New "found" creatures

A lone 1/2" polyp or anemone was spotted in the large clump of brown kelp in the front left of tank. It's different from the lone brown polyp spotted a couple weeks ago. This one has much longer tentacles, which are striped. I suspect its a Aiptasia (Aptaisiidae "Rock", "Glass") Anemone; I'll have to observe it a bit more. Luckily, removal will be as easy as tossing whatever part of the kelp it's attached to.


Two more Peanut Worms (Sipunculid) spotted over the last week or so, which are noticably smaller than the Panut Worm (Sipunculid) thats been observed for some time.

• The first is located on the top left-back part of large top rock
• The second is located on one of the lower front rocks

Noticed another hair worm (Spionids Polychaete Worm) with only one tentacle observed, much smaller than the large hair worm building a tube on the gravel.

Performed a 2.5gal water change.

Trade-ins, and new livestock

Brought into Jim's the three pieces I harvested last night, and bought:

• 1x 1.5" frag of Green SPS (Merulinidae Hydnophora, possibly grandis or ridiga)
• 5x Smooth Orange Mushroom Anemones (Corallimorpharia Actinodiscus) on a 2" piece of Live Rock
• 1/2# of Live Rock frags (2-5") for the back filter section of the tank, and future livestock fragging.

Used Aquarium Systems/Marineland HoldFast to place them on the base rocks.

Feeding:

• 4 drops of LiquidLife's MarinePlankton (made with cyclop-eeze) - reduced from 5 drops
• 1/2 cap of DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton - reduced from 1 tspn
• 1 "feeder fish" by California All Natural Pet Foods

Nano Reef tank after introduction of Green SPS (Merulinidae Hydnophora, possibly grandis or ridiga) and Smooth Orange Mushroom Anemones (Corallimorpharia Actinodiscus):


Smooth Orange Mushroom Anemones (Corallimorpharia Actinodiscus):


Green SPS (Merulinidae Hydnophora, possibly grandis or ridiga), polyps closed immediately after introduction:


Green SPS (Merulinidae Hydnophora, possibly grandis or ridiga), polyps open 1 day after introduction:
  

Harvesting

Harvested the following:

• Removed the last 1 of the 3 Live Rock frags that had been positioned abutting stalks of the Xenia. The LV frag had two stalks of Xenia on it.
• Cut out both the original pieces of the star polyp colonies (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids) because they had at least doubled in size.

Used the Kent Pro ScraperM (Stainless Steel) to "cut" the star polyps out.

I'll bring to Jim's Exotic Fish for credit tomorrow for credit. I took some pictures I'll post later.

Used Aquarium Systems/Marineland HoldFast to place 2 more LR frags on the top rock abutting various Xenia stalks. I'll have to get more LR frags.

Top-down view of Reef tank with LR frags:

Remaining star polyp colonies (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids):

Maintenance

Performed a 2.5g water change.

Culled about 1 cup of brown kelp.

Rust/Brown Planarians!

I saw them the other day but didn't give them any notice. Today they are very noticible, concentrated in the two areas but individuals can be found most places throughout the tank.

Close up of three Rust/Brown Planarians (Order Acoela, Convolutriloba retrogemma):


Infestation of three Rust/Brown Planarians (Order Acoela, Convolutriloba retrogemma):


Wet Web Media has a good question/article on the "Red Flatworms" (80% down the page). The attached article on Rust/Brown Planarians (Order Acoela "acoels", Convolutriloba retrogemma) is from the "Book of Coral Propagation, Volume 1: Reef Gardening for Aquarists" by Anthony Rosario Calfo. These Planarians are pests only insomuch as they can become so numerous as to inhibit the proper environment of corals (light, water flow, etc.) but do not actually feed on the corals. Their populations can vary widely. Their picture of the Planarians is quite good; I'll try to get some myself.

I'm going to cut back somewhat on feeding, and do a couple extra water changes and see how that works.

Feeding, and the Red/orange Fromia sea star is gone

Feeding:

• 5 drops of LiquidLife's MarinePlankton (made with cyclop-eeze)
• 1 tsp of DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton
• 1 "feeder fish" by California All Natural Pet Foods

The Red/orange Fromia (milleporella?) sea star is gone. It hasn't been seen in a couple weeks and the last time it was captured in a photo was 12/2/05. No remnents and no explanations.

Lone brown polyp spotted

It's only visible with the top open. It's on some base rock and not any polyp I've purchased. I'll try to get some pictures.

