Some Questions and a POLL!!!

[jgf86123]

Ok, some of you have seen our tank, and know whats up with it lol. I've got 1 hole drilled for a drain, an 1 drilled for a return...

 

I'm in a bit of a bind currently, as we have a massive fireworm infestation that's killing every new fish we put in the tank and all but 4 of the fish that are in the DT are dead, all we have left are the 2 B&W Occellaris, the Solarensis an the other wrasse, can't remember the name of it at the moment, plus the 2 GSM's in the sump.

 

I've been thinking long and hard about tearing everything down, drying out and soaking all of the rock in freshwater, dumping all of the sand, and replacing it with nice new never been in saltwater sand and recycling. If I do this, I'm gonna baffle our 55g sump, currently it's completely baffleless. Now, if I do this, I'd be able to drill the tank some more, with a Bean Animal overflow system, if I decide to.

 

My questions are this, should I go this route, or should I try and trap the worms? I'm sick and tired of losing every new fish we put in the tank to those [language filter] worms, and this would guarantee that the worms are completely gone.

 

So, give me some advice, some theories, some ideas, and take a look at the poll LOL.

 

The other reason to do this is so that Jess can finally get her high dollar wrasse, we finally saw a Labout's Fairy Wrasse at Ed's Reef today, and I gotta say, none of the pics we've ever seen of one do them any kind of justice, easily one of the prettiest fairy wrasses around, hand's down. Jess has wanted one for well over a year, but at this point, I refuse to even consider getting one, due to the infestation.

 

So there ya go, my problem, and my solution, extreme though it may be.

[LC Scott]

Wow..

 

For me I think it would have to do with the math.

How much have I lost.

And how much is a solution going to cost.

[jgf86123]

Over 400 bucks worth of fish since shortly before Christmas....

 

An since all I'd have to do is buy some acrylic pieces so Eddie at Ed's Reef can put the baffles in for me, some plumbing parts, and some bulkheads, so maybe 150 bucks....Plus the wrasse Jess wants is 165 bucks....She wants that fish bad, so bad that even though we knew it was/is a bad idea, she almost put it on the CC today LOL

[Kimberlee]

Are there other options. Things that eat or kill them? I've waited a long time for my tank to hit a year. From my point of view that's a long time to wait for the tank to grow up. Are you prepared to start that again. Really this is worse than training a puppy. Way more work way, more patience.

[jgf86123]

Yes, I can honestly say that. Not only would the tank be pest free, which is an AWESOME thing, but I would finally be able to fix all of my plumbing problems. I fudged up the plumbing pretty good, it's extremely basic and has no redundancy's built in, which from an overflow/snail stoppage scenario are awesome, and this would give me the chance to fix all of that and really get my tank set-up the way we want. I have to admit, I am absent minded individual, and tend to do things as quickly as possible when setting something up, which inevitably leads to shortcuts that while they work just fine, are not the most optimal and efficient way to do something. I would love to be able to fix everything that needs fixing and if the plus is the knowlege that when it is completely done, it will be as well set-up as it possibility could be, finally done right for a change. That will in turn ease my mind and make Jess an I's tank that much more enjoyable.

[Lowman]

Arrow crabs will eat those worms. but, when the worms are gone, you should get the crab or crabs out as they will eat fish if they can catch them. What I would do is take the rock outr, give it a quick 5 min freshwater soak. That will drive the worms out. You may get a small cycle, but it is a quick way to do it. In my opinion, you would have to set more than one trap and even then you may not get rid of all the worms. Chainlink wrasses will eat the worms too.

[jgf86123]

Arrow crabs huh? Hmmmmmmm, I can give it a try, I know I'm tired of losing fish LOL

[Michael7979]

Yeah Arrow crabs will work, but they can cause their own problems too.

Might get one of these 'spider looking' crabs and use the traps to get the numbers down for you.

[jgf86123]

But, tearing down and starting over will allow me to fix all of the plumbing problems I've got and install baffles in our sump and really get things streamlined, which is a HUGE plus....

