THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD

September 19, 2012

Moon Jelly Fish in the Home Aquarium

Can You Do It ?

We've all seen them. Those wonderful jellyfish displays at public aquariums.

At least, I sure hope you've had the chance to see them.

They are beautiful, graceful, soothing, and most of all super cool. Jellyfish tanks are a great conversation piece, a great draw for marine life, and serve as a perfect example of aquatic husbandry and success.

Efforts to learn about jellyfish life, care, and requirements has now culminated with the ability for home hobbyists to keep, raise, and even breed these amazing animals.

wow ... keep, raise and even breed them !

Link:

http://tinyurl.com/9zcbw8b

Albert

September 19, 2012

DNA clarifies classification of coral symbionts

Researchers are now using DNA techniques to help classify Symbiodinium into distinct species.

For nearly 260 years -- since Carl Linnaeus developed his system of naming plants and animals -- researchers have classified species based on visual attributes, such as color, shape and size. In the past few decades, however, scientists have found that species can be more accurately identified by sequencing their DNA.

A group of single-celled algae -- called Symbiodinium -- that live inside corals and are critical to their survival -- are only now being separated into species using DNA analysis, according to biologists.

Link:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/dna-c...coral-symbionts

Albert

Edited September 19, 2012 by albertthiel

September 19, 2012

Just a word of warning re FWD's not all fish can survive 5 mins in one and it is recommended when you do dip that you equalise both the temperature and PH of the tank water with the FWD. IME quite small fish can succumb to FWD esp as they are already stressed due to their parasitic infestation.

I consider FWD's for fish a last chance remedy. If a fish looks as bad as that clown did, its pretty much doomed IMO. I have only done it once with a very infected achiles tang, and althugh the tang did not make it, it was interesting to see all the parsites literally fall off.

It will only kill parasites that are infecting the gills - parasites attached to the body will be protected by the fish's slime coat, even on tangs a FW dip won't kill all of them.

Well that makes sense. When I dipped the Achiles, i did it for a whopping 30 minutes, and no parasites came back or apeard to survive. He just never ate food again and that was it, but he survived looking clean another month or so.

September 20, 2012

I came across the link below on anther forum called "New filtration method" Hmmm see what you think.

http://www.ecodeco.nl/html/dymico.htm

September 20, 2012

I consider FWD's for fish a last chance remedy. If a fish looks as bad as that clown did, its pretty much doomed IMO. I have only done it once with a very infected achiles tang, and althugh the tang did not make it, it was interesting to see all the parsites literally fall off.

Well that makes sense. When I dipped the Achiles, i did it for a whopping 30 minutes, and no parasites came back or apeard to survive. He just never ate food again and that was it, but he survived looking clean another month or so.

Zeph:

IME the FWB's can indeed inflict the last blow to a fish that is already stressed and severely weakened due to whatever disease it has and the sudden dip in FW may hammer that proverbial "last nail in its coffin". I used to be a believer in FW baths a long time ago and when not as many meds were around as there are now, and as a last resort tried it on fish when I had outbreaks of Crypto or Velvet, but as if the fish were too far along, they just did not make it in the FW, or did not make it for long when placed back in SW.

On the other comment Ben made and to which you responded: I found that isolating fish in a QT with adjusted saltwater, and lowering the s.g. slowly, and treating with a med (often copper solutions sold in the hobby as not much else was available, except for some antibiotics which I used as well at times), sometimes would work and sometimes not and the difference could IMO only be attributed to the severeness of the condition the fish was in when placed in the QT.

Disease treatment is IMO still a field in which a lot of progress can be made as results of treating diseased fish are IME from what I remember spotty at best.

Now, QT'ing new arrivals is of course a totally different story as one can follow a set number of steps, from going hypo-salinity, to adding compounds that are available to pre-treat, but use lower dosages than recommended, and observe the fish, and gradually increase the dosage so as not to stress the fish or fishes out completely, and have them so weakened that they do end up with some disease, which is of course exactly the opposite of what we wanted to achieve to begin with when putting them in a QT tank.

But, this is a subject that one could go on and on and on about and still not agree on IMO ...

Each hobbyist and each Author seems to have his or her own "little best method", often pushing certain products (especially if the articles are found on the blogs of manufacturers).

I have seen enough of them even by reputable Authors such as Paletta, Riddle, and others such as Goemans, Tullock and more.

