We’ve all heard of corals morphing under different lighting. That piece that looks great in your buddy’s tank looks dull and washed out in yours. Or, you get that coral that does a complete 180. You see it at the store and it looks good, but once established in your aquarium, it turns into a gem. Well, we as a community do talk about coral color changes quite a bit, and we think we have found one of the most extreme examples of such an event

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Pipe Organ coral seems to benefit from potassium dosing, like its Octocoral brethren, Xenia.

 Those looking to dose potassium should do so carefully and slowly. Overdosing potassium can be lethal to the coral. There are several kits on the market and some of them can tell you if potassium is below 400 ppm. If it is, you will generally want to correct this. It can be very hard to grow certain coral in low potassium. Most commercial salts create a mix that is near 400 ppm. Marine aquariums should be maintained at least around 400ppm. I have been running certain systems higher, 600-800+ ppm. If you can’t find a test kit that meets your needs, you can use a company where you send in your water for testing, they have higher range potassium testing capabilities. 

Cyphastrea are often the first coral to let you know that there has been a Potassium overdose. Often their tissue peels away with a sudden high dose.

 Potassium is sometimes added to aquariums through various means. One obvious example is the salt mix itself. There are also two part additives which may contain trace amounts of potassium, general element supplements, as well as potassium iodide, the standard softie support solution. I dose a potassium chloride solution in a 5 gallon bucket and let it drip feed into the system overnight. Any dosing regimen should start very conservatively, and very slowly over time should you increase dosage. There are several potassium aquarium products on the market. I started dosing at 2 tablespoons dry powder in approx 800 gallons, and increased over time to about ½ cup a day depending on dosing. I always mix this several gallons of RO and drip it in over the course of the day. Potassium chloride powder should not be added directly to the aquarium as this will harm your tank inhabitants. A note on bulk Potassium Chloride, it may sometimes contain trace amounts of phosphate, so consider your sources. 

Trachyphyllia will show brighter colors with higher potassium, though low iron can cause bleaching

 I see a future where potassium dosing and testing is just regular as calcium and nitrate testing. People will talk about NPK ratios in reef forums. Start your future now. Explore potassium.… More:

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When you think of potentials problems you could run into owning an aquarium store, a shoot out probably doesn’t rank high on the list. Unfortunately, for the West Texas ‘Mr. Aquarium’, they have had to add it to the list after this weekend. Saturday early morning thieves broke into the back door of the aquarium, where they then fired 10 shots into the tanks, spilling over 1,000 gallons of water.  The thieves also stole cash and equipment. Luckily, the alarms sounded and two employees came to the store and were able to save many of the fish. The damage is over $10,000.00. The store has reopened and the police are now on the case. I cant imagine how stunned those poor fish are! Here’s hoping the thieves are apprehended and the store recover’s all they lost. MORE… More:

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Figure 1. Captive bred Porkfish juvenile available fromFishEye Aquaculture. Three years ago we posted a blog stating the commercial production potential of Porkfish, Anisotremis virginicus (Porkfish Protocol – Rising Tide’s First Commercial Species). As you’ll recall, researchers at the Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory collected eggs spawned at SeaWorld Orlando and grew them to the juvenile phase and beyond. This was not the first time that Porkfish had been grown in captivity (again credit goes to Martin Moe and company). It was, however, the first time that Porkfish had been grown from eggs spawned in captivity using standard commercial production protocols; including the use of hatchery grown live feeds (rotifers and Artemia). This proved inspiring to one of Rising Tide’s industry partners who decided to add this fish to their list of available species. Figure 2. Captive bred Porkfish juveniles available fromFishEye Aquaculture

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Feast your eyes on this, the holy grail of favias. This stunning piece from Sexy Corals, called the Dr. Evil Favia, has every color imagineable. We spy green, blue, orange, red, purple, and even yellow. I don’t think I’ve seen a more true rainbow coral than this.

