10 gallon nano update

[Jarred Darque]

Well, it has been over a month since I have been here...had to come here to get help with some sick FW fish.

Anyways, I have a 10 gallon nano, with a green emerald, a camel shrimp, some vrey nice green ridcordia, a banded anemone crab, and many many hitchhikers, including yet ANOTHER unknown crab (the anemone crab was a hitchiker, and took some work to figure out exactly what it was).

I had a Yellow Clown Goby. He mysteriously died 2 days ago, have had him for a month and a half I believe. I looked at my tank, and my emerald was sitting there eating him :/. I know hte crab didnt kill him, at least I doubt it. I thought I lost my anemone crab, i found him upside down at the of bottom of the little 'chimney' (i.e. a deep crevice in one of the rocks that it impossible to see down) he has made his home. I pulled him out of the tank, and looked at him, and decided just in case I would put him back in the water. 3 days later, I look at the tank, and instead of seeing a crab that isnt moving, i see what at first looks like the remains ofa crab that wasnt moving...then I noticed that there was no meat, flesh or mess, so I hoped he had just molted. Took me another two weeks to finally see him again, and he is noticably larger. My camel shrimp has also molted. My ricordia is nearly doubled in size, all 8 pieces of it, VERY beautiful when it comes close to feeding time. My mystery mushroom is growing as well. I have some unnamed hitchikers so far, anemone looking things (not apastia, though I do have them to) that disapear and repear randomly.
Coraline growth is wonderful, I have one side of the tnak that is about half covered with it, I am hopin it picks up on the other side and the back wall soon, it has started, but it slow there. I also have noticable coraline growth on the rocks, my hitchhikers are doing fine as well, I saw a bristleworm that was 3+ inches last night, he was about 1 inch when I got the rocks. I also noticed another worm thing, that was AT LEAST 6 inches long (STILL had some of its body in the sand with 6+ inches visable) with no legs, and only aobut a millimeter thick..I have no idea what was, first time to see it, and lights where off, and had been off for hours.
I have a very large mysid shrimp population in my tank, a few hundred at least, hopefully I can get that taken care of when I get more fish, tomorrow hopefully.

I am getting a 96 watt PC light with actinic for X-mas, Major upgrade from the 40 watts of 10k white I have right now in a stock wal-mart hood.

I am still battling brown algae on the glass. Would getting more than 2 nessarius snails help with that? I only have 1 astrea snail as well. I had 2..one of my hermits liked the shell that one of em had...no need to tell the rest of that story. I had 7 hermits. I dont know how many I have. Tank has too many hiding places to find them all, I know I have at least 5 right now, I need to start taking pics so I can compare and get a conclusive answer to how many are still alive. I see bits and peices of them, but often cant tell if they are remains, or molts, they look just like the real deal. I am starting to get a macro algae problem on one of my live rocks. it is very unsighly, especially during the day when it starts to form O2 (or may CO2) bubbles in and around it. Anything I can do nip this in the bud? the green algae is starting to go away, so that is good. With how I placed my rock, I dont know how my sponges are doing, the ones that came in on the live rock, I would say not to well, since I wanted to bury the rock a bit for when I gt my pistol shrimp/goby combo. APATSIA!!! OMG!!! I am too broke atm to buy a peppermint shrimp or Joe's juice, and I have been broke for 2 months now. I have at least 10 of them, some of em getting very large, and they are starting to move around the tank, fortunately, I have seen none near my ricordia. (Is it possible one of hte larger pieces of apatsia stung and killed my goby? the goby looked fine and healthy that mornin)

I am getting some white patches on some of my coraline, both old coraline and new coraline..any idea?? I cant scrape it off, or havent been able to as of yet.

And this I need help with soon, since I am goin to town tomorrow I think. I just lost the tanks only fish, now, I would think that if I dont replace the fish soon, I will lose most of the ability to carry a bio load this tank has correct? so shoud I get another fish tomorrow? the stocking list for this tnak is planned one 3 types of very small gobies (between 1-2inches max size) one of them is a cleaner goby...would it help with the brown algae? if so I would like to get that first, or should I get the pistol shrimp/goby combo as the tanks first main occupants? Also, the tank has been set up for 2-2.5 months, this is the first real problem the tank has had. I am wondering if I can go ahead and get a Zoo to continue to build up of a reef?

[Devilishturtles]

Sorry about the fish loss, that sucks.

I have some Joes Juice that I'm not using, I'll gladly send it to you as long as you send it back to me when you're done with it (there is alot of that stuff in a bottle!). If you don't want a fish yet, you can "feed" the tank just by adding some flake food periodically. Otherwise, as long as your water parameters are fine I dont see why you can't get another fish and the Zoos. Zoos are really tough too, so no worries there.

HTH

[Jarred Darque]

I am good on the apatsia problem now. my sis's x-mas present for me is 30 bucks at the local pet store I normally go to. going tomorrow to go pick up some stuff

thanks very much for the offer, very kind of you.

[Sadielynn]

I would get rid of the camel shrimp they will eat soft corals , some peppys will also do the same (it is hit or miss) it is also possible that the crab took the opportunity to take out the fish for dinner ...If you need to improvise you could boil some distilled water and use a meat tenderizing needle (found in the kitchen supply isle for around 3 bucks) to shoot boiling water into the aptasia... I have done that it worked for me ... Sounds like you are coming along nicely hope to see pics ... As for the brown stuff probably diatoms they are normal in a new tank and will go away in time....you do sound ready to add to it slowly but you should be fine as DT said ..

I have never heard of peppermint eating corals. Maybe cleaning, not eating.

[Innovator]

Being omnivores, Peppermint Shrimps are known to prey upon many scleractinians and soft corals, especially zoanthids, if not fed well. Formalin injected into the stalks of Aiptasia also works wonders.

I dont think most experienced reefers have a problem with this.


Camel shrimp are often confused with pepps and will eat corals. Not pepps.

2 shrimps look similar, L. wurdemanni and the L. californica.

I am going to add 1/2 dozen peppermints next week.

[Innovator]

Experience has nothing to do with livestock habits.

True peppermint shrimp do not eat corals.

Or I should say, Lysmata wurdemanni do not eat corals.

I guess it takes experience to know a Lysmata wurdemanni. OR, if your shrimp were fed correctly they would not.

Rhynchocinetes also confused with pepps and probably will eat corals.

[Innovator]

I won't bother getting into a heated debate, but feel free to do a search and see what others have posted about their appetites not to mention various article inclusions. Witnessing it first hand, I do not need to convince myself. Have a good night

Once again I said if they are fed properly, they will not.

[Tomd]

FALSE, it is possible for Lysmata wurdemanni to eat corals. It is usually unlikely, however if underfed it is possible.

[Jarred Darque]

well, I still need more snails, I got a damsel for the tank for right now. I figured a way to get rid of the apastia. well, the larger ones at least.

I am havinga problem with macro algae right now though, will more snails and hermits hlep with this?