Jen's dwarf seahorse log (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

Day three:
Well days one and two have been constant worry and constant adjustments to the tank. Every morning I get up and run to the tank to see how my new little ones are doing.
Here is my setup.:
2.5G pico reef with some zoa's, mushrooms, and one kenya tree frag. Already stable and teaming with pods for about 4 months.
three 13 watt pc's on a 10 hour timer with some 15 minute off periods for cool down.
a hot sponge filter with a cheap never restarting pump built in.
I have placed a sponge in the uptake for the filter to reduce the amount of flow. This has worked quite well, but will eventually probably ruin the high quality, can't live without it pump. I am contimplating a change in this in the near future.

I have stocked with red macro algea for hitching posts for my little horseys. They like it and are content to stay up front in it most of the time.

The smallest of the guys arrived very thin and emaciated(fancy word for starving). His breathing was very rapid and has stayed that way. He is eating pretty good and I even saw him poop. (veterinarians like to watch animals poop)

This morning when I got up I noticed that all four of the horses were breathing more rapidly than last night. I started trying to figure out the problem. I did a water change last night with water from the main tank. I decided that they might not be getting enough oxygen. since I have the pump working very inefficiently to reduce current, maybe the water is not getting oxygenated very well. so I added an air pump and stone to the hot filter compartment. I let it sit in the main tank for about 5 minutes to get some quick oxygen in there. Then I started worrying about ph swing if I oxygenated the water too fast, I decided that oxygen was more important that worrying about the ph.
I am also going to go ahead and do another water change after my freshly mixed salt water has had a few hours to sit and mix. I do not want to do too many things at one time, and I want to see how the breathing does after a while with the air stone in the tank.

I have been decapsulating my own brine shrimp as instructed in Alisa Abbotts book on dwarf seahorses. I may have let the eggs sit in the bleach for too long last night. If that is the case, the next batch will not hatch and I am in trouble at feeding time. So I have set up another batch with capsulated eggs just in case.

I think I am overthinking everything, so just thought I would share and let others obsess with me.

I am also thinking of removing some of the live rock. This rock has all been in this tank for awhile, so hydroids should not be an issue.(I know that is what you were thinking). Ok hydroids are little tiny stinging things kind of like miniture jelly fish from what I have read. Well there are dwarf seahorses so why not dwarf jelly fish. Anyway, that wierd concern apart, I think there is too much rock in the tank. I am not sure why I think this, but will update you as soon as I do.

So now that you know just how weird I am, I am hoping that you will join me in this adventure. Any and all input is welcome, since you can not tell me anything that I have not already obsessed about multiple times.

Jen

 

[Guest]

Ok i replied just to reply... i have no idea about sea horses.. good luck jen hope everything works out well and everything is ok... i will keep my fingers cross.... man i had no idea vets like to see things poop.... :coverlaugh:

(merry christmas everyone)

mike

 

[Guest]

Day 7
Well, despite my apparent attempt to the contrary, all four of my ponies are still alive and well. This just points towards the hardiness of the dwarf in general. As long as I provide them with live baby brine shrimp, it seems all else is unimportant. I decided after some late night reading to switch out some stuff in the tank. Well, ok everything except the ponies.
I went with black fine sand, as Alisa suggests in her book on dwarfs. I removed the white film from the back of the tank and will be in search of a bright background to help bring out the color in these little guys. I removed all the live rock and replaced it with all fake plants and a little bridge. I did give them some of their macro algea to hitch to. They seem to like the bright orange and pink fake stuff, who would have guessed that dwarfs are are in to the gaudy and faux decors? All that is missing is a black velvet picture of Elvis.
It is much easier to see them with this setup and makes my daily head count go much faster.
I have crashed one batch of BBS and now have redundant systems in place for when I do something dumba**.
My biggest problem is keeping the pico water at a constant temp. I can now replace and reduce some of the lighting to help with this, but am concerned that there will still be too much heat from the closed hood. I really like the setup the way it is, so I am trying to devise a way to work some fans into the sides of the hood.

I also plan to add back some of the zoa's and shrooms to give the tank something alive other than the ponies.

I am currently doing daily water changes from my main tank and water quality is great.
I am using a piece of pantyhose over the intake of the hot to prevent any unwanted slow painful deaths.
pics of the seahorse bachelor pad coming soon.

Jen

 

[Linda]

Oh I am loving this!!! You are giving me incentive Jen and just so you know, I am obsessing over here without really knowing what I am obsessing about....Pink and orange???? Who would have thunk it?

 

[Melodyepta]

My ponies love the feather caulerpa. They have abandoned the fake piece of plastic they arrived with in favor of the real stuff. But it never occured to me to use pink and orange fakes. Go figure!

I also used the black Haitian Moon Sand, however the back of my nano cube is black...and I see no way to attach a background...maybe magnets?

