Thanks for the comments
)
Err my to do list... nope not one of them!
There is good reason for this however!
OK an update.
As some of you might be aware, My tank has had an invasion of Majano and aiptasia, not small occurances here and there but full scale invasion that have caused havock with my setup.
I have lost my Gorgeous Deresa clam only a few days ago to these pests, and many of my other corals have been stung and are badly damaged
Basically im fighting a losing battle on at least one front at the moment and until i am on top of these pests i really dont want to add more corals or even liverock only to have them populate this also!
So what have i done to try and fight these critters??
Joes juice, Antiaiptasia, Vinegar. All work great but when you see the size of this tank and the enormity of my invasion you will see what i am up against! I can go through an entire bottle of Joes juice and this will be only 1 large size bit of liverock! SO how much joes juice/vinegar etc must i use to eradicate the problem and how can i do this without effecting water perameters on a large scale? For example.. My Deresa clam was nearly 1ft in length! A good size for a clam that i have had since it was no more than 5 inches. I had majano growing on its shell and stinging the mantle! I got rid of these of course easily but when trying to re-locate the deresa there was nowhere in my 7ft 200 gallon system that i could put the clam without it being in contact with either an aiptasia or majano
I did clear a space for it but sadly it never recovered from the initial stings and died only this weekend
Next step in my defence... Peppermint shrimps! These seemto be doing the trick on the aiptasia even if its a bit of slow work at the moment as i dont have many in the system. THey wont touch the large aips of course but smaller new ones are not around for long. So on this front i feel i can say with a degree of certainty that i am winning the war (even if very slowly).
Peppermints however wont touch majano and these are as fast growing as aips are. Finding a natural predator for these critters is not as easy either
I have taken a few calculated risks over the last couple of weeks too as my desperation is growing. I initially purchased an emperor angel as these are known to munch on zoo's, button polyps and majano. Sadly it died soon after introduction.
Since then i have purchased a Tiger Cowrie.. NOT REEF SAFE and are known to munch on anything that they stumble across. I really dont mind to be honest as the coral that i do have can be transferred to a smaller tank should it munch on these. So far my gamble on the cowrie hasnt worked. It is currently happily munching through all my tunicates and sponges that are on view! I am willing to accept these losses in the hope that it will eventually run out of this food source and want something else.
I have also purchased a Long Nosed Yellow butterfly. Again NOT REEF SAFE. This was an even larger risk for me as i know these fish mainly feed on polyps. So far its not touched my corals (which im very greatful about) But it has eaten just about all my tiny tube worms that are on view (i know the tank has plenty of tunicates, tubeworms and sponges where the cowrie and fish cannot get at them so i wont lose them all). Again these are acceptable losses to me as long as it will divert its attention to the majano and aips at a later stage (they are known to eat them).
Lastly...
My latest secret weapon will be a NEW Emperor angel arriving this weekend! Its from a friends tank and its outgrown his system. Now i have high hopes for this fish as its a proven majano muncher! It has eaten all my friends majano in this tank so i know it has a likeing for them. As long as it acclimatises well im hopeful that within a month or so I can report that the tank is well on the mend again.
I havent any recent photos but i will post some over the weekend as i am going to a large meeting this weekend and this is when i was planning to post an update.
As a side note however...
The wife has finally upgraded her 10 gallon Nano to a 23 gallon Mini reef. I would have posted this in the Nano section but her tank is too large to post there now
Again i have not posted any photos of this tank either but i do intend to do so this weekend after the meeting as i am sure she will have new things to show off in there!
Thanks to all of you who are following the thread and my appologies for not keeping it updated but things have got me slightly sidetracked lately. I will re-address the situation howver this weekend and post fresh picys
)
However, time is on my side and patience is the important thing. I have 3 more purple tangs arriving in about a month and this will complete my shoal. Then i will concentrate on the powerheads and get some tunze streams hopefully.