Top-down view of reef tank:


Orangeclaw Hermit Crab (Calcinus tibicen):


Lone brown polyp:


Colony of some globe-ish SPS (possibly Porites?) with green polyps (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids):

Compare growth progress of SPS

The picture on top is as it was purchased back on 9/7/05, and the bottom one is current as of 1/7/06:





You can notice significant growth and change:

• The SPS has recovered from those two patches and has covered all previous bare areas.
• The green polyps down the middle between the previous two SPS patches have been overrun, and SPS is gaining ground against the green polyps at the middle top.
• The green polyps have spread significantly around the back and right side (this isn't obvious in the original picture), and have migrated to the base rock at the back, front middle, and front right sides.
• The SPS is touching the base rock and may be spreading onto it at the front left (this isn't obvious in the new picture).
• The white sponge on the right side in the original picture is still there somewhat, but overrun by green polyps (this isn't obvious in the new picture).
• The sponge obvious in the back middle in the old picture has died out; a new sponge is growing out from the lower middle.
• The blue sponge under the front middle in the old picture is no longer evident.

Updated December 05's postings with pictures, and enhanced comments

Feeding

• 5 drops of LiquidLife's MarinePlankton (made with cyclop-eeze)
• 1 tsp of DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton
• 1 "feeder fish" by California All Natural Pet Foods

Harvested 4 stalks of Xenia on 2 rocks

Removed 2 of the 3 Live Rock frags that had been positioned abutting stalks of the Xenia. Each LV frag had two stalks of Xenia on it. They were brought to Jim's Exotic Fish for credit.

See the original post on the placement of the Live Rock frags just 9 days ago.

The dislodged and trapped Xenia appears to be no more

Back on 11/15/05 during the first Xenia transplant, one stalk was dislodged and trapped in a cave. I haven't seen it for over a week and I suspect it must have disintegrated. Here's how it looked on 11/16/05:

Consolidated list of Equipment, etc.

I've consolidated my list of equipment, supplies, suppliments, foods, etc here. I've also placed a link in the sidebar.

Maintenance

Performed a 2.5g water change.

Used the Kent Pro ScraperM (Stainless Steel) to clear output nozzel, as it was about 50% clogged and resulted in water getting sprayed around when I did the water change.

Relocated last Xenia (Xeniid) stalk from brown kelp to the top rock.

Culled about 1 cup of brown kelp, and a large "sheet" of green algea from the output nozzel

Feed the fish a pinch of Aquatrol Spirulina 20 flakes.

New feeding

Bought from Marks Tropical Fish:

• 1oz squirt bottle of LiquidLife's MarinePlankton (made with cyclop-eeze)

Put 5 drops in the tank. The small PJ Cardinal eat some of the larger clumps. Two of the Blastomussa wellsi polyps reacted as if they had caught some.

Feed the tank 1 tsp of DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton.

Food purchases, and feeding

Bought from Mark's Tropical Fish:

• DT'S LIVE Marine Phytoplankton (7.5 oz)

Was also going to get, but they were out:

• DT's Natural Reef Diet Oyster Eggs
• Argent Cyclop-eeze Deep Frozen

Fed the tank 1 tsp of the Phyto.

Feeding, with observations

Fed 1/2 cube of Mysis shrimp.

I noticed two Blastomussa wellsi polyps "caught" and somehow managed to move a piece of shrimp to their mouths; I'll have pictures posted. Also three of green hairy mushrooms (Corallimorphs) had "balled" up presumably around some food; this "balled" up form looks different than the fully contracted form.

Pulsing xenia (Xeniid):


Pulsing xenia (Xeniid) and colony of some globe-ish SPS (possibly Porites?) with colony of green polyps (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids):


Green hairy mushrooms (Order Corallimorpharia) shown closed around food:


Narsarious Snail (Family: Nassariidae):


Blastomussa wellsi colony, side view:


Blastomussa wellsi colony, right polyp shown closing around food:

New coral, and prep for fragging

Picked up the following from Jim's Exotic Fish:

• 1/2# of live rock fragments
• Blastomussa wellsi - 5 polyps, bright red with green center. One polyp has a partial damaged corallite, the largest is approx 3 cm. (Faviid species, Family Mussidae "Mussids")

According to WetWebMedia.com, Blastomussa wellsi need low light and water circulation, are slow growers, and "most are voracious feeders of meaty foods". "The real key to success with these (and most) corals is feeding. 3-5 times weekly ideally (or more). Use meats of marine origin/zooplankton substitutes. [Argent's] Cyclop-eeze is a great choice. "

Used Aquarium Systems/Marineland HoldFast to place 3 LR frags on the top rock abutting various Xenia stalks. I'm sure the stalks will migrate with a week or so onto the frags which I will then sell back to the LFS. Placed 1 LR frag by my lower star polyp colony so it will grow over, and I can (this will take a while) cut and sell back to the LFS.

Updated November 05's postings with pictures, and enhanced comments.

Performed a 2.5gal water change (and the water had "warmed" in the house for a few hours).

Glass cleaning

Used the Kent Pro ScraperM (Stainless Steel) to clear the glass front and sides of all the pink coralline algae (that I could reach).