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There are a variety of parasites that effect marine fish, but often aquarists are stricken with one of the two most common. Cryptocaryon irritans (marine ich) and Amyloodinium ocellatum (marine velvet) are both parasites that uncommonly kill wild marine fish, but can wreak havoc on captive systems. I would like to address the latter parasite, as it often causes quick mortality of fish and is tough to diagnose. When it appears on the skin of marine fish it can easily be misidentified, appearing similar to marine ich. Treatment for this parasite presents an unwelcome challenge for marine aquarists, first because it often strikes with no outward signs of infection and second because it’s seemingly impervious to hypo-salinity.    What is Amyloodinium: Amyloodinium is an extracellular parasite that has a free swimming life phase. It uses a root like structure called rhizoids to attach itself to the gill and skin tissue of marine fish. Amyloodinium is a dinoflagellate of the family Blastodiniphyceae. Most dinoflagellates are free swimming, often photosynthetic microbes within planktonic food webs, serving as important food sources for various fish species. Only Amyloodinium is reported to cause disease in marine fish. Life cycle and survivability:Various studies have been conducted on Amyloodinium, mainly for the culture of food fish, specifically red drum and striped bass. The life cycle of the parasite is very similar to that of marine ich, meaning that it requires a fish host to survive and procreate. Once the parasite has embedded onto fish tissue, protected by the fish’s natural slime coat, it begins feeding off bodily fluids, dropping off within 7-10 days, falling into the substrate and reproducing up to 256 copies of itself. Like marine ich, encysted parasites are immune to any medication, with the only treatable part of the parasite’s life cycle being the free swimming stage. Amyloodinium is impervious to hypo-salinity and has been recorded in salinities down to 3 ppt, much lower than most marine fish can tolerate. Its fast life cycle leads to massive infestation of fish in the marine aquarium, once the life cycle has begun. It’s not uncommon for aquarists to start seeing loss of fish life within 12 hours of the parasite’s first symptoms. This parasite is perhaps both the deadliest and hardiest parasite that marine aquarists will encounter. Diagnosing and treating: Instead of re-iterate information second hand, I want to provide an outline for diagnosing and treating this parasite, based off personal experience.… More:

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 All along the East Coast, New York subway cars are being transformed into artificial reefs. Photographer Stephen Mallon has caught some amazing shots of the subway cars being recycled into new homes for marine life. These 18 ton stainless steel cars are stacked up on liners and then dropped into the Atlantic, minus their wheels, windows and doors. Over 2500 subway cars have been recycled into the ocean, to create stable homes for marine life, all as part of the Metropolitan Transit Recycling Project. The subway cars create an enticing home for marine life, where animals can seek protection in the cars, in what would be an otherwise bare sand sea bottom. Mallons’ photo’s will be on display at New York University’s Kimmel Galleries from February 6 to March 15, 2015. MORE… More:

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Breeding and growout tanks are often seen in the advanced stages of MSAS!It starts innocently enough. You’ve had a fish-only marine tank up and running for quite some time and would like to try your hand at reefkeeping—so one aquarium becomes two. Maybe then you realize that you need to rehome a fish that has outgrown its aquarium or is bullying its tankmates. You can’t bear to part with the specimen, so two tanks become three. Next, you catch the fish-breeding or coral-fragging bug and set up yet another system for that purpose—and three tanks become four. Before you know it, you can’t look at an empty container in your home without imagining what type of sea life it could hold! This scenario represents the typical progression of an especially insidious disease known to afflict marine aquarium hobbyists—Multiple Saltwater Aquarium Syndrome, or MSAS. Who is at risk

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Shipping Live Corals Shipping corals is one of the main challenges of operating an online-based business. Corals by their very nature are fragile, and shipping them across the country is a highly stressful event.... From: Tidal Gardens Inc. Views: 0 0 ratingsTime: 05:52 More in Pets & Animals

