Snorkeling & Collecting Discussion Group

[RedFrog211]

Just stumbled upon this thread! I’m originally from Ft Lauderdale, and I miss it every day.. a couple months back, some friends and I were visiting Tybee Island and I found this washed up. I had never seen anything like it! A large disk with a mollusk-like foot underneath with polyps adorning the top side! I eventually found it to be a “Sea Pansy”— a coral that, while common, is relatively exclusive to this area. Apparently they are also capable of bioluminescence! Unfortunately, I lost it in November when that hurricane came through and knocked out power for 72 hours. :( hope I can find another one next time

 

[Ron Reefman]

Here is what the live ones look like in the water. I should see if I still have a go-pro and take some underwater pics on a stick.
And here is a neat looking white sponge? I have a 7' acrylic tank i may set up as a native/gorg tank. If I do I will be getting this. Lots of blue-grey sponges (I think) on the rocks too. Pretty neat considering how greybrowngreen the water was here 40 years ago.

Sponges are particularly difficult to keep in an aquarium. I've tried a dozen different samples from the shallow water in the Keys. I'm super careful to keep them underwater all the time, even going into my tank. But in anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, they all waste away.

I only have one very odd one that is still alive after over 3 years. A small green ball sponge that has unusual 'spikes' and sheds very small spheres that look like the main sponge every year.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Yesterday my wife and I did a beach walk. It was chilly since a cold front went through on Saturday. BTW, chilly was in the mid 50's and you can see how we Floridians feel about mid 50's from the photos below! ;Hilarious

This is me pulling our new 'beach wagon'. The big wheels get along over hard pack or wet sand just fine. And it beats the heck out of trying to carry a big bucket (in the wagon) with 20-30 pounds of saltwater! Gray skies, no sun and very few people at the beach (8am).



The tide was going out and the high tide line had lots of red algae and dead urchins. :eek:


In some areas there were some big shell mounds with lots of new shells.



As low tide approaches, this section of beach gets very flat and waves roll way up and down on the beach. The birds love it as small mollusks get exposed.



There was a tidal pool that was about half a mile long and lots of live animals were struggling to hang on. Here is a Cockle trying to dig into the wet sand.



I found this gorgeous Lightning Whelk 2/3s burred in the sand at the edge of the pool. Unfortunately for me, it was still alive, so I put it back in the pool.



If you saw this in the water, and many people shelling did, it might go unnoticed.



But this is what urchins do for camouflage. There were many dozens of them in the tidal pool. An urchin a bit smaller than this one came home with me.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The tidal pool had quite a few stars. Some along the edges of the pool were dead or almost dead (I tossed them back into the pool). But even the live ones in the tidal pool were moving slowly. I think due to the cold water. The Gulf water along shore here in SW Florida runs from a low of about 60 degrees in the winter to a high in the mid 80's in August and September. Here are a couple of the stars in the very shallow water at the edge of the pool.



Elaine found a nice Horse Conch shell half buried in the sand. Bigger shells like these are often gone before the sun comes up as people do come out in the dark and look for shells with flashlights!



This was still early during our walk. Not many people out yet. And one crazy guy, me, towing a wagon with a big bucket in it. Over the course of 2 1/2 hours I did have several people ask me what I had in the bucket. I find it interesting that even some people with a bag full of shells they have collected, do not realize how many live animals there are on the beach!



Near the end of our walk, we came upon 2 different traps that had washed up on the beach from the 4-5 foot waves of the day before. Found early, or still in the water, these can have quite a range of live animals on them. But finding one of these on the beach is a once or twice a year find for us.

 

[Brooklyn623]

Hi Ron Reefman. I’m new to the group. I live in Panama City and spend a lot of my time fishing, snorkeling, walking the beach and low estuaries. I’d love to put some of my finds in my tank. How would I go about quarantining my finds? Or do you plop them in and hope for the best?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hi Ron Reefman. I’m new to the group. I live in Panama City and spend a lot of my time fishing, snorkeling, walking the beach and low estuaries. I’d love to put some of my finds in my tank. How would I go about quarantining my finds? Or do you plop them in and hope for the best?

Hi Brooklyn623,

Welcome to Reef2Reef and to this discussion forum. Glad you found us and I'm happy to offer whatever help I can.

I've never been one to do serious quarantine of animals or even doing a dip of new corals. And I'll be the first to admit I may just be lucky I haven't had many issues at all. In fact, I've never had any fish diseases! If I had a tank with a lot of expensive coral and/or fish, I'd probably be more inclined to doing both quarantine and dipping. But I'm retired, so I have time to play with issue that develop in my tank and I don't keep many expensive things... other than some corals that become worth a lot because they have grown from frags to good size colonies.

