A couple of big events in the big tank.
First, a sad farewell to my YWG and pistol shrimp, from my original four saltwater livestock. RIP Snape and Blondie, you are sorely missed and I'm so sad to lose you after all we've been through. At the end of March, I noticed Snape was acting weird. I thought he was sick but realized I hadn't seen his shrimp all day, later confirmed MIA. After losing his buddy, Snape just went slowly downhill. Abnormal behaviour, wandering aimlessly around the open sand, staying frozen in one spot for several days even after lights out, never really eating. He was removed twice for treatment (eg. weird white welts on his body, likely caused by stress?) and the last one to treat a clouded eye (Furan worked wonders). At least 3 times, I thought he was dead only to be proven wrong. Went through terrible indecision over whether to euthanize or give him a chance to rally as he had done before. Anyway, sorry for the long story. I couldn't buy another shrimp during this shutdown and I never thought or heard that a goby would exhibit this behaviour. I guess I could say he died of a broken heart (he was healthy and I think that's why it took him 6 weeks to slowly starve to death). Others might say he was just in shock over losing a bonded partner. Whatever the case, I know he kinda broke my heart a little.
First photo together Jan04/2016 after getting them from JL's Boxing Day sale. Snape hadn't turned yellow yet. Man, was I ever excited to see them together lol
I took this just a few days before he disappeared. Blondie was quite the builder, sometimes elaborate sometimes simple. Here, a piece of rubble perfectly placed in his doorway. Pefection lol. Snape went back to the burrow for a few days and then left again for good.
The second event might be of interest to anyone having similar issues. The tank went though a Vibrant treatment and I'm happy to say it worked pretty well. I noticed a small patch of bryopsis, forgot about it, and next thing you know, it had grown into a thick forest everywhere. Coral were being smothered. I followed instructions from reading a long thread on R2R, did some manual removal, and went cautiously. After 22 doses (most of them twice weekly, the whole process was about 2.5 months), it's about 99% clean. Just a few tiny wisps of algae in a couple of places. No effects to fish, coral, etc at all although I had to remove macroalgae from fuge. I didn't take photos (couldn't stand how bad the bryopsis looked lol). It was slow at first and you think it's not doing much; then one day you look at the tank and realize your rock is nice and clean. I mean - clean. Slow and steady is definitely the way to go. I might do a maintenance dosage for a bit and then stop it altogether.