Caffine for pest control

[Cory]

I just got an idea that since caffine is a natural pesticide to bugs produced by plants as a defense mechanism, i wonder if we could dip coral in caffinated tank water?

Anyone want to try it?

 

[DrayB]

and waste a good coffee???? naaaaaa lol

 

[Cory]

and waste a good coffee???? naaaaaa lol

Lol thats how my idea came. Drinking coffee. But i was thinking caffine pills in the pharmacy.

Logic is it may be much safer than other treatments.

I wonder if it could kill ich!

 

[DrayB]

i'm sure it's been tried and tested, google it and see what comes up.

 

[Cory]

Actually it will cause coral to bleach. Which has me curious, could sweat from our arms leech caffine into the tank and cause corals to bleach?

In this study they found corals can release a significant amount of algae after caffine exposure. They said its from runoff of waste water plants. They found caffine isnt suppoedly being degraded by bacteria in seawater.
Here

"
In their 2001 study on how differences in temperature can cause bleaching in cnidarians, Sawyer and Muscatine also tested a variety of pharmaceutical products, one of which being caffeine, for their effects on bleaching in the Hawaiian reef coral Pocillopora damicornis and the sea anemone Aiptasia pulchella. They proved that, at concentrations of 25mM, bleaching does occur in living coral. This occurs because caffeine degrades proteins in the host cells of the cnidarians, and thus affects their adhesion to their algal symbionts. The corals realeased a significant amount of the algae after just 1.5 hours. Caffeine also retards the efficiency of photosynthesis in the zooxanthellae by increasing the amounts of cyclic AMP, which then subsequently decreases the productivity of photosystem II. "

http://www.urop.uci.edu/SURP/sample_proposals/SURP Social Ecology 4.pdf

But how much is 25Mm?

 

[McMullen]

Very cool info!!!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

25 mM is a LOT!

That's 4,850 mg/L! Almost anything would probably bleach coral at that level.

They saw effects at lower levels too, and that might be more specific.

 

[Matthew Weems]

I am about to test this tomorrow. I drink a ton of coffee and I wonder how much may get in the water. Maybe a simple test and soak my arms in a saltwater bucket clean and then while sweaty and test caffeine concentration in both afterwards. It looks like previous studies found caffeine generally ranges from 1.7-3.5 μg/ml(of sweat). There could be some significant environmental research buried in the idea somewhere Cory.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I am about to test this tomorrow. I drink a ton of coffee and I wonder how much may get in the water. Maybe a simple test and soak my arms in a saltwater bucket clean and then while sweaty and test caffeine concentration in both afterwards. It looks like previous studies found caffeine generally ranges from 1.7-3.5 μg/ml(of sweat). There could be some significant environmental research buried in the idea somewhere Cory.

Well, at that concentration, the corals would seem fine sitting in pure caffeine-laden sweat since that is only 1.7-3.5 mg/l, which is more than a thousand times less than the amount causing bleaching. .

 

[Matthew Weems]

True, but I'm thinking of biological interference before the actual bleaching event. Things that may cause color alteration or stunt growth, etc. Also I'm doing to some work with symbiodinium transfer already so it gives me an excuse to tweek out some critters with caffeine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

True, but I'm thinking of biological interference before the actual bleaching event. Things that may cause color alteration or stunt growth, etc. Also I'm doing to some work with symbiodinium transfer already so it gives me an excuse to tweek out some critters with caffeine.

Sounds good. maybe also check them at night to see if they are having trouble sleeping.

 

[Matthew Weems]

I suspect they should be up all night

 

[Habib(Salifert)]

Sounds good. maybe also check them at night to see if they are having trouble sleeping.

That might only be true for brain corals.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That might only be true for brain corals.

lol

 

[Breadman03]

[HASHTAG]#reefjokes[/HASHTAG] lol

 

[Cory]

So a lot of caffine is required to bleach the coral according to this article, and Randys reef translation.

However what if in small doses is enough to kill acro eating flatworms, or red bugs while leavong the coral unharmed?

Someone want to try?

 

[Matthew Weems]

I am going to try on monti eating nudibranchs today if I can isolate a few. I may also try on (non-coral eating) flatworms and some other small inverts.

 

[John Dupont]

This is something new. I have not tried this thing nor have heard that someone has used it. Once I was facing some pest problem, my parents called professionals from Exterminator Trumbull CT(yalepest.com/trumbull-pest-exterminators ) to exterminate those pests out of the house. It has been quite a long time since the pest are not back. I would sometimes try the caffeine thing being mentioned here.