This page last updated: 21
Details of the tank setup are archived here, otherwise what you have on this page is the most recent segment of the tank diary. Our piece of advice for anyone starting a marine aquarium is "think SimCity". You will have in your hands an entire and rather complex ecosystem; it's not just fish and filtration. Keep that in mind and you'll do the Right Thing. As well as the diary, we now have:
A general update on the health of the invalids in the tank:
The Virgate Rabbitfish began to show a few more spots last week, though has since recovered a little (maybe through cleaner water and more regular feeding).
A small segment of Finger Leather Coral that is left seems to be sprouting a few handies, so has the potential to recover.
And finally the Blue Linckia that suffered an amputation seems to have suffered yet another amputation. It is now down to just three arms.
We've been a bit recalcitrant on the water changes recently and have experienced an increase in algal growth as a result. More interestingly, we went away for 6 days and on return found that the Finger Leather Coral or Pussy Coral had almost complete disappeared. Rather a dramatic change and probably not good for the tank water to have such a large item dissolve in it.
Also, one strand of the Caulifower Coral seems to have become bleached, though the rest of it remains healthy.
It's a little over four months since the| Blue Linckia suffered its amputation and the wound has now closed up though we're not sure there's any sign of the leg growing back at all.
The Virgate Rabbitfish is showing a small darker-coloured mark on one of its sides. No other signs of ill health, though it is still being hassled by the Regal Tang. On a positive note, the Maroon Clownfish's mate is not showing any signs of ill-health in the absence of his partner.
To prove that, somewhat like us we suppose, an urchin is really just a tube with mouth at one end and anus at the other, here's a video of it having a poo out of the top of its head. Look in the middle of the picture for the small white pellets dropping down and the somewhat unusual green lump floating up up and away.
We went to Totally Tropicals on the way home from the vet and bought ourselves a Cauliflower Coral (or Pocillopora damicornis). It adds some mauveness to the tank.
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Andy is off to TMC on Tuesday and promised to look for another female Maroon Clownfish for us.
We don't know whether this is a result of the change in fishy-dominance we now have in the tank, but the Regal Tang has begun nipping at the Virgate Rabbitfish. Here it is caught on camera.
The Maroon Clownfish was having trouble remaining horizontal yesterday so we caught it, gave it a brief dip in fresh RO water then, placed it in the sump tank. It had a few moments of stability but by the morning was dead. A great pity, especially as its mate will likely suffer bullying from the other fish now and may not survive.
The Maroon Clownfish has been showing signs of illness today: a discolouration around the mouth and gills, the lighter areas in the photograph below. She's eating OK, so we'll wait and see.
Found the One-Spot Fox-Face Rabbitfish dead in the tank on Friday. No outward signs of trauma, just not moving anymore. Went to Totally Tropicals and found they had a Virgate Rabbitfish: very similar in colouring, behaviour and tank suitability but without the sticky-out nose. We have him/her now as a replacement. Slightly worryingly the Regal Tang has taken to hiding. Either it's upset by the loss of the One-Spot Fox-Face Rabbitfish or it may be in trouble itself.
We talked to Andy in the shop about the status of the tank. Since the hard corals weren't too bothered by the water-change experiment but the soft corals were hard hit, it seems plausible that we should dose-up on Iodine, something which all the tank inhabitants will use up but which soft corals are more sensitive to. Have bought some Iodione and will try dosing with this.
It's been a month since the Blue Linckia suffered its amputation. It shows now signs of ill health, or of the leg growing back. The end of the leg simply has the small white suckers poking out of it, just like the feet you can see here.
Earlier entries are available here:
