badxgillen

After the workshop was finished we all headed out to the courtyard adjacent to the west wing building and proceeded to mingle and have our BBQ. UH OH, The fish talk is ON! Looks like I am going to have another geek out! But as you all know sometimes I cannot help myself. Danlu on the left, Intothemystic in the middle, and Sirena on the right. Jeremyevens and Albertareef playing it cool in the shade. These two were great helps to Sid and the days events, sometimes I forget that there are other people behind the scenes making sure everything runs smoothly. Thanks for hanging with us and being a helping hand, looks like the animals here are in good hands. Look at this little guy, great place to give the tiny person some future incentives...Marine Biology anyone? And speaking of little guys, look who else came for the fish health workshop! Pay attention now and you will be an ace with aquariums by the time your our age. Had to post this one too. First students here starting early, cute right? Our president Emerald here, wouldn't be a party without you...Did I say party? I meant "Meeting". Blue sky, blue hair, and blue scales. Flashyfins is another social butterfly who always has something to add to the group conversation. Kim put also went out of her way to snag a killer prize for this meeting, a digital Milwaukee refractometer. And look who our winner was for the raffle, Danlu! We all had an even chance for winning on this one since there was no buy in, only a ticket for attending and a ticket for being a member. Talk about some fair and even odds.

Sid had a good sized wolf eel getting sedated for us! This was quite the treat as these are amazing animals that few people will get close to in their life times. This fish is WICKED!!! Once under the drugs influence Sid was able to get hand on and examine the eels health without jeopardizing a hand or chunk of flesh, he needs those fingers. A closer look into the maw, sharp nasty front teeth and then the back row of "crushing" teeth. Evolution has built this fish into a fine predator of the sea. Sid points out some abrasions on the side of our smooth skinned friend here and thinks it may have just been caused by "flashing" against the sides of something abrasive. After some gill inspection he finds some parasites, see that long stringy guy hanging off the tissue,leaches. Time for some more microscope slides to do a proper checkup and diagnosis. We were also fortunate enough to see the two here perform a feeding tube and deliver the contents tot he eels stomach all without incident. Several legit medical procedures were demonstrated and taught to our group, it was like taking an aquatics vet tech class with a couple very cool cats. I took away so much knowledge in one hour i makes me very grateful to have attended, and the wolf eel makes it something I will probably never forget. Woops, this last one just kinda slipped in there, but it was of some cool looking rays so I will just leave i there for now. These guys came right p to the water surface almost trained for feeding time. Not shy at all.

Waiting for us in the "west wing" were a few specimens getting ready for the procedures about to take place. in the large green holding tank were two different types of rock fish being held in the blue totes. The totes not only facilitates holding the specimens but also allows for having a controlled amount of water for the anesthesia dosing. Mentioning there would be a change in water conditions from the Tricaine Sid began adding sodium bicarbonate to the sedative to compensates the PH drop.He explained how it is the same base dosage for the volume of water but can be increased depending on different species tolerances of the sedative and the bicarbonate changed for more acidic conditions. Carefully watching the respiration of the fishes gills he was able to determine that these fish were infarct ready to be handled for the health examination. After running through the basics of handling the fish and how to properly check the pertinent areas of the fish and gills we got to glove up and dive in...Not literally but we did get the opportunity to give the fish a pretty thorough examination, which actually led to finding some leeches. Mallory had the delightful job of plucking them from the fishes fins and even gills. Alberareef giving this fish a second glance over, it seemed there was some leeches attached to the gills here. There were some skin scrapings taken and a tiny gill snip both of which were thrown onto a microscope slide for us all to see. A bit of slime coat with a small scale, and a gill cutting looks healthy, ...So does this leech here. Waking the animals form the sedative was as simple as adding fresh clean salt water slowly back into the bins and this allowed them to "revive" and get their bearings. Next up was a real treat!

