Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef

[Nano sapiens]

One of those little unexpected oddities 

Two little 1/4" diameter 'mystery corals' that may possibly be very young Mint Green Pavona or even left-overs from the Molten Lava Leptoseris that I exterminated a year or two ago (would be really interesting if they were something not yet seen in this 13 year old aquarium):

 

I noticed them about 2 months ago when I saw tiny pin-head sized fluorescent green blobs under blue light. They are partially shaded by the small Zoas, but otherwise are under ~160 PAR. Single polyps with striations that don't meet the central mouth (as is typical in the Mint Green Pavona), fleshy outer rim with oddly spiky dark tentacles that can partially retract if disturbed, but will usually reinflate quickly. Will retract if fed powdered food, but too small to tell if they actually eat any of it.

[Nano sapiens]

On 9/20/2021 at 8:48 PM, Nano sapiens said:

One of those little unexpected oddities 

Two little 1/4" diameter 'mystery corals' that may possibly be very young Mint Green Pavona or even left-overs from the Molten Lava Leptoseris that I exterminated a year or two ago (would be really interesting if they were something not yet seen in this 13 year old aquarium):

 

 

 

Coral story geek-out time (and a healthy dose of speculation) 🤓

 

Ok, so when I first saw these really little green polyps they immediately reminded me of a really tiny coral polyp that had come attached to a large wild Ricorida yuma back in 9/14.  At the time I separated it from the main rock, but it was so small that I ended up accidentally gluing it shut to the tiny piece of rock it was on when trying to glue that to a larger rock (that the hermits couldn't turn over in the sand)...and then couldn't quite figure out where it had gone!  At that point, I have to admit that I lost patience and tossed the itty-bit rock in my dry rock plastic bag to be used another day.

 

Evidently, I used the rock sometime later for Zoas or something and apparently it survived the drying out ordeal and had VERY slowly been growing under a large colony of zoas ever since,

 

On the left is a closeup pic from 9/14 and on the right is the recent pic for comparison:

 

 

Considering that the pic on the left is in lower light (~70 PAR) and the one on the right is in higher light (~150 PAR), I think that's a reasonably good match.  At least I can say that nothing else I've ever had in the tank has had anything matching the coloration and unique black pattern stripping with black bordering.  The whiteish reflective rim on the current coral pic is quite unusual and may possibly be a result of the more intense lighting

 

So what the heck is this little fella?  When I spoke to one of the folks at Unique Corals back in 2014, they had seen more of this coral on a piece of previously connected rock and believed it to be a type of Pavona.  That got me examining Pavona species in detail and lo-and-behold there are many more that we don't often see in the hobby.  We typically see 4 or 5 species, but the Corals of the World website shows (15) Pavona species!

 

All that out of the way, I'm feeding the three little polyps 3x/wk with a blend of pulverized feed and instead of moving the polyps I'm removing any zoanthids that try to encroach/overtop the polyps.  Growth has definitely picked up (polyps are touching each other now) and if all goes well I'm hoping to see 1/2" solid coral coverage by Christmas.

 

Best guess at this stage and time will tell, but as I've learned over the years one can end up with egg on one's face when trying to positively identify these really tiny coral specimens,  But it's still fun trying 🙂

[Nano sapiens]

Lighting:

 

Currently have the lighting spectrum and intensity 'Set in Stone' (for as long as that lasts 😉), so it's a good time for some coral specific par numbers:

 

Coral                                                        Orig.  True PAR (reading x 5 x 1.08 (UW correction)
                                                                           x 1.15 (spectral correction)

 

Acropora echinata                                   24     150
Seriatopora dendritica ('Ponape' BN)      25     155
Seriatopora guttatus ('BOP' BN)              31     193
Blastomussa vivida                                    6      37
Blastomussa wellsi                                   11      68
Blastomussa merletti                               23     143         
Leptoseris sp. ('Jack'o'lantern')                20     124

