EMeyer

My concern is that there are many grades of stainless steel, and while many work well in freshwater, few or none are completely saltwater safe. I think only titanium is really inert enough for long term exposure.

Its a great question. Since the discovery is so recent I am sure the specific answer is no. But the parasite has been classified, which gives us a lot of clues about what treatments are worth trying. I'm still digging into literature at this point. Thats why I can't wait to get this bug into one of my experimental tanks. Its been studied in the messy natural environment where you can't do proper experiments. The kind of clinical experiments we would benefit from are unlikely to get much attention from NSF funded researchers. But as soon as I can get my hands on an infected coral, we can start testing treatments.

Hi everyone, Not sure if you've seen this article yet. Rebecca Vega Thurber and her team from OSU have discovered a new coral parasite and named it Aquarickettsia rohweri. A bacterium that lives symbiotically in wild corals, and in normal conditions doesnt appear to hurt anything. But in high nutrient conditions, it turns into a parasite and saps the corals' energy, leading to lack of growth and eventually mortality. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41396-019-0482-0 Hmm, I thought. High nutrient environments ... like a reef tank? I wonder if this is in any of our tanks.. Fortunately, DNA sequence based data make this an easy question to ask. I looked up a couple ID numbers in tables, I examined some BLAST reports, and here is the answer: 10%. Ten percent of the tanks we sampled (2 out of 20) had this bacterium. If I did not contact you directly today, your tank is not one of them. Good news! (I will ask please don't play public guessing games about which participants had this, since I want to leave peoples' data privacy up to them). I just thought I'd share this because its a great example of a bug with clear effects on coral health, and we now know it realistically does occur in aquariums in the Pacific Northwest. I didn't include my tanks in the first round. Now I can't wait to see if my problem tank has this! -Eli

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I am especially interested in your sample too, for that reason. It sounds like an important test case. And I've long suspected the various tissue lysis diseases in captivity are caused by bacterial infections like the white syndromes in nature (and the lab). What can we do about it? I think the answer has two parts. 1. On day 1? Honestly, nothing specific. I'm not aware of any medications with known active ingredients that are marketed for bacterial diseases of corals. This may sound pessimistic, but I'm not saying theres nothing to be done. Just nothing specific. But by analogy... if I ran an ICP test and found high levels of some uncommon contaminant (e.g. Sulfur). I'd likewise lack any specific remedies (sulfur specific resins?). But at least I'd know there was a water chemistry issue, and could take general actions aiming to correct water chemistry. (e.g. large water changes). On day 1 after identifying a bacterial cause, I think you'd be in a similar situation. No silver bullets, but at least a rational basis for large general actions to correct the problem. Sterilization of equipment, starting a new tank, then retesting for the presence of the (now known) bacterial pathogen before stocking corals. Thats not a trivial undertaking but it would provide a route to establishing a new tank free of the old bacterial problem. Thats better than just starting over and hoping for the best, I think. 2. Longer term (more than 1 day) ... there are huge numbers of antimicrobial medications available in the world of human and veterinary medicine. Some are very specific against known groups. For example, I am currently testing a compound that specifically inhibits Vibrios, based on lots of solid peer reviewed studies (just not studies about corals). The literature is full of similar examples. I think what has hindered the development of treatments for coral diseases has been lack of diagnosis. We describe things in terms of the speed of tissue loss or the appearance of the melted tissue, which makes it hard to develop hypotheses about treatments. Identifying a potential pathogen can immediately narrow the range of treatments to be tested. Just knowing theres a bacterial pathogen suggests antibiotic treatments, and the known differences in specificity among different antibiotics can further narrow this. Other compounds are so specific they aren't even described as general antibiotics, since they only affect particular families or genera. It won't take long after your data come in before we (the community) can test specific, evidence-based treatments targeting specific groups. I can't predict the future, but I think we're going to do a better job when we're able to base these treatments on microbial IDs and published data rather than herbal remedies

Haha yeah, that is kind of my fear. Its hard to keep the content without keeping enough detail... and its details about DNA stuff, so I tend to nerd out.

Then I will appreciate both of your feedback! Science communication is a funny challenge. There are multiple audiences one wants to reach, including both the professional scientists and reefers. After writing for academics for so long its an entertaining challenge learning to write for new ones.

Hi everyone, Busy times, but I finally had a chance to finish my writeup of the differences between your aquariums' microbiomes. Read more here Here is an excerpt from the summary of the article: In the public description I don't identify the owners of the tanks or the sample IDs. Here, I want to give you all a key so you can find your sample in this description. In this figure, each symbol is one of your tanks. They are labeled with the last two digits of the sample ID. They are color coded by owner, but I haven't disclosed owners here publicly in case anyone wants to keep their tanks anonymous. Let me know if you need a reminder which tank is yours (or check your report, which includes your sample ID)

Hi everyone, If you have not already done so, please send me your samples by end of this week. I am setting a deadline for free participants so paid clients don't have to wait. If your samples are not in on time, I can include them in a later batch. But if possible, if you havent returned your sample, please do so this week. (I'll send individual emails too but this is easier) Thanks, -Eli

Looking for a new anemone, had to sell my Sebae. Prefer something besides a Rose, I have one of those.

Sold

Thats great... err I mean I am sorry to hear that. Please see PM

the images are on Google Photos. Its usually pretty easy to link to. I tried the usual things... image tags, no dice [img][/img] tried the "insert from URL" option several different ways, no dice finally tried downloading them to my local hard drive and re uploading them manually as attachments then double clicking each one. Rube Goldberg but maybe that worked. Doesnt seem to allow more than 4 pics at a time? -- OK - I think I got it. Its the little "+" sign in the circle. Modern UI design makes me feel like I'm interpreting hieroglyphics sometimes This checks out for me. Is it visible for anyone else? Thanks again for help troubleshooting.

so thats 4 of the possible methods for attaching images I have tried now. All worked for me on multiple browsers and machines. buggy buggy buggy trying again. Thanks for letting me know

Think I've finally fixed the images, sorry for the clunky start!

