So busy!

Aye yahh, it's been awhile. Again. Are we noticing a pattern? Between work, school, being sick, and various other things, the blog has fallen to the wayside. However, it's your lucky day as I am sick and on Spring Break. I know, how could I have such good luck? It's shocking.

Let's get on with the reason we're (or, let's be honest, I'm) here. Fishies!

..... Well, no new fishes as of yet, but lots of news regardless.

So, last you heard my galaxy coral died, and everything else was doing pretty good. Well, the galaxy is still dead. I have two sets of buttons, one of which is melting away in bad health. MY single sexy shrimp got two friends, and were happy for awhile. But they disappeared to the little reef aquarium in the sky. I want to cry giant bitter tears, because at $17 a pop, it was not just an emotional loss.

So what killed 2 sexy shrimp, started killing my beautiful orange/purple buttons, and shriveled my pulsing xenias to small melted stumps? NIRATES! The evil ninja pirates of the aquarium world. They have a great effect on the tank, causing ammonia to spike eventually. No matter how you slice it, they are bad. What causes them to spike? Left over fish food that doesn't get eaten, decaying fish, plankton supplements, too much of a bio load, etc etc. So what's a good level for nitrates to be at? As close to zero as humanly possible. It's hard to get it so low since you're gonna have some bio load with fish, and things do happen, but with a balanced tank, good filtration, and reasonable feeding practices, it is managed. So if I understand the basics of nitrates, mine is probably amazingly low right?

Mine's at 160. 160! It should be 0! When doing a nitrate test, it should be clear or a pale yellow. Mine was a deep red. Oi vey, what is going on in my little 3g tank? It's amazing that Ron isn't leaping from the tank in horror.

I still don't know why my tank is sinking like the titanic. My boyfriend and I leapt into action. We went out and bought a new filter (it filters 10-30 gallons I believe) instead of my tiny little filter. The first filter turned the tank over 30(ish) times an hour, while my new one turns it over 300(ish) times an hour. (Look how big it is! Size matters.) The old filter had polyfilter, purigen, and a standard sponge. The new filter has purigen, polyfilter, charcoal, and natural-nitrate-eattin-algae. I also have been doing multiple water changes. In addition, I've been adding nitrate-eating-bacteria to the water. The nitrates, if they have gone down, has been minimum.

With my 12g tank nearing the end of it's cycle, I took desperate measures to save what I could. The pulsing xenias, both buttons, and a few idiot hermits for good measure, all got dumped into the big tank. They've been there for about a week now, and the nearly dead xenias are slowly making a comeback. They've even started pulsing again! If they make a comeback, they're going to be so pretty. It's a bit too early to tell how the buttons are doing. The hermits prove that they are indestructible as always. (Though they do enjoy pissing off any coral in the tank.)

The picture above is my xenias when I first got them, Ron being so interested in the camera that he won't give me a clear shot of them. The picture to the right is the same xenias transplanted into the bigger tank. They look pitiful hm? That's the danger of nitrates. They have melted away and are mere shadows of their former, glorious selves. I am crossing my fingers that they will make a comeback.

I would really like to put Ron in the bigger tank to give the little tank a chance to return to normal, and so Ron wouldn't be in any danger of getting sick, but I don't trust that my 12g has finished it's cycle. Coral and hermits shouldn't be in any danger of suffering in the cycle or affecting it, but a fish is a different story. Plus, what if he got used to the big tank? I still haven't decided if he's getting a bigger place and a girlfriend, or sticking in my little 3g so that I get to sit next to him. (It's selfish, so sue me. I love my little desk buddy.) Please excuse the blurry picture.



On another nifty note, my porcelain crab is beginning to take food from my tongs. That's nice, because I began to feed her by hand to avoid overfeeding. She is a filter feeder, (she eats stuff in the water) but I'm nervous with the poor water quality. The first couple times, she latched onto the tongs like they were devils hands trying to take her down, but now she realizes that those little metal things mean food! Now she latches on trying to find the tiny, but tasty, algae disk.

So who is doing well in the little tank? My ricordea is thriving. I don't know if it's super hardy (it is an easy, beginner coral) or perhaps a devourer of nitrate.

One of my brittle starfish made an appearance, which was super exciting! Look at all those action poses!

That is about it for this installment. Everyone cross your fingers and pray that I get my nitrates under control before they get control of the tank. ...Who am I kidding? Too late!

No one knows any other critters that devour nitrates do you?

Lots of new things to speak about! So much has happened that I never reported on. Eeeesh...

I went to a salt water fish store called Ocean Exotics and finally purchased a small clown and a porcelain crab for my tank. I can easily say, I will never shop there again. The crab turns out to be a decorator crab and begins destroying my feather duster tubes and peanut worm tubes. Thank god I had no coral in the tank at the time.

Then the clownfish died within ten hours.

Was my tank cursed? No, that store is just filled with liars and sickly stock. I dare you to argue with me! Anyway, I went to Aquatropics and bought a real porcelain (took me 2 days and disassembling my rocks to get the decorator out!) and a healthy clownfish (whom I've named Ron on account of his 'red head'). 3 months and they're still going strong. Sort of.

So, the first clownfish died, the decorator crab was donated to a store, and the new inhabitants were doing good. Well, until the porcelain crab began to lose his legs. All but one. Sigh. Later, while staring at her with tear filled eyes, I see eggs in her little tucked up tail! So mommy was just stressed! I can happily say that a month later and she has regrown all but one leg.

Not everything has had a happy recovery though. I managed to completely kill the most beautigul Galaxy Coral ever. It is now a shriveled husk of rock sitting at the bottom of my tank. On a happy note, some buttons and pulsing xenias are doing quite good! Well hopefully anyway.

I have managed to get ahold of a single sexy shrimp who has taken to sticking her little grubby hands into the buttons, hurting one of them pretty bad. They don't open as readily now. Or maybe something else is causing that? Corals are so picky! Ron isn't so difficult! He sticks his head out of the water and demands food. Like some sort of odd aquatic doggy!

Other big news, I now have a 12g tank cycling! So far I've got a yellow sponge, blue chubby starfish, and several red featherdusters.

I'll have more pictures and a more interesting post later, but for now, I'm tired and needed to give a quick sum up of my recent stories and adventures with the tanks!

Dee