A really totally impartial one is not easy to find ... but I am sure they are around as I have seen a few but did not keep links to them ... guess one reads them and stores the info somewhere in one of our memory "drawers" and hopefully does so correctly ... :-)

Enough said ... those were just my thoughts on the subject and I am sure that no everyone will agree with them, but then that is not unusual in this hobby. The more people you ask for an opinion on something the more and the more diverse responses one will get IME :-)

Albert

September 20, 2012

Mike Paletta's 300 Gallon Mixed Reef Aquarium - Part I

In this 30 min. video, presented by © AmericanReef.com, we take a tank tour of Mike Paletta's 300 Gallon Mixed Reef Aquarium.

In part one of this video series, Mike presents his 300 gallon mixed reef aquarium and shares details relating to how to set up a coral reef saltwater aquarium.

I have not managed to find Part II yet is there actually is one .. but when I come across it, I will add it to this thread for sure. Definitely worth watching !

Link:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/podcast

Albert

September 20, 2012

Mike Paletta's 300 Gallon Mixed Reef Aquarium - Part II

Well I said in my previous post that I could not find Part II ... I guess I did as below is a link to it .... another great video to watch on this 300 gallon mixed Reef.

Link:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/5/podcast

Albert

September 20, 2012

I came across the link below on anther forum called "New filtration method" Hmmm see what you think.
http://www.ecodeco.nl/html/dymico.htm

Looks like maybe another type of Probiotics offshoot application Les, but it is difficult to really get an idea of what this system methodology does based on the information that is on their website, with just a short description that is IMO not all that clear about what it does, and no links to further info.

If you can find anything else on this Dutch (apparently) system and company, do post it here please.

I'll look for some info myself later today probably and maybe I can find some more details as well.

Wonder how long that has been around too and whether there have been any reviews of the ecodeco/DYMICO system.

It's IMO a bit odd too that they give so little information.

Albert

September 20, 2012

hypersnyper694788:

Sorry obviously about your losses. It happens to just about all of us, and sometimes we cannot figure out why, although the causes are well known, why the fish get so stressed out, and why their immune system declines so much so they cannot ward off the parasites or bacteria depending on what disease they end up with, is not always easy to determine unfortunately,

Since you will be keeping your tank fallow for quite some time and not adding any fish, whatever is in the tank will die off for lack of a host, and by the time you are ready to add fish all should be ok.

Remember to acclimate and QT your new fish, and since that is a process of a few weeks also, you can obviously start that in a couple of weeks, and keep whatever fish you get in there for the recommended time.

One of the articles I posted gave the method that is suggested, and if you follow that you should be ok.

When you buy new fish, my suggestion is that you ask the LFS to show you that they eat.

Also find out what they are being fed so you can continue with that food and ensure that the fishes will eat when you have them in the QT tank.

If you need any other advice, feel free to post a message here and I will be glad to help.

Albert

Albert & everyone else who replied to my post.

Thank you very much for your replies, i really appreciate the help. The most valuable lesson learned here was always qt your fish, unfortunately i had to learn the hard way.

September 20, 2012

Albert & everyone else who replied to my post.

Thank you very much for your replies, i really appreciate the help. The most valuable lesson learned here was always qt your fish, unfortunately i had to learn the hard way.

Yes indeed that is the best approach and is unfortunately what a lot of Hobbyists I believe are not doing because they are probably eager to see the new fish or fishes swimming around in their tanks.

But, and as you experienced, and I am sorry for that, not QT'ing can lead to the issues you have encountered and the onset of disease which if not treated right away can lead to the death of the new fish, and other ones that were in the tank and get infected as well.

I can understand why it happens but as you say yourself, it leads to severe setbacks in many cases, as you experienced.

Sorry again for your losses, but I believe that you know understand why quarantining fish and even invertebrates is so important.

Thanks for the post, and now that you know what to do and how, you will be OK IMO when you get new fishes for your tank.

Albert

September 20, 2012

Yes indeed that is the best approach and is unfortunately what a lot of Hobbyists I believe are not doing because they are probably eager to see the new fish or fishes swimming around in their tanks.

But, and as you experienced, and I am sorry for that, not QT'ing can lead to the issues you have encountered and the onset of disease which if not treated right away can lead to the death of the new fish, and other ones that were in the tank and get infected as well.

I can understand why it happens but as you say yourself, it leads to severe setbacks in many cases, as you experienced.

Sorry again for your losses, but I believe that you know understand why quarantining fish and even invertebrates is so important.

Thanks for the post, and now that you know what to do and how, you will be OK IMO when you get new fishes for your tank.

Albert

Lesson definitely learned. I always dip and inspect all my corals before putting them in the tank. I should have definitely used the same caution with adding fish. I now have a 5 gallon qt up and running to get it cycled. There is just some live rock in it and a HOB filter. I still have several weeks to get the params right before i add anything to it to start the qt process. This is hands down the most informative thread on the forum, and man you reply quick!