Thank you for the heads up. This forum handles images differently so I have to re learn it every time I post one here. There, that should do it!

I've got some more zoas ready, and a few soft corals from the last sale. Selling 6-packs or 12-packs of colorful, healthy corals to start your zoa garden or add to your collection. Only $80 shipped for 6 frags, or $130 shipped for 12 frags of your choice.Shipping: my standard shipping for these is USPS Priority Mail (1-2 days to the PNW). The cost for this shipping option is included in the prices listed above. If you prefer, I could ship Overnight (either USPS or FedEx) instead for about an additional $10-$20 depending on location. If you would like overnight shipping, message me with your zip code and I will look up the shipping cost for your location.I pack my corals carefully in insulated boxes. Each frag will be individually labeled and double bagged. The box may include a cold pack or heat pack depending on the weather, and in small orders I also include a bag of water to help stabilize temperatures. You're going to be happy with the condition your corals arrive in.Guaranteed to arrive alive: I offer an actual, no excuses, DOA guarantee. I won't ask you to predict their fate within the first 30 seconds of arriving at your house. I won't refuse to honor DOA guarantees if the FedEx guy shows up late. If your coral arrives dead, I will just refund the cost of that coral, its that simple.All I ask is (a) give them at least 24-48 hours in your tank to evaluate how they're doing. Sometimes they just take a while to open. And (b) take a picture so I can diagnose what went wrong and avoid it on future orders. Please note that aside from DOA, all sales are final and I cannot offer refunds for any other reasons. Placing an order constitutes your agreement to these terms of sale.To place an order: Contact me by PM. Paypal reserves your corals. These frags are ready to ship. I ship M-W (2-d) or M-TH (overnight), and can hold your frags until you're ready for them to be delivered.Thanks for looking! Feel free to PM with any questions. The list Zoas other soft corals Tubipora (pipe organ coral) Red and light blue mushroom Kenya Tree

The moment I can, I will share more details. What I can say is that in my testing of an experimental treatment I have treated several frags of several species that showed RTN or STN. So far I have not lost a single treated frag. But most of those lack untreated controls, because most of my frags are things I want to keep I am working on inducing RTN in disposable frags for a controlled and replicated experiment. Safety? I am absolutely convinced, I've treated many frags now. Efficacy? My n is still 1 for this so I am not making any claims other than "this is interesting..." I really am not a snake oil guy. But when I find a compound thats been published in peer reviewed journals, used for decades in a diagnostic capacity, and it shows promising results in my early trials... I start to think there may be something here

I think we've all been there. What do I do? It had two branches and was STNing from the base. I cut the branches, made two frags, and hoped for the best. A month or so went by. I learned some things about the microbiome of reef tanks, thanks in part to the samples many of you contributed. During my analysis and reading I came up with a crazy idea for a treatment for tissue necrosis (STN and RTN). Soon enough, my two little branches started to STN again. I treated one frag with my experimental treatment and did nothing to the other. I watched, and waited. Here's a photo I took tonight of the two frags -- untreated on the left, treated on the right. Can you spot the difference? I hope you'll agree this evidence is interesting despite the lack of statistical tests or p-values. Yes, its a n of 1. But n always starts with 1... Wouldnt it be nice, when a frag starts to RTN or STN, if you could do something about it instead of watching and hoping? On that specific detail, stay tuned. More broadly -- this is the tip of the iceberg for potential applications to understanding the microbiome of our aquariums. Thanks again for everyone who has contributed samples. And for anyone still holding a sampling kit, please do send it in so we can learn more! AquaBiomics - microbiome testing for aquariums and aquaculture Article: What kind of microbes grow in a reef tank?

Its like they say, real friends store bodies in their freezer for you.

It's most useful if I can pair it with a water sample taken from the tank within 12 hours or so of the diseased fish swimming in it. That said, it'd be worth swabbing them when I come by to pick up your water samples. Thanks!

I'm gonna bump this a few times in hopes of finding someone who will let me diagnose their fish disease. Cmon, PNWMAS, don't make me go to Petco for my diseased fish samples

Price drop, I'll take $60 or trade for a similarly large (but less aggressive) anemone. That'll be the floor, if I cant move at that price I'll find a home for him somewhere.

Thats an interesting thought. I've always been adamant that since nighttime in the ocean is pitch black, it should be in our tanks too. But perhaps a nightlight is needed to account for the fact that everybody's crammed together in a little box.

Hi everyone, In the upcoming round of analysis I will be including a couple extensions to the service, one of which is detection of non-bacterial fish fish pathogens. The technology is straightforward, but samples are needed to demonstrate it. I have a whole lot of fish without any signs of disease. What I'm short on is diseased fish. So I'm reaching out to ask, does anyone have a diseased fish? This is gonna go a little different than the broad survey I did for the microbiome. Here, I will be making house calls. I'll sample the fish and the water to confirm that it can be detected in the water. If you are interested in donating a sample, here is what is needed for it to be useful: Visible symptoms that can be photographed (better you photograph them than me, because my photo skills kind of suck, but I will take the pic if needed) You can catch the fish for a non-invasive sampling of the pathogen (a quick swab on the infected area). You are located somewhere not too far from me.. ideally between Eugene and Salem. Note that if your fish has just died (lets say within the last 12 hours) this will probably satisfy conditions 1 and 2. I would like to visit a few sick fish early next week so if anyone wants a DNA-sequencing based diagnosis of your sick fish, please get in touch asap. Thanks! -Eli