holiday disaster :(

[sarahh]

Hey guys. Well we got home from holiday last night, checked everything (couldn't find the anemone, but he's funny like that, so we weren't worried) then we went to bed.

i got up this morning, and really had a solid look for my little fella cos Domino was moping around without something to host. So i found the anemone under a rock, all white and goopy, obviously dead. Poor little fella. the engineer goby had caused a rockfall (apparently the day after we left) and the anemone was half crushed. :sad:

so now we're left to ponder what to do about the situation. I have to take out the rocks and clean them (all of them are just gross right now) and i think i should probably scrub them, as they have scummy bits (see pic) and then i have to decide what to do about this goby. Should i keep him? Should i get rid of him before he buries anything else? do they just go around making bigger holes and bigger problems? Anyway, thanks for listening

 

[sarahh]

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might help if i showed the pic

 

[cr500_af]

If keeping an engineer goby or other burrowing species, you should have your rockwork resting directly on the tank bottom, and the substrate around the rock (not under). This will keep burrowing fish from causing a rockslide.

 

[jcook54]

I have some of those white strands hanging off my live rock and haven't done anything with them. I don't know what they are but they seem to be pretty common. Are those what you are trying to scrub off? Are they in fact something bad?

 

[elfloyd]

Curious about those things myself... they cover all my rocks, but always in dark areas where the sun don't shine. And you should always set rock on the glass itself... prevents critters like the engineering goby from under mining and causing problems.

 

[sarahh]

yep, unfortunately i thought that almost touching glass would be fine until we got home... very hard lesson to learn

the thread things are what i am trying to scrub off, i don't mind them, but my reef has taken on a decidedly hairy look, i was just going to scrub some off the nicer pieces of rock holding corals..

man, now i gotta deconstruct the WHOLE tank!! bugger. i hope the fish make it! keep ya posted anyway.

 

[sarahh]

well i took down the entire tank as everything was looking and smelling bad, and put it back up again last night.

as of this morning, all the fish are still with me, but i have lost about 6 snails, a hermit crab, 7 flower leathers, a couple of mushrooms, about 5 orange zoas, and a frogspawn.

on the up side, my candy cane is still alive :yay: and about 4 frogspawn, my green zoas, the green star polyp and a bunch of hermit crabs. And Bonnie and Clyde were feeling well enough to bite me when i went to close to a piece of water and/ or rock that i was not welcome to.

so far, so (almost) good... never holidaying again!!!