September 20, 2012

Hydrogen Peroxide (H202) vs Dinoflagetttes

Right now I’m sitting outside with the BBQ slowly warming up and I got thinking about the last week or so an what I’ve been doing with the Triton Lagoon.

A few weeks back I had a nasty out break of the “beautiful” (my neighbours words) red slime algae, aka Cyanobacteria.

It took over my lovely white sandbed in just a few days. I did what most reefers these would do, I hopped on the ‘net and started trying to figure out why it had appeared how I could get rid of it…

At this point I’m confident my macroalgae crash was the cause of the slime outbreak. Once the refugium was replinished and growth resumed the red slime faded away ... ...

Link:

http://tinyurl.com/9u7youx

Albert

September 20, 2012

Lesson definitely learned. I always dip and inspect all my corals before putting them in the tank. I should have definitely used the same caution with adding fish. I now have a 5 gallon qt up and running to get it cycled. There is just some live rock in it and a HOB filter. I still have several weeks to get the params right before i add anything to it to start the qt process. This is hands down the most informative thread on the forum, and man you reply quick!

Glad to read that you were using the right approach for your corals and I think that now you will be doing the same thing for all the fish you acquire.

And yes you do have time to get everything right for the QT tank, and get the params in line and a little live rock.

You mention that you have an HOB on there and that is fine of course, although aeration and water changes are often all that is used by many who set up QT tanks, but since you have time before you are going to introduce fish, you can certainly make the tank better equipped.

Once you start adding fish to it just monitor the parameters to make sure that they are all ok, and keep an eye on the fish to make sure they are doing well and not showing any signs of stress or listlessness, and that they eat.

I am sure that with the links to the articles I sent that you have plenty of info on how to do it right so I am sure you now know what to do and what not to do.

Thanks for the update and should you have more questions about the QT process do not hesitate to post your questions.

Happy Reef Keeping

Albert

September 20, 2012

Aquarium Chemistry: The Nitrogen Cycle: New Developments and New Prospects

So far we have always thought of the nitrogen cycle as a series of linear reactions that conclude in a circle.

But is it really a cycle?

Important discoveries made in these recent years have drastically revolutionized this concept. In this article, I will try to discuss some of these research studies, with the intention and hope of being able to make this complex topic, understandable.

Until a few years ago, it was thought that the nitrogen cycle in its complexity, was a complete linear process. However, most recent scientific discoveries have greatly revolutionized our well-established knowledge on the nitrogen cycle and on the micro-organisms involved in such processes.

As a matter of fact, the global cycle of nitrogen in the environment, particularly in that of marine, has been integrated with at least three new links which include:

- the oxidation of ammonium by a particular group of micro-organisms, the archaeabacteria (AOA);

- the anaerobic reduction of nitrates into ammonium ion (DNRA);

- the anaerobic oxidation processes of ammonium (ANAMMOX).

Analyzes more current findings on what happens in our tanks ...

Link:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com//2011/4/chemistry

Albert

September 20, 2012

Sinularia dura - Cabbage Coral - Glazing and showing coating and changing color

Although all other corals and life forms in my tank are doing well, after I did a large water change in the tank yesterday evening, my Cabbage coral started to change color, and developed that coating that looks like a glaze layer on its top. Also, in this case the coating is shiny but the picture probably does not show that.

I am not concerned about it as not only is this normal behavior for these types of corals, and Leather corals, but I wanted to show a picture of what it looks like, for those who may be seeing the same behavior.

The coating will be released when the coral is ready to do so, although when that will occur I cannot tell, but usually it can take from 1 to several days, although in most cases it does not last that long.

Here is a pic. of what the Cabbage coral looks this morning:

Whether this was a reaction independent of the water change I do not know and have no way of telling of course.

But as I said for those who have Sinularia dura corals, this is a normal behavior.

For more info on this coral readers can go to:

http://www.nano-reef.com/corals/?coral=2 here on Nano-reef for more detail on Sinularia

Albert

Edited September 20, 2012 by albertthiel

September 20, 2012

What are the COENOSARC AND COENOSTEUM on Corals ?

This site will give you access to a lot of the terminology used when discussing or writing about corals and other organisms.

The link leads to the ones above but the page will show you many other terms you can click on to get a description of what they are.

Clarifies a lot of the more "scientific" terminology one comes across when reading technical articles

Link:

http://www.coralhub.info/terms/coenosarc/

A great site to go to if you want to find out what some of the more "cryptic" terms used really mean.

Albert

September 20, 2012

A Simplified Guide to the Relationship Between Calcium,

Alkalinity, Magnesium and pH

Yet another article that tries to demystify the relationships between the above water quality and chemistry parameters and levels

Among the most important chemical parameters in a reef aquarium are calcium and alkalinity.

