A couple questions about my tank...frogspawn and caked sand

reeferchik

reeferchik

New Member
Hello, I am new to this site and have some questions.
 
1. I have had a small frogspawn (about 1 1/2 inches across...just 1 head) for several months. It has been very healthy looking until a few days ago, the head just fell off. nothing has changed in the tank light, temp, parameters, etc. have all stayed the same...any ideas as why this happened? The head rolled around on the sand until I netted it out and put it in a breeder net in my sump. It still looks healthy when the light is on, can it reattach to something? Should I put a rock or its' skeleton in with it? It is soo beautiful, I hate for it to die.
 
2. When I was vacuuming my sand yesterday, I noticed several hard, "caked up" areas that I couldn't break up with the siphon tube. Then I quit trying to break them up, being afraid that maybe they were some part of some of those weird "pockets" that release some kind of gas and kill everything in the tank...
 
(I know a sand question doesn't really belong in soft corals, and if it causes any major angst, please forgive me...I am still trying to get used to this site)
 
Thanks, Rc
 
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Welcome to SWF
 
You were vacuuming your sand

 
Can you tell us EVERYTHING about your tank..from size, age, filtration, lighting, skimmer or not.....etc....etc
 
reeferchik

reeferchik

New Member
Yea, maybe I should back up a bit and give y'all a little info.I have a 90 gal RR AGA with a Tidepool 2. It has a 3-5 inch live sand bed (aragonite and CaribSea) and about 80-100 lbs of assorted live rock. Housed within are a pair of ORA False Perculas. (Started out same size til one of them got the sex change mod, and now the female is bout 1.5 bigger than the male.) Also included are a pair of Mandarins (psychedelic, successfully switched over to frozen mysis and Spectrum pellets, and flake) A Royal Gramma, A Lawnmower Blenny, 2 Tiny Watchman Gobys, a Wheeler's Goby w/Pistol Shrimp, A Yellow Tang, A Dejardien Sailfin Tang and A Scopas Tang...(I had an uncontrollable outbreak of a beautiful, but very invasive macro-algae, removed handfuls everyday, then it started taking over my corals and overflow so I got the Tangs...They did an excellent job!!! Oh, yeah...and 4 Blue-Green Chromis. As for corals, I love the softies...for the most part...Several types of Mushrooms, 2 Leather Toadstools, 2 Frogspawns...one of which just dropped its' head...don't know why) a snake coral, A wide assortment of Kenya tree, button polyps, Zoos and Xenia. And don't let me forget to tell yuou about my about 9 million Bristleworms!!! I got 2 tiny cleaner shrimp, which promptly disappeared, so in about 6 months, I got 2 more, this time a medium large size...they did much better, staying out in the open and then one day I realized that there were 4 cleaners in there...I guess the big ones gave the smaller ones confidence to come out...so I now have 4 cleaner shrimp, and they clean the fish, too!!!
A couple years ago, I had the opportunity to buy a brand new AGA 125 complete with overflow kits, and glass tops. It has been sitting, covered in my carport for over a year while I went through some medical complications occupying my time and energy. I have now recovered my desire to play aquariums one more time, so I am interested in setting this 125 up, which will be in the near future or at least until I can get a sump (75 gal glass tank) configured and built and a stand designed and built... I will then transfer all of the "stuff" from the 90 into the 125. In the meantime, my frogspawn dropped its head and I have discovered a hard shell of sand covering the top of my sandbed. By vacuuming, I am referring to cleaning my sandbed with the suction attachment on the siphon hose. I am not running my ASM G3 skimmer right now, as it will not fit under my tank...the main reason I want to set up the 125!!!There is a lot of good reading on this site and I am enjoying absorbing it! Thanks for your response. Peace, Rc
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

 
Welcome to the site!
 
The one joy of a saltwater tank is never having to vacuum the sand...LOL..little crtters should clean it up and keep it stirred for you. That's why meowzer want's to know what you have for a CUC and me too.
 
reeferchik

reeferchik

New Member
oh yeah...forgot about them!!! Sorry. blue legs, scarlet legged reef hermits, turbos, astreas and nassarius. I also forgot about 10 Emerald crabs (leftover from a bubble algae epidemic...) and a dozen peppermint shrimp (and I'm still waiting for them to eat the aiptasia... I have 9 berghia nudibranchs ordered, but they won't ship 'til sometime in October. Peace, Rc
 
S

smartorl

Guest
I really don't think you need that many berghias. They will eat the aiptasia and then starve to death.....I have heard of people using overkill rather than just a couple and just about the time they starve to death, the aiptasia are back.
 
reeferchik

reeferchik

New Member
Well, then we (me n my cuc) need to have a word of prayer, cause there's all kinds of I don't know what floating just above the surface and resting on the sandbed. It looks like dissolved food pellets, which is what I feed in conjunction with flake and frozen...not all at one time...rotating different days. and algae on a clip for all those dang crabs.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reeferchik http:///forum/thread/379972/a-couple-questions-about-my-tank-frogspawn-and-caked-sand#post_3305127
oh yeah...forgot about them!!! Sorry. blue legs, scarlet legged reef hermits, turbos, astreas and nassarius. I also forgot about 10 Emerald crabs (leftover from a bubble algae epidemic...) and a dozen peppermint shrimp (and I'm still waiting for them to eat the aiptasia... I have 9 berghia nudibranchs ordered, but they won't ship 'til sometime in October. Peace, Rc

 
The peppermint shrimp should be enought to eat aiptasia...the trick is to make sure they are hungry, feed the tank every other day and just a little bit for the fish...still they only eat the small ones so use Joe's juice or Aiptasia X on the big ones.
 
 
reeferchik

reeferchik

New Member
Got a bunch of aiptasia... After I get them acclimated, I will have already set up a ten gal tank and put some of the "infested" rocks in there and then cut their little heads off and let them multiply to the point of the main tank being cleaned up. By this time I should have a good colony of aips growing in the 10. Then I can catch the nudi's and put them in the ten gallon to eat and wait for the aip to start growing again in the main...When all is said and done, I will have a tank free of aiptasia, a bunch of full bellied nudibranchs and a nearby lfs (or 3) waiting to buy them from me! The site recommends 1 per 10 gallons, if I remember correctly. Have y'all had this problem before? How do you handle aiptasia? Peace, Rc
 
reeferchik

reeferchik

New Member
Oh, I know what I wanted to ask you helpful people...
Why would a frogspawn's head fall off???
And, why is the top of my sandbed all crusted up???
So strange.
 
