Achilles Tang

Wei, I only agree with you on not having a skimmer during the cycling period and while having very little/no livestock as he waits till a good PS comes in. The followup question would be how long can he hold out? I am sure you have heard of the "new tank syndrome" where a new tank will undergo a nuisance algae bloom after the cycling is over? Or during the duration before the sandbed matures closer to the 1 year mark? Why let the excess nitrate and phosphates from the stuff on curing liverock fuel this? I say get rid of it asap.... I rather want coralline algae growing on it then 'hairy stuff'.

Dun risk an ammonia spike from decomposing carcasses.... especially one as big as a lionfish. Use your tongs to try removing it out... dun use your hands unless wearing thick gloves. Or use a net. If you want to let your bristleworm, pods or hermit crabs finish the job... you still need to remove the bones and spines left behind.

I strongly disagree. Unless you are really an advanced aquarist, know what you are doing and want to go skimmerless... you have to be a very disciplined one.... eg. very little livestock, light bioload, light feeding, good & established biological setup, frequent water changes! For newcomers to a hobby.... it's advocating suicide because you want to make sure that he gets the best water quality possible.... and without one, he will be relying on guesswork... when the first episode of cyano, nuisance algae, overfeeding pollution, overstocking, nitrates & phosphates shooting thru the roof, livestock deaths etc happens... and he don't know how to control it without that 'safety net' against a newbie's potential lack of discipline, bad practices, overfeeding/stocking etc... which a PS is, if you can call it that... but IMO, it's not just merely a safety net. A PS is a VITAL component for maintaining good water quality. It's something you shouldn't compromise on. Just to let you in on this 'skimmerless' trend collapsing. There are a few skimmerless gurus in RC with great-looking tanks for years finally breaking down and installing PS in their systems because they notice their tanks taking a turn for the worse inspite of all their good husbandry skills. Once they got a PS, their tanks improved. If you don't believe me... logically... if a PS can skim out a cup of dark, dirty, smelly skimmate from your water.... why would you think your water is the same with it inside? My 2 cents and my experience... past and present ie. My excellent H&S Euroreef skimmer is now too undersize for my new tank... it's comparable to getting a cheap airstone skimmer for a 2/3 ft small tank.... no offense to those that use them. It's a matter of having the right equipment to do the right job.... and doing it to its very best.

hmmm.... no good... no good at all... you should have no such bubbles escaping from your PS. Check all your fittings... sometimes a bad seal from the unions (uhh... does this PS even have one?) could leak air bubbles. Experiment with your in-sump PS.. adjust the height it sits in the water and the water intake until no water is going into the PS due to excessive water pressure. You want to ensure that you only have dry foam moving up the riser tube and into the collection cup. It is not good to have too liquid skimmate... you want it thick and black/dark.... not full of yellowish tea-coloured water. Good luck!

Quoting Randy Holmes-Farley: Strontium and molybdenum will not be skimmed out by themselves. The molybdenum may complex to organics and be skimmed out, though I've not seen anyone determine if this is significant. I'd argue the other way: if it is actively skimmed out, that's all the more reason to add more because the tank will rapidly become depleted. I'm not sure what's in Kent iodine. Iodide and iodate will not be skimmed out, except perhaps inside of organisms that consumed it.

It is a well known fact that softies and hard corals cannot mix without the hard corals being affected first due to 'chemical warfare'. That is why reefers with LPS and SPS tanks should only have 1 or 2 softies in their tanks at the max. Softies do not really like turbulent and heavy currents which SPS love... and it would be disastrous if the 'skin' which leathers shed from time to time should touch SPS corals. Unfortunately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.. that is why you seldom see full soft coral reef tanks... everyone loves hard corals!

I rather have yellow clam shells than dead clams... I hate looking at my collection of bleached white clam shells.

Well.... I would recommend that you hold on to your purchases until you get the best equipment you can get to start off right. Dun buy underpowered/uncapable stuff coz you end up wasting money and also losing livestock which will appreciate better conditions brought by better equipment. Patience and discipline is important. Trust me... look at the number of equipment being sold off due to 'upgrading'... you lose a lot of money trying to get rid of stuff which you shouldn't have compromised and bought instead. I suggest you prioritize your equipment accordingly to importance... From most important to lesser importance: 1. Skimmer 2. Lights 3. Water circulation Consider this advice again. My 2 cents.