Unfortunately, how these relate to each other often perplexes reef aquarists. Such relationships are well understood and described in chemical terms, and I have detailed them using chemical and mathematical equations in many previous articles.

These descriptions, however, often are unsatisfying for many aquarists who do not think in such terms. When magnesium and pH are thrown into the discussion, the descriptions of the relationships become even more complex, and are less readily understood by many.

Read more at : http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

Albert

Edited September 20, 2012 by albertthiel

September 20, 2012

Info on Reefs and Corals : From Saltwater Aquarium Advice Blog

Contains some interesting information but read some sections with "a grain of salt" as they need some updating IMO, but other sections do give some good information.

For informational purposes. Covers a very wide range of reef related topics and facts.

Link:

http://saltwateraquariumadviceblog.com/tag/coral-keeping/

Also has a lot of internal links to other aquarium and reef related topics

Albert

Edited September 20, 2012 by albertthiel

September 20, 2012

Member wants to know whether he/she can keep a 6 line Wrasse in a 10 G Tank

(received via PM)

The answer is NO. 10 gallons is way too small for a Pseudocheilinus hexataenia (6 Line Wrasse). 30 or more gallons is the minimum recommended.

Also it is a semi-aggressive fish and can become more aggressive depending on what is kept with it in the tank it is housed in, and is a carnivore and will feed on small crustaceans in the tank.

But as I stated 10 gallons is way too small for this type of fish

Hope this helps. For more information use a search engine and type in Six Line Wrasse and you will get lots or links you can click on that will give you more information and confirm the above.

In a 10 gallon tank you need small and non-aggressive fish ...

Albert

September 20, 2012

Duncan Coral growing 2 new Heads

Was able to catch a picture where they can be seen :

Nice ... and the Candy Cane is growing a new one as well.

Albert

Edited September 20, 2012 by albertthiel

September 20, 2012

Top Ten... Cutest Little Creature Added To Your Tank

Only To Have It Turn Into A Homicidal Killer The Moment It Touched Water...

Fish and other organisms added to your Tank that can create havoc ...

© reefkeeping.com ( 8-2008 )

Link:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/tt/index.php

Albert

I really enjoyed reading those tales of horror!

Since I am new to the hobby I often do not know what certain acronyms mean; this is worse than the US army!

So I found this top ten very funny too:

Top 10 Reef Related Acronyms That Don't Exist,

But Should...

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-09/tt/index.php

September 20, 2012

I really enjoyed reading those tales of horror!
Since I am new to the hobby I often do not know what certain acronyms mean; this is worse than the US army!

So I found this top ten very funny too:

Top 10 Reef Related Acronyms That Don't Exist,

But Should...

© reefkeeping.com ( 9-2008 )

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-09/tt/index.php

Yes you are right, the number of acronyms one comes across can be daunting to understand sometimes, but worse than in the Army ... ?

I thought that the Military had a special "carnet" where all of them are listed as there are hundreds and hundreds if not thousands .. Just read a W.E.B. Griffin book and there are tons of them ...

But you are right and some that we come across AFAIK come from the texting world. And then there are the real odd ones like:

ABCD is a good one .....

(any bozo can do + whatever they are supposed to be able to do :-)

Thanks for the link ... I enjoyed reading those ...

AFAIAC there is really no end to them (as far as I am concerned) :-)

Here is a link to Internet ones : http://www.gaarde.org/acronyms/

Thanks eitallent ...

OAN ... is all going well with the tank (oan = on another note)

Albert

September 20, 2012

Mushroom Fragging and Propagation Video

A short but good video on how to frag Mushrooms and how to handle them, even if they are not attached to a piece of rubble

Albert

- - - - - - - -

Hermit Crab in a Glass Shell ....

Indeed, in a glass shell which you can buy from the site mentioned in the Video

Interesting to say the least !

Albert

Edited September 20, 2012 by albertthiel

September 20, 2012

Strange extension of one of my Yumas foot ...

Is it splitting or is the foot just extended down and on the side of the rock?

And The other Yuma just doing fine

I'll have to keep an eye on what the first one does as if it splits I don't want to part on the top to kill off the one underneath, as I have lost babies that way one that same one dropped one not long ago but apparently "smothered" it as it is nowhere to be seen or found.

Of course it could be hidden under a rock and re-appear who knows when.

Albert

September 20, 2012

Upside Down Corals and More

You can see many more on his FB page if you so wish. I will post some more real interesting ones when I get a chance. These are posted with Dr. Joshi's authorization.

Dr. Joshi's FB page is at: http://www.facebook.com/sanjay.joshi.792

Albert

Edited September 20, 2012 by albertthiel

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