Question

I'm having an green algae bloom and it is spreading quickly. The bloom all started when I added my fire shrimp in my tank, and I made the mistake of putting the water from the LFS with my shrimp into my tank. I think that introduced all kinds of unwanted elements and nutrients into my tank...and thus my algae problem.

So I got some margaritas and turbo snails in my tank right now...working on the problem. I also dropped in Seachem Phosgard in my filter section to remove the phosphate from the water and did a small water change with RO water.

Anyways, I was reading the recommended fish section...and I really want a diamond-back goby to sift the sand. I took your advice and I'm using a 3" deep sand bed...but I heard that to maintain a healthy DSB...gobies will eat all the critters??? Is this true??? What does diamond-back gobies eat and are they have to maintain??? Thanks for the fish advice.

Got any advice on the algae front??? What does the fire shrimp eat??? I just add some ChromaPlex to the water...

Tell me more about formula one and two food? What do you recommend??? Thanks.

Jimbo

 

Hey Jimbo! Your post gave me a thirst for margaritas!!

Heh anyway...

The fire shrimp thing may be a coincidence.

You have a new tank right? This bloom is pretty common with new tanks, esp. ones that are cycling. I went through this recently when I changed the substrate in my freshwater plant tank. I just did weekly water changes and rode it out. It took a few weeks.

Seems like you did some decent things to help, give it time, see what happens.


As for the sand, I think I said most people recommend 3-5 inches. DSB goes up to 6 inches, but I think that is becoming an 'ant farm' personally. You might want to think about adding another inch though.

I liked my Goby, but I had a helluva lot of rock. This kept the guy on the perimeter mostly and probably kept my pod population up. I had a lot of pods. If I just spent $100 on critters, I would be a little nervous though. So I guess my recommendation depends on all of this, I should probably add that to the rec fish page. I still like them though. And I am not too strict as some people are when it comes to sand. When I had mine, people didn't really know about keeping worms and all that and it still worked.

My goby ate formula and crap in the sand. They do need to be fed.

Some conchs might be a good alternative.

Formula food, although a little messy, basically is a smorgishborg of everything in the sea. Check out the ingredients sometime. It is really healthy for fish and they seem to love it and get quite colorful from eating it after a while.

Gotta go! Keep it touch...

 

Oh my god, I was looking at the sand today and there was this transparent worm-looking thing moving across the sand. Damn!!! I think it is a flatworm!!! What should I do??? I've heard of a nudibranch that will eat it...but I kinda don't want to go that route...is there any other way of getting rid of it before their population explodes. Does DB goby eat the flatworm as critters??? God, what do you think I should do???

And it looks like I have a few small aiptasias on my rocks...Matt, do you have a picture of small aiptasias??? I want to be sure before I zap it with kalk. I've been searching on the web to see what they look like...I found a few links to what mine looks like...

http://rshimek.com/images/Aquarium hydroids1.jpg
http://rshimek.com/images/Aquarium Hydroids2.jpg

Should I get a peppermint shrimp to eat the aiptasias that I cannot zap? Do you have any experience with peppermint shrimp? Are they harmful to softies? I don't want them to destroy the mushrooms or zooanthids or polyps that I'm going to put in my tank. Thanks for your advice.

 

Sleeping much Jimbo? ;D

Heh. Ahh anyway, worms. Transparent or clear flat worms are not so bad. Pinkish, brown ones (red planaira) can be in so far as they can reach plague proportions. However they are still relatively harmless. They just freak people out mostly. In severe cases they potentially can start smothering things.
But they are usually always there. It is their population that fluxuates.

Getting rid of them appears to be difficult. Some try sixline wrasses, mandarins, nudis or some kind of slug with mixed success. They are actually supposed to be pretty common in new tanks. Most people recommend the good old siphon-vac and time to let the population ebb. Good water quality and circulation will help.

Some people recommend the chemical route with Tetra Oomed, but I won't. Just hit the heavy spots with the siphon and ride it out. If it gets really bad, MAYBE freshwater dip some of your rocks for 10 seconds or so, shake the worms out and put the rock back AND siphon. But this would be last resort.

You sure it ain't a bristle worm? They are not bad.

If you still want to get a diamondback goby, wait at least a few months for your tank to mature first.


[sub]Aiptasia[/sub]

I don't like these either. Some people don't mind them though. They are relatively harmless, but they will sting your corals if they are touching them.

The hypo-kalk trick will do the job on the ones you can get. Just don't do too many at once because too much kalk in the water will cause a pH swing.

Peppermint shrimp would be the way to go for the rest. They are reef friendly. Just don't get it's look alike - the Camelback, it is not reef friendly. They look so much alike that I have heard of fish stores mislabeling them. You want the one with the clear body. The one with the white body (and hump I think?) is a Camelback. They both have a red stripe pattern.

The nudi that eats aiptasia will starve when they are gone.

Another method down the road would be the Copperband Butterfly. Check out info in the fish section of this forum.

Let me know how it goes Jimbo. Later!

 

Yeah, for the flatworms, I'm thinking of getting a six-line wrasse, as they are very cool looking...I'm just worried he's going to attack the hermit crabs or my fire shrimp...which I don't really want. So I'm still contemplating if I should pick one up...what should I look for to tell if it's a healthy fish? Should I look for the pinch underneath the stomach?

As for the aiptasia, they are still small...and I have a question. Does the aiptasia tentacles withdraw into the tube body? That is because I tried to shoot 2 of the aiptasias with a kalk mix but the tentacles retracted into the body...so I left it alone...and decided to do more research before I zap them.

Anyways, I'm ordered some nice corals online and my wallet is quite empty...haha. I have some pictures...but I'm still trying to post them. Do you have some space for members to upload their picture to? Or recommend a free website???

Yeah, my algae problem is almost gone since I introduced 10 turban snails, 10 margaritas, and 6 scarlet reef crabs into my tank awhile back. Those turban snails are workhorses!!!! And my scarlet reef crabs are getting bigger with each week.

Although I do have a lot of crap (literally) on my sand now. What do you recommend???

 

Like I said before Jimbo, use the siphon-vac. Make this part of your water change routine. Just hit the bad spots.

It will get the crap, it will get the worms.

Use your thumb over the output to regulate the flow so you don't suck the sand out.

The six line wrasse is a hit or miss. Many people have said it made no difference with the worms.

I say use the siphon and ride it out. You should be using the siphon anyway.

Try MSN for setting up a free photo gallery. Many people seem to use that. Then get the URL to the pic and use it with the image button above to post pics here. :thumbsup:

 

Retract or not, just shoot the kalk in their stem!