I like to experiment in my personal reef tanks. As long as the experiment doesn’t harm any tank inhabitants, and doesn’t risk my personal sanity, I am willing to give it a shot. Some experiments turn into permanent methodologies. Zeovit usage was an experiment I conducted several years ago. I liked the results, and it has been implemented ever since. Ozone was an experiment as well, and once I had a taste of gin-clear water, I couldn’t give it up. I also experiment with various medications for parasites, and after trying a host of them over the years, I still believe that hypo salinity, copper and formalin are the most effective ways to treat a parasitic outbreak. Experimentation over the past year has led to a few new personal methodologies for me. One, I greatly reduced the number of fish in my reef. What was well over a dozen has now dropped down to three.  Earlier this year, as I reduced my reef’s fish load, I wondered if it was possible to truly keep them parasite free. We all hear the horror stories of parasitic outbreaks, even when no new species have been added to the aquarium. There are several reasons why this can happen. One, your fish might have a temporary immunity to parasites. A recent scientific paper detailed just how fish can become immune to external parasites. The parasite is still alive and well, but the fish’s body produces a protective mucous which prevents a full blown outbreak. If that immunity weans, as many immunities tend to do, you’re back to square one with a full blown infestation. Amyloodinium (marine velvet) is actually a dinoflagellate, meaning it gets some of its nutrition via photosynthesis. Amyloodinium can survive a long time without a host, and is impervious to hypo-salinity. Infestations of this parasite can go on for what seems like forever, and the traditional 45 day fallow period used for marine ich sometimes doesn’t kill off amyloodinium. To make matters worse, this common parasite kills fish quickly and can wipe out all piscine livestock. Does quarantine work?Quarantine is a preventative. It is mainly effective against preventing marine ich from infiltrating the display tank. Ich responds well to hypo-salinity, copper and formalin and usually doesn’t kill fish before treatment starts having an effect. Quarantine is also a great time to treat against common internal parasites, worms and other parasitic maladies that effect newly collected fish.… More:

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Should we take marine animals from the reefs for our viewing pleasure?

In our 250th podcast, a discussion about marine-fish captive breeding and Orca breeding leads to an exchange about keeping wild animals captive, the current state of our hobby, and how collecting and keeping marine animals fits in the larger animal-treatment arena. Basically, we address some difficult questions. After you’ve listened, share your thoughts here or on the Reef Threads Facebook page.

Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter @reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Sponsor: Rod’s Food
Rod’s Food website

Breeding yellow tangs
Rising Tide Conservation Captive Bred Yellow Tangs

Breeding Orcas
Sea World To Challenge California Ban On Orca Breeding, Francis Yupangco, Reefs.com

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So I’ve been talking about making reef aquariums carbon free. This means that energy required to power your aquarium comes from a source that doesn’t generate any carbon footprint. Years ago this was either impossible, or extraordinarily expensive. Personal wind turbine technology was in its infancy, and no company existed that was investing in developing personal turbines. The same can be said about solar. Solar power existed, but there wasn’t a huge investment in personal solar technology, or solar systems meant to power an entire home, or for a single purpose such as heating water. Today renewable energy is having a renaissance. The building industry is striving to make energy efficiency a standard, and with that have come a host of advances in solar, and solar/propane shared technology.  There still exists a lot of confusion about how energy consumption works, and how our aquariums translate into the factor of generating a carbon footprint. I will try to breakdown some of that information and present dollar value figures, as to what it costs to power an average reef aquarium on the power grid, and what it costs to make that aquarium carbon neutral via solar technology. An average reef aquarium:For this comparison I put together an amount of wattage consumption for the average reef aquarium. This is a tank around 100-150 gallons, which is operating a modern return pump, two circulation pumps, two 150 watt heaters, three leading LED lighting fixtures, a protein skimmer and several reactors. 