Leptoseris sp. ('Fallen Horizons')             20     124

Nemenzophyllia turbida ('Fox Coral')      15       93
Duncanopsammia axifuga ('Duncan')      11      68
Pavona maldivensis ('Copper')                 31     193
Pavona frondifera (Mint Green') - Front   23     143
Pavona frondifera (Mint Green') - Rear    20     124
Homophyllia bowerbanki                         15      93

Lobophylia hemprichi                               23     143
Micromussa lordhowensis                        12-15   75-93
Zoanthus sp. ('Red People Eaters')           12      75
Zoanthus sp. ('Shadow Prince') - Top       20     124
Zoanthus sp. ('Shadow Prince') - Right    12      75
Montipora danae ('Sunset Monti')           20     124
Scleronephthya sp.                                   20     124

 

* Spectrum from this DIY LED array is set similarly to a Radion V4 (9 hr. photoperiod, 2-1/4 hr. ramp up/2-1/4 hr. ramp down).

 

No real surprises here except maybe the Blastomussa vivida doing well and colored up at only 37 PAR (some liken Vivida to the Bubble Corals (Plerogyra) as far as lighting needs go).

 

Seriatopora are so variable depending on type, and that's pretty clear with the 'BOP' (Bird of Paradise') not even sweating at near 200 PAR, while the 'Ponape' freaks out and blushes bright pink at 170 PAR:

 

 

 

And the more typical coloration that everyone knows and loves at 155 PAR (super-fuzzy BOP in the right foreground):

 

 

 

After a couple exciting months of watching an A. echinata do absolutely nothing, I decided to move it to a slightly higher lighting location and angled it off on it's side so it can absorb more light:

 

 

Had to remove some encrusting Stylocoeniella from the Acro's base, and after scraping as much off as I could my plan was to dip just the base in full strength Kalkwasser for a few minutes to finish off any Stylo remnants.  That part went well, but due to too much superglue on my fingers from previously gluing some Zoas down, I fumbled the frag right into the small glass of KW (one of those 'oh crap did that just happen?' moments).  Within 2-3 seconds I had the frag back in the tank water and swirled it around vigorously to remove the KW.  I also attached it 'back side up' since that was the angle of the previous base, so it's definitely looking a little peaked right now.  Time will tell how this one turns out...

 

Tank has settled at 25 ppm nitrate no matter how much I clean it (trying to keep a Scleronephthya well fed will do that).,  At any rate, the only long-term issue I've had is with some of the small zoas (Rastas, and such) developing zoa pox, but it has since subsided.  My 'remedy' for this condition is a little extra iodine and a good tank cleaning/larger water change, which seems to help (anecdotal 'evidence' only, take it as you will).  Larger zoas, what many call 'palys', are totally unaffected, thank goodness, as are all the other corals.

 

Other than a few pesky digitate hydroids in inaccessible locations and the usual coral territorial battles, it's all good 👍

 

[Nano sapiens]

Had a bare spot after relocating the A. echinata and so a trip to the LFS was in order 🙂. Hadn't been in a while and was struck by how thin the selection was (looks like supply chain problems everywhere these days).

 

Picked up a tiny 'Rainbow Yuma' (that's currently hiding out and too small for a good pic) and this fat dumpling of a Lobophyllia:

 

 

When I think of the 'Classic Lobo' this is basically what comes to mind; grayish/brownish/purplish base with fluorescent orange around the mouth and some green on the sides.  It's also a rescue as it had fallen onto a chalice (and lost), but was fully healed when I bought it (lesson learned a good while back, never buy a LPS that has unhealed injuries).