Well folks, it was an amazing workshop provided by the fine folks at the Hatfield Marine Science Center yesterday. I procedures performed were both engaging and informative while at the same time very entertaining. Sid and his assistant Mallory did an amazing job in their diagnostic procedures and shared much of the nitty gritty that goes on in a routine fish anesthesia and examination. I suppose that I should back up just a bit and mention a few things about the day before hand. As most of you know it has been rather hot lately but here at the Newport coast it was a mild 70 degrees with not a cloud in the sky. It was also nice to have the majority of the area to ourselves at first. Not too many people had arrived yet so it appeared we had beat the crowds. Here we are, back at the good ole Hatfield Marine Science Center. I am starting to have very good memories from attending the PNWMAS meets and getting to meet some of the good people behind making it the special place it is. Lets take a peek inside.. Right after the front desk and greeted by the overtly talkative old timer you get a visual overload of things to look at first of which is the tide pool replica touch systems that are full of colorful wild inverts of all shapes, sizes, and colors. In these pics I only captured a couple anemones and urchins but there was several mollusks such as muscles and snails as well as a Huge sea cucumber of sorts that had to be as big as my fore arm. Lots of educational displays to accommodate the the many aquariums, bones/fossils, replicas, and interactive demos. Looks like Albertareef and Jeremyeveans found the tropical reef area. Can't leave without taking a look at the tank with the PNWMAS corals. The devils hand and the Plerogyra is going into beast mode. I kinda wanted to ask about a frag of the table acro in the center but I had nothing on me to trade, maybe next time. The Capricornus also had an interesting growth pattern to it, some big colonies in there now. The majority of the aquariums are temperate/coldwater tanks that house all types of fish and invertebrates. In addition to the tropical and cold water systems there are a few fresh water things going on too. All with their own educational or artistic value. There was even a new Rio Negro south american tank on display full of discus, pencil fish, and nice rummy nose & cardinal tetras. and for those of you who have not visited the HMSC before or it has been a little while make sure you do. The pictures provided by myself and others do not do justice to the facilities well kept aquariums livesstock and the educational interativities...Okay Okay, I will get to the demo. This year was very different from the usual behind the scenes tours we have had in the past at HMSC. Right off the bat we were diverted into the west wing of the science center and into the animal health area containing a quarantine and treatment facility made for housing various marine specimens both tropical and cold water. There are very large pump buildings that pull water from out the Newport coast here and bring it through plumbing into the various holding tanks for efficient clean salt water on demand. You probably all know Sid from the Hatfield Marine Science Center, AKA Intothemystic, and introducing his assistant Mallory.

You should get an updated FTS to show some of your progress, that tank is a coral Jungle now! Gonna have to hack through it before too long! On another note I had a heat related indecent and lost a couple acros so I am gonna need a few frags here soon, maybe we can work out a trade of sorts? I recently acquired a couple nice LPS I could slice into and I think they are different morphs of the same species you already have so no fighting.

Still time to load up the vehicle and make a run to the Newport coast to join us for the Hatfield meeting and BBQ, you know you want to take a trip out to the beach during the summer anyways. Looking forward to this one thats for sure.

Very generous of you, some of those look like they are even drilled. If I wasn't already a culprit of tank hoarding I would grab one of these. And Super Excited about tomorrows meeting, it's less than 24 hours away!!!

Unfortunately Miles will not be with us as he is still in New Zealand. Actually it is pretty cool for him, I have seen a few pictures he has sent back of some of the areas he was able to visit, looks like a nice life experience. I can most likely snag the frag and get it to his tank since I am taking care of it for him until he gets back. And that would be Great Cherany! I would most certainly take you up on your offer, let me PM you and we can work out some details...And are you into LPS yet or still on the LPS fix? I might be able to get a frag to you if your tank isn't already full up.

Was hoping someone from or between Portland and Salem were thinking about taking the I5 route to the coast for the Hatfield Marine Science Center meeting this weekend...And that if there was someone was going this way would be willing to swing through Corvallis and let me tag along with them to attend the meeting. My original plans fell through which didn't bother me, but then so did my secondary one which makes me concerned, thus here I am seeing if there is an empty seat in a fellow members vehicle. I promise to behave And I have frags or cash for fuel if that is intriguing at all.

