Linda
Guest
Sorry about Green Bean Jen....Just know we are all pullling for you. Now when I get on Marsh, the first thing I do is check to see if you have added to your log....
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OP
OP
Guest
Day 15
Well, after a forced 4 days away from the ponies, they seem ok. My husband fed while I was gone. Probably not enough, but better than too much. I am having a slight cyano bloom, which is on the ponies also. Kind of funny. I have four more ponies coming today from seahorsesource in Florida. I am very excited to add to the coral. My hope is to be able to move them all to a little bigger tank at some point to help with water quality.
My modifications on the HOT filter have worked and now I have some biological filtration. We will see if the glue holds. I will post pics when the new additions are added.
Happy tails to you
Jen
Well, after a forced 4 days away from the ponies, they seem ok. My husband fed while I was gone. Probably not enough, but better than too much. I am having a slight cyano bloom, which is on the ponies also. Kind of funny. I have four more ponies coming today from seahorsesource in Florida. I am very excited to add to the coral. My hope is to be able to move them all to a little bigger tank at some point to help with water quality.
My modifications on the HOT filter have worked and now I have some biological filtration. We will see if the glue holds. I will post pics when the new additions are added.
Happy tails to you
Jen
OP
OP
Guest
The new herd is here and they are very cute. They all adjusted very well and ate well during their first meal. FedEx was five hours late as usual, but no one seemed the worse for wear. I now have four boys and three girls. One of the new boys looks pregnant, we will see. I am hoping that the tank is all done with disaters and that we can have a period of realative calm.
Pics to come tomorrow
Jen
Pics to come tomorrow
Jen
KarenHorn
Guest
Good for you Jen! I plan on ordering some barbs from Dan in a couple months. He's a really nice guy.
Ps.........don't forget to post pics!
Ps.........don't forget to post pics!
B
BrianPlankis
Jen,
Great thread! I am amazed you can keep a 2.5 pico in good enough shape for seahorses. I am way too scared to try a nano with the very rapid changes that can take place. But no worries, now I can live vicariously through you More pics!
Brian
Great thread! I am amazed you can keep a 2.5 pico in good enough shape for seahorses. I am way too scared to try a nano with the very rapid changes that can take place. But no worries, now I can live vicariously through you
More pics!Brian
Linda
Guest
Can't wait to see more pics!!
Niko5
Guest
When yours have babies Ill help you recoup your costs if you dont want the babys that is
if you dont want the babys that is
OP
OP
Guest
day 17
All looked well on pony patrol this morning. One of the new guys has turned a beautiful reddish color. He was sitting right in the middle of the red macro and blended in wonderfully. One of the new guys seems a little pregnant and less active. I will be watching him closely.
Here are pics from today.
You can clearly see the pouches on the males and one of the guys was doing a dance to his reflection in the glass. It was really cute. I also included a picture where you can see the fins on the sides of the head. It is a cool shot.
Enjoy.
All looked well on pony patrol this morning. One of the new guys has turned a beautiful reddish color. He was sitting right in the middle of the red macro and blended in wonderfully. One of the new guys seems a little pregnant and less active. I will be watching him closely.
Here are pics from today.
You can clearly see the pouches on the males and one of the guys was doing a dance to his reflection in the glass. It was really cute. I also included a picture where you can see the fins on the sides of the head. It is a cool shot.
Enjoy.
Linda
Guest
Oh I love those pictures!!! And look at that Casanova dance!!!!
OP
OP
Guest
that gorilla glue is great. I couldnt get silicone on some of my baffles in my sump so i used that glue. it has been holding well. some of it will come off and it looks like small pieces of clear plastic floating. other than that mine has held very well.
Melodyepta
Guest
Great pics Jen! I just got a Nikon Coolpix 5700, so with a teensy but of practice I'll be posting pics of my ponies soon!
I am fairly certain my male is carrying babies! His pouch is getting "poochier" every day! I believe the baby that arrived with my mated pair is a female. She is large enough now to determine the sex.
