Lypto's Jellyfish Project

[Ann95]

This is really cool to watch, I'm totally hooked

[Lypto]

disaster has struck after a hiatus, the food or something must have had something nasty in it as the jellyfish all shrank drastically and quite a few died. I'm left with less than I had to start out with, and I'm trying my best to keep em alive.it's pretty discouraging to watch something with so little progress that you've nurtured die off, and I was told jellyfish keeping often ends this way, But I'm determined to see this through. Both of my reserves died fairly quickly as well. I'm going to order a tiny HOB filter and turn it down really low in order to get some water movement in their still 2.5 gallon. Algae is also creeping up and its hard to keep the polyps clean. I'm considering bringing my 10 gallon jelly tank back and eventually ordering some adults.

[Lypto]

update:

the jellyfish are really liking the flow now, and while their survival may not be assured, its a much greater chance than before. I found a possible culprit, a small worm that seemed to bite into the polyps, as well as an aluminum chip that had somehow made its way into the tank. I work with machines and oftentimes get metal chips in hair and such, so it's not only possible but very likely that I contaminated the tank. New batch of brines a brewing and the polyps that fell off have settled at the bottom and attached.Once I finish the main tank, the power source for a cheato reactor and it's cycled, I can get some adults and work from there. Guided Trial and error seems to be the way here. 

[Cintax]

Very interesting thread. 

[Lypto]

Thanks! the jellyfish are holding condition and the pump is working well. However, the current is probably much too strong and is causing them too shrink a little. i'll play round with the flow and see what happens. My power source for the LEDs arrived, so now I can begin to assemble the final tank. the silicone also arrived and I'll be sealing the mesh onto the tank sometime in the next week. I'm hoping that a chaeto reactor wont spread microbubbles that can damage the jellyfish.

[Lypto]

well, this has been a long term headache that got worse today. I'm left with only about 12 tiny polyps.

 

However,

 

I've begun to repair and finally finish my 10 gallon tank. I've got 20 pounds of Fiji live rock I've had cooking(cycling) for a while,brand new filter floss, pumps, mesh  and I just finished the cheato reactor for the jellies. all that's left is do some minor plumbing and I'm ready to wait.... until the chems stabilize, and then I can order some jellies

 

for me, reefing has been an exercise in patience, perseverance, and general hard work for not a lot of reward. But now that I've invested in some real equipment, and am setting up the way I should have from the start, I'm excited to continue onto better things.

 

a side note, I've chosen a chaeto reactor over an algae scrubber because 

1.) The chaeto reactor makes much less sound

2.) So far, I haven't seen any microbubbles from testing it.

3. It's cheaper and easier for me

4.) its neater and easier to clean and I like that

5.) I've got a bunch of chaeto in an aquarium and I'd like to reduce my power bill

 

Also, Good luck to TB10 on his jellyfish ventures!

[Lypto]

here's a photo of the tank and things. piping later today

also the chaeto reactor 

 

[Lypto]

just gotta drill some holes in the spraybar

(tin snips are really good at cutting vinyl)

 

[RayWhisperer]

So what’s happening? Are you getting ammonia spikes? 

[Lypto]

it's mostly this really pervasive sludge that seems to like the way the polyps taste. I scrape it off and it grows right back. water chemistry doesn't seem to affect it much, however much of a challenge it is. I'm going to test the chaeto reactor on my 10G first.

[RayWhisperer]

Sludge, like a mulm? I can’t imagine something like organic waste consuming them. Perhaps it’s a fungus or bacteria? That I could see. Maybe some form of hydroid coming in with the brine shrimp cysts? If it is some type of mulm, the real question is why is it killing? Organic matter won’t kill. However, it may be smothering the polyps, or using up oxygen through decomposition.

[Lypto]

It's more of a smothering cyanno like thing. I've managed to thin it down a little, and its changing color. Hopefully I can kill it off, but it grows back really quickly. I think its a bacterial mat. 

 

Also, I learned what mulm was. Thanks for the Vocab!

[Lypto]

I'm testing the system. So far it works pretty well, aside from some weird bubbles leaking in.

 

[Lypto]

24 hr update

no leaks and the system is running well. The lights give me some awful headaches though so I'll be putting it somewhere where the light isn't visible. All that's left is to silicone the screen in. That'll have to wait 4-5 days because I'm going to be competing pretty much 24/4 for a while and work piles up, I'm probably going to 3d print or jerry rig some sort of holder for the spraybar. I can still answer questions though and its great to see people interested!

[Lypto]

This has continued to be quite stressful with the only return being learning through failure. I've got about 5 polyps left and I can't silicone the mesh until it stops raining. Jellyfish are supposed to be calming, but raising and caring for them can be awful. I'm still going to keep working at this. I'm so close to getting the system set up and running. 

