Blue Tuxedo Urchin

What did my BlueTuxedo Urchin decorated itself with this month?

It pulled on some red macro algae until it came loose. The Pulsing Xenia was already growing on the macro algae and couldn't help but come along for the ride. Now the urchin is making its way up the side of the tank to feast on the pink coralline patches growing there.
(Don't look too close; you may see some BGA on the algae. I've been working on that issue by changing out the carbon and Seachem biofilter matrix from the sump. Note to self: changed those out last weekend)

There are reports that Mespilia globulus also likes to eat algae, but I haven't seen any evidence of that here. If it's using the macro algae for camouflage, then the urchin will be attracting the attention of Tang and Pygmy Angels. Though, I haven't seen them nipping at its decor.

Bubble Vs. Hammer Coral

I'm not one to re-arrange the corals often in my mini-reef tank. It's difficult to find the right balance of shape & form that you might find written in a feng shui booklet where the couch is not expected to attack the coffee table.

My bubble coral expands to the size of a personal pan pizza (with extra cheese) when the lighting turns up. I have to be careful because the "sweeper tentacles" will seek out any coral placed too close. Last night, I re-arranged corals and got some results in the morning.

Here you can see one tentacle attached to the hammer coral. A few more zaps from the bubble's nematocysts and the hammer coral will eventually lose its head and expose the skeleton underneath! I've already got a dead head out of view that I conveniently use as a handle so that I can move this coral.

On a side note, this rainbow acan is showing a lot of new polyp growth at the base. I'm thinking of placing this coral in a better display location. The difficulty will be in getting it glued down properly.

Refugium Maintenance

The macroalgae started to take up 90% of the refugium and show some discoloration on the tips, so I removed them all and put back small samples of each. This method provides a good way to export nitrates from the main tank as long as the algae is intact and not dying. I keep 3 types of Red Macroalgae. Their common names are: red grape kelp, red feather kelp and gracilaria. The other macroalgae is "dragon's tongue". At some point, I'd like to add a green "Neptune's Shaving Brush" to break up the monotony of red.

This picture shows the refugium (Lifereefugium 20") featuring a 6" deep sand bed (DSB) and frag rack illuminated by power compact (PC) lighting.

Even after removing a majority of the macro algae growth, blue-green algae (BGA) or cyanobacteria can be seen growing on the macro algae as a fine, dark reddish, slimy film. It's also seen creating a coat over the DSB. I decided to take action by increasing the rate of flow for a few hours in the refugium. This action should help dislodge the film where it will be caught in the main tank's filter sock. After that, the macroalgae should be able to compete for nutrients and drive down the growth of the undesirable BGA.

Since moving the Emerald Crab to the main tank, the green bubble algae has taken a foot hold in the frag rack. I used a pair of forceps to help remove them. They'll go down the toilet where the water treatment plant will neutralize them. Again, once the Red Macroalgae get a boost from my efforts, they should out-compete the green bubble algae for nutrients.

Sea Cucumber & Favia

I found this activity going on in the reef tank early this morning.

The sea cucumber has been consistently "vacuuming" the sand with its sticky tentacles when the lights go out. It has also grown in size over the past several months. This is the same sea cucumber I inherited with my tank "upgrade". After I initially set up the tank, the sea cucumber would invariably crawl up the side of the tank during the night and end up going over the overflow and landing in the sump. Because it has decided to stay in the main tank now, I consider this as a stamp of approval on the tank's condition.

Before it crawls back to a dark cave for the day, here it is posing with the slowly recovering "x-mas" Favia coral.

Blue Throat Trigger: R.I.P.

I wish I didn't have to bother with negative news. But, it's only fair to balance the blog with all sorts of news of the goings on in my reef. So, here it goes:

Even though I selected him for his different body shape and colors, the Blue Throat Trigger had a bit of a tough time in my reef tank. It was revealed that Adebisi (I wanted to name all my fish after the characters in Oz at some point), the Purple Tang, had asserted himself as the queen bee of the tank and had his misgivings about the trigger. I noticed that the trigger was allotted the left side of the tank where he was allowed to swim figure eights around the two Vortechs nearby.

I noticed that the few small patches of "fin rot" were clearing up on the trigger. Maybe he was getting a midnight cleaning treatment from the coral banded shrimp or skunk shrimp? Or maybe the water quality and circulation was better in the main tank rather than in the quarantine tank (he stayed at least 5 weeks there)?

From afar, things looked like they were going well. But whenever I would get closer to the tank, Adebisi would become more aggressive and try to use his special scalpel weapon on the trigger. The behavior reminded me of a dog becoming aggressive to other dogs when a treat was about to be given out. I doubted that I could use any advice from The Dog Whisperer because the fish wouldn’t be able to hear my “CHT!” through the tank.

Adebisi, the Purple Tang (the queen bee. 8! CHT!)

The day came when I finally realized that the trigger had truly disappeared. I knew the night before that I noticed he was missing. There was nothing I could have done because some friends had visited and we were going out for December Nights in Balboa Park. So, while I was chowing down on funnel cakes drenched in strawberry preserves and whipped cream and an orange chicken rice bowl washed down with hot chocolate and enjoying the festivities, my blue throat trigger had gone carpet surfing.

I had given him a few days to magically reappear so that everything would be all right. Then, I pulled out my flashlight and went on a search. First, I checked the surrounding carpet. I checked under the sofa and chairs in the living room because I’ve read that some fish may surf across the room. Usually, in the stories, it’s found that their pet cat is the culprit. I don’t have any pets, so he’d have to get across the room by a human’s foot kicking action. I tried to simply use my sensitive nose and it lead me to the sump area. No where to be found, I then checked the back of the tank setup.

There, amongst the shadows of Vortech, battery backup, ATO wires and refugium tubing, I saw a small shape at the bottom. The access to the area was 4 feet from the side and two feet from above and my arms did not fit. So, even if I had located the trigger on time, I would have probably had to kill him in the process of retrieving him. I was able to use my 2 foot “multi-tool” tongs to whack the body around until I was able to clamp down on it.

When I examined the body with its sunken eyes and trigger fin fixed in the up position, my first impression was “fish jerky”. I didn’t want to snap a picture of him for the blog. I used him, instead, as fertilizer for the yet-to-arrive, new fruit trees in the back yard.



PS: the pipefish are gone as well; I couldn’t keep up with their demands for fresh baby brine shrimp every day. The baby Bangai Cardinal still lives, though. There is still hope, Mr. Frodo.