• Circulation and return pump power consumption: around 164 watts
• Lighting power consumption: around 450 watts
• Heating power consumption: 300 watts
• Filtration, skimmer, etc: 125 watts

  This brings an average aquarium’s total power consumption to 1,039 watts, just over a kilowatt hour of power. To power this tank on grid power at the average national rate of 12 cents per hour, the aquarist is only paying $ 2.88 per day, for a total of $ 1,051.20 yearly. If you’re using grid power, it’s likely coming from coal, natural gas or in some rare cases wind and solar. Other power generators are hydroelectric, but those are fairly rare. If your power is generated using coal, your tank is burning through about 25.2 pounds of coal per day, and 9,198 pounds of coal each year. Thus powering the tank releases 50 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere per-day, and 18,250 pounds of CO2 per year.… More:

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Marine aquarium aquascapes are evolving to favor more open, irregular aestheticsOne of the more interesting developments in the reefkeeping hobby, in my opinion, has nothing to do with the latest, greatest gadget or advance in water-quality-management methodology. Rather, it’s an evolving aesthetic in aquascaping. Bored with the traditional monolithic stack of rocks propped up against the back pane and consuming much of the tank’s volume, modern reef hobbyists are starting to appreciate and experiment with the use of negative space—the open areas around the rockwork—when planning their aquascapes.The towering, uniform “wall of rock” has given way to lower-profile aquascaping with irregular, broken topography, allowing open channels and swim-throughs, caves and overhangs, islands, etc. And this trend makes perfect sense. Artists have long known the value of striking the right balance between positive and negative space in their compositions. With our reef systems essentially being living works of art, it stands to reason that the aesthetic principles guiding the works of painters and sculptors can only make our aquascapes all the more visually appealing. This aquascape features a broken topography and plenty of open sand What’s different about exploiting negative space in reefkeeping versus artwork is that it has both practical and aesthetic value

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ABOUT Avid outdoorsman and underwater photographer, Barry Brown has spent the last ten years documenting life above and below water in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. He is currently working with the Smithsonian Institution documenting new Caribbean deep-water species and building a one of a kind database. His underwater images can regularly be seen in Sport Diver, Scuba Diver and on the Ikelite website. His image of a "Collage of Corals" seen under blue-light at night recently placed in the TOP 10 images for the 2014 NANPA (North American Nature Photographers Association) photo contest. General

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Feeding doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It gets a lot of attention, but it’s something that still feels like a self-evident part of reef keeping. As Rod Buehler, the man behind “Rod’s Food” put it, the old school of thought was “If it had a mouth, feed it.” Feeding fish is a no-brainer, since fish are always on the move and usually react with gusto at the sight of food. But feeding is so much more than making sure fish have something to eat, and today it’s so much more than feeding fish. Our reefs are miniature ecosystems and even beyond corals, tiny micro-organisms live and reproduce, aiding the ecosystem’s health, even though we can’t see them. Is it possible for aquarists to feed their entire tank, managing nutrition for a host of animals, including microorganisms they can’t see. To help answer that question I reached out to the creators of two leading frozen foods, Larry DuPont of LRS Reef Frenzy and Rod Buehler of Rod’s Food.    The move to fresh:Fish have eaten a lot of different things over the years. From flakes made of freeze dried fishmeal, on up to whole freeze dried krill. It was in the early 2000’s that New Life Spectrum (NLS) revolutionized prepared diets with their “one pellet” for every fish species methodology. NLS was created by Pablo Teapoot (I’m a little Teapoot short and stout, sorry couldn’t resist) a prominent fish breeder in the realm of African Cichlids. NLS used high quality ingredients, combining them with garlic and other natural enzymes to create a full bodied nutritional pellet for a variety of fish. NLS advertised their food as a hormone free alternative, which used natural color enhancers to create an immune system boosting diet. NLS eventually became popular in marine fishkeeping, and a variety of species accepted it well. It’s hard to forget Pablo Teapoot’s famous fish only aquarium, where Moorish idols and other finicky species thrived, eating only NLS pellets. Yet for many marine aquarists NLS foods didn’t create the end all, be all of fish nutrition. Still today there are many species that simply won’t accept pelleted foods, and questions have arisen about how pellets effect water quality. There is also question about how natural it can be, moving an animal from a wild diet of naturally occurring fauna, over to a pellet prepared in a factory.… More:

