Carbon Pump: Ciliates -> Marine Paramecium in Culture

[Eatfrenchfries]

In my understanding of zonal nutrient loops I sought to understand how cryptic zones may process dissolved organic carbon in a reef environment. Haven't quite figured it out but my culture practices provided some insight. 

 

Biological Carbon Pump:

Dissolved CO2 in seawater is incorporated by phytoplankton into organic molecules -> grazing by zooplankton leaks organic molecules + phytoplankton decay leaks organic molecules = dissolved organic carbon + detritus (particulate organic matter) 

- detritus that cannot be easily processed sinks to the bottom to be cycled by different microbes

Microbial carbon Pump:

Dissolved organic carbon from  phytoplankton and zooplankton fuel bacteria growth -> bacteria recycle what DOC molecules they can until nothing is "usable" -> bacteria release CO2 back into atmosphere  + refractory dissolved organic carbon (unusable components) 

-refractory carbon is photodegradable

 

Nutrient Zone Balance: 

Controlling nutrients in a reef tank is about stocking, filtration, feeding quantity/frequency, etc.

Let us break it down to C : N : P , our tank requires some sort of ratio to efficiently function. 

 

Unbalanced Nutrients: 

excess Nitrate + phytoplankton ( leaking DOC) --> reduces zooplankton consumption -> no detritus being made + plenty of DOC -> microbes thrive -> high refractory dissolved organic matter (constantly suspended matter)-> in the ocean would flow with the current and be hard to sink/tank should be removed via fine filtration

Balanced Nutrients:

proper maintenance of the C : N : P ratio -> phytoplankton -> grazed by zooplankton -> detritus -> particulate organic matter is made of aggregate or fast sinking particles easily removed via filtration

 

 

Marine Paramecium Culture:

Primarily used in freshwater aquaculture as a food for fish fry. It is known to eat algae and bacteria. Developing a culture for marine turned out to be rather difficult since there are a number of harmful ciliates. Luckily a friend from across the pond recommended isolating "green" ciliates found in the same environments as rotifer and brine cysts. "Green" ciliates were isolated and put into production after the 5th attempt. They are fed a variety of phytoplankton but prefer leaky cells, smaller cells, bacteria smaller than them. No predation has been observed. 

*microbes make up 90% of the weight in ocean water. Corals are bacterivores.  

-Tanks nowadays are often started "sterile" which limits what our biodiversity can produce for itself. If our tank cannot produce a remedy for itself then why not make one for it. 

-A lot of my live foods are fed live phytoplankton religiously. You can imagine I have built up quite a large amount of detritus and organic carbon in these culture tanks (buckets) which do not receive water changes. 

-Utilizing Purple Non Sulphur Bacteria the dissolved organics were being processed and the molecules rendered inert keeping the culture from crashing when parameters become unbalanced 

-Constant microbial blooms can reduce visibility and suffocate copepod cultures

- Paramecium helps reduce other bacteria in the water. Can be used as an intermediary food source on pod production 

 

 

Photos below are of Paramecium in culture being fed a mix of phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, zooxanthellae, and purple non sulphur bacteria. (oval figures with fine hairs and green dots)

 

*Unsure of application for larval fish rearing. 

*high potential as a culture additive to reduce stress

*food akin to rotifers but more readily consumed by corals 

*consumer of decomposing matter 

*microbial competitor