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During my last post, I focused on one parasite that rapidly kills fish and how to diagnose and treat it. Sadly, it is only a small fraction of the conversation on how to treat fish that succumb to any external parasites. The mechanisms that determine a fish’s ability to survive infection, on up to the side effects treatment will have, are very deep (no pun intended) and should be understood by aquarists. Also, the effect treatment has on an aquarium ecosystem is vital as well. In a perfect world, all sick fish would be treated in a hospital tank and returned to a parasite free display aquarium at treatment’s end. The world isn’t perfect, and reality is that many aquarists will treat infections in the display aquarium. Since copper is cheap, easily administered and kills a wide array of pathogens, it’s easy to see why it’s the weapon of choice, when dealing with external parasites.    Copper usage: Copper has been used as a disease treatment in marine aquaria for a long time. At one point, aquarists would soak a sock of pennies in the aquarium and when snails began dying off, they would assume the copper was having therapeutic effect. Copper usage has evolved, but the basic premise is the same. When using copper, you are adding a metal ratio to marine water and while it kills a large variety of unwanted parasites, it also brings with it a host of side effects. The ugly side of treating with copper:First, it’s well known that copper kills invertebrates. Reality is, it doesn’t outright kill them all. There are various species of true crabs that can tolerate copper therapy. For example, I have dozens of hermit crabs that have survived multiple copper treatments and still clean the bottom of my hospital tank. Since knowing exact species of crabs or invertebrates that can tolerate copper, and identifying them within the aquarium is nearly impossible for most, the rule of thumb is to not administer copper if invertebrates are present. Any coral, sea cucumber, snail, etc. is likely to have a fatal reaction to copper. This means that during treatment, you can expect a mass amount of die off. Tiny invertebrates such as copepods will die, and your aquarium can be home to thousands and thousands of them. Larger organisms such as amphipods will die off as well.… More:

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Calling all UK hobbyists! OATA have recently launched a campaign to defend the UK ornamental trade and hobby from a host of overzealous campaign groups who are seeking to bring an end to the practice of keeping fish in captivity by introducing bans on the importation and sale of wild-caught and exotic species. Clearly the ramifications of such a ban would be huge – not just stopping us from enjoying the beauty of such life in our own homes, but also destroying a myriad of businesses across the country, and even beyond these shores. We strongly recommend you visit the site by clicking HERE and show your support as we have.

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My FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/coralfish12g http://reefertees.com/ In this CoralFish12g video I am going to be giving you 3 saltwater fish you should totally avoid when first getting into the a

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The pump that took the aquarium world by storm in 2014 is about to get a brand new little brother. Riding on the popularity of the XF150, Maxspect is releasing a smaller XF130 that will put out approximately 2300 gallons per hour, which is just under half the water flow of the original Gyre pump. The new XF130 will also be noticeably smaller, tipping the scales at 10”L x 2.95”W x 1.57”H. This makes the smaller pump around two inches shorter in overall length and one inch shorter in height, though the width stays unchanged. This drop in size and flow rates mean the XF130 is more ideally suited for aquariums 25 to 100+ gallons. As far as the price goes, the smaller model will see a $60 drop from its bigger brother, bringing it down to $239.99

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One end of Marco’s room divider reefWhen I first came across this aquarium, it caught my eyes for a variety of reasons. First and foremost was the variety of color in its inhabitants. Next is the fact that it is a room divider (something I’ve always wanted to build) and the whole setup is really sleek, very clean, and well executed. Each tank profiled here on Saltwater Smarts has its own personality, and this young reef is no exception! The AquaristThis reef aquarium is the handiwork of Marco Pardun of Dortmund, Germany. As is common for many salties, Marco got his start in the aquarium world on the freshwater side of things, though a long-time fascination with the dark, I mean saltwater, side of the hobby would eventually become too powerful to deny. He was (un)wise to lower his defenses! Four years ago, Marco started a 21-gallon (80L) nano, which (no surprise here) quickly made way for a 71-gallon (270L) cube aquarium.

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 What a wicked sense of humor this man has. 73-year-old Evolutionary Biologist, author and self-proclamed atheist, Richard Dawkins, receives scads of “fan mail”, and as you can imagine, a great deal comes in the form of hate-spiked, anti-gay rantings from religious zealots clearly unhappy with the man.  Hilariously, Dawkins sits down (in front of a healthy, robust reef that I admit I was fixated on) with filmmaker Eric Preston to read some of these poorly constructed, profanity-laced works in a piece titled “Love Letters to Richard Dawkins”. So what can you expect? Glorious blurbs as such: 

“I’m sick of hearing about you and your theory of evolution. You may have evolved from ‘munk-eyes’, but leave me out of it… by the way, I do hope you get sodomized by satanic ‘munk-eyes’ in hell.” “You suck, stupid atheist scum… you accept every single fact of science without ever questioning it – because you’re GAY!” “Hello, Dawkins, well done – you made a fortune on your !#@#ing book – now you’re gonna burn forever, bastard”