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Sydney, Australia’s beaches saw an increase in shark attacks in 2015. In 2014, the area had 3 shark attacks, while in 2015, there were 13 attacks. The government is planning on rolling out a high-tech, environmentally-friendly campaign to attempt to control shark attacks, which would not include shark culling and previously used ‘catch and kill’ tactics. “This is a historic moment,” said Niall Blair, Australia’s Minister for Primary Industries: “We are leading the world in New South Wales when it comes to how we interact with sharks and how we’ve utilized a range of technologies to reduce that risk for our beach goers.” Blair stated, “That’s why we’ve gone for a look into some of the new technologies and other suites of measures we can implement and that’s what this response is about,” he went on. “It’s been led by our scientists.” There will be 10 different 4G listening stations placed around popular shark locations. There will also be approximately $5.6 million dollars put aside to test for new technologies and forms of water surveillance. Another $3.5 million dollars will be spent on helicopter technologies, including the use of drones. The tagging of sharks will continue, with the location of tagged sharks available to be tracked through mobile apps, which beach goers would be able to easily access. The plan seems like it will strike a good balance between attempting to reduce shark attacks, while also remaining environmentally friendly. MORE… More:

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There has been some controversy of late regarding the negative effect that sunscreen may have on the health of phytoplankton and near shore coral reefs. Some studies suggest that some types of common sunscreen used by beach goers, swimmers and divers may be contributing to the declining health of reefs. The ingredients in sunscreen like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, can react with the suns rays when they hit the water, creating hydrogen peroxide, the same ingredient found in bleach and kitchen cleaners. Hydrogen peroxide can damage some types of phytoplankton, the algae that inhabit coral reefs and provides vital nutrients for marine life. Some studies have shown that even very small amounts of this compound can have significant deleterious effects on phytoplankton. This was not news to the founder of Stream2Sea, Autumn Blum who said:  “The damage caused by benzophenone (also known as oxybenzone) had already been documented in previous reports,” she said. “The really big thing with this latest research was that such a tiny concentration could cause such extensive damage and the multiple ways it impacted coral reefs.” Stream2Sea has released two new Eco safe sunscreens that exceed the current ‘coral reef safe’ standards, a SPF 30 for the body and SPF 20 for the face and body. “Stream2Sea introduces new sunscreen products that are biodegradable, mineral-based, designed for high-performance and safe for oceans”. Both products are also biodegradable in salt and fresh water. They are available online and at certain retailers. MORE… More:

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It’s late October. As autumn progresses, it gets increasingly difficult to put on my gear and get in the water. Between the head-numbing cold and the departure of the tropicals, the idea of diving in New York becomes less appealing with each passing day.  Sometimes I need to stop and remind myself that the tropical strays aren’t the only interesting things to look at in our waters. Here’s a video clip of a few of our local stars. Spider crabs ambling across the bottom; cunners swimming over beds of young blue mussels; a large summer flounder, likely preparing to head out into the deeper waters of the continental shelf, where it will find a little relief from the bitterly cold New York winter. As I lock eyes with this beautiful flatfish, I imagine its bulky fillets, thinly-sliced on a platter of sashimi. I look at my collecting net. Would it hold him? I decide to settle for the video and save the space in my bag for something smaller (which I don’t find). A gathering of black seabass looks on as if they are waiting for something to happen. I’m cold and I’m going home empty-handed, but I’m underwater, so it’s a great day. … More:

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Aquascaping with dry rock has a number of advantages and disadvantagesWhen aquascaping their tanks, marine aquarium hobbyists have the option of using live rock or dry rock (or some combination thereof) to create the foundational reef structure. Each of these options is completely workable but, as with every aspect of this hobby, has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. So how to choose which approach might work best for you given your unique circumstances, budget, etc.? To aid in your decision making, let’s explore the pros and cons of each approach, beginning today with the use of dry rock. I’ll tackle the plusses and minuses of live rock aquascaping in a future post.Pros of dry rock aquascaping Dry rocks tend to be easier on the pocketbook. One reason is that they ship dry so you’re paying only for the weight of the rocks, not the added weight of water as with live rock, and there’s no need to shell out for expedited shipping. Also, the better-quality dry rocks on the market tend to be less dense than live rock, so you get a greater volume of rock for your aquascaping dollar.

