Novahobbies' 37g Seahorse Tank Journal

[novahobbies]

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted here. I figure it's probably about time for an update, especially considering recent events with this tank.
The tank has been tooling along fairly well for the past couple months. This past week I had a massive meltdown on my Sarcophyton leather coral, however. There was a small section of the coral that seemed diseased or ripped, and I siphoned away the dead tissue on that spot during a water change, but apparently it didn't help...the entire coral literally melted away over a period of two days. I had to do a massive water change because it was clearly releasing toxins...all the corals were closed up, everything was unhappy. 20g WC later and new floss, and of course I removed every bit of the leather that was left.
The horses reacted to the chemical nuking differently. Of three horses, one seemed completely unaffected, and two (male and a female) developed internal GBD within days of the leather meltdown. Both IGBD horses went into a 10g QT with Diamox for 4 days of treatment....the male has recovered and is back in the display tank, but I suspect the female isn't going to make it. Which is very ironic, since she was originally LESS affected by the IGBD, but it's as if she's not responding to the treatment at all.
Other than that current episode, I've really been enjoying this tank....it's great to have such a beautiful little piece of the ocean in the bedroom. My green zoas are currently exploding (and in fact growing over the red Monit, which will have to be moved), both photosynthetic gorgs are growing well, and the Kenya coral is frelling HUGE again...keeps dropping frags at a prodigious rate. The light fixture recently blew out the T5's.....I don't know why, but I want to upgrade this to LED in a few months anyway, so I'm not fussed.
Since I just challenged Krista to snap some photos of her tank, I'll do the same to mine tonight.

 

[gemmy]

Fingers crossed that your female makes a turnaround. I'm glad your enjoying the tank. I think it is great having the tank in the bedroom. I find it very relaxing, especially when I had the flu.

 

[novahobbies]

To honor the challenge....here are 4 pics from tonight, all pre-cleaning pics. Yes, I shoulda done this over the weekend. Real Life got in the way. It will be done tomorrow as soon as I walk in from work. So here it is, un-scraped glass, warts, and all. ALl photos are completely unedited:

 

[al&burke]

Dyno-mite, looks great

 

[smallreef]

all your softies and the horsey looks SOOOO good.. unclean and all...

 

[novahobbies]

Well friends, I'm sorry to say that the female didn't make it out of the hospital tank. Her IGBD did her in. Interestingly, the Diamox dosing didn't seem to touch her at all....unlike the male, who has been back in the display tank for a couple days, and I even caught him eating today. I begin to wonder if bad cases of IGBD are less responsive to general "bath" style treatments. I wonder if I shouldn't have tried a food soak. Of course, I would have had to do this with tube feeding. Something to think about down the road.
In any case, I'm saddened but not terribly surprised...as I mentioned earlier, I had a bad feeling about her. I'm just glad the male pulled through, and I'm REALLY grateful that my second female didn't develop any signs of I or E GBD.
I need to do another WC this weekend, but I don't know how I'm going to manage it. I just came back from the doctors....bad case of tennis elbow and a hairline fracture on the proximal end of the radius, so two shots of cortisone in the joint capsule and I'm pretty darn sore. At least I have an answer as to why my elbow's been hurting for months, though!!

 

[smallreef]

Sorry to hear about the 1 girl... glad your male is doing better in the DT...
tennis elbow,, UGH.. I have a repetitive nerve/shoulder injury that gets a fun shot every now and then... gotta LOVE it!

 

[meowzer]

Sorry

 

[novahobbies]

Thanks for the condolences, guys. Yeah, she will be missed. I'm certain that the death of the Sarcophyton had something to do with the horse troubles. We already know that toadstool leathers have toxins that prevent other corals from growing around them, especially stunting the growth of SPS. And the truth is that some of the coral in this tank STILL hasn't recovered. The Monti is pretty faded, and the pipe organ has stayed closed up for a week now. The tube worm threw its crown when the leather died, but it IS regrowing it slowly.
The old arm is a little better tonight. The swelling from the cortisone has gone down, but I still can't extend the arm without feeling like it's about to give out. As for the fractures on the radius....he said there's really nothing that can be done because they were already half-healed, so pretty much just wait it out. Sheesh....and I don't even know what I DID to cause all of this!

 

[gemmy]

Sorry about your loss. Feel better soon!!

 

[novahobbies]

Big 30% WC done on this tank today, including new Purigen, new Phosgard, and new carbon. Also washed 50% of the bioballs, and scrubbed the neck of the protein skimmer where some calcareous algae buildup was getting thick. I don't know if it's been impeding skimmer function, but you know...just in case.

I have GOT to do something about these Colt coral frags. I've got like 5 floating around the tank here.

 

[al&burke]

Well your arm must be feeling better I hope, sorry about your SH.

 

[novahobbies]

Nah, the arm still hurts, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Water changes won't wait for the arm to heal up, and there's really nobody else I would ask to do this. Michelle could, of course, but....well, I'm just stubborn. With the coral melting out the way it did, I expect I'll need one more big water change to really make sure any toxins are out. Thanks for the condolences....it sucks to lose horses for any reason.