I'm thinking of adding a couple more ponies to my herd. I have plenty of room in the 12.
btw...the feather caulerpa went sexual on me...so I won't be able to bring you as much as I planned...but I will still bring you some.
I am fairly certain my male is carrying babies! His pouch is getting "poochier" every day! I believe the baby that arrived with my mated pair is a female. She is large enough now to determine the sex.
I'm thinking of adding a couple more ponies to my herd. I have plenty of room in the 12.
btw...the feather caulerpa went sexual on me...so I won't be able to bring you as much as I planned...but I will still bring you some.
Niko5
Guest
Lookin good. Im setting up a non dwarf seahorse tank now your really making me want to divide off a small section for some dwarfs
OP
OP
Guest
The corral is great. Everyone has settled in well. I think they have started to feel at home in their little watery barn. Everyone is eating well. One of my guys may also be pregnant. I am so excited to see babies. The baby brine shrimp raising is going well. It is really quite easy once you get it going. I have gone a whole week without any crisis or mia ponies. I like watching the little guys get fat and happy.
see everyone saturday.
Jen
see everyone saturday.
Jen
OP
OP
Guest
Here are two new pics of my little barnyard fellers. Everyone is well and all are eating and getting fat. I call them my seven dwarfs. They are quite unique and different from each other and very easy to tell apart. I am amazed at the different colorations of these guys. I especially love it when they hook tails to each other and sit together. I just feel like they are so loving towards each other.
KarenHorn
Guest
That is just TOO CUTE!!!
Linda
Guest
That is just awesome....
OP
OP
Guest
Update 1/28/06
The seven dwarfs are all doing well. I had one little guy swim into the uptake and get stuck in the gauze I use in it for my filter. I spotted him quickly and freed him and he is doing well after a short period of stress.
I did my monthly maintenace today and want to share it cause a few people have pm'd me about setting up a pico. I love the tank, but the maintenance is very time consuming and for those that have not had one, you should know that if you do not stay on top of it, I think you wil have a crash on your hands. Anyway, to start with, I have a hob overflow tiny fuge. I put a piece of rolled up gauze in my intake to slow down the pull and for filtration. I change out the gauze every day. I have found that this is a very important step in keeping the tank parameters stable. You can get a package of gauze from your veterinarian for next to nothing, or you can try some other material for this purpose, this is just what I use. It is clean and cheap and does not tear up pony fins if they swim by it. I found that the pantyhose would snag the fins and hurt the ponies, so do not use it any more.
Once a week I take the gauze out and let the pump work at full capacity for about thirty minutes. This circulates the water and stirs up detritus and pulls it into the fuge. I sit with a brineshrimp net under the return and filter the water as it returns to the tank. This removes lots of stuff. You can use a filter sock tied to the return to do the same thing, but I figure, I have to watch the tank during this time anyway to make sure no ponies swim too close to the intake and get sucked in. They are really not very smart at all. After the filtering, I usually remove about 25 ounces of tank water and discard and replace with water from my 180 reef tank. You can also just use freshly mixed salt water for the changes, but I like knowing that the water is a little more stable when adding to the small tank.
Once a month I do fresh water dips on all my ponies as described in Alice Abbotts book and recommended by seahorsesorce in Florida. He fees like there is always a source for parasites with live brine shrimp feeding and wants to make sure that he is keeping his ponies parasite free. The first fresh water dip I did about gave me a stroke as I was sure I was killing my guys. I still worry, but have not lost one yet. The main factor in a safe dip is temperature. You are only dipping for about 3-4 minutes, so ph does not seem to be a factor.
Anyway, at the same time as I do my freshwater dip, I remove all the plants(macro) to a bowl of saltwater and inspect, clean and remove any poor specimens. I do another major filtration of the tank water using a cup to pour it through my brineshrimp net while stirring up as much detritus and stuff as possible. I scrape all glass and keep the pump working with a piece of gauze to filter the algea out of the water.
I continue working after the ponies are back in the tank. I had to use three pieces of gauze today to really clean the water. The ponies do not seem to mind all the comotion, they just hitch to something and sit there. I am usually scraping glass after they are back from their fresh water dips. They are usually a little stressed for 15-20 minutes after the dip, but they return to normal quite fast.
