Fluval Evo 13.5 Build - First Aquarium!

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Yes I noticed that as well. I was holding the coral by the tissue (with gloves) but it still may have gotten irritated. That's its skeleton right? I hope it'll recover by the end of the week, I'm assuming it will like you said!

Yes, I believe that is it's skeleton, but no big issue at all. Just monitor it for any signs of disease, and that's just being extra safe. And, regarding it going back to how you got it, it will in no time. Candy canes are super hardy and youd be surprised at how much they can go through before dying.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Yeah, thankful I got the sucker. I really hope it will take care of it... that's insane how they can do that, so frustrating- what a pest. How is your situation with your tank Walker?

Lol, not really better. The rock that I put in the hot water is aiptasia free, but everything elses is infested.

 

[Ollie67]

Yes, I believe that is it's skeleton, but no big issue at all. Just monitor it for any signs of disease, and that's just being extra safe. And, regarding it going back to how you got it, it will in no time. Candy canes are super hardy and youd be surprised at how much they can go through before dying.

Sounds good, will keep an eye on it. I plan on ordering coral food, so I will be feeding it that when it comes in!

 

[Ollie67]

Lol, not really better. The rock that I put in the hot water is aiptasia free, but everything elses is infested.

Ah okay, how do you know it's infested? Ughh so frustrating. Have you ordered any aiptasia eating critters?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Ah okay, how do you know it's infested? Ughh so frustrating. Have you ordered any aiptasia eating critters?

I can see aiptasia everywhere... its bad. Really bad. No, I havent ordered anything yet because we have had pretty bad weather, but once it warms up a little more I plan on ordering some.

 

[Ollie67]

I can see aiptasia everywhere... its bad. Really bad. No, I havent ordered anything yet because we have had pretty bad weather, but once it warms up a little more I plan on ordering some.

Oh nooo Are they like the one I had, or smaller/bigger?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Oh nooo Are they like the one I had, or smaller/bigger?

There's ones smaller than yours, and alot bigger than yours. When I feed my tank, some will even catch a piece of shrimp and eat it, which will only help them double in size in a few days lol.

 

[Ollie67]

There's ones smaller than yours, and alot bigger than yours. When I feed my tank, some will even catch a piece of shrimp and eat it, which will only help them double in size in a few days lol.

Oh my gosh, that's a nightmare ughh. Sorry you gotta deal with that.

 

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@lil sumpin @WalkerLoves_TheOcean

Here's a photo. I actually ended up taking the candy cane out, and dipping the base in a hydrogen peroxide solution, and used tweezers as well. I managed to get rid of whatever it was, I think it could have been an aiptasia. It ended up moving lower on the coral.

Yes from that picture it definitely looked like aiptasia.

 

[Ollie67]

Yes from that picture it definitely looked like aiptasia.

Glad I caught on to it early! Hopefully it doesn't come back...

 

[Reef By Steele Verified Sponsor]

There's ones smaller than yours, and alot bigger than yours. When I feed my tank, some will even catch a piece of shrimp and eat it, which will only help them double in size in a few days lol.

So what all do you have in your tank??
Does you aiptasia remover need to be reef safe?

I had a CBB (Copper Banded Butterfly) that did a great job for me in a 110 and didn’t mess with any of my corals. Mostly softies and LPS. But they can go both ways, safe and not so safe. In another tank that has GSP, it is a FOWLR sort of since I added the GSP lol. It was so infested from having a couple I didn’t know about and fighting turf algae with a scrub brush. There were not thousands in this 160 but more like millions. Somebody recommended a butterfly (maybe a Kleini) and a raccoon butterfly. Found a raccoon and after QT he went in and all of them are gone, and he doesn’t seem to be bothering the GSP.

 

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Glad I caught on to it early! Hopefully it doesn't come back...

Yep, they can be nasty. Taking it out when possible and removing as you did can make it a lot easier. If it comes back, since it was down on the skeleton, take a razor blade and try to skim a sliver of the skeleton under the aiptasia to ensure you are not leaving any tissue behind.

You can also blot a dab of gel superglue over the spot once removed and it won’t come back.

 

[Ollie67]

So what all do you have in your tank??
Does you aiptasia remover need to be reef safe?