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Good morning from overcast Curacao! We have had a few days of much cooler weather but almost no rain, it’s just teasing us like it always does! I spent the weekend cleaning the house, planting baby yuccas, dog walks and one bike ride yesterday morning. Aimee and our friend Lori arrive tomorrow night so lots to do!! Our dog Indi is doing better, her two large crop circles are pretty dried up but now needs the hair to grow back were they shaved her, not quite show dog material at the moment. I have another giant green moray eel for you all today that I found a few weeks back in Klein Curacao

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Chaetodon fremblii x C. multicinctus (?) in the aquarium of Mr. Hirosaki. Identification of hybrids often involves speculation based on intermediate phenotypes displayed by both parents. In this case, Chaetodon fremblii is quite clearly one of two species involved. Photo credit: Kengo Zeze.

 Hybridization is a common biological process best defined as the interbreeding of individuals from two distinct populations (or species), distinguishable on the basis of heritable characters. Throughout the dawn of time, since humans started developing a keen interest in the natural world, hybrids from most all organism classes have been recognized and subsequently studied. Marvel comes not surprisingly, for these examples often display spectacular intermediary characteristics of their parents, and in extreme cases, novel and wildly expressive phenotypes. While hybrids are often elusive and associated with the mythos of rarity, the phenomenon itself is not uncommon, occurring in a considerably large proportion of species. This challenges the fundamental biological definition of a species, and what defines it. Evolutionary biology has much to gain from the study of hybridization for many reasons, in addition serving to provide unique insights into reproductive isolation and the process of speciation. For example, a fundamental dogma of sympatric speciation is that there are behavioral or semi-permeable physical barriers to reproduction amongst distinct components of a population, leading through time to the eventual divergence of these populations into distinct species (Bush, 1969; Munday et al., 2004). In other words, two naturally overlapping species are able to maintain their separate path of evolutionary divergence through genetic purity by the lack of inbreeding. This then begs the question. What exactly limits hybridization, and what level of it can occur while species continue to diverge? We see numerous examples of sympatric species procreating in fairly regular occurrences. Hybridization can also increase genetic diversity and produce novel genotypes that enable hybrids to exploit new, unoccupied or altered habitats, setting the stage for hybrid originated speciation (Seehausen, 2004; van Oppen and Gates, 2006; Mallet, 2007). Cirrhilabrus katherinae, Centropyge shepardi and Chaetodon flavocoronatus in the Mariana Arc are thought to be hybrid-derived species through allopatric isolation from their parents. The biogeography and evolution of these species have been widely discussed in my previous article on Cirrhilabrus and Roaops. Lastly, hybridization can play a significant role in the generation and loss of species through extinction or reverse-speciation. Repeated backcrossing of fertile hybrids with pedigree parental species may result in elimination of a single species altogether, resulting in a population of intermediate hybrids spanning a wide spectrum of genetic and phenotypic plasticity.… More:

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Health is defined as the condition of an organism with respect to the performance of its vital functions. Nutrition is the act or process of nourishing or being nourished; specifically, the sum of the processes by which an animal or plant takes in and utilizes food substances. So what is healthy nutrition in the reef aquarium? It is a question that evokes strong emotions and, frequently, heated debate. You, the hobbyist, are “Mother Nature” to your aquarium system. Your decisions directly affect its success or failure, and what successful aquarists have learned is that consistency of care is crucial. The goal of this article is to provide you with clear information so that you can make the best choices for maintaining a healthy and successful ecosystem. Nutrition is essential for all members of the animal kingdom survive, thrive, and reproduce. Our goal must be not only a healthy, but a vibrant, stable, and thriving ecosystem Pictured above is a nutritional-centrist view of the pillars of reefkeeping success. Each factor has a “give and take” relationship with nutrition. Flow, for instance, is particularly critical for sessile organisms as it brings both nutrients to the organism and allows for the removal of waste and detritus. It also delivers scents that alert the animals to initiate hunting, which is often the first step in the process of acquiring nutrients. For lighting, the creation of both dawn and dusk is a trigger that supports healthy feeding cycles for many animals. Temperature and water quality can be stressors, and both greatly affect the animals’ ability to acquire nutrients and dispose of waste. Social stress is less understood, but we do know that both habitat and tank mates contribute to total overall stress. Finally, natural waste removal requires a healthy detritus pyramid to process and break down waste for safe natural removal. This article is based on the concept of biomimicry; Mother Nature has perfected her diet over thousands of years and it works. Following in her footsteps is the path to success. The science is becoming clearer, for both humans and for the systems we keep: food choices matter. One last comment about the use of the term “organic” in labeling. The word “organic” is now a legal term defined by agencies of the federal government. To date, there are no published regulations in the fish/fish food industry, and as such the use of the term guarantees no added value.… More:

