IntoTheMystic

Thanks for the kind words and you are very welcome. I'm planning on lurking less and contributing more in the days ahead. Your thoughts on temperature and pathogenicity are consistent with those of an experienced Syngnathid keeper I know, who came to the same conclusions. Even after rinsing, there were enough bacteria in the Artemia to quickly repopulate when held at room temps around 65-68 degrees. I believe the problems of feeding this out to larval animals in open systems ranging from 50-58 degrees were manifold: 1. Volume of contaminated food. With each feeding, we were feeding ever-increasing amounts of bacteria, along with the brine. There were predictable losses here and there but eventually, we would see substantial die-offs. Can't believe it took me as long as it did to figure this out but this is how we learn. Around HMSC, we like to say, "debrief, don't second-guess." 2. Feeding only one variety of food. We all have to live under the tyranny of budgets and there simply wasn't the time or staffing to build additional culture-rearing infrastructure to raise more types of foods. We already cultured Artemia, so that's what we went with. 3. Husbandry logistics. We were/are working with larval Bay Pipefish, which are basically tiny 1/2"-long pieces of thread with fins right out of the hopper and stay small for months after. The detritus that comes in with the seawater collects on the bottom of the tank, along with waste and uneaten/dead food to create ideal conditions for a bacterial mat. The babies instinctively settle on the bottom of the tank at night, making it easy for bacteria to migrate onto them and overwhelm their immune systems. Making matters worse, siphoning this stuff must be done very carefully using a piece of rigid airline at the end of flexible airline. It's tedious, time-consuming and incredibly easy to overlook a baby and siphon it, along with the funk. Carefully removing the babies before cleaning the tank presents another problem: consider the size and fragility of the vertebrae on these critters. Even when being incredibly careful, handling them at all results in some of them getting bent at unnatural angles and their subsequent demise. 4. The accidental nature of the whole thing. When one of the males began giving birth, we decided to take a shot at raising them despite having no previous experience and little time or proper larval holding tanks. Despite the odds, one to three from each batch would make it to exhibit size, so every time a male would become gravid, we'd start the process again. The breakthrough came last summer, when we had the most successful culture yet, containing a few dozen 2-month old babies. We lost all but one in the span of one week, when we went back to the old way of doing things due to vacation coverage. Debrief, don't second-guess. Now that we've completely threadjacked this guy's rotifer-dosing thread, how often did your pathologist find mycobacteria were the culprit in losses? In professional circles, it is generally assumed that Syngnathids are at least asymptomatic carriers.

Hey folks! John asked me to revive this thread several months ago and contribute to it on a fairly regular basis. I agreed to do this but have failed miserably due to a number of factors but primarily because I have struggled to find topics that would interest you all. Much of the research that occurs at HMSC is quite esoteric and not easily accessible or even relevant to you all, i.e. mitochondrial data on Dungeness Crabs, recessive alleles on migrating Steelhead, incorporating flourescein in microencapsulated foods to track the delivery of taurine and other types of nutrition to larval fishes, you get the idea (along with the eye-glazing.) Regardless, I like to honor my commitments and while I was thinking about this the other day, I had an epiphany: why not ask you guys what you want out of the HMSC forum. So, to that end, what do you want this forum to be? What type(s) of information will be useful to you? How can I add to what is already a very cool, informed and engaged community? Please consider this for a bit and let me know what you think. I;m looking forward to what you have to say. Cheers, Sid

I haven't had the time or expertise or the lab tech to culture the specific strain of Vibrio but they do have a distinctive shape that is pretty easy to identify. Plus, these bacteria are distressingly common in brine cultures. I IDed the bacteria from skin scrapes on fresh larval morts. At the time, I was only feeding them 36-48 hour Artemia, which were added to the larval rearing tank a cup or two at a time from a holding vessel with an airstone. If ya wanna culture bacteria that will wreck a lot of time and effort, this is the way to do it! No mas. Much better results these days without the bacteria incubator in the middle of the process. Just curious, what did the phyto and dried food do to your NO3 on that system and how did you address it?

I and a colleague culture rotifers and other live foods on an ongoing basis at work and use them for feeding larval fishes, various temperate inverts and target feeding my corals. After a couple years of feeding experiments and occasional crashes of larval animals, I am very leery of holding live foods for any length of time and then feeding them out, particularly if it is feeding a closed tropical marine system. Even under clean and controlled conditions with good biosecurity protocols, the same conditions that help rotifer, Artemia, and copepod cultures thrive also favor bacteria, especially Vibrio and other nasty little buggers. If you sieve and rinse the rotis and other foods well and then hold them and feed them out over time, you're dosing bacteria along with the rotis. In theory, this could be a good way to slowly introduce food for various critters. Until recently, I had been planning to add a live food reservoir with a peristaltic pump on a timer to a temperate invert exhibit. In practice, however, this looks pretty risky to me. My 0.02.

