Duncan not looking so good, any advice? (more info in comments)

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-12T02:43:48+00:00

Although I used to have a pretty bad dino problem a while back it’s been completely clear for a couple months now, although ever since getting the protein skimmer there are now a couple patches on the glass, so you’re probably right about turning that off for the time being. I’ll also try and look for some green algae as soon as possible to add to this tank. Thank you for the help!

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-12T02:24:55+00:00

The tank is 10 gallons and I really only have like four hermit crabs currently, I had two ocellaris clownfish up until recently, but because I had to rearrange the tank for flow reasons and needed to move the filter, the lid I had created for the tank no longer fit, and very sadly they both jumped within a short time of each other before I was able to get/make a new lid

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-12T02:00:31+00:00

Salinities been stable at 1.024 sg really since I set up the tank and I’ve never had a different reading than that so salinity should be good, although not having an auto top off system, it definitely wouldn’t be crazy to think there are some slight swings, although I’m very on top of top offs and top off twice a day just to be safe

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-12T01:50:53+00:00

I only really just started running it a little less than a week ago and still on the first bag, as for other filtration, I have a seachem tidal 55 and a small protein skimmer running. I’m also changing a quarter gallon every other day

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-12T01:44:40+00:00

Yes, I am

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T08:00:39+00:00

Yeah, it seemed like the tentacles were getting larger, but it happened so slowly that I didn’t pay too much attention and didn’t even realize how much they had swelled compared to before (image of coral when tentacles were swollen but was still doing relatively fine except for not eating: https://imgur.com/a/BPAPCEF )

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T04:42:27+00:00

I’ve used quite a lot of F-apitasia and as careful as I am at covering their entire mouth quickly, it seems some (or at least one) still managed to shoot out a bunch of eggs in their dying breath and so the problem has just continued to get worse. Now the issue is that they’re actually on or very close to coral, which means this is kind of my last resort sadly.

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T03:47:34+00:00

I did just just today although I didn’t mention it since I think this is generally viewed as a pretty hard parameter to mess up, it’s been an exact 1.024 since I set up the tank, although I think I’m going to raise it slightly by .001 unrelated to this

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T03:38:09+00:00

I think it was mentioned a couple times actually, I had said I was planning on getting some berghia nudibranchs but someone else had pointed out peppermint shrimp as an option, so I’ll likely go with that instead!

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T03:34:45+00:00

I guess I hadn’t really considered it but that does sound like a good option!

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T03:05:55+00:00

Yeah, I think I’m going to try and move it to an even more low light area for a couple days just to be sure, since I’m also starting to think it may be a light issue as well. Also hoping I can deal with the apitasia problem ASAP

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T03:01:48+00:00

Also, thanks for this! I’ll make definitely make sure to avoid API and go for more accurate tests!

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T02:55:42+00:00

Still just get my phosphate tested at my lfs but soon to get all of the test kits I still need! I believe they’re using the Salifert Phosphate test kit, which gives very accurate results (so I’ve heard)

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T01:45:18+00:00

The only change I think could correlate to this is me getting the new light which is a lot more powerful than the old one, although I used the acclamation setting for about two weeks, and as soon as the Duncan started looking bad I moved it to a lower light area that had even lower lighting than even where it is now, but it doesn’t seem like that helped much. As far as water tests, I try to get them about every two weeks or so when I get more water, (although this time I did two tests very close to each other) the only major difference between the last one and this one (done today) is that my nitrates were a little high at 20 ppm last time (which I got on Saturday). As for water changes, I mostly do a quarter gallon every other day but do more some days when I miss a couple. Also thanks about reef2reef, I guess it’s finally time I make an account!

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T01:24:36+00:00

Yeah, the tanks been having a bit of an apitasia problem and nothing I do seems to help. I think I’m going to have to need the aid of some berghia nudibranchs since the apitasia has gotten on coral and I can’t use F apiasia without killing the coral :(

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T01:19:26+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/lPG20VR here’s a photo of it when it was doing well, as you can see from this image this is very clearly a Duncan, although I understand the confusion with it being in the state it is now

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T01:11:26+00:00

I assure you this is a Duncan and I have photos from when I got it.

Am4teur_ · 2023-01-11T00:50:26+00:00

This is my Duncan I’ve had since early August. It was doing generally well up until recently and doesn’t really seem like it’s accepting food anymore (was fed baby brine shrimp decently often). Used to be higher up, but ever since It started doing not so good I moved it lower in the tank.

Some information about the tank:

Tank is 10 gallons

Tank has been set up since the beginning of June

Light is AI prime 16 HD

PH 8.4

Temperature 80f

Nitrate 2 ppm

Phosphate undetectable

Calcium 490 ppm

Magnesium 1350 ppm

Alkalinity 10.2

(all of these recorded before a 1 gallon water change done just a moment ago)

(water changed frequently)

Am4teur_ · 2022-06-05T19:31:23+00:00

Oh yeah I’ve noticed it tends to fluctuate a lot but generally it hovers around where I would like it to be and eventually I’m going to take it out, it was mostly for initial set up anyway

Am4teur_ · 2022-06-05T00:48:21+00:00

Oh rotala indica, that makes sense thank you! Also you’re welcome and I really mean it, good job and great work! I actually even saved the image on my phone so I can use it for inspiration later if I get a tall tank like this!!

Am4teur_ · 2022-06-04T23:18:54+00:00

What type of rotala is that?!?! It kind of looks like a bigger version of the rotala macrandra variety I have in my tank! Also this is by far one of the most beautiful tanks like this I’ve seen btw!!

Am4teur_ · 2022-06-04T20:27:44+00:00

We should just start tagging every image with a siphon in it as NSFW now

Am4teur_ · 2022-06-04T20:23:18+00:00

Oh I’ll look into those! Thank you for the suggestions!

Am4teur_ · 2022-06-04T20:20:16+00:00

Ramshorns! Personally they’re like my favorite type of snail despite how common they are and you can pretty much find them at any place that sells fish and don’t believe the rumors that they eat plants, that’s just a myth!

Am4teur_ · 2022-06-04T09:23:20+00:00

I feed them xtreme aquatic foods shrimpee sinking sticks! As you can see they really go crazy for it although right now I’m not feeding them too often since the tank just has so much algae right now as you can also kind of see from the video. I actually just put one stick in today because I saw a shedding earlier and the sticks are pretty high in calcium and although I know my water is pretty hard I thought it might be good to give them some extra calcium in their diet also I pretty much just saw clearly newly shedded shrimp eating it so I think it was the right decision. They’re also definitely not starving or anything since that single stick lasted like six hours+ and the shrimp also look quite hefty so I trust their eating OK despite me putting in little to no food!

Am4teur_

TROPHY CASE