Newbie 14 gallon Bio cube

[liquidattitude]

Helloo...been a bit. We added a couple of rocks with coral and mushrooms and i noticed today that there is a long probably 2 1/2 inch whiteish worm looking thing on one of my corals....it doesn't appear to like it either. It is kind of squiggled on a branch...I can kinda see something moving though it..digesting? I did a search but not seeing anything that looks like it...a picture probably wouldn't show much. Are there any worms that are good? is it more likely that its bad?
Thanks in advance-
Kat

 

[little_fish]

Its more than likely a harmless hitchhiker, some common works are peanut worms, spaghetti worms

 

[liquidattitude]

its pretty long as worms go and i tried to grab it and its fast! couldn't get it.

 

[liquidattitude]

looked up both a spaghetti warms and peanut warm and it doesn't look like either one.

 

[liquidattitude]

The Keyna tree is not doing so well all of a sudden. All the water parameters are good, but we moved it higher in the tank and it appears to dislike being that close to the light. I had used a compound to mount it there. Today i pulled it off and put it back where it was....its been closed up for like 3 hours. The compound is purple and is made for mounting frags, corals to rock or whatever. Is it possible that its reacting to that compound?

 

[little_fish]

Leathers will shed their skin and look like crap for a few days, its part of their growing process. I would guess that is what is going on, it should be back to normal in a few days

 

[liquidattitude]

Just got back from an amazing trip in Hawaii and snorkeled every day with an abundance of fish, coral, mantas, turtles and spinning dolphins to my pretty tank being a brown mess. The person that was looking after it assured me they had cared for a tank before....but just plain forgot. Thank goodness i dont have any fish. The water was a little low and i did complete maintenance the day i left (just in case). Everything is covered in this brownish muck. I fished a bunch of it out. Any advice on getting it back to its lovely former condition? do i need to dump it? how do i get it off the top of the sand? I tried scooping, but there are little bits here and there. It looks awful :(

 

[little_fish]

I would suck it out with a hose when you do your water change, and if you post a pic we might be able to help identify what it is

 

[liquidattitude]

I followed your suggestion. Its better....but i never had anything like it and all of a sudden it showed up. I fear that i introduced it with a piece of live rock that has a soft coral on it....once you have it. How the heck do you get rid of it? I read somewhere to starve it but my water stats are good.and i have no fish. I really dislike this stuff. Just when I think its gone. More shows up somewhere.

 

[liquidattitude]

Houston we have a problem....now that the other junk has subsided....Lights out and water changes. I discover i have a piece of bubble algae that I now need to deal with. Its on the end of a larger piece of rock. Should I remove the rock and remove it outside the tank? or is this emerald crab solution I am reading about better? My understanding is that there is no guarantee that the crab will eat it, and if i pop any of the bubbles in the tank it will spread. Suggestions? At this rate I am never going to have a fish :(

 

[Waddi]

i removed mine when I did a water change, get your hands in there, and while having the tube that is sucking water out next to it gently twist the bubble algae without bursting it, and remove or let the pipe suck it out. Even if you did pop it, the pipe should suck most of the spores out.

 

[liquidattitude]

Thank you! I got a rigid piece of tubing for the end of my tube. Going to pull it off and suction and see how i do.....I now know that I got this from a rock and coral that i bought from a LFS. I got aptisia from them last time. So i was so careful to look for that....instead i ended up with this other junk. Poohy! Is there a dip I should be using for all purchases before going into the tank.

 

[Waddi]

I dip corals so that I dont get unwanted pests. But it doesnt get rid of everything, but its better than nothing. I use Coral RX.

 

[little_fish]

If you wait until you have no algae issue to add fish, you are never going to have fish. I think its high time you added your first fish :)

If you do have algae issues, dont go crazy with adding fish or feeding them.

 

[liquidattitude]

Drum Roll peps.....I am now the proud owner of a pair of Mis-Bar Perculia Clown Fish. I first removed the green bubble algae with a siphon hose, did a water change. Water is perfect....then I acclimated my new friends and added some more snails for good measure. They have now been in the tank for about an hour.....I hope staying in one corner is normal, and look forward to them being all over their tank.

 

[liquidattitude]

:sfish:So all I have in the tank is the fish, couple of tiny reef crabs, lots of snails and my soft corals. I don't want to over feed and have all kinds of troubles. What is a good amount to start with and how often. The lady in the store said once a day??? I have been looking for info here and saw a lot of different suggestions.....Just need a starting point. Thanks !!:sfish:

 

[little_fish]

I would do a quarter of a cube every other day :)

 

[liquidattitude]

:confused:um...the book and the LFS told me to feed brine shrimp. So its a frozen sheet. Cubes? what cubes should I have gotten?

 

[liquidattitude]

On the up side. I took the tiniest bit and mixed it with tank water and they are eating fine( I also had them feed them in front of me at the shop). Even the smallest bit seemed like alot of food for 2 little fish.....

 

[cvcdrk]

Never heard of sheets of frozen food. Only cubes. That's interesting.

Regardless, brine shrimp (unless they're the juveniles with the yolks still attached) are not nutritional for your fish. Mysis shrimp are good as are formula 2 frozen and marine cuisine and emerald entree are all good and far more nutritionally sound.