Project 58!! (Image intense)

[wrightme43]

Ummm....... Reefaholic??????........... Maybe........... Ummm Uhhhhh...........
LOL Super cool tank Maxx. Really enjoy this thread. I like to lurk. LOL Steve

 

[NaH2O]

Dont worry, I'm not adding anything else for awhile!

Uh huh.....how long is awhile? hehehe

 

[Maxx]

umm.....for like at least a week.


Steve, glad your enjoying this...I'm having fun with it too

Interesting sidenote....
I wanted to look at the acros once the lights off, to see if the polyp extension changed any or not. What I saw was a tiny hitchiker crab, (Hairy, not the typical commensal xanthid crab appearance) climbing out of the blue tipped table and onto the rockwork below. I quickly sucked him up with a Turkey baster and put him in a net in the sump. I've never heard of Xanthid crabs leaving a host that wasnt dead before so I was worried this might be a non reef safe/friendly crab. He's really tiny and my crappy digi cam would be able to get decent pics of it for ID....
I'm gonna keep it in the sump for awhile until I can ID it properly.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Did a quick google search and found this interesting article on Acro Crabs.
The one pictured is the type of crab I have in two of my acros.
Nick

 

[NaH2O]

I seriously doubt that crab you found is the happy commensal type. From the article above....a quote, which I think says alot about your little guy. The first night in his new home, and already falootin' around. You'd think he would wait for at least the 2nd or 3rd month or so, when you have no idea what is happening to your corals . Glad you were able to catch it.

They will die if separated from their coral and should be left where they are found.* They will sometimes migrate from coral to coral, but usually stay within the same coral colony.

 

[Maxx]

03-05-05

I noticed the tissue of two of my new corals actually sloughing off in pieces from the skeletons. I've never experianced this before, but from reading,this was Rapid Tissue Necrosis (RTN). After calling some friends (Thanks Mojo!), I was convinced it was RTN and I needed to do something fast, as it spreads quickly and will wipe out the entire coral if left untreated.

So I fragged the bejeezus out of the two of them.



The two corals that were RTN-ing were two of my favorite new ones, the green table and the peach colored table.

Here is what the green table looked like when I bought it.

I initially had about 7-8 frags of it total, but after looking at them this morning, I saw 4 of them showing RTN as well, so I pulled those out of the tank also. Heres what I'm left with so far today. Hopefully at least one of these pulls through.

I wont be surprised if the little one doesnt make it.

And here is what the peach colored table looked like when I first bought it.

And here is how it looks now....I had more of this one also, but saw RTN on some of these frags also....this is what I'm left with here.

I think the large one in the middle of the first pic has the best chance of making it. We'll see.......




Nick

 

[DisturbedReefer]

Nick,
I feel for your losses, I too went through the same thing in my new tank. I had some of those SPS corals for close to a year and they were doing so well. Then shortly after moving they all just shred their skin as I watched in shock In complete denial of the tragic losses I kept the skeletons in the tank for about two weeks until Chris (Indoor Reef) stopped by and told me they were a total loss Last weekend I had my house/tankwarming party and some of the guys brought me corals (check out my thread) they are all doing well now, so back to slowly replacing all my corals...man these corals are expensive :shock:

 

[bradreef]

wild tables are some of the hardest to keep. almost better to buy tables as frags.

 

[Maxx]

Todd,
Thanks man. I know what you mean. I'll be happy if I can one piece from each to survive. The tissue just looked like it was bubbling up off the skeleton. I'm glad you're able to get frags back of corals you had, thats cool.
Its kinda funny when you think about it. If I can save one polyp from each of these, in a year or two, it will be like it never happened. Thats kinda cool.

Brad,
I was aware that the tables were among the harder ones to keep. I figured it was because of the flow not being the same. With dense structures its hard to keep water moving through them like happens in the open ocean. But since these were so small, (right at 2 inches in diameter for these two) it wouldnt be an issue. Funny thing is, the affected areas were on the outside edges of the corals. Both of them start RTN-ing from the outside in, so its not likely that my worry was an issue.