Hi rachelgal, Welcome to SRC. Thanks for the compliments on my tank... you must be referring to my old tank ... well... my new tank will take some time to mature.. and time to stock up and build up...I have nothing remarkable to show now... Anyway, there are very beautiful tanks here in Singapore, take a look around.... Top of my mind... Morgan, Robe, Steno, TTboy, Spiff's are some good examples....

I got this info to share: This problem is caused by a bacterial infection. Two years ago it was isolated by a lab in Florida to by a bacterial in Vibrio strain (gram-negative). Vibrio bacteria cause a number of human ailments including cholera and acute bacterial diarrhea. More specific pathology for the exact bacteria causing harm to our clams will be available for the San Francisco area outbreak later this week as some dying clams have been sent into a pathology lab specializing in marine organisms. This bacterial problem in ornamental reef clams is not new. It (or something very similar) happened about two years ago too. As it turns out, Sprung and Delbeck are recommended the tetracycline family of antibiotics for this problem. I just happened to have something on hand, so after I lost 2 of my 3 clams to this problem, I tried an antibiotic from the tetracycline family called minocycline. My last clam, which just yesterday was showing gaping and the classic mucus, seems fine today living in a bath of antibiotics. Treatment was given at 100 mg minocycline per 5 gallons (I read this is close to the common dosage for fish). After 24-48 hours, the water should be replaced in the bucket and treated again at the same dosage for two more days. After that the clam should be returned to a tank separate from the one it caught the disease. In several months, the clam might be able to be returned to the main tank, but the amount of time to wait is anyone's best guess. I AM BASING THIS ROUTINE ON WHAT I'VE READ ONLY! It is NOT proven yet to me personally! Of the tetracyclines, Delbeck recommends doxycycline in particular probably because of its relatively low affinity to calcium (good in a high-calcium organism). Where does one get that stuff without holding your local doctor hostage? The answer was found about as far from my mind as possible as I set out on the search. The answer is in racing pigeon care. Racing pigeons are sometimes given a doxycycline solution to prevent respiratory infection after coming home from a race. The concentration of such a solution is, I have read, 500 to 1000 mg/gallon of water. This is 20 to 40 times the strength recommended by fish experts in treating fish bacterial infections. That might be expected too as saltwater organisms are constantly processing water since they have to counter the osmotic pressure that forces them to dehydrate all the time. --------------------------------------------------------- Tetracycline is well known to be effected by calcium, hence the recomendation for double dosage for it and it's derivatives such as maracyn 2 for use in marine aquaria ---------------------------------------------------------- The concentration of the doxycycline liquid is 20% doxycycline HCL (by weight) in their formulation. That would mean that 1 teaspoon would treat about 40 gallons. A ml would be 200mg of doxycycline, or enough to treat 8 gallons of clam water. I ended up canceling my own order, though, since I got some doxycycline from a doctor locally. ------------------------------------------------------------ Doxycycline is sold as "Bird Biotic" for $11 for 30 or $20 for 100 100mg caps at Lambriar Animal Health Care without a prescription for animals. 100 mg will treat about 4 gallons per day given the routine I used. So, for $20 you get enough to treat about 400 day-gallons from those guys. I also found a place in Savannah, Georgia called Global Pigeon Supplies that sells a liquid preparation that is enough to treat 800 day-gallons for $22.95 + shipping. One ml of the liquid is 20% doxycycline by weight so I figure 200 mg. That means one ml of that liquid should be added to 8 gallons or so of water for the treatment bath (and, as above, the water has to be swapped out each day and re-treated to stay effective in medicating your clam). In either case, I doubt the exact dosage is really that important. If you use twice the amount or half, it probably will work either way. But there are some guidelines that I'd follow: 1) Treat the clam in a separate bucket or tank. Antibiotics introduced in the main tank will kill off your biologically filter and crash your tank. 2) I treated my clam for 5 days. I would recommend you treat for AT LEAST 5 days. Even a week or more is not out of the question. Antibiotics do not work well on a "dip" basis. And the clam very well could look perfectly fine after a day or two. DON'T STOP THE TREATMENT PREMATURELY! If you stop the treatment fast, you greatly reduce your chances of the clam being cleared of the infection sufficiently to survive. 2) Treat the clam in darkness or very low light, and provide a phytoplankton food source each day. This is because the tetracycline family of antibiotics break down in bright light, and your clam will need some form of food to get well. Use vinyl tubing and an air pump to keep bubbles rising and moving the water around (use a powerhead if the tank is large enough but not in a few gallons as the temperature can go too high). Use a small heater to keep the water at normal tank temperatures. 3) Don't introduce lots of calcium structures into the treatment tank. I would not, for example, coat the entire bottom with an inch of crushed coral. Keep the crushed coral in a small bowl if you need it to place the clam. This is because doxycycline binds weakly to calcium, and I can imagine that lots of calcium carbonate might bring up the calcium ion concentration in the water very slightly. 4) Change the water and the medication out each day. I would recommend you get the water from the main tank rather than make it fresh. Freshly-made saltwater tends to stress stuff out, and you don't want your clam to be more stressed than it already is. 5) When the clam is put back into the tank, introduce as little as possible water from the treatment tank into the main tank. Again, this antibiotic is poison to the bacteria responsible for your tank's biological filtration. I hope this helps folks! ------------------------------------------------------------- I just lost a crocea to an unknown cause, but it hasn't affected my other clams, knock on wood. In any case, ReefDream, it's funny how you stumbled onto the Doxycycline. I was just reading an article in May's FAMA in Julian Sprung's Reef Notes. He recommended using the same antibiotics to cure ailing elegance corals. He also suggested that it was applicable to a lot of different invertebrates. Good job at finding a cure... hopefully --------------------------------------------------------------