Peace, Rc
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reeferchik http:///forum/thread/379972/a-couple-questions-about-my-tank-frogspawn-and-caked-sand#post_3305146
Oh, I know what I wanted to ask you helpful people...
Why would a frogspawn's head fall off???
And, why is the top of my sandbed all crusted up???
So strange.
 
Peace, Rc

 
Low calcium could explain why the head fell off, the skeleton needs calcium to stay strong. A fish may have bumped it. The sendbed, if it isn't stirred gets like concrete it just settles and settles until it is a brick.
 
reeferchik

reeferchik

New Member
Ummm...maybe I should post this in a more specific forum?
Think I will...what do y'all think?
Is there a sandbed forum?
and I don't think frogspawn is really a soft coral...
I don't know, sometimes I feel so ignorant.
Although I have been doing this for about 5 years, there is so much I don't know...
Thanks for your help! Peace, Rc
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Frogspawn is LPS
 
but your tank parameters would help alot
 
also....IMO you need some additions to your cuc.....How many nassarius do you have? Might think about a florida conch
 
reeferchik

reeferchik

New Member
Thanks, ok, my calcium test looks good and maybe you're right, about a fish bumping it...those Tangs get quite rambunctious! There are two other frogspawns in the tank as well and they're fine, so that makes me think maybe the calcium is ok. I think I'll get some more nassarius snails, they like to tunnell should I break up the substrate? Worried about gas pockets, would pockets be shallow, or deep? Are sandsifting starfish reef safe?
 
Oh, my parameters are fine. Right on the money. I'm going to try to figure out how to put pictures up...I think that would be cool! Peace, Rc
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///forum/thread/379972/a-couple-questions-about-my-tank-frogspawn-and-caked-sand#post_3305148

 
Low calcium could explain why the head fell off, the skeleton needs calcium to stay strong. A fish may have bumped it. The sendbed, if it isn't stirred gets like concrete it just settles and settles until it is a brick.
 
reeferchik

reeferchik

New Member
I thought it was either a sps or a lps...thanks for that clarification!
The last time I had my parameters tested, the lady at the lfs told me they were right on the money...she gave me a paper with all of the specs written down, but I must've left it on the counter or dropped it or something, I couldn't find it anywhere and when I called her to ask, she said I had left it there and she threw it away, thinking I didn't want it.
That was day before yesterday, and I get it tested every week, so I can let you know the specific numbers next time I take a sample in.
You know what I agree with you on the clean up crew...
The lfs is getting in some larger nassarius snails, I love those, a conch might be nice, although the last one I had, jumped around so at night, banging into the rocks and glass, making so much noise it would wake us up several times a night...every time it would bang around and make noise, my little Dachshund would bark his head off thinking someone was knocking at the door...I finally took it back to the store and traded it for some blue legs!!!
What about a sandsifting star...are they reef friendly?
What else is good?
Will bristleworms harm any of the cuc or little gobies or anything besides me...
I wear thin gloves any more when I am going to work in my tank, if I get bristled, my hand swells til I can barely close it. Scary...
I wonder if the frogspawn will ever attach to anything...I put it in a net breeder in my sump and it still inflates and is gorgeous. I hate it fell off.
When I get the 125 finished, my sump will be a lot larger than this Tidepool, I am thinking of making a refugium in it.
Sorry, forgot to answer your question...I put 6 nass. snails in about 6 months ago.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member

Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/379972/a-couple-questions-about-my-tank-frogspawn-and-caked-sand#post_3304937
Welcome to SWF
You were vacuuming your sand

Can you tell us EVERYTHING about your tank..from size, age, filtration, lighting, skimmer or not.....etc....etc
There is nothing wrong with vacuuming your sand bed....It will hurt nothing, and you don't do the entire sand bed at 1 time.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///forum/thread/379972/a-couple-questions-about-my-tank-frogspawn-and-caked-sand#post_3305123

Welcome to the site!
The one joy of a saltwater tank is never having to vacuum the sand...LOL..little crtters should clean it up and keep it stirred for you. That's why meowzer want's to know what you have for a CUC and me too.
You are correct.....Precipitation is causing the sand to harden like concrete.........
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///forum/thread/379972/a-couple-questions-about-my-tank-frogspawn-and-caked-sand#post_3305148

Low calcium could explain why the head fell off, the skeleton needs calcium to stay strong. A fish may have bumped it. The sendbed, if it isn't stirred gets like concrete it just settles and settles until it is a brick.
 
lmecher

lmecher

Member
I clean my (shallow) sand bed every time I do a WC. IMO anyone keeping reef tanks should own basic test kits to check your own water. What do you do in case of an emergency? You really need to purchase the basic test kits. I like API,
Agreed, A clumping in your sand bed sounds like mineral precipitation. Do you add buffers? If so how/where do you add them?
You need to add to your clean up crew to keep your sand bed stirred.
 
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