Building my 56 gallon Column reef tank

btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
How big is your QT again?
My thought here is to possibly remove all your fish into the QT along with the meaning cleaner shrimp and some snails and see what happens. Maybe put some fish in the refugium section of your sump and some in the QT. Maybe if the DT is left without a food source (fish and inverts) and you leave a SMALL piece of raw shrimp out in the open, the little critter killer will have no choice but to show his face.
Since you had some in your live rock, I'm thinking you may have a mantis shrimp or evil crab. They may still be small enough that you're not seeing a molt, but even at a smaller size, they can take down small fish and shrimp.
I had a Xanthid crab, about the size of a quarter, never saw a molt, but it took out a few fish before I got it.
 
mylady

mylady

Member
Would it be possible to move the live rock into the QT tank instead of all the fish? We're pretty sure we know the area of rocks this thing has to be hiding in. I told hubby just to take all the non decorative rock and fresh dip it, but that would kill tons of feather dusters and I know hubby loves the feather dusters. It's just easier to catch the rocks than the fish.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
I agree with the ease of catching rocks as opposed to fish. I am sure the only issue will be is that if the baddie is in the sand already.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
The only reason I didn't suggest moving the rock is because I didn't think that all of it would fit in the Qt with enough room for you to spread it out and really see what was in there. I would not freshwater dip.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/560#post_3336498
The only reason I didn't suggest moving the rock is because I didn't think that all of it would fit in the Qt with enough room for you to spread it out and really see what was in there. I would not freshwater dip.
I am doing hte WC tomorrow. I will be getting out as much red algea as I can to swap it for corals at the local meeting tomorrow. I am thinking about moving some of hte rock, not all, into the QT as the rock will live. I dont think the nitrite has gone down to an acceptable level yet for fish. I have to do the WC up there as well. I will not be feeding the QT for a long time and there is no light over it as well. How much die off can I expect on the rock? Most of it is coraline algea and feather dusters and maybe a limpet snail or 2. There might be some other hithcer snails on the rocks as well. I am not that concerned with the die off really. If I had all the time in the world and was 100% sure that I would kill the culprit without any other issues, I would take all the rock out and leave it outside over night. Pretty sure whatever it is thats in there cant survive subfreezing temperatures outside.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
The only die off you should experience if you're putting the rock in the QT is coraline algae since there is no light.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueBro http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/560#post_3337067
If I'm looking at the title correctly, it seems that your making your own tank, or is it a kit?

