[Michael Hoaster]

Mister Crabs appears to have died not long after molting. Before you conclude I have mistaken the discarded carapace for a dead crab, I'll point out that I can see both the carapace AND the dead crab. I saw him alive, right after molting, then dead the next day. I know that they are vulnerable when molting, but I can't imagine what could kill him in my aquarium. I guess this answers my question of whether to keep him or not. It does not help in the bubble algae department. I had hopes he'd take care of it, after finding one small bunch of bubbles eaten. But he was rather destructive, for such a small crab. So I was leaning towards giving him a little more time to get after the bubbles, then removing him. Rest in peace, Mister Crabs.

I guess I'll have to manually remove the bubble algae. I've done it once before. I remove one live rock at a time and take a brush to them in a bucket to try to remove all bits of it. It'll be stressful to the other life on the rocks, but if I'm carful, not deadly. I just hate moving them.

The mangrove with new growth has two leaves forming. It's so strange to see it change so rapidly, after months of nothing.

Speaking of growth rate, I've been doing some more research on Manatee Grass. It seems they have a distinct growing season in Spring. That corresponds with my experience. That was when mine were multiplying like crazy. So now, after losing many of them, the plants that I have left are growing, very sloooooowly. So I won't expect too much growth over the winter. It's not great news, but it's good to know. It'll save me the effort to 'figure them out', so I can just focus on something else, until springtime - like green macro algae.

I was surfin' my sites the other day and found some more Maiden's Hair (or Turtle Weed) for sale, at Reef Cleaners. I've had dismal luck with macros from them, but I'm taking another shot. I'd really like to get it to take off in my tank. Ideally, I'd get 3/4 of the fake wall covered. That would be sweet.