[zhenya]

Thanks, guys!

I'm keeping a keen eye on this piece as I have particular interest in it;s wellbeing.

It accepted food this morning and then fully expanded again after a meal of large mysis shrimp. I did inspect it thoroughly after I brought it home from the store and haven't found anything on the skeleton, or the polyp itself except for the small sea star that was probably Asterina sp. star that was grazing algae on the skeleton. Just to be on the safe side I removed it and threw in in the fuge. It gets some flow but nothing direct or overly strong, just enough to ruffle the edges of the polyp and tentacles.
I'm hoping very much that I have finally found a healthy specimen that I was looking for for the last few years. I had one in the 98 when I started my 110g tank, and it did fantastic for at least three years or so, only to perish after that. It was probably my fault as I didn't know much then about their care, I didn;t even knew about reef boards at the time...Everything was trial and error on my part.

[zhenya]

OK, I figured I should update on the condition of my prize possession. So far so good, as they say, but it's only been roughly a week since I got this coral. So, I keep my fingers crossed... It is still eating well and opening every day fully.
Here's a picture I took of it today after returning home from the little trip down the shore this weekend.


I also picked up a small fragment of the coral that I think is Diploastrea heliopora, however I'm open for suggestions as to the identity.



Also, looking at the pic, I see some type of polyps on the other side of the coral and think that I need to get the razor blade out and get that stuff off.
And how about this little beauty of a clam?

[Reefland]

That clam is stunning!

[zhenya]

Thanks, Scott!

I waited little over a week for this clam to become available. It was in the store marked as sold but the buyer haven;t left any deposit and haven't called in a week, so I bought it at reduced price... Just because...

[charlie]

How big is the little guy Gene, and just because you brought it up, now we have to have a top down shot, so he can show us his true colors.
I don't ask for too much, do I?

[zhenya]

Charlie, the top down shot will have to wait until this little guy is transfered to the rock structure, which won't be until at least the end of this month.
As far as size goes, my guess is about 2-2.25 inches. I didn't measure it before putting it in the tank and don't want to disturb the little guy now. Maybe when I will be moving it I will take the ruler out this time...

[Poseidon]

Very cool Clam indeed! Those are nice pictures Gene, that elegance is looking good, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

[charlie]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Charlie, the top down shot will have to wait until this little guy is transfered to the rock structure, which won't be until at least the end of this month.
As far as size goes, my guess is about 2-2.25 inches. I didn't measure it before putting it in the tank and don't want to disturb the little guy now. Maybe when I will be moving it I will take the ruler out this time...

Ah well, I guess I can wait. It sure is a pretty looking clam. I too am crossing my fingers on the elegance Gene!!!

[zhenya]

I hate going on vacation....
I suffered some serious losses. Both the new clam and the elegance coral are gone, and some acroporas are dead as well. I will be cleaning house this next few days and maybe try to sell all of my anemones. I hope that i can do this so I can finally set up one large tank and be done with it.

[charlie]

Wow, what happened??? Temperature spike?

[weez1959]

OMG! Sorry about your losses! The little clam was so pretty too.
I'm getting worried about leaving for 4 days at the end of the month, my daughter is supposed to watch my tank for me

[Poseidon]

Gene, that STINKS!!!!

Do you have any idea what went wrong? I just got back from the DR, and I had a friend take care of my tank, Steve is an experienced Reef keeper, I was lucky to have him close buy.

[zhenya]

I have to be honest and admit that I have no idea what happened. My two other clams are fine and growing well. The Elegance is another matter and it would be hard to tell what went wrong because of the well known malady that struck recent shipments( I go back few years on that "recent statement), and then on the other hand I noticed before leaving that my Rabbitfish was picking at it at times. My tries at netting that bastard fail so many times that I gave up. It could also be the fact that my rather large sea hare got stuck in the durso and my tank overflowed, which resulted in my top off dumping all that fresh water to compensate. Salinity were at 1.022 in the morning the day before I had to take off and I brought it up to 1.024 sp.gravity before going to bed the night before leaving. I don't have to tell you the thrill of having to clean up that mess all day long. Thank God for shopvac!

Anyway, I lost couple of sps colonies as well. Now that my daughter is leaving I think I will bring up a point of having just one tank to my wife, and hope she'll be OK with it. Somehow, though, I feel that I might be disappointed in her decision, although I will do whatever she decides.
We, plain soldiers, know who the general is in this here army...

[charlie]

I definitely know how you feel about not having any ideas about what happened. I don't think that the salinity deal is all that bad, considering that has happened to all of us. The shop vac thing is also a regular occurrence, well not regular, but just as irritating!!!!

definitely know what you are talking about with the foot soldier thing too. Do what you can Gene, at least you know we are around here to listen.

[Poseidon]

That makes it even more frustrating, that is for sure. My SG had dropped a little, thanks to my skimmer... The ATO added enough to drop it to 1.023 or so... I just did a 20 gallon water change with 1.025 water, and I will do another tomorrow or the day after. Oh, one other trick I learned to raise SG is to over fill the sump a bit, then when it evaporates to the right level, the SG has raised a little.

[charlie]

Wow, I am glad I am not the only one who knows that trick.

[dougc]

Sorry about your losses, Gene. I've managed to dodge the vacation bullet so far. All the bad things that have happened to my tank took place right in front of my face.

Have you tried a trap to catch your rabbitfish? I have one from aquariumspecialty that I used successfully to catch my insane Atlantic blue tang. It has two trap doors, one at each end (so you can catch the fish coming or going?) and is big enough for decent-sized fish. Takes a little patience and you are guaranteed to catch every other fish in the tank before the one you want. I'd lend you mine if I could get it to you. You are a little far away for a quick dropoff and I'm pretty much carless this summer anyway. My wife and car are residing in Ocean City until late August.

It might help your sanity to have only one tank to maintain. One is plenty for me and I feel like I don't even keep up very well with that.

Doug

[Poseidon]

Or.... Multiple tanks but ONE water volume, at least that way everything is the same. I have thought of adding a second display, maybe a small cube in the corner of my living room, but I would have it plumbed in to the basement sump, sharing the same skimmer, reactor, ato, etc...

I would need a slightly larger return pump, and of course added lighting, but other then that, it is an appealing thought anyway.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by dougc

Have you tried a trap to catch your rabbitfish?

Hi Doug,

Thanks for the offer and no, I haven't tried any of the traps available. I will wait a bit (maybe a month or so to see if my daughter decides she is coming back... ) and then try to set up either 180g or just move my existing 110g Oceanic to her room. Get rid of the rock, clean everything with bleach and maybe re-caulk it. I leave it up to my better half...

Losses are tough to take but I've been there before.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

Or.... Multiple tanks but ONE water volume, at least that way everything is the same. I have thought of adding a second display, maybe a small cube in the corner of my living room, but I would have it plumbed in to the basement sump, sharing the same skimmer, reactor, ato, etc...

I would need a slightly larger return pump, and of course added lighting, but other then that, it is an appealing thought anyway.

Mike, there will be no more multiple tanks for me. If my daughter stays with her brother I will try to find some kind of job to keep myself sane, so one aquarium (self sufficient) will be enough to keep me busy.


Maybe keeping my 110g isn't such a bad idea, although this tank is 10 years old.