42 Hex Update, Decorator Crab Antics, Nano Algae Battle

[Beverly]

LOL!! Can't believe what I just saw our decorator crab do :-))

The lights had been off in the 42 for about an hour, and the decorator crab was really active. When I first saw him he had one leg on the uppermost piece of live rock and the rest of him had latched onto the 802's prefilter which is about 2" above the rock. I watched to see if he was climbing up or going down. And, yes, he was going up. A few moments later, all of him was on the prefilter. Then he climbed up to the powerhead itself. I'm wondering how the heck he's going to get down, so I keep watching, of course ;-)

He climbs around back, but can't go anywhere that way, so goes toward the front where the water's shooting out like crazy. Oh, he can't be going there, I thought. He'd never be able to hold on. Then suddenly, he's flying through the water, legs all splayed out! Looked like he was going to hit the other side of the tank (ouch!), but luckily he grabs onto a piece of rock before hitting the glass. I almost laughed my a** off!!!

He stayed on the lower rock for a moment or so, then renewed his ascent. All the while I'm wondering if he was looking for his way back up to the water slide :-)) Maybe he's just a wild and crazy guy. Wonder how often he does that while we're sleeping?? LOL!! LOL!!!

On a more serious note, the update on water conditions in the 42 tonight:

ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm

It's been just over a week since we stocked the tank well-cured live rock and tomorrow will be a week since we began adding corals and fish. With all the folks saying we were foolish to go ahead adding livestock so quickly, I consider us very, very lucky that there hasn't been a rise in ammonia or nitrite to date.

Deep inside, though, I thought we were going to be okay with our decision. So far I've been right. I feed lightly twice a day, and I've turkey basted the rock lots and lots and lots of times and cleaned the prefilter foam after each basting, just to make sure to remove any crud that could cause a problem. I've also done the tank's first 5 gallon water change this week. And all is going well, I'm happy to report :-)

That is not to say that others should follow our example of stocking a reef so quickly. I felt quite positive, though, that the tank would be stable enough to withstand the bioload with the rock we chose and with the water testing that was done prior to adding the livestock.

I'm feeling good about the 42's future, and I will continue to baste the tank periodically and keep the prefilters clean to help the tank stay healthy. For the next few weeks it will be important to pay special attention to this newly established reef. And that I will certainly do.

I'm also paying close attention to our almost cycled 2.5 gal nano. It's got this horrible grey stuff growing on the sandbed and on some of the curing rock. I've decided that I'm going to attack this stuff like it was cyano, which is what I think it is, but it's grey, so I can't be sure that it is. Very confusing :-(

Anyway, I've been lightly stirring up the top layer of sand to break up the clumps of grey matter. Then I've turkey basted the crud up into the water column where the AquaClear Mini sucks it into the foam. When the tank clears, I clean the foam in RO water, then begin the process whenever I see the grey stuff forming again. I've defeated red cyano in a 75 with this method a few years back and it worked well. The only problem is that it's got to be done a least once a day, which is a PITA. But it worked before, so here's hoping it works again, PINA or not.

Cheers, all!

[BCOrchidGuy]

Using well cured live rock is a huge bonus and frankly I think adding the livestock isn't such a risk with the live rock... if it were not well cured then I would say.. .risky..... but obviously you have a good handle on things.

[Beverly]

Using well cured live rock is a huge bonus and frankly I think adding the livestock isn't such a risk with the live rock... if it were not well cured then I would say.. .risky..... but obviously you have a good handle on things.

Thanks for the support. I won't consider this reef out of the woods until another couple of weeks pass. Then somewhere down the line, something like cyano will rear its ugly head and I'll have to deal with it :-( Ah, the joys of reefkeeping ;-)

But on a totally off-topic topic, where I have almost no handle on the subject at all: our ball python Sid had not been eating over the last several weeks. Took him to the vet for a checkup and found out he had a mouth infection and had also retained eyecaps from his last shed. (They shed a few times a year, and the eyecaps can be troublesome to shed.) Treatment for the infection meant I had to give daily injections of antibiotic for 10 days. Ouch, poor little snake :-( Once the injections started he became lethargic and just layed all curled in a ball under the heat lamp. Poor little guy :-(((

The injections went easily for the first 8 days, then he began to balk whenever the needle touched his body. He even bent the needle on the 9th day, though I was able to inject him finally, bent needle and all. The last day, it took two of us to hold him down. But all the while during the injections, he stayed curled up under the heat lamp moving only to drink, which was very uncharacteristic of him.

Treatment for the retained eyecaps was to use q-tips and saline solution and gently rub around the eye sockets to loosen the dead skin. Then I was to apply a dab of medicated goo on the eye to help the process along if the eyecap did not come off easily.

Sid was so wiped out by the injections, I stopped the eyecap removal part of the treatment to give the poor guy a break from all the handling. Instead I applied the eye goo, which is not very stressful to snake, or human.

Two days after the injections had finished Sid still lay curled up in a ball. Usually, he'd be climbing all over the driftwood in his house during the day, flicking his cute little tongue out everywhere he went. A quick talk with the vet's office told me that antibiotics sometimes knock a snake off its feet, so to speak, and to call early next week if things don't improve.

Lo and behold, Friday night, he begins to shed. It looked like he was in extreme discomfort as he rubbed his face and head all over the towel substrate. Feeling totally helpless in yet another of Sid's problems, I went to bed feeling pretty bad. Next morning he was curled in a tight little ball, a sign of stress, and dead skin was still all over his face. It looked like he hadn't gotten very far in his shed.

Remembering the saline solution treatment, I took him out of his house and put him on a towel on my lap and began washing his body with a warm wet cloth. Once he uncurled from his tight ball position, I soaked a q-tip with saline and began pushing the dead skin from his nose toward the back of he head Sid wasn't too thrilled with this type of handling, but I gently persisted and was able to remove all the skin from his face, including both eyecaps! Wow!! I felt sooooooo good!

DH put warm water in his water dish and I persisted in bathing him to help the skin come off more easily, though he wasn't very interested in this either. Once out of the water he hid under the towel substrate to get the heck away from us prying humans.

Hours later, I gently pulled him out from under the towel and placed him on one of his known hiding places. Hours after that I noticed dead skin in huge chunks laying all over the towel. And he was beginning to move around his house like he usually does, sort of like he's hunting for food (well, live mice in his case). Late last evening, I even noticed that he'd pooped, poop which I can take to the vet for parasite analysis :-)

Yippeeee!! I helped our sick snake get better! He even pooped, which is an excellent sign. I think I'll go the the lps and get him something to eat today if he continues to look like he's hunting. I hope he eats, which he hasn't done in about two months. If he does eat, then I know he's back in the saddle and on his way to being his old lovely snakey self.

I'll even left him climb up the sleeve of my sweatshirt if he wants. He climbs in only so far, then turns around and lets his head poke out. He's so cute and gentle, and I love his little snake self a whole lot. BCOrchidGuy, you should get to know a snake like Sid and you'll change your mind about being afraid of snakes forever :-))))))

[BCOrchidGuy]

Nope don't like em, ... cats are good, dogs are great, fish/corals are awesome, orchids are just plain easy.

Glad to hear you were able to help him out though, even though I don't like snakes I hate the idea of one suffering or being uncomfortable.