These were aquacultered Walt Smith corals...The LFS has a partnership with him. Since two of the 7 acros came with acro crabs, I think its safe to say these were cultured in the ocean, and thats probably why they going through RTN. I just checked on them all again...so far they all look decent. Not happy mind you, but at least the polyps are out on some of them. After looking more carefully at the green table frags, the two larger ones appear to be okay right now. I didnt have to touch them this morning when I was going over the other frags and culling out the ones with tissue sloughing off.
I cut as far away from the affected areas as possible when I initially fragged them. Right now its just a waiting game...

Nick

 

[bradreef]

hope they pull through. They are great looking corals. I also plan on trying a aquacultured table. I have heard of some of the Walt stuff not surviving to well lately.

 

[NaH2O]

After calling some friends (Thanks Mojo!)

Sure! Give him all the credit!

I know you'll be keeping a close eye on them. Hopefully you'll be admiring their growth in no time. The green & peach tables are my favorites....I'd love for them to make it.

 

[Maxx]

ROFL......sorry Nikki. The info he gave was fresh on my mind when I posted this up. The tissue is evidently very thin on SPS and the enzyme that causes the RTN to spread travels quickly since there is only a little bit of tuissue to travel trough in the first place.

I had to frag one of the larger pieces of the green acro left, very heavily yesterday becuase I saw more RTN. I now have a rock covered in 1/4 inch frags. This morning, on the other larger piece of green acro, I see RTN at the base and up the middle. I'm getting real discouraged about this particular coral, and more anxious about the peach table frags I have left.

On the plus side...the snails have done an amazing job on the algae in my tank. I will post up pics later today.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Sorry Brad, didnt mean to ignore you...
I havent heard about Walt Smith stuff having issues lately...where did you hear it from?

Nick

 

[bradreef]

some orders that haven't arrived to good at stores. could just be the weather.

 

[Maxx]

03-16-05

Update, I took a couple of quick photo's with the Sony digi cam....I have 2 CF flash cards full of images taken with my friends Digital Rebel, but I dont have a card reader, so I need to wait until he can download those images for me...I'll post them as soon as I can.

But here are some new pics....

The purple tipped acro has been changing colors to more of an all over purple.
Here it is with my Tomini, and then without.

This is what it used to look like....also notice the algae is gone!!

I'm not noticing any new RTN on any of the frags...hopefully, its not going to any more. Has anyone heard of RTN stopping and healing? Or is it one of those terminal type dealies where once an acro has RTN its fatal?

The two largest table frags...Green on the left, the strange purple encrusting-ish acro, and the peach table frags.

Green and Peach table frags

The Chicken Foot and Green table frags....These are the Green frags that have not as of yet shown any RTN, so they are my best hope. The Chicken foot is turning a slight green and begining to match the mother colony.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Here is a pic of a brown table, the blue polyp acro, and the stylophora which is lightening in color since I've moved it up in the water column.

Here is what the Stylo used to look like...

Here is the neon green polyped acro...you can see that its encrusted in this pic.

Here is a pic of the Chalk Bass hovering over the Teardrop Crocea, and eyeing the food floating by in the water column.

Nikki bought a really cool RBTa from Premium Aquatics. She had some drama with it, (okay, it got sucked into the closed loop intake and she was concerned it was splitting), so I drove up to Indianapolis yesterday and took it off her hands. This thing was a total PITA to get off the rock, it took more than an hour, and several 4 letter words under my breath. When we finally got it off, we noticed a good sized hole in the base of the anemone, and mesentarial filaments were clearely visible....I was very careful while removing it from the rock it was attached to, so I know I didnt tear it. I'm guessing its in the process of splitting from the bottom.
Its currently on top of a homemade rock, on the right side of the tank......as far away as possible from the closed loop intake. So if it splits, (and frankly, I'd be AMAZED if it didnt to be honest), the clone will have a nice safe rock to wander around on.

Here are some pics of the anemone today. Rocio says, " That Minnie is cute. But he needs a friend."
Obviously, clownfish will be the final fish in the tank.

Finally, Here are full tank shots...sorta

Left side

Nick

 

[DonW]

Very cool. I love the aquascaping.

Don

 

[mojoreef]

You have been a busy boy Nick. Now just wait until that anenome splits like 10 times, lol


MIke

 

[Maxx]

Thanks Don.


Here is a full tank shot.
03-16-05

Mike.....yeah, cause I need 10 friggin RBTA's.....Actually, I'd jsut ship 9 to you.....COD.



Nick

 

[mojoreef]

Dont bother Nick I got 11 already...from one..lol


Mike