Yes, I would like one for my front door window and maybe the side of a tank or two...Also on my skimmer body. Would also be kinda cool to have a smaller version like what they have on those rolls that you get when your good at the dentist. I guess I could just have a couple printed out with multiple images on one larger sticker the cut them out. We should also have the image that was used for our most recent batch of cards to work with. Something to put on the "To Do" list. All good ideas here in this thread.

Dang man, Official Certified scuba, congratulations. Some nice shots in there too, what kind of water proof camera did you end up finding? I have a point and click Fuji but it is kinda meh. I know those nicer models are not cheap. Thanks for sharing the adventure, I will check out those vids once you get em loaded up. Did you have someone get a couple shots of you in the water?

Peppermint shrimp snacks! Now that is some expensive taste... Amazing animal though. Killer corals and anemones as usual Jeff, makes me want to kick some of my existing corals to the curb just to make room, but you know I can't do that. Always scheming on another tank though. Great Pics.

Thanks to Sid we have gotten a very nice spot for the afterwards BBQ, sounds like there is seating indoors and out in addition to the grills, thanks again Sid. And it would be nice if you could break away Jeff, always good to have you at the shindigs to talk reef. I hope a few others find the summer trip out to the coast intriguing as well. And a Milwaukee digital refractometer is something we could all use, easy to calibrate and easy to read, very nice raffle prize choice Kim.

Yeah you can frag em but they generally do not like heavy lighted conditions and are more of a filter feeder so sometimes they will not take to the new local chosen, a hit or miss in many standard reef tanks. I have seen them in red, blue, purple, and greys.

Well folks, we have some exciting news about this months meeting!!! On Saturday July 22, PNWMAS will be making the annual trip out to the Hatfield Marine Science Center but this year we are shaking things up with a change in the routine. Sid , the director at the MHSC, is going to take us through the building and into the west wing of the science center to give us a hands on animal health work up and exam, he says that there are at least two other animals for this workshop. Now I personally do not know what "fish/animals" these will be but I know I can learn a thing or two about diagnosis and treatment so this will be extremely educational. I have to also mention that I Love these trips out to the science center, they are always a Blast, and for a few reasons. Let me explain... Reason #1- Super Geek Out! Sid is a specialist in his fields and is a wonderful person to ask questions and get information from. There has not been a time talking with this man that I did not learn something new, from the sounds of it we are about to get to the nitty gritty in the fish health exam. And lets not forget that this is a Marine Science Center!!! So much to do and see, there are several impressive displays last time I was in and a few hands on demos with a nice touch tank near the front lobby area. Reason #2- The Coast! The beach, the seafood, and the sea life! These are all things that should be on ones agenda when heading West to our Pacific Ocean. Late July should be for some pretty decent weather too so more reason to come out and join us. I might even bring my flip flops and do a little beach combing with you. Reason #3- Us PNWMAS crew, we will all be there not only during the presentation but afterwards as well to have a nice social gathering. Last year many of us ate at a local fish house together but this year we are doing our best to work out a location for a possible BBQ so stay tuned on that folks. It's gonna be fun in the sun with your favorite club. Here are some meeting details below.... Hatfield Marine Science Center - Visitor Center 2030 SE Marine Science Drive Newport, Oregon 97365-5296 We suggest arriving at 10:30 AM since the actual demonstration will begin at 11:00AM. Come on out and take a look at the operations and educational facilities at HMSC.