During my cleaning, I try not to stir the sand up any more than neccessary, but I do want to get the detritus out of the top layer. Since I am using fine black sand, it is easy to see when it is clean. Again, I do frequent water changes, and a heavy cleaning is always a good time to replace a large amount of water, just incase any bad stuff is released from the sand into the water column. I always do the water change last, to help as much as possible. This morning, my heavy cleaning took about two hours. I just kept the coffee cup full and had fun.
I know this is lots of info that many on this board already know or do or do not care about. I just felt like that if anyone was considering a pico, they should understand the maintenance issues involved and make sure that they are up for the challenge. Having a large stable reef to take water from has kept me from worrying as much about such a small tank, I do not think I would want to try this without it.
So now you know how I spend my saturday mornings. And this is just the pico. We will save the 180 maintenance for another time.
Jen
The seven dwarfs are all doing well. I had one little guy swim into the uptake and get stuck in the gauze I use in it for my filter. I spotted him quickly and freed him and he is doing well after a short period of stress.
I did my monthly maintenace today and want to share it cause a few people have pm'd me about setting up a pico. I love the tank, but the maintenance is very time consuming and for those that have not had one, you should know that if you do not stay on top of it, I think you wil have a crash on your hands. Anyway, to start with, I have a hob overflow tiny fuge. I put a piece of rolled up gauze in my intake to slow down the pull and for filtration. I change out the gauze every day. I have found that this is a very important step in keeping the tank parameters stable. You can get a package of gauze from your veterinarian for next to nothing, or you can try some other material for this purpose, this is just what I use. It is clean and cheap and does not tear up pony fins if they swim by it. I found that the pantyhose would snag the fins and hurt the ponies, so do not use it any more.
Once a week I take the gauze out and let the pump work at full capacity for about thirty minutes. This circulates the water and stirs up detritus and pulls it into the fuge. I sit with a brineshrimp net under the return and filter the water as it returns to the tank. This removes lots of stuff. You can use a filter sock tied to the return to do the same thing, but I figure, I have to watch the tank during this time anyway to make sure no ponies swim too close to the intake and get sucked in. They are really not very smart at all. After the filtering, I usually remove about 25 ounces of tank water and discard and replace with water from my 180 reef tank. You can also just use freshly mixed salt water for the changes, but I like knowing that the water is a little more stable when adding to the small tank.
Once a month I do fresh water dips on all my ponies as described in Alice Abbotts book and recommended by seahorsesorce in Florida. He fees like there is always a source for parasites with live brine shrimp feeding and wants to make sure that he is keeping his ponies parasite free. The first fresh water dip I did about gave me a stroke as I was sure I was killing my guys. I still worry, but have not lost one yet. The main factor in a safe dip is temperature. You are only dipping for about 3-4 minutes, so ph does not seem to be a factor.
Anyway, at the same time as I do my freshwater dip, I remove all the plants(macro) to a bowl of saltwater and inspect, clean and remove any poor specimens. I do another major filtration of the tank water using a cup to pour it through my brineshrimp net while stirring up as much detritus and stuff as possible. I scrape all glass and keep the pump working with a piece of gauze to filter the algea out of the water.
I continue working after the ponies are back in the tank. I had to use three pieces of gauze today to really clean the water. The ponies do not seem to mind all the comotion, they just hitch to something and sit there. I am usually scraping glass after they are back from their fresh water dips. They are usually a little stressed for 15-20 minutes after the dip, but they return to normal quite fast.
During my cleaning, I try not to stir the sand up any more than neccessary, but I do want to get the detritus out of the top layer. Since I am using fine black sand, it is easy to see when it is clean. Again, I do frequent water changes, and a heavy cleaning is always a good time to replace a large amount of water, just incase any bad stuff is released from the sand into the water column. I always do the water change last, to help as much as possible. This morning, my heavy cleaning took about two hours. I just kept the coffee cup full and had fun.