From my research, the clam disease is caused by a gram-negative bacteria. So I got the appropriate medication which will apparently help the clams to recover. Thanks to that person with the 'lobang' for tetracycline.

Really? With titanium coils or at least epoxy coated copper pipes? If the pipes are unprotected.... he will kill his livestock coz copper is toxic.

hmmm.... maybe you guys are new here but I have the lobang for good prices on Teco chillers. Special pricing for Singapore Reef Club only! Interested pls PM me. I am a Teco chiller user myself, too bad when I started a few years ago... this lobang was not open to me! Anyway, yes, Teco is the most ex in the market but it's also the most reliable. I always say that important stuff like chillers... dun pray pray ah! Have you seen corals bleach overnight when the temp shoots up coz the chiller died? I have!

Well, let's see the baby photos!

Phang.... Morgan and I share the same sentiment... infants shouldn't be seperated from their parents and should be allowed to grow a lot older before that happens! Take it slow bro.... dun take fragging to an extreme... or you'll literally have 'fragments' left.

bacteria or virus whatever... just die and leave my clams alone!

That is called cavitating.

Well, I hope you will be as conscientious as you can be.... to be a responsible hobbyist... and learn to love the sea! Marine life is so so much more wonderful and precious than freshwater fishes esp. LH.. Welcome aboard! Happy NY! AT

Sigh!!! Read THE GUIDELINES before posting in the Product Reviews thread. I am now moving this post out.

It's definitely my PS... if you see the size of my tank and the size of my PS, you'll instantly understand. I thought my H&S could cope, but I was wrong. Besides, my sandbed is not matured yet. My new 4ft DIY alvy-foamer (haha)... will be perfect for maintaining excellent water quality. I am a firm believer in feeding heavy (that's what caused the cyano bloom/hair algae bloom)... and skimming heavy. Many people underfeed their tanks because of water maintenance issues. Did you know you can actually 'starve' a DSB? And once you move onto SPS corals... you need excellent water conditions which only skimming can bring (or very frequent water changes, very limited livestock etc to reduce phosphate problems). Even a few well-known skimmerless reefers in RC have given up on going without one because they notice their tanks going downhill over time, once adding a good PS... their tank perks up. Think about it... where does that thick, black smelly gunk in the collection cup comes from? It's in the water!!! I have reeftecs in my tank... what dead spots?

You can bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Sorry... you can put 10 anemones in a tank and the clown will not want to reside in any of them. Clowns do not need an anemone to survive in a tank and vice versa.

Oh gosh, Phang, Get a grip of yourself man!! This Strange Phang Sickness thingy is too much!

My last baby crocea has been moved right to the water's edge. Away from the sandbed. It's burrowed deep into the rock it came in... so parasitic attacks from underneath is prevented. Keeping my fingers crossed. My two big squamosas are still on the sandbed. One is closed and has the cleaner irritating it but it still opens at the light. However, it is the first to close up when the lights dim. I may treat it soon it with some medication I acquiried that should hopefully stop the virus in its tracks.

Hi everyone, May I have the privilege to introduce Blane Perun... from www.thesea.org in the USA. He visited our site and I believe this is his first post here! On behalf of the Singapore Reef Club, WELCOME!!!!

*bloop* *bloop* Decompression stop... sigh... leaving this beautiful world behind!