Live Oysters in Reef Tank?

[Wandering Albatross]

Good afternoon all, I'm rather curious about oysters. It would be different and cool, but I have a few concerns.

First, sourcing live, healthy oysters. My first idea to check their quality, was at the fresh seafood section of a grocery store, that's where I buy live clams for fish food. I buy the clams live, freeze them, then chop them up as needed. As it stands, if there was anything chemically toxic in the clams it would have poisoned my tank by now, so they're safe in that regard. And I read that by freezing the clam for 48+ hours, I'd kill off most if not all diseases the clam might have carried. Not sure how accurate that is, working with what I got.

My biggest concern is if I get a live oyster, acclimate it to temp, salinity, and everything, and add it to the tank, assuming it survives, it might carry some kind of disease. I don't want to kill all my fish, but if the oyster carries a disease without ever being affected by it, if it's a fish disease, then how would I test/quarantine for that? For those who have attempted this or something similar, would it be more risky than adding a wild caught fish without quarantine? All my systems are no quarantine anyway, so my fish have some immunity to general fish ailments, but I'm still dipping my toe in with this family of inverts, and I wasn't sure if they carried highly infectious and deadly fish affecting diseases.

I know they need extra food, I know they like cooler water. This is part of a series of experiments. My main concern is potential for disease.

Thoughts?

 

[Subsea]

I got 3 live oysters on some Gulf live rock 2 weeks ago. I often feed my tank live mussels & live oysters purchased from seafood market. Never thought much about parasites or desease. Tank is 25 years mature and I have never quarantined.

This Gulf live rock has numerous filter feeders on it including 3 oysters with one of the oysters completely covered in red encrusting sponge. Also included are orange barrel Tunicates, orange & brick red Bryozoans as well as an emerging yellow ball sponge.

After 55 years reefing, I never moved away from softies, so mixed filter feeders have become my focus. Flame scallops are my canary in a coal mine.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

I got 3 live oysters on some Gulf live rock 2 weeks ago. I often feed my tank live mussels & live oysters purchased from seafood market. Never thought much about parasites or desease. Tank is 25 years mature and I have never quarantined.

This Gulf live rock has numerous filter feeders on it including 3 oysters with one of the oysters completely covered in red encrusting sponge. Also included are orange barrel Tunicates, orange & brick red Bryozoans as well as an emerging yellow ball sponge.

After 55 years reefing, I never moved away from softies, so mixed filter feeders have become my focus. Flame scallops are my canary in a coal mine.

That's good to know. And you feed muscle and oyster as fresh cut? No freezing?

 

[Subsea]

That's good to know. And you feed muscle and oyster as fresh cut? No freezing?

Correct

 

[Louis Z]

So I will give you my experience with oysters . I have tried twice with store bought live oysters from the Gulf of Mexico . They are shipped cold and put on ice. They are rather large and I would rather have tried smaller younger oysters . I failed each time . When one dies it was usually a cascade of them dying one by one . I don’t know what the cause was but I would suggest a quarantine if you were to try . Full salinity to begin with may not be the best . Maybe brackish and then increase overtime. Split them into multiple tanks so as not to loose all of them because one dies and poisons the rest . Also temp acclimate them slowly . If you can acquire them from a vendor rather than a grocery store, they may better acclimate to the aquarium full salinity and temperature over time . The ones I brought in did bring a very bad black Cyanobacteria . So consider dipping or treating with the slime away or the likes . You could also try wiping with hydrogen peroxide on the outer shell .

 

[Louis Z]

Now if you go by way of liverock as did subsea you may already have a better chance than me . The oysters I bought were from the bay and not from full strength seawater . As an aside, I have tried buying gulf shrimp from bait stores and they do not survive . So I did catch some shrimp with a net and they survived until the blue crab ate them . So buying thru grocery stores may not be the answer .

BUT I have had success with the farmed clams . THAT I did buy from the grocery store . I believe they have actually spawned . I didn’t see them personally but I increased water temp due to adding multiple heaters in the tank in anticipation of freeze warning last month . The water has now been very cloudy . It’s not a bacterial bloom and not a phyto plankton bloom either . The temp increase is a trigger for clams in the wild to spawn . So I am assuming the clams as the culprit . All inhabitants are fine and eating . It’s just cloudy . I have added air pumps just to make sure nothing goes anoxic

I have about 30 in the sump of the main DT . I have another 10 in another 10gal with a yellow sponge and three different species of macroalgae . So I have had better experience with the “ little neck clams or cherry stone “ clams as they are called ( all the same species ) and would recommend them . They can handle low and higher temps . And they can handle full strength salinity or low salinity . Now I must say my experience has not been a full year . So I am still learning . As for food I do buy Reed mariculture Phytofeast to augment them . They can clear a green cloud over night so I know they eat it .

 

[Subsea]

Louis,
Kudoes to you on clam spawn. Too bad about the shrimp and crab conflict. Incidently, how is red tree sponge doing. Once they start degrading, I have not had long term success with them. Yellow ball sponges & orange elephant ear have proven to be the most hardy for me.