 

To my eye it adds a nice natural tone to help balance out some of the more overtly fluorescent specimens:

 

 

I did a similar thing with a quite dull and somewhat bleached-out freebie Ricordia florida.  Really didn't look like much would come of it, but I snuggled it in between a couple bright fluorescent green Rics anyway.  It's turned into one of the darker blue Florida's that I've seen in a long while (even popping a bit of orange) and it's providing a nice focal point/countershade to all that 'in-your-face' bright green:

 

 

 

[Nano sapiens]

Bowerbanki at Midnight:

 

 

This is the most extreme extension that I've seen in this coral by far.  This 'frizz' happened after I had stirred up the aquarium's rear chambers with a baster an hour or two beforehand.  What I find interesting is that the Lords and all other LPS remained retracted and so had no apparent interest in the stirred up detritus which is full of shed sponge cells and other miscellaneous items.  Although we tend to lump these large and fleshy LPS's behaviors and requirements into one catch-all bin, as with other coral 'types' there can be differences in feeding preferences and behaviors that might sometimes go unnoticed.

[Nano sapiens]

Perky Scleronephthya after some din-din:

 

 

 

After more than 3 months in, maybe a good idea to keep a visual record of this little fellow here in my build thread.

 

I received it on 08/06/21.  Photo from one week in on 08/12/21:

 

 

Keeping one of these healthy up to the 6 month mark in this mixed reef is my first goal and I'll have more to say about the experience at that time.

[debbeach13]

So pretty.

[Nano sapiens]

Christmas time FTS:

 

 

I took this frontal pic with about a 30 degree angle from horizontal so I can get some of the rear-most corals in the shot.

 

So, let's see what's new in little 12g land...

 

On the NPS front my main frag of Sceronephthya has looked like a sorry white/orange lump for the last two weeks:

 

 

No signs of degeneration such as loosing tissue or the base disintegrating, just tight retraction and no polyps whatsoever.  Tank parameters and general look of all other corals is fine.  All the while, this tiny 'mini-me' frag has had full polyp extension, so this was a bit of a puzzler:

 

 

My best guess is that either a digitate hydroid was stinging it when I wasn't looking, of a local spaghetti worm's tentacles were causing irritation (or a combo of both).  Before the coral ran out of energy, I relocated it today to what I believe is a better location (similar flow and a bit less light).  Eight hours later and the polyps are just a bit more pronounced, so there's hope:

 

 

Focusing on Zoanthids, one side-effect of the additional NPS feeding was higher nitrate (as expected), up to 30 ppm,   Combined with lots of detritus collecting around various coral colonies (especially the Zoas) and higher TOC (total organic carbon) from trying to feed the NPS well, this was not looking so good.  I've since managed to reduce NO3 to ~20 ppm through more judicious feeding.  Along with near daily turkey basting, the smaller Zoa species are slowly recovering (the larger species showed no visible signs of any issues).

 

This little rock had 12 Rastas on it, but it's now down to 2 that are looking okay and I have some no-name green ones in the left that also barely survived:

 

 

Other Zoas (not related the the above issues)  This is a sorry remnant of a RPE colony that was in ~ 40 PAR and high flow (very recently moved to this higher 130 PAR location for hopeful recovery):

 

 

..and this a polyp from the same colony under near 200 PAR:

 

 

...and a Utter Chaos colony growing out (one of my very top favorite zoanthids!) along with a 'no-name' up left that's starting to multiply:

 

 

Keeping a small polyped NPS in a mixed reef tank has been a bit of a wild ride, but definitely has been interesting as there is just as much to learn when things go right as when they don't.  There's so much more going on than just the coral itself since the feeding will cause shifts in the system's balance towards eutrophication (which must be countered somehow).  While I've managed to keep my 10%/wk water changes (the system just seems to do best with 10%), I do more detritus removal and remove any uneaten food or dead organisms ASAP.

 

Another odd thing I noticed when feeding the Scleronephthya regularly was that the sand bed grains were starting to clump together when I tried to vacuum.  In one of Sprung/Delbeek's books they talk about Shimek's comments that certain bacteria in the substrate can create polysaccharides that then bind the sand together.  May be what I noticed here because as soon as I become more judicious with feeding (and stopped adding a carbon source, namely vinegar) the clumping became much less prevalent and now is non-existent.

