illumnae's SPS shallow reef

[illumnae]

There are ways to keep them under control but not eradicate them.  Fish like spotted mandarins and leopard wrasses are reputed to eat them; and KZ Flatworm Stop helps too.  I'll be taking corrective action to eradicate them from my tank soon, but most people will not be willing to do what it takes.

[Anchorman]

Hi bro, thanks for sharing. Best wishes to your success on battering this pest. I hope to buy some spa frags from you when my tank is ready.

Cheers,

[illumnae]

Here's a short video documenting the tearing down of my tank to start dipping.  Filmed in HD.

 

[Ashtrax]

you dip in the bucket for how long?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[illumnae]

I set a timer for 5 minutes, but after the timer goes off I individually "blow" them in front of a wavemaker to dislodge any aefw.  So by the time they actually make it back into the tank, it's about 10-20 minutes per colony/frag

[Ashtrax]

Hope everything will be alright. 

[illumnae]

And here's the new scape! Hope it looks good enough... I've set up 2 tubs and will start cycling the rocks in salt water with Fritz and Prodibio bacteria for 2 weeks. I may also dose some TM Reef Mud Vital into the tubs to hopefully seed some additional micro fauna into the rocks.

 

[christan1959]

Wow I just came across your post...

Real dedication in doing what you did. Hats off!

Back-breaking work. 

Just wondering- would it have been easier to medicate whole tank, and followed by 100% water change?

[illumnae]

Unfortunately my fish are still in the tank so I couldn't do that.  I also didn't want to kill off my copepod and micro fauna population 

[christan1959]

Because it might still be possible that some pests are lingering in the rocks and sand and tank walls...

[illumnae]

Sand and tank walls not likely.  Rock I removed totally and will be replacing with the new scape.  I also swap the eggcrate stand weekly and wash/dry it in tap water in between swaps to make sure no eggs or worms hide there.

[illumnae]

The dip process is finally over and I really hope that nightmare is over.  Rocks are now in but the tank is a mess as I haven't had the time to glue the corals in yet.  It's a lot easier buying a few a week and gluing them in than 70ish colonies and frags at once. The colour coordination gives me a headache!

20180401_231138 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

[Zhi Long Oh]

Is that a blotchy anthias?

[Zhi Long Oh]

Is that a blotchy anthias?

[SubzeroLT]

6 hours ago, illumnae said:

The dip process is finally over and I really hope that nightmare is over.  Rocks are now in but the tank is a mess as I haven't had the time to glue the corals in yet.  It's a lot easier buying a few a week and gluing them in than 70ish colonies and frags at once. The colour coordination gives me a headache!

20180401_231138 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Respect the effort!

Can consider getting a few spotted mandarins as in case the issue pops up again.

[illumnae]

8 hours ago, SubzeroLT said:

Respect the effort!

Can consider getting a few spotted mandarins as in case the issue pops up again.

Thanks bro!  It's really quite a backbreaking effort, but if it ends up with a nice looking tank like yours then it's worth it

I bought 3 spotted mandarins early on to help keep the problem under control, but surprisingly they fought quite fiercely amongst each other and now left with only 1.  I'm considering adding springeri damsels too as they're also reputed to eat aefw

[illumnae]

13 hours ago, Zhi Long Oh said:

Is that a blotchy anthias?

I have 2 Hawaii yellow anthias, Odontanthias fuscipinnis

[Zhi Long Oh]

I have 2 Hawaii yellow anthias, Odontanthias fuscipinnis

How much did u pay? I suppose u got it from iwarna?

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[illumnae]

3 minutes ago, Zhi Long Oh said:

How much did u pay? I suppose u got it from iwarna?

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

Yup that's where I got them from.  Pricing wise best to check with Iwarna

[illumnae]

2018-04-07_12-10-55 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

[JMW]

Wow wow wow! That platter of colors! 

[illumnae]

Here's what the tank looks like now.  Long way to go to colour everything up, but it's a start!  I'm working on the next video that will hopefully be out soon

FTS by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

[leong_rei]

Yup that's where I got them from.  Pricing wise best to check with Iwarna

Omg u buy the $k anthais

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[Jeebusai]

Nice and fast recovery bro! Backbreaking work though! Waiting for new updates! Should recover in no time! 

[MarCal]

Looks really very good.