 

[novahobbies]

I spent the evening last night in my chair looking at my seahorse tank. I mean REALLY looking at it. And I think I’ve made a few decisions.
This tank has been suffering lately. Water changes, standard filter cleanings, and similar maintenance duties haven’t helped much. I have high nitrate levels in the tank, caulerpa is taking over a significant part of the rockwork and choking out some of the corals, I am getting cyano growing on the overflow box, the sand bed is getting a small amount of cyano recently, and for whatever reason, the Tunze skimmer (whose praises I used to sing) has been performing very poorly. Furthermore, the light fixture on this tank has blown the ballasts for the actinic light, leaving only the 150w MH to light the tank. This is of course plenty of light, but (A) the bulb is a little over 12 months old, and (B) I no longer have a dawn-dusk period….which is kind of a bummer personally; I really like having that dusk period at night.
I’m beginning to suspect this tank is going through some classic symptoms of Old Tank Syndrome. I can honestly say it would be due to actual tank age (3 ½ years from initial setup) and recent issues with that Sarcophyton leather coral…..compounded with plain and simple laziness on my part. Yes, I admit it. Between the arm injury, my frustrations with the seahorse losses, and my focus on the other tank, this one has only received basic 2-week water changes, some algae pruning, and normal filter pad changes. It needs more…much more.
Right now there is one female H. erectus seahorse and one royal gramma in this tank. The cleanup crew consists of some very large turbo and turban snails, 2 fighting conchs, and possibly a couple nassarius snails. Not sure if those are still in there, but I think there are a few. I think I may remove the livestock to my QT tank at some point soon and let them hang out in there for a week before I start in on a large clean-out effort:
THE PLAN:
At this point, the only way to remove the caulerpa is by removing the entire rock formation and scrubbing it down. I have tried the “pick & suck” routine before, but it doesn’t do enough. I need a tub, a brush, and a few hours of patient scrubbing. To do this, I will need to remove as many corals as I can. Many of the zoas and ricordeas are growing directly on the rock, but these should be OK for a relatively short period while I have the rock out.
While I have the rock structure out, I’m going to perform a 75% WC. I am also going to remove some of the old sand bed and replace it. I do not have a DSB, so I shouldn’t have any chemical problems if I stir the sand bed, but I do know there are some solidified clumps in the back corners that need to be removed. I’ve finally found this brand of pink sand again (my LFS finally picked up the brand once more!) so I will be revitalizing the bed and adding new substrate.
The filter and overflow are going to be removed and deep-cleaned. The TOM filter has a bad drawback that I’ve discovered…it’s very hard to get n there and suck out detritus on a regular basis. I suspect some of my problems are coming from built-up sludge in the back recesses of the filter unit.
There’s not much I can do about the light right now. A new bulb is going to run me about 50 bucks….but it wouldn’t solve the actinic problem. A new LED light will cost me about $150, but will hopefully last much longer. The choice is clear to me, but I’ll need to save up a bit to get the LED unit.
p>
I am going to keep the coral, snails, and fish in QT for a little bit while the tank settles down again. I am also thinking about removing some of the coral from this tank (the pagoda cup, the pipe organ, and a few others) and adding them to the big tank instead. My Pagoda in particular may grow more in the warmer water of a true reef. It HAS grown in this tank, but it’s very slow. I may leave this tank to simpler corals…zoas, ricordeas, the Kenya soft coral, etc. The Kenya has to be trimmed back in a big way as well.
I figure this whole project is going to take a week or more to really accomplish. I don’t know when I’ll be able to start it…..I have family obligations this weekend and next….but I do think this needs to be done soon.
When it’s all said and done, I have a big decision to make. Since I only have one horse, I can either order another horse or two from Dan, or……I can keep this girl by herself for a year or two, then take a seahorse break and use the tank for a few non-reef-safe fish that Michelle has been eying lately. She misses her Koran angel, and this tank would be a perfect growout tank for a juvenile Koran.
I’m sort of tempted to take a break from horses for a while. It’s been a few years now, and although I love keeping seahorses, a change of pace doesn’t sound like a bad idea. And “growing out” a couple juvenile fish (yes, this entails returning to the LFS at the appropriate time) gives me the opportunity to swap BACK to seahorses pretty much any time I wish to.
Decisions….decisions…..

 

[novahobbies]

Since I know I can't start on the big tank re-vamp for a little while, I decided today to have a go at a few small clean-up details. I removed a good chunk of caulerpa today.....a lot of it. Probably about a good giant grapefruit or pumelo-sized ball of it.
I also got in there are removed ALL the little Kenya frags that the mother coral has been dropping. At last count, I have about 20 kenyas ranging in size from 1 inch single stalk frags to 3-4 inch multi stalk pieces. Gonna let them re-inflate in the QT tank and hopefully attach to some coral rubble, then I'll sell or give them away. Anybody want a piece of coral that will eventually take over your tank??

 

[flower]

Hi,
I gave up keeping corals after the heater killed off so much of it. I gave away what I had, and went with the colorful macroalgae. It keeps the tank parameters pristine and the horses are super happy. It's amazing how much things change, I'm sure you will make something magical happen in your tanks no matter what you keep. LOL...you shouldn't have any problem finding homes for the Kenya tree corals.

 

[gemmy]

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!!!

 

[novahobbies]

Thanks guys. Not sure what direction I'm going to jump, but the first steps are going to be the same......clean ALL the freakin' caulerpa out of the tank.

I threw all the kenya stuff in the QT. It's already starting to perk up in there.

 

[novahobbies]

Well, I made my decision. I found a couple potential donors for my last beautiful girl. I figure this thread will officially close down in about a month, after the donation. Since Dan was too swamped with horses, he mentioned a couple museums and gov't utility companies that might need donations for their tanks. I thought this was a brilliant idea....the girl goes to someone who is trained in aquatic care, and she becomes part of an educational display for people to come and see. I'll check with the Miami Museum first, since I was just recently there. But I am going to take a break from horses for a little while.

 

[kiefers]

poor horsey..........just givin her home away and her. poor unwanted girl
.