Couldn't put it better myself, so I flat-out stole the quote! Folks, it was a pleasure to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones yesterday. And what a great turnout! On behalf of Dr. Tim and myself, thanks for coming to our facilities yesterday. We look forward to seeing you all next year. As an aside, I heard a number of you express disappointment about not being able to see all the labs yesterday. These labs are only open to tours one day a year and as fate would have it, that day was a week ago Saturday. If you would like a far more extensive BTS tour, please come for Marine Science Day next spring. It is usually the first or second week in April and I will make a post about it in the HMSC forum next year to give you all a heads-up. Thanks again for a great day! (Sorry fishoutawater, I stole your quote twice!)

As much as I love dogs, sadly, they cannot be part of any of the tours This Sunday.

Hey folks! I'm looking forward to seeing you guys in a week at HMSC and shortly thereafter at the AQSB. Getting from Hatfield to the OCCC campus is quick and easy. The official Google maps link is here. There is also a shortcut that allows you to avoid getting back on 101 altogether. If you zoom on the map, you'll notice that Ferry Slip Road goes right by Oregon Coast Aquarium. As you leave HMSC, instead of continuing over to 101, hang a left on Ferry Slip Rd. and take that almost all the way to 101. Just before you get to 101, you'll see Ash Street on your left (look for the predictably ugly storage place on the left.) Take that left on Ash and go a short distance to SE 40th Street. Take that left and head up the hill to the OCCC campus. Easy peasy. When you guys leave the AQSB, you can take a right on Ash and follow Ferry Slip Rd back to the Aquarium. As usual, let's meet out in front of the HMSC Visitor's Center at 10. I'll lead a behind-the-scenes tour that can last as long as you guys want but we should probably head up to the AQSB around 10:45-11:00 to give you plenty of time to check out that facility before grabbing a bite and heading over to OCA. If you have any questions about places to eat (or avoid) just drop me a line or a PM and I'll get back to you. See you next Sunday at 10 sharp! Cheers, Sid

I'm really digging my polyp extension here..... That's it! It's moving day for the Pavona. Another 'nem fed itself to the Koralia last night.

Hey folks! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing and speaking with you guys and meeting some new faces as well. I'm going to try and post occasional updates on some of the research going on at Hatfield and may even add info about the Aquarium Science Program every once in a while.

Etouffee?

Saw this skimmer at MACNA and thought exactly the same thing about the ease of cleaning. It sho'nuff looks cool but practicality and ease of maintenance are more important IMHO.

Just spitballin' here but it's possible that this system is being overfed just a skosh.

I'll be there! You're right. Some very interesting speakers and topics on tap. Will be very cool to check out the newest/latest and rip off system build/exhibit ideas. Er, I mean, gain inspiration from others in the industry/hobby.

John, I have the next couple of days off. If someone closer to you has not already stepped up or made arrangements to help you out, let me know. I'll drive up there and help get your systems dialed in, no worries. Just holler.

Good morning! I posted a reply in the Meetings forum before seeing this post. Thanks again for coming out to the coast, folks! 'Twas our pleasure to host and meet so many of you. See you next June!

Hey folks! Just wanted to say what a pleasure it was to host the meeting yesterday and meet some of you. Dr. Tim and I were really happy with the turnout and we hope that the experience was worth the long drive. I also wanted to apologize for not making it to the picnic/potluck after the meeting. Saturday afternoons are the end of my work week at both jobs and I kept running into things at the AQSB that had to be addressed before I could leave. I drove through Yaquina Bay State Park when I got done but I did not see any of you there. Thanks again for coming and we'll see you again next June. Cheers!

Take the first right on the south side of Yaquina Bay Bridge and it'll take you right to Hatfield. Don't be put off by the trucks and boat trailers lining both sides of Marine Science Drive. Just continue down the drive and take the first right off the roundabout. There will be plenty of parking in the Visitor's Center parking lot. Looking forward to meeting many of you and seeing a few of you again! Cheers, Sid

Please do come, if you can! It will be my pleasure to host another meeting and give you folks a back-of-the-house tour at HMSC and a tour of the AQSB as well. Dr. Tim will be in attendance and is a very personable and approachable fellow. Looking very much forward to it. See you soon! Sid