[Nano sapiens]

Scleronephthya on the Mend

 

One of my mottos is 'Don't give up on a coral until the fat Pods sing' 

 

And so the pitiful blob that was my orange Scleronephthya has responded very well to it's new location.  The photo below was taken 2 days after I relocated it.  As can be seen by the opaque shreds much of the mucus tunic that had encapsulated it had already been sloughed off.  While not unusual in soft corals, I haven't seen any literature specifically discussing these tunics in the 'Carnation Coral' group.  The supposed function of these coverings is to remove bacteria and other growths from the coral's outer layer:

 

 

 

And today the polyps are tentatively peeping out and accepting food:

 

 

 

Adding to the progression photos, polyps now fully extended and eating like a champ (12/27/21):

 

 

Just needs to inflate a bit more as it's still a tad stubby.

 

[debbeach13]

Looks like it is doing well in the new location.

[Nano sapiens]

51 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Looks like it is doing well in the new location.

Time will tell, but certainly looks promising at this point.

[Nano sapiens]

Blasto Frag'in

 

Had some free time after the inevitable Christmas food coma wore off and spent an hour or two looking at corals online that might fit a particular spot that opened up recently.  Sticker shock on corals definitely woke me up, that's for sure!

 

So, a bit of effort and I separated two tiny mini-me Blastomussa vivida polyps that are perfect for a lower light/medium current location:

 

 

A bit nerve-wracking as they are both tiny at barely 3/16" in diameter.

 

 

Mounted onto a small flat piece of live rock:

 

 

The one on the left looks pretty good, but the one on the right, well, not so much (but still should be okay).

 

 

This was the Mother Polyp (normally expands to near 3") nursing her injuries and mourning the separation of her little babies (arrow locations) 😉:

 

 

 

And the new mounted position:

 

 

When the Lord's polyps are fully extended they will help to reduce the flow a bit.

 

So for anyone picking up on this and feeling todays' monetary pinch, it doesn't hurt to find new and creative ways to make the most out of what you already have.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Reefing 🙂

 

 

[debbeach13]

10 hours ago, Nano sapiens said:

Sticker shock on corals definitely woke me up, that's for sure!

Absolutely miss the days when trading with local reefers was the easy solution. 

[Nano sapiens]

Picked up this all-black Stomatella from the LFS about a month ago:

 

 

In this system, I can add a few of these little guys, but within a month or so there's always only one left.  Best guess is that this small system just doesn't have the right types of algae, or simply not enough algae, to sustain a larger population.

[LazyFish]

Nice all mine are pink or tan stomatellas. Never seen a black one. I have about a million of them lol but probly my second favorite snail after money cowrey. Mine breed like crazy in my 2 20g tanks I even had some in a 2.5g I think about 4 of them.

[Nano sapiens]

2 hours ago, LazyFish said:

Nice all mine are pink or tan stomatellas. Never seen a black one. I have about a million of them lol but probly my second favorite snail after money cowrey. Mine breed like crazy in my 2 20g tanks I even had some in a 2.5g I think about 4 of them.

 

First time I've had a black one, too (kind of reminds me of an underdeveloped Scutus snail).  Glad to hear that you can keep a population going. 

 

I've tried putting in 3-4 at a time on two occasions, but most end up milling around in the back chambers for a few weeks at most or possibly on the menu for this little beastie:

 

[Nano sapiens]

Well, 6 months in and the Scleronephtha seems to be a happy camper:
 

Time will tell if it will ever grow and spread, but just having it alive and looking healthy in a mixed reef for this long is notable in it's own right. What's really interesting is that I changed from feeding it 2-3x/day to 1x/day after repositioning it without any noticeable changes at all (this is something that I actually anticipated). Hmm, so what gives?

The two main genus that people think of as 'Carnation Corals' are the Dendronephthya and Scleronephthya. Dendronephthya has 250+ species, Scleronephthya at least 12 species. I have no idea which species I have, but it does have fluorescent pigments in the green/green-yellow 500-550 nm range (by examining a branch, Dana Riddle was kind enough to check to see if there was any chlorophyll present, but no it is truly a NPS coral). Identification to species is very difficult without examining the spicules. At any rate, it stands to reason that one shouldn't think that all Carnation Coral species have the exact same needs (we wouldn't lump the needs of all the different Acropra species into the same bin). In fact it's now known that some are highly reliant on phytoplankton and others on zooplankton and likely some that rely equal on both. And likely some are opportunists and can utilize either food source depending on which is the most abundant at any particular time of year.