I had a CBB (Copper Banded Butterfly) that did a great job for me in a 110 and didn’t mess with any of my corals. Mostly softies and LPS. But they can go both ways, safe and not so safe. In another tank that has GSP, it is a FOWLR sort of since I added the GSP lol. It was so infested from having a couple I didn’t know about and fighting turf algae with a scrub brush. There were not thousands in this 160 but more like millions. Somebody recommended a butterfly (maybe a Kleini) and a raccoon butterfly. Found a raccoon and after QT he went in and all of them are gone, and he doesn’t seem to be bothering the GSP.

@WalkerLoves_TheOcean

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

@WalkerLoves_TheOcean

Thanks. I private messaged him about it so I didn't take up space on your build thread.

 

[Ollie67]

Hello everyone! It's the next day, here's my candy cane! It's starting to look similar to how it was before I did the dip, which is good! I think there might still be a little irritated tissue, but it seems to be recovering well. Let me know how it looks!

Bonus picture of my GSP included. It's back open this week, and it's looking goood!

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Hello everyone! It's the next day, here's my candy cane! It's starting to look similar to how it was before I did the dip, which is good! I think there might still be a little irritated tissue, but it seems to be recovering well. Let me know how it looks!

Bonus picture of my GSP included. It's back open this week, and it's looking goood!

Looks so much better! It will look better than when you got it in no time!

 

[Reef By Steele Verified Sponsor]

Hello everyone! It's the next day, here's my candy cane! It's starting to look similar to how it was before I did the dip, which is good! I think there might still be a little irritated tissue, but it seems to be recovering well. Let me know how it looks!

Bonus picture of my GSP included. It's back open this week, and it's looking goood!

Looks like it is doing really good. GSP is looking pretty as well.

 

[Ollie67]

Day 82 & 83 Update

Hi everyone! Decided I would throw out an update tonight since there have been some new additions to my tank. Over the weekend, I did a water change and a little maintenance. On Tuesday, I went ahead and tested pretty much all my parameters just to see where I am at. Here are the results of that:
Alk: 7.6dKH
pH: 7.8
Nitrate: 6.9ppm
Phosphate: 0.28ppm
Magnesium: 1090ppm
Calcium: 347ppm

These numbers aren't alarming. My alk is a bit low, so I will be finding a method to dose it up. It seems my corals are using up a bit, and my water changes don't replenish enough despite doing 2-3 gallon changes weekly. Any suggestions for dosing for alk besides kalkwasser? Not sure if I want to get a dedicated doser machine.

As for mag and calc, they are a bit lower than the "desired" levels, which I will be working on to improve. I ordered BRS Pharma Calcium Chloride and Magnesium mixtures to dose using their calculator. That should be coming in this/next week.

Nitrate seems pretty fine to me. Pretty much at that sweet spot. Phosphate is a bit high still, but much better than last week or two of about 0.42ppm. Glad to see it's slowly coming down, but fingers crossed it stays that way. It seems to jump up every so often, but I have been avoiding brushing the rocks before my changes.

Anyways, enough about parameters. This morning I had my new corals come in overnight from Kansas, and I have floated them until the afternoon where I finally had time to dip them. I've finally got them all settled in, and got some on new frag plugs as well. The new additions include:
-Ultra Orange Lord with Teal Acan (3 heads!)
-Small Duncan Colony
-Green Frogspawn (2 heads!)
-Bob Marley Zoa frag

Of those corals, I went ahead and attached the frogspawn to my desired spot. The acans I left on the disc it came and placed on the sandbed. The other two I have placed into two magnetic frag racks/holders (most likely temporarily)! I put the duncan coral and zoas onto new plugs, so hoping I didn't tick them off too much doing so. Tank is looking so much more colorful and filled with these guys inside, even though they aren't fully open yet. Let me know what you guys think and any feedback!

Oh, and I also added 1 trochus and 1 mexican turbo for my glass! I was only down to 1 astraea snail, so I wanted to add a few more since I've been having a lot of algae on the glass. I don't want to go overboard with snails again though as they might have starved before, possibly during my blackout.

 

[Ollie67]

Here's some entire view photos!

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Here's some entire view photos!

The coral look great, and make your tank look so much more colorful! The frogspawn looks awesome!