Lypto's Jellyfish Project

[Lypto]

Fascinating! I wasn't sure if jellyfish migrated long distances. It makes perfect sense that when the water temperature increases the jellyfish disappear, and that would also make a lot of sense for their 1 year lifespan in the wild. When they're taken care of properly, the jellyfish live so much longer because their metabolic processes are slowed down considerably.

I'll try and figure out a way to keep the water cooler than it normally would be. I knew they liked colder, but the actual impact is much larger than I had thought. For now there isn't a whole lot I can do, but after I present the project I'll see what can be done about a chiller mechanism. A fan to help evaporative cooling might be the only option at the moment. Thanks for the info! Any new knowledge is greatly useful and very appreciated.

[Lypto]

We've got water folks!

 

 

[Lypto]

big ol bacterial bloom today. super cloudy water. I suppose the cycle has begun. 

[Christopher Marks]

So it begins! This is really neat project @Lypto!

[Lypto]

water's cleared up today, I'll do my first water test tomorrow.

[Jellyingabout]

have you got a video of the flow?

[ReefGoat]

Very cool. 

[Lypto]

I haven't gotten the spray bar quite right yet (it fits too far up and splashes down), but here's a bad substitute for now:

[Lypto]

I recently got a digital microscope, and I've been looking at the remaining polyps (of which there are a surprising amount) and I've found some interesting things. There's a tiny isopod looking creature that loves to run and hide amongst them, and a large amount of polyps have consumed microbubbles, and it's caused some large injuries for them. This explains a great deal about some of the troubles I've been having. The tiny HOB I've been using caused just a few bubbles, and I made the err of presuming that they wouldn't get into the polyps because it didn't look like they were. I'm still figuring out the microscope, so the pictures are of a screen. The red arrows point to where some bubbles have lodged in the polyps stomach. There's also just some other of the younger polyps. When I figure out the scope it should be much nicer and the actual picture.

 

[Jellyingabout]

Now thats a cool post!!!

[Lypto]

have you guys ever looked at your water, and seen tiny little plankton like things swimming around?

there's now a bunch in the jelly culture, with a surprising variety. 

edit: I'm also going to be driving out in a few days to get the jellies, I think I'm just going to put them into a 5 gallon bucket. maybe put them in gallon ziplocks?

[PurpelKat]

This is soooooo interesting. I have axolotls and they like it below 70º and ideally in the mid-60's. Fan for evaporation works great. There are YouTube tutorials on how to make chillers from old dorm fridges. Did I miss why you are doing this project?

[Lypto]

In order to graduate, you have to complete a year long project that involves learning a new skill and producing a final product with a minimum of 25 hours of fieldwork and a mentor. Most decide to do sewing or bake a cake. Restoring a car or building an arcade machine are common as well. I decided that I wanted to do something cool and very much unrelated. I had kind of had a passing interest in jellies and decided to make that my project. So far I've logged more than 180+ hours, but officially it's only 147. I've spent a lot of time recording and measuring local waters for conditions that increase the odds of a jellyfish swarm as well as designing and making the culture stuff. There's two places nearby that have given me some interesting results. If anyone is interested I've got some ideas related to swarm behavior and their relation to these specific areas. Axolotls are so cool,  weird little guys. I think I'd be worried about taking care of one over most marine species.

 

Also, Welcome to NanoReef!!

[Lypto]

Jellyfish tomorrow! I've got the spray bar all done and set up. 

[hoodle]

What does decapsulating mean?

[Lypto]

It means taking the shell off of the brine shrimp eggs. Their eggs are in little dried out cysts to survive long dry periods, so to make is possible to digest them, the eggs must be hatched or removed from the outer shell.  It's like trying to eat a chicken egg, shell and all, whole. Not so great for your innards.

 

I've got a fairly large update soon, so stay posted if you'd like to see more

[hoodle]

Ok, that's good.

[Lypto]

Sorry for taking so long! it's been a whirlwind and Wednesday and Friday are going to be insanely hectic, so I'll try and get an update out as soon as possible. Quick mini update- I've got some very unhealthy jellies and I'm trying to fix them, the tank broke a little bit, and I made a new one. More details Saturday.

[Christopher Marks]

Sorry to hear about the tank troubles, thanks for checking in @Lypto. Hope the rest of the week goes better for you!

[Lypto]

Ok guys! here it is! (far too late) 

 

About two weeks ago I drove down and collected 2 small jellyfish from a very generous donor who was moving away for a while and didn't want them to die if there was someone who wanted them. I went down and get them, pack them up in a cooler and bring them back without much incident and got them acclimating in a jar to get them some fresh water while I fiddled with the tank to get them ready. 

Unfortunately , while fiddling and trying to get the mesh to pass more water through it, I tore the silicone seam on the mesh and caused the whole system to fail. 

I've kept the jellies in a huge cookie jar with an airline and they seem to be doing alright. When I got the jellies, they had very thick bells and no feeding tentacles left, only tiny stubs and ripped bell on the larger one. Several sites list these symptoms as caused by both a rapid change in salinity and a habit of trying to feed the jellies directly, by spraying their food directly into the bells. The slightly acidic food sprayed into their mouths reduced sensitivity and the thickened bell cause them to pretty much stop pulsing on a regular frequency, and mine pulse about once every 1min 30 sec. Since being in the jar they've regrown some of their tentacles but have shrunk a little bit. I'm trying to keep them alive until I can get the second tank with an undergravel filter ( I know, I know, evil incarnate...) But an undergravel filter is actually perfect here as they create a slow even gentle flow with nor hard moving points, with the intake spread out over a larger area. The pebbles I used were too large, and I need to reduce the size a fair amount. The polyps have made a large improvement in size and health, and I've got a way to make a cooler now! (It includes diy titanium tubing 🙂 ). More later as finals are approaching. Stay tuned for part 2 of the update! (there will be lots of pictures)

[sadie]

This was a very interesting read.  I had no idea about any of this.  I LOVE jelly fish.  I can't wait to see the pictures and your progress.  Congrats for thinking outside the box and not giving up when you were frustrated!!

[JellyChris]

Hey Lypto,

 

I just stumbled across your jellyfish project thread! Nice!

 

How’s it going?

 

Jellyingabout is correct about the temperature. Cooler/cold is better.

 

Good luck with your Jelly aspirations! I'm following along too. :-)

 

Cheers, JellyChris

 

Polyps

 

More polyps

 

Strobilating polyps

 

Baby jellyfish (ephyra)

[Christopher Marks]

Awesome photos @JellyChris, welcome to the community! 👋

[JellyChris]

11 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Awesome photos @JellyChris, welcome to the community! 👋

Thank you. :-)

[Lypto]

That's such an awesome setup with the polyps! I've never seen a culture kept so clean!

I've been on a bit of  a break unfortunately due to studies, and I only have about 12 polyps left, but I'm excited to get back into it soon. 

I have an office water cooler and some titanium tubing that I can hopefully be messing around with soon 🙂

@JellyChris, I'd be absolutely delighted to see more of your setup, and if you've got tips on how to keep it so clean I'd love to see them.