when i next go in on tuesday
 
1.025 is a good SG level...I wouldn't worry about that at all. Test the calcium. I'd recommend getting a Salifert kit for that. If this is primarily a softie tank, I don't think you really need a cal reactor. Weekly water changes, if that's what you're doing, should keep cal levels up. Kent Turbo Calcium is a good additive to keep around just in case you need to bump the levels a little. The two part additives work well also. If you do use a cal reactor, run the effluent into the skimmer. It will blow off excess C02 so it doesn't go into the tank. You can also use an effluent reactor that will use up most of the excess C02, but I'd still run it through the skimmer.
 
good idea to run it into the skimmer but not possible seeing as theres no skimmer. i wish there was but theres no room. also surface disruption isn't a problem because theres a displacement tank that drops the water level anywhere from a inch to 38" and then surges it back in for a tidal surge. so not woried about gas exposure.
but still, what would effect all the aptaisia like that and not effect anything else but the capnella?
 
so i went to go check the levels in the tank today, and befor i did i just sat there and observied the tank for along wile. i found that the blue tangs were nibbling at the capnella, a bit odd but i hadn't fed them any nori in a wile. i also noticed a shrimp molt floating around, and i rememberd i had put in a cupple peperment shrimp around christmas but no one has seen them sence, are they noctornal? because nobody is every around during the night.
 
Peppermint shrimp... there's your answer. I had tons of aptasia in my 90 gal. I bought two peppermint shrimp and it was all gone in a few days.
 
Back
Top Bottom