Here's where things get interesting. The fact that these corals typically have lots of feeding polyps and have been found to consume phytoplankton and zooplankton in varying proportions has led to many trying to feed these small polyped NPS corals often, or even continuously, since it has been assumed that they need this nutrition since they don't have zooxanthellae. So how's that been working for us? I would say it's been a real mixed bag, for the most part. And why does a certain small subset of seemingly normal reef aquaria have the ability to sustain some types of these NPS corals, while others (even those specifically set up for them) may not?

The food source that I suspect plays a crucial role in the required energy budget for at the very least some of these small polyped NPS corals is bacteria. And not just any bacteria, but certain types that they are now known to preferentially feed on.

I ran across this very interesting article showing that the coral/holobiont releases exudates that accelerate the growth of these specific bacteria that they are known to ingest (Pelagibacteriaceae, Rhodobacteraceeae and Synechococcus😞

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161012144511.htm

Low and behold, a microbiome test from Eli over at AquaBiomics showed that my system's most abundant bacteria by far (~70%) is Pelagibacteriaceae with Rhodobacteraceeae
and Hyphomicrobiaceae following 2nd and 3rd.

* In regards to Hyphomicrobiaceae, I found it interesting that it includes Rhodomicrobium, which is a genus of Purple Bacteria that corals are known to ingest.

I'm certainly not the first to suggest that bacteria may play a larger role in the maintenance of these corals, but it's hard for large macro organisms like us to believe that a coral ingesting minute microscopic creatures could find enough sustenance to sustain it. I helps to contemplate that 1 cubic cm of ocean water harbors around 1 million microbial cells, which is nothing to sneeze at 

Which raises the interesting question, can more of us have success with these small polyped NPS corals (or at least certain types) if we knew that our system's microbiome had higher proportions/quantities of certain types of bacteria?

And if one doesn't have these types, can they be added to the system to supply these NPS with the nutrition that they need?

Interestingly, this assumption is being tested by Ken over at Hydrospace LLC feeding PNSBs (Photsynthetic Non-Sulfur Purple Bacteria/Marine Snow as a major component of a Dendronephthya sp. nutrition (scroll to the 25 minute mark for the Dendronephthya discussion):


(I typically don't plug products, but the information in this video is informative)

I'll be the first to say that I'm making suppositions based on indications that point towards the bacterial component being a major player in the maintenance of at least some of these small polyped NPS corals. I'm just a typical hobbyist with a small non-filtered mixed reef aquarium, limited resources and a system that happens to supports a Scleronephthya sp. (for 6 months, at any rate) that is attempting to 'put the pieces together' to arrive at a better understanding of the energy needs of these NPS corals


In other news...

This little hitchhiker grows so slow even with 2-3x weekly feedings, but at least it is heading in the right direction (nearly doubled it's size in ~3 months):

Still not nearly big enough to tell what exactly it is...


I split up a pair of mini-me Blastomussa vivida polyps that I separated from a large mother polyp recently to get one of them out of a higher flow location:
 

Freshly glued and it's already starting to puff up rather nicely. Unless they get bulldozed by my clumsiness or my hermit crabs, they should develop into proper sized polyps fairly soon (fingers crossed)!

[debbeach13]

Awesome post. 

[andrewkw]

Glad to see this tank is still around. Haven't checked out your thread in years!

[A.m.P]

Hitchhiker looks a bit like a blasto merletti polyp.

[Nano sapiens]

1 hour ago, A.m.P said:

Hitchhiker looks a bit like a blasto merletti polyp.