I thought the turnout was pretty good too but yet not too crowded. When it did come to the raffle time, 3:00 was the final hour too announce the winners of the June meet. Usually Holly and Kim have the honors of doing the raffle drawing but this time there was a rotation of the people drawing the tickets just to shake things up a bit and have a little fun. A $50 Premium Aquarium Certificate went home with Holly I believe...Actually I am pretty sure is got spent before her departure but thats okay. I know there was plenty to choose from. This man here, Jeremevans, was the surprised winner of the Bubble Magus Dosing pump! Here we have Exodus pulling the winning ticket for the MP40 circulation pump and Guess Who is holding the winning ticket on this one? Serena!!! She got the Echotech awesomeness that is the Vortech!!! Put that bad boy to good use yeah. And the final BIG prize on the raffle list was the Apex... Wait!? What!? Who!? Although Serena was holding the winning ticket it was Zoolander who took home the gold. I believe Kim and Holly helped the Apex get to Richard and I know he is Stoked! Some heavy duty raffle prizes here so there was alot of tickets to compete with in the drawings, I still had to throw down cause if you don't play you can't win...This time I just played. Better luck next time to all who entered. And Now for some more pictures of the gathering, please feel free to add to the thread if you have some interesting photos to share with us all. But First A BIG THANK YOU To President Emerald, First Lady Sirena, Treasurer MrBret, Secratary Miles, Vendors Relation Lexinverts, and our wonderful Board of Directors Gill&Fin, KKnight, AlbertaReef, FlashyFins, Jorge, Premium Aquarium, And Zoolander...And out tech staff The Chief and The Clark. Your guys and gals are a great team, keep up the good work yeah! Now since the shop was looking so good We will start it off with some HOT coral action! Chalice colonies just oozing bright colors. Catalaphyllia just doing their thing and looking just Elegant! Reds,Blues, and Greens all around us, it was difficult to resist such temptation! Even the SPS game was strong in some of the tanks, colored sticks for ALL!!! How about a drool worthy Lobo!? They got em! And don't tell me you need an acan frag, they got colonies here for days! Some of the folks kinda trickled in during the BBQ so I did not get to "meet and greet" everyone, my apologies. Total overhaul on the Deep Dimension Display in the front of the building. I am sure this tank has some grand plans in store for it, I sense and acropora dense reef in the works.