[SeaFurn]

I'm sure it's stressful and frustrating but it's amazing stuff.

Thanks for sharing all of this with us. Learning a lot! 

[Jellyingabout]

This is so cool! i love seeing people attempt jellyfish! (hence the name)

 

I used to rear polyps in my university research lab. We had the most success putting them in cold water baths in just tupperware boxes with nothing but an air line for circulation. We would raise ephyra in the same way but in curved dishes. Once they developed into medusae we'd let them get to a size where they would settle  in the dishes then transfer them to a DIY kreisel with extremely low circulation but huge oxygenation in the sump. They recieved daily 100% water changes (pretty easy since they were in small tupperware boxes)

 

I built a DIY jellyfish tank about 4 years ago and successfully kept 3 chrysaora colorata, they grew from around 0.5" in diameter to around 3" but then my tank crashed whilst on holiday. Would love to chat more about it if you like  

[Jellyingabout]

On 1/16/2018 at 2:51 AM, Lypto said:

After I fed the polyps, a couple that had the weird growths moved around and left little bits behind, I've now got more tiny polyps. I'll try to feed them everyday now as opposed to once every two days.

Those small bits are called podocysts, and its how many schyphizoans reproduce in the polyp phase when tempuratures aren't right for strobulation but food isn't plentiful anymore

[mndfreeze]

Definitely keep going OP!  This thread is super interesting to follow!

[Lypto]

I've got the mesh siliconed in and a source for jellyfish real soon! 

I've even built a stand for it out of 2x4 (actually for a 20 gallon but it'll work.)

Tomorrow I'm going to go out and get some bacteria and water, and then use the dry rock I've had.The dry rock is to prevent any fouling organisms from getting in the tank. I know any good cycle must run it's course, but does anyone have and tricks to speed it up? I'm also a little curious if I should heat the water at the temp the jellies are going to be in or if the bacteria don't care too much. I'm on a really tight timeframe coming up, so I'll have to be careful.

[mndfreeze]

Bacteria will of course spread faster is the water is warmer, but they will survive in a huuggeeeee range of conditions.  You don't need a heater to cure some dry rock.   You might want to read up some more on bacteria stages and cycling if that is your plan as there are other issues to be had when using old dry rock like it leeching PO4(I think) into the water.

 

You can use some of the various bacteria products to try to speed things up but IMO make sure you research hard on it because there are a lot of ones that people claimed just don't really even work, and you can't cheat the speed the bacteria replicate.  Only add them in, provide a food source and let them do the bacteria nasty to make more.  

[Lypto]

The dry rock was originally new rock that had been brought and put into a vat. It was never used in a tank, I left it in a 20 gallon with a pump to cure and a lot of sediment and stuff leaked out. I scrubbed it and let it dry in the sun.  If there's still PO4, (it loves to evaporate), then would the Ammonia will be helpful in kick starting the cycle/ encouraging bacteria growth? I've cycled a few tanks before but it was always varied on the time it took in relatively similar situations.

Anyone have ideas on how to transport jellyfish without air bubbles?

[Jellyingabout]

What tempurature are your jellies going to be at? Many people keep aurelia way too hot for what is natural, they survive but they don't thrive. it the same with Cyanea sp. If you keep they jellies in a colder environment they grow slower and larger.

[Lypto]

Between 60 ish to 70 degrees. I live in a fairly consistent area. The website the person I'm getting the jellyfish got them from actually suggests 60-77 degrees, suggesting that they're tropical in origin.

[Jellyingabout]

I'm not discrediting anything you my have been told but I think you'd have more success rearing A. aurita in water 60F and under. They can survive in warm conditions (usually after having done most of their growing in cooler waters) however its not where they thrive unless the increase in tempurature is also matched with an increase in food supply, but even then they're limited by how quickly they can eat.

 

I did my disertaion on jellyfish in captivity and from what i learnt a big reason for why they seem so hard to keep healthy in captivity and they never grow large enough is because they're kept at too high tempuratures. In captivity most A. aurita tend to grow about 6" in diameter maximum, often suffer inversion, often have aberant radial symetry, and rarely sexually reproduce. But in chilled systems they look much more natural, reproduce like rabbits and grow bigger than dinner plates. 

 

Increases in tempurature increase their respiration a huge ammount, which leads to filthy water and a excessive feeding requirements.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/24871097?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

 

In the wild towards mid to late summer when water tempuratures start getting >20C (68F) respiration rates of these jellies increases to the point their metabolic demand exceeds or matches feeding rates and medusae growth rates cease or blooms disappear. it true that these jellies naturally occur at these tempuratures but only after they've done a lot of growing at cooler tempurature then as the tempurature climbs they're somatic growth peaks, they release planulea then die off. 

https://academic.oup.com/plankt/article/27/3/237/1493436