That's a great idea about using panty hose over the intake. I've been worried, watching my ponies occasionally hitch to the slats of the intake/overflow. I've always got extra panty hose I could use.

I did get to witness their mating dance, but I'll not hijack your thread with the details, y'all can go to mine.

 

[KarenHorn]

Great job Jen! Now bring on the pics!

 

[Guest]

Day 8
Well, in the last two days I have been doing everything in my power to try to kill these poor little guys. Luckily I have failed. First, I was cleaning the filter and put the intake back in without the stocking over the intake, and without enough sponge in it to reduce the intake flow enough and one little guy got pulled in. I missed him pretty fast and found him. He is alive, but very stresses. He does not seem to be using his left gill very well, so we will see.
Then last night I pulled the stupid of the century. I had added a small pouch of ammonia absorbing rock. It did not fit very well in the HOT compartment, so I draped over the back with just about half of it in the compartment. I was very proud of my ingenuity. Well this morning I came out to discover that the rock bag had wicked out about an inch of water from the tank. The flow was nil because the water was no longer being pulled into the filter. All horses were breathing rapidly, but well, still alive. I refilled and airated the water and just had to wait. They are all still alive, but boy these small tanks do not leave a lot of room for error. I absolutely love this tank, but am thinking of getting a little larger tank to give me a little more room for error.
I did take new pics today of the new contents and the little fellers.
enjoy fast, before I kill them all.

 

[KarenHorn]

Hey, where's the pic?

 

[Guest]

they should be there now, had to go back and edit

Jen

 

[KarenHorn]

Very nice! Great set up, Jen.

 

[Linda]

Fantastic!!!! You keep up the good work so I can go back and read your notes before I put mine together....They're gorgeous Jen!!

 

[Linda]

Jen why don't you move these guys to that 30 gallon you have? Seems like it might be a perfect size...ok I need to read.

 

[Guest]

too big, since you have to feed bbs in a concentrated form. you do not want to have to fill 30 gallons worth

Jen

 

[Linda]

Got it....I ordered my books today so I will know something soon.

 

[Guest]

Day 9
Well, the last 24 hours have seemed like a year. I have done a 200 percent water change after the night without filtration. My ammonia spiked yesterday at an ungodly level. I added back in some of the live rock to help with good bacteria and a sponge that I keep in my fuge from my big tank. I also used some chemicals that neutralize ammonia. I was afraid to use too much and harm the ponies. No body ate yesterday, or even felt like eating.
This morning all are alive and hitching which is a good sign. Prescilla is still gulping and breathing heavy, but Elvis is eating. Green bean is still not using one gill from his filter intake mishap, but he looks pretty good otherwise. I have not named the fourth pony because I am not sure which sex it is. I think it is female, but she is young and may be hiding that pouch from me.

I have not tested the ammonia this morning, needed to get through a cup of coffee first.
All this drama has got me thinking of ways to modify this setup to try to prevent these problems from happening in the future. If anyone has any good links for mods on pico's please send them my way.
I do not want to drill the tank. It is just too small, but it may be the only way to go.

Jen

 

[Linda]

Hang in there Jen!! We are all sending you and the ponies good thoughts. I wish I knew something that I could help.

 

[Guest]

Well Green Bean was watching Stargate with me. Unfortunately she really got into the whole ascention thing and decided to ascend to a higher plane of existance. She left her corporal body and took on her new form, which I am pretty sure is as the odd smell that I can not locate in my kitchen.

 

[Guest]

Day 10
The three stooges are all doing well this morning. They all ate aggressively and made me smile. I was busy last night doing mods on the HOT filter. I found a really good mod on reef central. It was pretty simple as long as you do not mind gorrilla glue on every available piece of countertop in your kitchen. I guess I need practice in the simple modification department.

I only need one more piece of acrylic and I am done. Then, with some of the fabulous macro that Garrick is putting together an order for, and I will have hopefully improved life for the three stooges.

I talked to DANU from reefcentral last night. He is the one who owns seahorsesource in Florida. He was so nice. He talked to me for 30 minutes about my setup and how things were going. he had some really good advice and I feel more confident about everything after talking to him. If anyone is thinking of getting any seahorses of any size, I recommend him highly. Anyway, I have ordered Green Beans replacement and a few more friends for my little coral.

For now.......happy tails to you.

Jen

 

[Melodyepta]

Jen I'm sorry to hear about Green Bean. ((((HUGS)))) to you for your loss.

I have lots of feather caulerpa if you want some. I can bring some to the MARSH meeting for you if you wish. My diminuitive ponies love hitching to it. Let me know.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, I would love some. I have lots of grape calupra, but no feather. I hear they really like it. I am still waiting for Green Bean to drop from the sky naked and take back on his earthly form. I wonder if he will remember me???