[Emerald525]

Well Mick it's something to think about then. It sounds like you were never quite happy with the tank. I can say I loved the look of the glass 150 gallon tank we had but did not like having an overflow box instead of having it drilled. We were hesitant in draining it to drill it as it can be a lot of work. We thought about taking it down and really wanted different sand but we didn't know where we were going to put all the fish. We also did not like some of the rock as it was old and just seemed to be hair algae magnets and did not like the sand it came with. Well when we were out of town we lost 80% of our fish to some sort of bacterial infection so the silver lining for us was to take it down and set up the other 150 acrylic we had. This time we really took our time took input in from the forum for the stand, lights, plumbing, and rock. We kept the one thing we really liked, the sump Davy Jones had built us.

 

Now we are very pleased with our new sps tank! We have the rock we want. We have this massive flow! We have this cool steel stand with a wood skin coming and Beth had a great time carefully planning out the plumbing and doing it.

[jgf86123]

Thats what I'm thinking too Kim and yes, you are quite correct, I love our Visio 40B but I've never been pleased with the overall set-up and want to finally get it right. Jess is on board with it and I can make sure everything is pest free, which is a HUGE plus...and on top of that I don't have to put something else in the tank that will potentially be lethal to Jess's prized wrasses...not having to see the sad look on her face when I have to tell her some unseen foe in our tank has once again killed her new wrasse is well worth the hastle lol...I think I'll start stocking up the stuff needed an once I've got everything break it all down, redo the plumbing, cook the rock for about a week in fresh water and then recycle the whole thing with fresh un-used sand...I just need to find a way to "stash" our fish n corals someplace lol.

[Emerald525]

Well we tore ours down right away and moved some of our coral to the other tank. We sold some to fund the new build and traded some for the new build.

 

The nice thing with that was during the planning we had our dry brs rock in a tub with live rock to seed it for a month.

 

That really cut down on the cycle time and we already have corraline growth on the rock and tank! We really didn't get much of a nitrate spike either as we essentially had over 150 pounds of porous live rock.

[jgf86123]

Yeah my problem is that the stuff I've got thats going to sold isn't ready to frag yet an the stuff that is doesn't sell LOL

[reefnjunkie]

But' date=' tearing down and starting over will allow me to fix all of the plumbing problems I've got and install baffles in our sump and really get things streamlined, which is a HUGE plus....[/quote']

 

 

Sounds like this is the way you want to go but need a little push.............

 

 

 

 

push

 

 

Or maybe you want a big push

 

 

 

 

PUSH

there ya go, now its easy

[Michael7979]

But' date=' tearing down and starting over will allow me to fix all of the plumbing problems I've got and install baffles in our sump and really get things streamlined, which is a HUGE plus....[/quote']

 

Why the poll then, you seem to have already made up your mind. Go with your gut.

[jgf86123]

Gotta give the poll queen a jab every so often LOL

 

I know its a drastic measure but I think it might end up being the smartest decision I could make...an besides, it'll keep the boss(Jess) happy LOL

[reefboy]

arrow crab, dotty backs, and a piece of pantyhose that is detergent free with a piece of food inside will work as they get tangled in it and you just pull and throw away the worms also the worms only grow with the amount of food that is able to sustain there population so dropping the amount you feed or making sure only fish get the food will also decrease there amounts.

[OwenReefin]

If I was in your situation, I would spend a week on just planning, to the minutest detail, how I want my new system set up. Go all out, as much as money will allow.

 

And rip that sucka down!!! I'm a very inexperience hobbiest though, lol.

 

But my noob opinion would be this, if you had the money and could save nearly all current livestock.

[Trautman]

that rock can be soaked in high salinity stuff too. barelycuda did this for bristle worms and he had good results, the high salinity is intolerable for worms and the bacteria can deal with it.

 

oh and by the way. just to throw this out for kicks and giggles. and no insult is intended. you have just proven why anarchism is unsustainable and government must be inserted:

if you just left the tank as it is that would be like anarchism: free for all, no government (as in the tank keeper). but this is bad, there is an poor balance, and fish are dying (like people would be starving etc). so the best solution? install government restrictions, as you have said. the government restriction would be to eliminate the problem(get rid of all the fire worms).

once again this is just my idea of being silly. i have no intention of angering you, or downplaying your convictions.