Do you ride the short bus? Seriously....
BUILDING a reef means that you're slowly adding rock/sand/coral/fish/etc to your tank. A build is a journal/log of what is going on with your tank overtime, very often from it's starting point of when you purchase it. PLEASE stop posting silly, useless things.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
So what about putting the rock outside over night? the below freezing temperatures will kill off anything alive in or on the rock. Will it also kill the good bacteria? I dont mind missing the algea from the QT tank. I just have this fear of placing the rock in the QT and then never finding or seeing what is eating my livestock.
Had the local meeting today. People offered me Kenya trees for my algea. I refused to take their weeds and let them have mine for free. It was a good time and I helped out a school that was starting their tank up. They took all of my excess halimedia and some of the red algea. The red bubble stuff I have was taken by someone with angels and he said he would let me know if his angels ate it.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monsinour http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/560#post_3337481
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/560#post_3337479
The freezing cold will kill off everything, good and bad. You'd have to re-cure the rock...
so while it will get rid of the baddie, it would also mean that I would have issues re-introducing it into the tank, yes? Seems like the QT is really the only option.
Yes. You could leave it outside and then put it in the QT and re-cure it. That would insure that the bad little monster is gone....
Just curious, was your tank brand new or used?
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
brand new from a store we dont mention that had one heck of a labor day sale. 56 gallon column style (had throwaway light + glass canopy) + stand for $199.99 + tax.
So, about how long should I leave it in the QT? I plan on doing the move of the rocks tomorrow. There wont be a food source in the QT for whatever it is so how long does it take for mantis shrimp or bobbit worms or some bad crab or whatever it could be to starve to death? A month? 2 months?
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monsinour http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/560#post_3337504
brand new from a store we dont mention that had one heck of a labor day sale. 56 gallon column style (had throwaway light + glass canopy) + stand for $199.99 + tax.
So, about how long should I leave it in the QT? I plan on doing the move of the rocks tomorrow. There wont be a food source in the QT for whatever it is so how long does it take for mantis shrimp or bobbit worms or some bad crab or whatever it could be to starve to death? A month? 2 months?
I thought it was new, I just wanted to rule out copper as any possibility as to what was ailing your shrimp.
Not really sure how long a critter could survive without food or how long to QT them.... I'd say 2 months, but I'm interested in other ideas.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
So I started moving the rocks around today. I thought for sure I examined them thouroly before placing them into the buck for transfer to the QT upstairs. The rocks had to have been out of the water for atleast 4 minutes. When I placed one rock into the QT, i looked at it and wondered what that purple thing was. It even has eyes, is this the bad guy? Then I realized that it was the royal gramma. It came out of hole it was in and started floating on its side. I started to panic. It started moving so I screamed to my wife to get the net. She got the net and we were able to get it back into the DT. It looked really bad. Floating and swimming and floating. It managed to get itself stuck in the overflow and my wife got it out. He then swam into his home that he sleeps in at night and stayed there for a while. The orchid must have been thinking,"weakened prey" and was atempting to get at the royal gramma. My wife did what she could to discourage the orcid. Eventually the royal made his way out of the burrow and into another one that was opened up due to missing rocks. He still looked bad not moving and such. Eventually, he came out and started swimming around. It has been a few hours now and he looks fine. Close call and scare. With the rocks in the QT, I was able to kill the big nasty majano. I pulled the rock out and took it to the bathroom and got tweezers and yanked the thing out of the rock. I then bathed the rock in hot water for a while to make sure any "eggs" it released were dead. I put the rock back into the QT for monitoring purposes.
HOWEVER I think the brittle star we have ate the orchid dotty back as we cannot find it now. I cant remeber if I posted pics of the starfish. When talking to the LFS that we got it from yesterday and explaining my tribulations with my tank, he thought it could have been trouble. He looked it up in the starfish book and said that it may or may not be a problem. Probably not a problem. They had the starfish there for quite some time but I dont think it was ever in a tank that had fish in it. The starfish's center is big and fat and its sitting where the orchid likes to go and hide. Here is a pic of the brittle before:

and this is how it looks right now:

does it look like it has had a $50 meal?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member


My Royal Gramma traveled all the way from Wisconsin to Illinois in a water bubble in a rock it hid in. It was fine. They are a tough little fish and good at getting into trouble.
Is that a green brittle star? Mine ate shrimp but never a fish. Orchids are very good at hiding.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
It looks yellow to me. The way the LFS salesperson acted is what is making me concerned that the star ate the orchid. I know orchids are good at hiding. However, ours usually is out and about now as its almost feeding time and I cant see him anywhere.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monsinour http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/560#post_3337684
It looks yellow to me. The way the LFS salesperson acted is what is making me concerned that the star ate the orchid. I know orchids are good at hiding. However, ours usually is out and about now as its almost feeding time and I cant see him anywhere.

My shrimp eater had a disc the size of a half dollar..it was huge with skinny legs that were easy 12 inches long.. When it was smaller it never bothered anything. It's hard to tell in a picture..how big is yours?
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
I think the disk is about silver dollar size and from tip to tip on the arms it has to be bigger than a foot.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
When did you add the starfish in relation to the shrimp additions? I honestly can't remember and don't want to look through 28 pages if you can just tell me.
I'd say that the starfish MAY very well have had a $50 meal tonight. IMO larger brittle stars are never a good idea with invertebrates or small fish. That starfish may very well be too big for your tank. I fear that you may have a Green Britttlestarfish (Orphiarachna incrassata), if that is the case, you found your killer.
 
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