  Dawkins recites these loving notes, wishing him death by rabies or flame-thrower accident, ever so eloquently with a smile on his face, sometimes just cracking into laughter at the sheer idiocy. Regardless of your beliefs, this is beyond amusing – enjoy!    … More:

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 Happy Monday, Reefers! Here’s Episode 3 of ‘The Reef Table’ to help start off your week. This isn’t magic – just science!  I’m joined by Matt Wandell of the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences and Lemon Tea Yi Kai of Reefbuilders to dive a little deeper into the topic of deep water fishes. We’ll go over the various methods of collection, the challenges associated with said methods, and what really cool fish come from the ‘Twilight Zone’. I hope you’re ready to get geeky. You guys on the Northeast coast? We have a nasty blizzard honing in so you have no excuse not to sit back and watch – stay warm and enjoy! Have any questions or topics you’d like to see discussed? Send them my way to caitlin@reefs.com! … More:

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Ever meet someone who just makes your insides melt? I mean you buckle at the knees and your whole world just goes aflutter and you’d do just about anything for said individual? Well anglerfish take this notion to the extreme. These poor little guys may just be the most whipped species in existence – they literally spend their limited lifespan in search of the perfect woman (since we’re talking anglerfish – this means a grotesque, jagged-toothed, burly lass – but to each their own) to latch onto and devote their entire being. 

Photo via The Oatmeal

 No, this isn’t new news, but it’s fascinating nonetheless for those unfamiliar with the mating habits of these pelagic fish. Some male anglerfish, like Ceratiidae, or “Sea Devils”, are intriguing little bony fish – they’re incompetent when it comes to predation, basically starving the majority of their lives, yet they have an extraordinary olfactory sense when it comes to the ladies. He sniffs out a satisfactory partner and bites her (how kinky). After latching on to his siren he essentially hands over his testicles, becoming nothing more than a permanent appendage – a sperm factory.     

Photo via The Oatmeal

 You see, after our little pheromone-driven friend bites the girl of his dreams, he starts to melt. Literally – the male releases an enzyme, digesting the skin of his mouth and her body until they are fused on a vascular level. He then is completely reliant on his lady, absorbing nutrients through their shared circulatory system (since we mentioned earlier he isn’t the most adept predator, this may just be a treat for him), and in return providing sperm for the female for multiple spawning. Now, the female anglerfish is a bit of a hussy if I’m going to be honest – anglerfish utilize a polyandrous mating system with some females incorporating up to eight males simultaneously! Good luck getting your stories straight, female anglerfish.   While parasitic mating isn’t the only form of copulation for anglerfish species, it’s certainly the most tragic (for the male, anyways). Want more fun facts about the anglerfish? Check out Ze Frank’s “True Facts” feature on the creepy deep sea dwellers! … More:

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Chaetodon tinkeri at Diver’s Den.

It’s time for another Reef Threads podcast. This week we announce a new podcast series and talk about Christine’s coral crouchers, dither fish, and prepping frozen food. Then we do one of our favorite reef-geek things and take a tour of the Diver’s Den site. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

The Emerald City of marine aquariums
Diver’s Den

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After an apparent hiatus from the aquarium hobby (I say hiatus because of the “re-release” verbiage used in the promotional material), the One Shot single dose coral treatment from CoralRX is back and better than ever. These tiny little packets serve as a single dose coral dip that treats a wide variety of common issues (see the list below). And now they are in a much easier to use packet. Previously, the One Shots came in small glass vials, which weren’t always the easiest to open or the safest to handle

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Evaluating your fish only aquarium and equipment is important before turning it into a reef“Caribbean Chris” and I are very frequently asked what it takes to convert a fish-only marine aquarium to a reef system containing corals and other sessile invertebrates. Can you just go ahead and add the invertebrates? Can you modify the existing system to suit the corals, or do you have to start the whole thing from scratch with a new tank and equipment? What has to change with respect to water conditions? Hopefully, the following points/suggestions will help address these and various other questions marine aquarium hobbyists often have when contemplating the transition from fish-only (or fish-only-with-live-rock) to reef:Pick a direction and do your homework Before making any new purchases or modifications to your existing aquarium, it’s important to pin down the type of reef system you want to keep. Are you primarily interested in soft corals?

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