Myka's 90 gallon build & 3 province move (Pics Feb 6)

[Myka]

Red Bug Battle - Round 3!

Last Thursday I noticed my Alien Freckles Acro (the one most affected in the first infestation) was lightly covered in red bugs again. I treated for a second time as described above. Last night I notice a few RBs on the AF Acro AGAIN! So I'm going to break off as much of the AF Acro I can (it is short growing and very encrusted), give it a 2 hour strong Interceptor bath, and put it in my Zoa tank. I will use a pipette with boiling water to kill the remaining part of that coral. I'm hoping I can get away without treating the tank again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My SPS corals' colors continue to improve since I ditched the Zeovit and started running my GFO reactor again. As expected, the Halimeda and Grape Caulerpa are significantly repressed as well, but surprisingly the Bubble algae seems to be showing a bit of die back. I can only cross my fingers! These red bugs are just hindering my attempts to use Emerald crabs to graze the Bubble algae, and that is getting frustrating.

[fishytime]

aw geez Mindy.....that sucks.....RBs are definitely a tough one to get gone..... I hope you can nip it in the butt.....

[Myka]

I don't have anything to complain about compared to you Doug. Most people seem to get good results on a single dose of Interceptor, I think I am the exception.

[Myka]

Ok, now I am confused. I look at the AF Acro a couple times today looking for RBs. I can't see any today. I used a siphon to suck off all the rock yesterday, including some detritus that accumulates near the AF Acro. What are the chances the RBs I saw yesterday were dead ones from last week's treatment that were somehow still stuck to the coral??? Boy would that be awesome. I didn't notice the RBs moving yesterday, and I did think that was a bit odd. Either way, I'm chiseling that AF Acro out of there today...I need to move it anyway since it gets too much light to color up properly where it is. I'm going to put it on a plug and drill a hole in the rock so I can remove it for RB dipping in the future since it's turning out to be such a magnet.

[Myka]

An update is long overdue!

I am very pleased with the results of ditching the Zeovit system. Back to the basics!! I'm on my second rotation of GFO now. I still get the same phosphate test result of 0.008 ppm using a Merck kit. The rampant Grape Caulerpa growth has slowed down, and the red and green bubble algae has finally backed down some. The 5 or 6 Emerald crabs may be helping too! I used to rip the Bryopsis off my clams in clumps every couple weeks for about 8 months. That was the only place in my tank that had Bryopsis...and try as I might I just couldn't get it to stop growing on them, and now it is gone. The day after I put GFO back online (about 8 weeks ago now), there appeared a black cyano on the top rocks in my tank directly under the halides. It is persisting to this day. Not sure what is up with it. I'm hoping with good maintenance it will cure itself. Also getting a bit of cyano on my sand...I need a couple bigger powerheads.

So far so good on the RBs. *fingers crossed* However, I noticed one of my Validas browning out...I know what that means, and most of you Acro keepers probably know too. The first corals to get an AEFW infection are Validas. Hooray! Wtf?? I mean seriously??? Is my tank cursed this summer or what?

So I pried out the two infected colonies and a couple bonus colonies and gave them all a 20 minute dip in TMCC scraping eggs off beforehand. All except the Alien Freckles Acro...he's special, he got a 45 minute dip because I forgot about him! He survived. That Acro has taken a real s**t kicking this summer. He's nearly all bleached out, but the neon green polyps are still neon as ever. Go figure. LOL

I would post up a FTS, but the tank is a mess with Acros laying all over the place (haven't glued them back down yet).

So here are some pics of non-Acros!

Def not an Acro...Tuxedo Urchin (after I pulled off all his decorations):




New Stylo that is too far from the glass to get a good pic:




Ok, so here IS an Acro! This one is red, but I'll be darned if the camera will pick up the color very well...hmmmph.




Meteor Shower Cyphastrea:




Oh I lied again, another Acro. This one is a deepwater of some sort that is finally coloring up...has SWEET neon green polyps:



A couple Goniopora frags. These ones have a good track record for survivability:




Blue Rics:




Palau Nepthea:




Favia (one of my oldest pieces):

[Myka]

I just fed the fish, and what comes creeping out of the rock? A Eunicid worm! My luck! So far I don't think it has caused any troubles, but it is pretty small still. It's body was about 3mm diameter, and I saw about 4" of body.





Got a FTS today too:




Candlelight Acro that was a brown blob in my tank for almost a year is suddenly bursting with growth and color:

[Myka]

Added some photos. Including the Eunicid. Eek.