Yesterdays June Meeting BBQ was another awesome event! Such a good venue and turn out of people, the sponsors of our club are such gracious hosts and Garett is no exception. There was lots of fish, corals, and inverts stocked up and conveniently a very enticing deal of buy 2 get one free on all livestock making it difficult to leave without a new addition to the tanks. I mean, make a trip out of town so might as well snag something while your there am I right!? Anyhow, for those of you who did not attend the June meeting out at The Premium Aquarium out in Salem here is a little recap of some of the good times had yesterday and some pictures to go with them...We wished you were here. Garett had the TPA crew in Full Effect! Everyone of his team was busy bagging and tagging or ringing out keeping up with the pace. All while keeping a cool and collected demeanor, Sometimes it looks like you all are actually having fun at work!? I am going to tell the owner next time I see him. But really, your good attitudes make it a much better atmosphere to shop in. You all are great at your jobs, keep up the good work and we will all keep coming back. Corals and tanks were looking pretty spot on, seeing some nice growth in a couple of the aquariums since i had last visited. And the rimless systems are Sleek! Need a little Acro love? This is such a nice display, lookin good my friends. Lookin goooood. After being greeted by the TPA staff some of the first faces I see are some old familiar friends. Loooks like some of the Washington crew made it South to hang with some of us Oregonians. Stylaster and Gumby here in the front but you probably already knew that. Very cool cats who have a definite coral growing thumb. I apologize for not catching the name of the gentleman in the back but he was also from up north and had commented about how nice this Salem store was, so we were certainly in agreement. Paratore here bringing some pretty interesting shroomage for the impromtu frag swap. Sorry I didn't bring anything to trade man, I was originally not going to come but the night before I made peace with my inner aquarium demons and agreed with them to go to the meeting. Next time my man. Sasquatch! Thank you So much for the gorgonian, It was more like a colony than a frag. It is in my acclimation tank but it will most likely end up with the seahorses. You Da Man! Hit me up for some zoa goodness anytime my friend. One of our newest Board member additions Albertareef and his wife drove from Portland. Good to see you two again, for some reason I thought you lived in Washington but now that I know you are a little closer maybe we can find some time one day to actually get out to one another's houses. I live another 40 minutes from where this meeting was so not Too far from you. A few steps further in I see Kassah, checking out the coral colonies. long time no see man, glad you made it to the meeting, sorry I got wrapped up in the crowd of people and didn't make rounds your way. Maybe next month at the Marine Hatfield Science Center Tour? Highschool Reefer looking for that single jewel to catch the eye and then swoop it up. Sounds like your tank is coming along just fine, maybe sometime we can do a trade or two. I have some hammers and frog spawns that could be trimmed a little. No torches right now though, my other Euphyllia took my Glabrescens down. Exodus was another person I don't get to see at a meeting too often but here he is, another person who is on the steady path to a killer system. Sounded to me like it was about time for an impressive upgrade. In the works I know, but still, it sounds like it will be a nice system with a killer sump and equipment. Hit me up if you need a hand with something yeah. Kireek and KKnight here chatting reef no doubt. I saw a nice chalice and lobo you snagged Kireek but didn't see KKnight's loot, I bet both of your tanks are too full for more coral but we always find room for just one more frag right? Happy you were able to make it, the more good folks out the better. SharkLover and DarkAngel, very nice to meet you two. Looking forward to seeing what you end up making in your custom acrylic tank in tank. I mean Who doesn't like seeing corals and sharks...Maybe you can work that snowflake in there somehow too. ReeferMadness and his wife Dominique looking for some eye candy for their tanks at home, you don't have to look far here. I kinda want one of those electric flame scallops for our seahorse tank now too. I mean I we are already feeding the horses so why not? I loved this picture of TPA owner Garett sharing some of his vast experience and knowledge with a new customer and Jim on the right just grinning about a different subject going on in one of the other many friendly reefer conversations going around at the same time. There was just the right atmosphere and the right people to make a recipe for social success! Love it! Kim and Serena where most of the muscle and legwork on this meeting so I have to give a big shout out to these two! You two girls Rock! Your quite the team, we all appreciate it very much. I am going to see about getting y'all a raise, I you don't get payed enough Everybody really enjoyed the food and accommodations, for a hot day everything worked out really well. That Serena could open a catering business Easy! Emerald getting some tickets to throw down on some prizes...Wait a minute!? Tickets? OH SHOOT!!! I think its Raffle Time Already!

Its all good Cody, I normally am totally up for a frag swap but had little time to prepare for one. I am still not too sure about being able to go to the meet due to other obligations, but be sure I am trying.

I personally love porous rock over dense rock for obvious reasons such as the surface area for micro fauna and ease of water access to the beneficiary bacteria that lies within the rock itself...Provided you have enough flow. Without flow these rocks could just be settling grounds for various organics, If those pile up it can "choke" the rock up making things counter productive. Oh, and algae infested open rock like this is a pain in the rear to manually clean, but you are obviously starting fresh and proper.

Those are some pretty large rocks there, wich tank are they going into?..And where abouts did you find nice porous pieces like that?

If that thing is as purple as it appears in the picture, whomever gets this save me a frag please, my son would be ecstatic. GLWS.

There are a number of things that can happen that could cause SPS bleaching. From changes in parameters, temperatures swings, or even too much light too fast...Sometimes the hobby seems so unforgiving.

Whoop Whoop! Some mighty fine people in the BOD this year, looking forward to working with you all. Here is too another fine year in the PNWMAS.

Yeah man, Aaron has hooked it up for me a couple times with some nice looking corals.

Actually...Right now it is North West Aquatics that has moved to Linn and the Pacific Island Aquatics in Tangent is not open to public sales currently. As of now the Tangent facility is for quarantine, shipping, aquaculture, and fish breeding. There is alot of talk there about opening back up for the public and when I was there last Thursday I was told P.I.A. is opening up another facility that will be open to the public for retail her in a few months. There has been a tremendous amount of changes going on there as of recently.