I know this is lots of info that many on this board already know or do or do not care about. I just felt like that if anyone was considering a pico, they should understand the maintenance issues involved and make sure that they are up for the challenge. Having a large stable reef to take water from has kept me from worrying as much about such a small tank, I do not think I would want to try this without it.
So now you know how I spend my saturday mornings. And this is just the pico. We will save the 180 maintenance for another time.
Jen
OP
OP
Guest
ok, so for all my advise, it seems that I may need to learn a little more. I noticed that they were swimming funny and then noticed that they all seemed itchy. My concerns were, 1. ammonia spike 2. hydroid sting 3. other parasites
I did a fresh water dip on everyone and a large water change on the tank. I am very frustrated that I am not completely sure what is going on. I had tested the water last week and all was perfect. I was feeling pretty darn good about myself. Yesterday I found one dead on the sand. The second female was not looking very good and I suspected that she was right behind her friend. This morning I knew that the second female was not far from death and kept an eye on her. At about 4pm she was dead. A third pony was looking comatose. I took him out and he moved a little, so I put him back in and stimulated him a little. He still looked almost dead, but seemed to improve over the next few hours. Tonight the five of them are all alive. I have to admit that I am at a loss as how to keep this from happening again. I think that I will have to move to a bigger tank to keep water quality better. I still do not know if I have hydroids because even after looking at pictures of them, I am not sure of their size. So when I look in the tank, while I do not see anything that looks like the pictures I have, I am just not confident in my assessment.
On a brighter note, I saw a really nice circular tank at petsmart and it may be the next home for my ponies. I still have one male who is about to bust with babies. I hope I can keep the water quality ok for the little guys.
If anyone has any suggestions other than doing 50% water changes on a biweekly basis, please, oh please feel free to share.
Jen
I did a fresh water dip on everyone and a large water change on the tank. I am very frustrated that I am not completely sure what is going on. I had tested the water last week and all was perfect. I was feeling pretty darn good about myself. Yesterday I found one dead on the sand. The second female was not looking very good and I suspected that she was right behind her friend. This morning I knew that the second female was not far from death and kept an eye on her. At about 4pm she was dead. A third pony was looking comatose. I took him out and he moved a little, so I put him back in and stimulated him a little. He still looked almost dead, but seemed to improve over the next few hours. Tonight the five of them are all alive. I have to admit that I am at a loss as how to keep this from happening again. I think that I will have to move to a bigger tank to keep water quality better. I still do not know if I have hydroids because even after looking at pictures of them, I am not sure of their size. So when I look in the tank, while I do not see anything that looks like the pictures I have, I am just not confident in my assessment.
On a brighter note, I saw a really nice circular tank at petsmart and it may be the next home for my ponies. I still have one male who is about to bust with babies. I hope I can keep the water quality ok for the little guys.
If anyone has any suggestions other than doing 50% water changes on a biweekly basis, please, oh please feel free to share.
Jen
Melodyepta
Guest
Jen I think I'm going to take my next batch of babies out of the main tank and put them in something smaller, for their safety, and ease of seeing them and counting heads, feeding etc.
It will mean daily water changes as the quantity of bbs we need to feed them will foul the water of a smaller tank quickly.
You might consider using your 2.5 for the babies...and having the adults in the larger tank you saw at Petsmart.
I'm so sorry for your loss on the 2 females. I know how frustrating it is. You do your best and somehow it's still not good enough. And not knowing what exactly went wrong is very difficult, since you can't make adjustments in your care routine to counter it.
All we can do is to keep trying, keep learning, and continue doing our best for these little guys.
(((((HUGS))))) to you for your efforts...and your loss.
Mel
It will mean daily water changes as the quantity of bbs we need to feed them will foul the water of a smaller tank quickly.
You might consider using your 2.5 for the babies...and having the adults in the larger tank you saw at Petsmart.
I'm so sorry for your loss on the 2 females. I know how frustrating it is. You do your best and somehow it's still not good enough. And not knowing what exactly went wrong is very difficult, since you can't make adjustments in your care routine to counter it.
All we can do is to keep trying, keep learning, and continue doing our best for these little guys.
(((((HUGS))))) to you for your efforts...and your loss.
Mel