The post Aquarium Nutrition: Part 1 appeared first on reefs.com.

There has been a lot of coverage in the past year over the damage that Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish were causing coral reefs. CSIRO marine ecologist Mick Haywood has discovered that reefs previously noted to be damaged by bleaching and the starfish earlier this year are now nearly completely wiped out. This little known reefs were already hit hard by the effects of bleaching and the health of the reefs were at critical levels when scientists began surveying what was left and noticed the impact of the starfish last year. “In two of the sites where we found high densities of crown-of-thorns and a little bit of coral left late last year, that was south-east of Barrow [Island], there was no coral there at those sites and no crown-of-thorns,” Mr. Haywood said. “So potentially their food is disappearing and they’re dying.” This is happening on other coral reefs in Australia as well. “Other corals are still remaining, and these are the less preferred feeding targets for crown-of-thorns,” Mr. Haywood said. “But they’re basically eating these other corals which they would normally leave alone.” The areas had vast crown-of-thorns starfish colonies with more than 180 starfish per hectare. For comparison, anything more than 15 starfish per hectare is considered an outbreak. Haywood notes the importance of reducing the human impact in these devastated areas and focusing efforts on restoration, which may be easier to do because of the smaller number of corals making it more manageable. “Because there’s so little coral left they might be easier to manage than they have been on the Great Barrier Reef in the past,” Mr Haywood said. MORE… More:

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The pair of yellow wrasses attempting to spawn after the lighting change in my aquariumThe other night, as I was watching the debate on TV, I noticed that my reef tank got darker. Just a little, but it was darker and yellower. I opened the front (it is in a wall) and noticed that half the LEDs were out. “Okay, no problem,” I thought. “I’ll fix it in the morning.” The lights were about to go out anyway. As I watched, I noticed that my pair of fire clowns, which have a love-hate relationship, looked like they wanted to spawn. The larger one was trying to entice the smaller one into a bottle “cave.” The smaller one eventually followed, and the pair spent “time in the bottle” (reminds me of a song), swimming very close to each other, although I couldn’t hear what they were saying.As I was watching the clowns, I couldn’t help noticing that my pair of bright yellow wrasses was also attempting to spawn.

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 Summer is over; fall has seized Long Island. The waters are cooling down, the tropical fish that we’ve enjoyed collecting all season will soon be gone from our bays and inlets. At the LI Aquarium, the summer exhibits are closing and the visiting crowds have changed from the wall-to-wall traffic of the summer to the school groups that descend on us in the fall. You might assume our job slows to a lull now, but you would be dead wrong. This is actually my busiest time of year. I have started ramping up my copepod productions and setting up my rearing vats, because guys… it’s aquaculture time! I am still in my first few weeks of egg collecting, and boy am I off to a great start. Last week, I saw my biggest spawn to date from my broodstock of Swiss Guard Basslets (Lipproma rubre). Pictured above is a newly-hatched rubre prolarva. At only 12 hours post-hatch, this prolarva is stunning- not only is its fin folds unique, but it is also bright and shiny in my rearing vats. Hatched at a whopping 3mm, these are one of the smallest prolarva I have ever worked on. I am only a few days into their long larval period, and it’s hard to tell what will happen. Thankfully, I can get advice anytime I need it from the Basslet Overlord, Todd Gardner. One day soon, I hope to conquer this species, so that I can learn even more about pelagic larvae. The swiss guards aren’t my only spawning broodstock.  There are a few new species that I have added to the mix. And one of them has began to spawn. What is it, you ask? You won’t find that out until I raise them. Just to add to the excitement, here is a picture of one of the new species’ eggs: I am also collecting eggs from the reef tank. Remember the blood moon, that every single person in the universe was talking about a few weeks ago? I was very curious to see how that increased gravitational pull would effect the spawning in the tank. My answer? The fish didn’t care for it, and I collected a measly 300 eggs – one of the smallest spawns I have recorded to date! My only reward was I received more variety than usual; out of the 300 eggs, I had at least three different types of prolarvae.… More:

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 The trade in saltwater aquarium fishes is one of the last segments of the pet trade where animals are routinely harvested from the wild in relatively large numbers. Not surprisingly, the trade is increasingly coming under scrutiny by those expressing concerns ranging from animal welfare to fishery sustainability. A profound lack of data make both allegations against the aquarium trade and defenses of the trade difficult to assess. For a multi-million dollar global industry delivering as many as 40 million fishes per year to an estimated two million aquarists worldwide, it’s surprising how few data there are. Since 2009, a group of scientists from New England Aquarium and Roger Williams University have been working to change that. The next, and arguably most important, leg of that journey takes them to the number one source country for marine aquarium fishes—the Philippines. I’m Ret Talbot, a freelance journalist who covers fisheries at the intersection of science and sustainability. Over the coming days, I’ll be following two of these scientists as they meet with their Philippine counterparts in an effort to further reveal both the volume and diversity of the trade in saltwater fishes. I invite you to join me for a multi-part special to Reefs.com, as I report from the Philippines on why these data matter and how the Philippines is set to transform the trade in saltwater aquarium fishes… More:

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The Virginia Aquarium has just welcomed some very rare crocodiles to the aquarium. The crocodiles, known as “Tomistoma,” were just acquired on Saturday, through the first permitted import of their native country of Malaysia since 1974. “These are incredibly rare animals, and for us to be able to safely import two of them thanks to a partnership with a Malaysian crocodile farm is an honor,” said Director of Live Exhibits, Rachel Metz. “There are only 28 Tomistoma in North America, and that number continues to decline. For the crocodile community to recognize our experience and expertise in Tomistoma research and conservation in this manner is really wonderful,” Metz said. The pair of crocodiles are from a breeding farm in Malaysia, and are one of just six breeding pairs of crocodiles in all of North America. The female is 8 feet long and a 112 pounds and the male is 7 feet long and 65 pounds. The aquarium named the pair after Ralf Sommerlad, a German ‘crocodilian specialist’ that devoted his life to protecting and studying crocodiles. Fittingly, they are called ‘Ralf’ and ‘Sommer’. The aquarium gave the following information about the crocodiles: “Tomistoma are the least studied of the 23 different types of crocodiles found around the world, due to their remote and inaccessible habitat. Some estimates show only 2,500 remaining in the wild. Tomistoma inhabit freshwater lakes, rivers, and swamps of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are listed as vulnerable on the International Union of Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and endangered according to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service due to habitat destruction, drowning in fishing nets, over fishing of food resources, and, to a limited extent, the skin trade.” MORE… More:

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A Pratt Reef Club Anemone reef.

This week our guest is Randy Donowitz from the Pratt Institute and Reefs.com. Listen to Randy to learn about the history of the Pratt Reef and the role it plays in education and community outreach at the institute. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Sponsor: Rod’s Food
Rod’s Food website

Pratt Reef Club FB page
Pratt Reef Club Facebook page

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Good morning friends, most of you divers including myself if I didn’t know any different would look at this photo and say, “it looks like coral bleaching” correct?? Well, it’s not. This is what happens to any type of coral if it falls into sand, the white part is dead and the brown is alive. How do corals fall into the sand you ask??

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