My first marine aquarium was a Galveston Bay theme: netted green mollies and grass shrimps in the marshes, collected anemone & peppermint shrimp on the jetties and an oyster cluster with a few live oysters and numerous little barnacles a waving their flags.

.That was in 1971 and I am still a kid with a net

 

[Paul B]

I have collected oysters, mussels and clams dozens of times to eat, and of course throw in my tank. Those creatures are cold water bivalves and as soon as you add them to a tank, they start to starve to death. They filter a lot of water and here in New York where I collect them there is an enormous amount of sediment in the sea water which can not be maintained in a tank.

The sea here now is about 35 degrees. I took this 2 weeks ago and there are shellfish living under that pier. This may be colder than your reef.

I SCUBA dive here and the visibility is measured in inches due to the sediment that those creatures filter. I can get a few months out of them but they eventually will starve.

 

[Louis Z]

So I have stopped using my skimmer . They maybe spawning due to the energy storage gained while on the farm /wild. I realize that DOC and waste is not all they eat . Working on a dual tray system where water from the overflow can be channeled thru either long tray containing half of the clams . Alternate the flow from one channel to the other . In The one channel not flowing, I will add the Phytofeast for them to clear overnight and once cleared switch flow to the other channel and repeat . That way they are getting a more varied diet . I realize they filter a lot of minute particles . This is only an experiment and realize they may slowly wither away in an aquarium setting . This setup teaches the school kids on the overall filtering of waste . With the macroalgaes/mangroves .and clean up crew , this gives a better picture on how all is integrated and essential to an overall healthy bay/reef system
Ghost shrimp / peppermint shrimp / and larger shrimp are on my target list to catch this spring . I have had success with them until their tank mates considered them food . Many of the shrimp that I personally caught have survived . It’s just me having to doing quick maneuvering that has led to them being eaten . Not enough tanks/ space and last minute moves caused me to do reshuffling of tanks that were not ideal for them . They had all been put in With something that would eat them .

Incidently, how is red tree sponge doing.

It actually to my dismay colored up again and firmed up . It’s alive and to me not completely out of the woods yet . I had a bout of algae covering it up . I had to go in daily and shake the algae away . The algae has since subsided and it looks like it will survive . Not sure if it’s thriving . Only time will tell when I see further expansion of mass

.

Yellow ball sponges & orange elephant ear have proven to be the most hardy for me.

.
That is why I bought a yellow ball sponge based upon your texts . I had a bit of cyano growing on it . Shook the cyano off and moved it further away from the light . Considering using chemiclean to control the cyano . Don’t know if I should or not on the sponge . Not knowing what symbionts they have growing with them . Don’t know if chemiclean is detrimental to a sponge . I need to add the ghost shrimp back in, they always did a good job of cleaning the surface of the sponge .

 

[Louis Z]

but I'm still dipping my toe in with this family of inverts, and I wasn't sure if they carried highly infectious and deadly fish affecting diseases

Aside from my cyano warning another issue on bringing in wild stock is the chance of introducing vibrio bacteria into your system . Vibrio may be a culprit in the demise of coral, and anemones. Systems may already have them established and nothing you can do once in the tank , but if you add a different strain that could be a problem . The new way of seeing what’s in the water is to have a sample of your water sent off to detect dna traces of the bacteria in the water .

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Aside from my cyano warning another issue on bringing in wild stock is the chance of introducing vibrio bacteria into your system . Vibrio may be a culprit in the demise of coral, and anemones. Systems may already have them established and nothing you can do once in the tank , but if you add a different strain that could be a problem . The new way of seeing what’s in the water is to have a sample of your water sent off to detect dna traces of the bacteria in the water .

Just for kicks, how would I know if it was already in my system? I've had many tough to explain coral deaths, most of which would just completely rtn overnight. The corals don't show any kind of oozing, targeted discoloration, or anything pest-like. Just fine or slightly under-colored, then bam, dead. Couple softies and a leather are okay though. Is there any way to treat/remove it if it's in there?

 

[Louis Z]

There is a kit for dna test from aqua biomics . Haven’t used them yet . But if you feel like there is an underlying infection , The cost of this is outweighed by the cost of losing your acquired specimens

 

[Louis Z]

Normally a culture for a bacteria is tested to see what antibiotic is effective to treat with . In humans , cipro dosed orally can be effective if the bacteria is not resistant . Cipro has been the antibiotic that many started using to treat anemones when they come in from the wild. Some anemones are highly susceptible to bacterial infections .

 

[Wandering Albatross]

There is a kit for dna test from aqua biomics . Haven’t used them yet . But if you feel like there is an underlying infection , The cost of this is outweighed by the cost of losing your acquired specimens

Are there any particular signs I could look for that point to this being the cause of death?

 

[Louis Z]

IDK , maybe someone else will chime in . With anemones it’s a gaping mouth .. many just treat blindly and hope for the best .