[Emerald525]

that rock can be soaked in high salinity stuff too. barelycuda did this for bristle worms and he had good results, the high salinity is intolerable for worms and the bacteria can deal with it.

 

oh and by the way. just to throw this out for kicks and giggles. and no insult is intended. you have just proven why anarchism is unsustainable and government must be inserted:

if you just left the tank as it is that would be like anarchism: free for all, no government (as in the tank keeper). but this is bad, there is an poor balance, and fish are dying (like people would be starving etc). so the best solution? install government restrictions, as you have said. the government restriction would be to eliminate the problem(get rid of all the fire worms).

once again this is just my idea of being silly. i have no intention of angering you, or downplaying your convictions.

 

rofl (laugh) (laugh) Go easy on him Mick he's only a teenager but he has a good point! No worries Trautman I give him a hard time about that too. Like would an anarchist be putting up a poll for people to vote in the first place! (laugh) (laugh)

[KMiller]

I would tear the tank down and soak everything in Freshwater overnight. It will draw the worms out and kill anything harmful. Put the fish in your sump with a heater and a small powerheard. Instead of starting over with new sand and dead rock, which will create a nasty new cycle and kill your fish anyways, so instead of voting in the poll, I personally would do this myself first

[Trautman]

I would tear the tank down and soak everything in Freshwater overnight. It will draw the worms out and kill anything harmful. Put the fish in your sump with a heater and a small powerheard. Instead of starting over with new sand and dead rock' date=' which will create a nasty new cycle and kill your fish anyways, so instead of voting in the poll, I personally would do this myself first[/quote']

 

except once you have killed everything with the fresh water, it is just as good as getting new rock and sand, if not worse. Then everything that was living in your rock, will be dead from the sudden salinity and ph change and when you put it back in there will be a huge ammonia spike from all the decomposition. and you will have to reintroduce good saltwater bacteria.

[jennmac415]

Aside from all of this...., I have NEVER heard of bristleworms eating fish... unless they were already dead or dying....is there not another underlying reason why the fish might be dying and the bristleworms are merely cleaning up....sorry, I am not trying to doubt you, Mick, I am just throwing that out there.

[snowpunk]

You kinda need to approach the problems separately.

 

First is the worms. I went through this exact problem. I didn't know what to do but I was told about the melinarus wrasse. I really was more after his ability to control the monti eating nudi's. I tried him and have praised him ever since. I've never seen another pest in the tank after the first week of having him. I had tons of those worms in my 75 too. I was just hoping to limit the population of worms and rid myself of the nudi's but he all but knocked them both into extinction. The may not play well with other wrasses but I don't know for sure since that's the only one I have. He is a constant hunter, my one fish security system if you will. you put your rock in a tank with him and no sand and he will get them all by the end of the week. Maybe put a tub of sand in the bottom so he has a place to sleep at night, but away from the rocks. Then your free to use a net in the sand of your display and get out all the rest of them. After the Melinarus is done if you don't want him, just put him up for trade or sale. They are a great reef addition and you shouldn't have any trouble re-homing him. Only thing you could do better is to find a pair to speed up the job:)

 

As for the re-plumbing, which I am a huge advocate of, you could get another tank to put your other fish and sand(after its cleaned of the worms) in so you can rework it. This should be a shorter fix time so just a tank with a hob filter should do the job for the few days you should need to get it done. This should help to not need a recycle period on the tank at all. You'll get a few little spikes at best I would think. I even have a HOB filter you could use if needed too. It was on a 55g running it long ago but it worked great then.

 

 

 

This would be my plan of attack on the matter. I think if you soak the rock you will lose the good and the bad and probably need a little more of a recycle period. It probably wouldn't be anything drastic but along with that you'll be waiting for the good things to grow back in numbers as well. Oh and arrow crabs, they don't do well with wrasses, ask me how I know:) wrasses eat everything that looks like a pest, and those things look like spiders so you get the point...

 

 

Oh, and if you do need any other assistance or have any questions PM me. I've been kinda in and out since my company merged. My schedule is horrible so I don't get much time for anything. I glance at my pm's more then anything...

[jgf86123]

They're not bristleworms, they're Fireworms, the aggressive fish eating ones.