It does kind of have a LPS Mussid family look to it, just in a miniature way.  If it was a Pavona or Leptoseris, I would have expected more of an encrusting growth form by now.  The little thing is barely 1/4" in diameter, so really hard to tell at this stage.  It's also possible that it could be some type of Cup Coral that just stays small.

 

Time will tell (hopefully).

[Nano sapiens]

Came back from a 2 week emergency absence and found the tank at 1.0285 SG and 5.6 dKh (would have been worse if my son hadn't filled the water bottles after the 1st week). Surprisingly NO3 was at 10 ppm even though the tank had been lightly fed only once during the 2 week period. Glass had a nice coat of brown algae, as expected.

Surprisingly, all the corals except the Duncan (heads withdrawn) and the A. echinata (STN, severe brown-out) looked just fine. In fact, most corals had grown noticeably which mirrors what happened the last time I left the tank for an extended period.

Parameters were brought back to 1.026 SG and 7.8 Alk gradually over 24 hrs. along with a 10% WC/light gravel vacuumming and things are back to near normal.

Unhappy Duncan (found a digitate hydroid in it's midst):
 

Scleronephthya looking fine without feeding for 2 weeks:
 

Pink Stylocoeniella nearly healed a dime sized gap in 2 weeks (lighter brown area):
 

'Creeping heads' Blastomussa merletti:
 

Ponape Birdsnest Twisty Growth. I'll need to start this one over again from saved frags.
 

Spreading Heads Bowerbanki (from 2 to many):
 

Top Center Coral Grouping. After 13 years the Pavona maldivensis is finally sending up projections and the BOP Birdsnest just won't grow upwards (the direct flow is likely keeping it horizontal).
 

All-in-all, quite relieved that things didn't get too far out-of-whack. Shows that a simple-running mature system made up of mostly hardy corals can take a lick'in and keep on tick'in 

[debbeach13]

Welcome home. I bet it was a relief to see the tank did so well.

[Nano sapiens]

35 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Welcome home. I bet it was a relief to see the tank did so well.

Thanks and yes, it was!  If I have to leave again I'm going to make sure the ATO with Kalkwasser delivery can do so for at least 7 days by limiting evaporation with a partial tank cover.

[Nano sapiens]

Something New, Something Old, Something Amiss 🤔

 

Got the itch to fill in a few gaps in the landscaping with coral and turned to an online vendor that has always been a safe bet in the past.  Well, something is certainly amiss these days (name withheld until issues are hopefully resolved...multiple emails and a phone conversation over the last 2 weeks).  Long story short, I placed an order for a very nice centerpiece Trachy plus an Ultra Button Scoly and was informed a few days later that the Trachy was 'not doing well'.  Ok, fair enough as animals can become sick or injured.  I was then asked to 'pick another Trachy', but didn't like any of their then current selection.  So, I placed a 2nd order for a bunch of other corals with notes in their order page 'Special Notes' section that this 2nd order replaces the 1st order (all order numbers provided).  And then they proceed to fill and ship both orders; the 1st order with a replacement Trachy that I never picked plus the original Button Scolly and the full 2nd order (Button Scoly and a bunch of nice 'Clearance' corals).  Holy boat load of corals for a 12g and nearly full nano!

 

Without further ado, the 'Good, the Bad and the Ugly' 🙂

 

The highlighter green on the right was the original quite nice Ultra Button Scoly from my 1st order and the rather dull one on the bottom left is actually not the one that I ordered:

 

 

 

Moving on, unfortunately I didn't save a pic of the original Trachy (multicolored), but this is what was chosen by the vendor (color challenged for sure, but at least it's healthy):

 

 

 

In some ways I had better luck with their 'Clearance' corals:

 

Nice little standard orange rim/aquamarine disk Blasto:

 

 

 

Not really true to the vendor's pic Lord (missing a lot of the blue), but they typically change color on a whim anyway:

 

 

 

A few more small Blastos in quite low light under hang settings:

 

 

 

And lastly, a pic of my three little 'mystery polyps' all nice and plump, but very slow growing (now about the size of small Rasta zoas):