The Wrasse Saga

The Saga

I originally intended this to be a good news post.  Unfortunately, I know how wrasse got their name.  Someone couldn’t properly say “ass” and it just caught on.  

Saturday hubby and I went  to ReefCulture to have a looksy.  We hadn’t been in a couple months and were thinking about getting a sixline to combat the worm problem in the tank.  Turns out, we didn’t get all the worms.  I am not a fan of them, I want them gone.

I ended up buying a sixline that day.  We decided not to quarantine since I trust ReefCulture’s stock and it’s where we got the clowns from. Trust me, if we got him anywhere else, he would be in QT right now.  ReefCulture is impeccable and their QT is top notch.  Most stores don’t even QT but those awesome guys do.  

Temperature acclimating

I digress.  After acclimating, we released him into the tank.  We were so happy with our purchase.  He was zipping around exploring, eating pods, and just being heaps more fun to watch than the clowns.
 
All was well for the first 24.

Sleeping for the night.  can you see him?

Around 9 pm on Monday, he was harassing the clowns really, really, bad.  The female was getting pieces of her fins ripped so we did an emergency black-out in the house.  The wrasse, we had learned, instantly goes to sleep when its dark.  So to stop him, we shut off the lights and he zoomed right behind the pump and started cocooning for the night.

This at least gave hubby and I time to go to Wally World and buy a fish net as well as fill up the QT tank.  We very stealthily caught the wrasse and put him in the QT tank before he was even fully awake.

Now we were faced with the dilemma of what to do with him.  The next morning I called ReefCulture who said they could only refund me a third of his purchase price since he has to go into QT all over again.  While not happy, I would rather lose that money and know I was getting responsibly sold fish than having a full refund and shady practices.

Since we only spent $24, I would probably spend more in gas on the 40 minute drive than I would be refunded.

As always, when in doubt go to Nano-Reef.com and someone will save you.  I posted my dilemma and received a response that reintroduction and in tank isolation might solve the problem.  If it doesn’t, he is going on Craigslist for $10 or a trade for coral.

What is in tank isolation?
In tank isolation is when you can separate an organism from the rest of the tank without physically removing it.  This usually conducted by way of a specimen tank.

Bad fish in the time out tank.

Back to the Story
Well, Hubby and I do not have a specimen tank.  However, we had looked a ReefGently’s Acclimate Pro which is also a specimen tank, transport tank, medicine tank and trap as well as acclimation chamber.  While pricey and we could definitely have bought a plain tank at PetCo for $6.99, we like gadgets and would probably use it in all of its functions.  So we forked the money and it will hopefully be here soon.  I will post on the ReefGently and all of its awesomeness once we get it.  

Keep your fingers crossed!

There is No Vaccine for the Pox

Alright, it’s been two months since I have updated and a lot has happened and not happened.  

The Happened

My zoas are almost completely dead.  Apparently zoas can contract the pox.  As with humans, the pox is deadly.  I noticed at the beginning of February that a couple of the Zoas were closed.  I figured a snail or a hermit crab ran over them.  

When they did not open a few days later, I looked closer and noticed small white specks on the colony.  More zoas at this point were refusing to open.  After some google searching, I came across the probably cause: the pox.   

My poor zoas :(

No one seems to know what causes the outbreak.  Many speculate it is a survival mechanism like temperature fluctuation.  But the truth is, it appears in so many different situations, that no one is sure what the trigger is.  If left untreated, the pox can kill the entire colony and infect other zoanthids.

You can read more about it here at zoaID.com  

The proposed treatments are the Furan treatment (as seen on ZoaID), hydrogen peroxide dip, fragging, or tossing the colony.  Furan is expensive and hard to find.  As beautiful as our zoa rock was, we did only spend $20 on it. Plus, none of these treatments are a definite cure.  So, we went with the hydrogen peroxide dip.

Hydrogen Peroxide Dip

If you really care about your zoas, do research before following me.  I can’t find the site where I got the original instructions for this.
Place the zoas in a cup of tank water, add a capful of hydrogen peroxide, to the cup and stir, continue to add peroxide until it starts to bubble.  Then, leave the zoas in for thirty minutes.  We did fifteen but some have left them in for as long as an hour and half.  
A couple days later, the pox infected zoas began melting away (dead) and and it took about two weeks before the remainder reopened.  We lost about three quarters of the colony.  I’m pretty upset about it still.  Especially when I look at my last post. :(

The Future

Luckily, my anniversary is coming up and hubby and I are getting a gift for us.  My idea is more coral for the tank.  His idea is for something “practical”.  What can be more practical than new coral? So cross your fingers!  

Orange and Purple Montipora

I want another zoa rock.  I also want some high flow coral.  The tops of the tank are bare but that is where all of the flow is.  I did some research and it looks like montipora coral might fit the bill.

The Not Happened

My wireless AI module still is not here!  I am so mad! I have been waiting for this thing since we first set up the tank.  I get in contact with AI and they still just tell me they will be shipped as soon as they are in production.  I’ve been hearing it for the last three months.



Oh well.  I have another post coming up about the newest inhabitant!



Happy reefing!