OK, all that said, here is my basic operating procedure. When I bring home live things from a beach walk on Sanibel, or an estuary session at Bunche Beach or a weekend snorkel trip to the Keys; I inspect everybody a bit and put them all in a 5, 10 or 20 gallon 'holding tank". I'll call it that because I don't consider it a quarantine tank. There are lots of different animals in there together and I do not do any kind of medication in the water.

The holding tank will have a small wavemaker pump, a heater if it's needed (rarely here in SW Florida) and a cheap but good led light fixture. I'll be prepared to do a water change for my 90g DT and then use the 25g I've pulled from the DT as water for doing smaller water changes in the holding tank as needed.

I keep a close eye on any of the more delicate critters like a baby sea hare or very small fish collected in the estuary (or very young 'anything'). These may move to the DT in a shorter time frame, like 1 to 3 days. If I have any concerns for these, they may get moved to a separate holding tank or even a 5g bucket or even to the frag tank.

Then, over the next week to 3 weeks I'll move things from the holding tank to the DT. I may not have much from a beach walk (a mollusk or two, a sea star, some tiny porcelain crabs, baby pistol shrimp) and they may get moved out in less than a week. If I've collected more quantity from an estuary dip net day or from several days of snorkeling, then things like snails get moved out in a few days. Then slowly, over the next week or two I will pull something I feel comfortable with and put it in the DT. Most of the time, even all the stuff collected from a snorkel trip will end up in the DT within 2 or 3 weeks.

If anybody looks unhealthy (how can you tell a healthy from an unhealthy sea creature?) they stay in the holding tank. But I have to say, this is kind of rare. Although there are times when I collect something during a beach walk that has been stranded on the beach, like a sea star or an urchin, and it may have been out of the water for too long and they die during the first day or two. I consider these as rescue attempts and not failures on my part. It's rare these days that I lose anything brought home from a 2 or 3 day snorkel trip.

In 20 years I have added a few things that later caused issues. I've had aiptasia outbreaks a couple of times, and a bout with flat worms once. I suspect I have introduced some algae to the DT that ended up being a accidental issue. But never any disease or other pathogens or parasites. Have I been lucky? Maybe. But I really think fresh ocean collections are less likely to have issues than things collected in the South Pacific, sorted, and shipped to a US wholesaler, then shipped again to a retail seller (LFS or online) and then sold to you. Those weeks in storage and shipping are stressful and probably far less sanitary than my holding tank!

I hope that helps? And if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask away. I expect we will be doing a beach walk Wednesday morning as we have a fairly strong front with northwest winds (very uncommon down here) moving through today and Tuesday!

 

[littlefishy]

Pulled up an old lid less shrimp bucket that was tied off a homeowner's dock in Sarasota Bay. It's like a Pirate's of the Caribbean set piece. Unbelievable life forms. I put it back in. I want to slice one end of the bucket, peel it flat, and glue it to the back of a never used 7' acrylic tank I saved from demolition. Several fish fell off the side with all the weeds a minute after I had it out of the water. Several fish inside, only scooped in blind and pulled these out. Bucket is half full of old oyster and barnacle shells. Feel free to identify anything you can! The black thing squirts when pushed. I see tunicates.

 

[Ron Reefman]

@growoldplease that's one very cool bucket. I'm not sure what the big black thing is, but with the one hole, I'm kind of inclined to say some kind of sea cucumber?



I think tan squiggly thinks are some kind of tunicate, but my wife thinks they may be eggs.

We did a beach walk this morning because of the winds from Monday and Tuesday.
WHAT FUN! It was a good beach day. I got several yellow pistol shrimp, a bunch of tiny crabs, one small star, about 5 or more anemones (not much to look at), several purple gorgonians, 2 cucumbers (2 different species) and a hand full of live mollusks to off my sea star who wouldn't eat a slice of silver sides yesterday. Photos of the collection later.

The really fun part was while Elaine was off hunting shells, I was tearing open the few sponges that had washed up. While I was doing that, an older couple, with their adult daughter and her 8 to 10 year old son, Liam, came over and started talking to me. They are from Pennsylvania, were down on vacation and had met me a couple of years ago doing the same thing out on the beach. They asked if they could follow along with me so I could show Liam what I was doing. They remembered that I told them to visit the Baily Mathews National Shell Museum and had gone just the day before. Liam was a very interested kid and knew quite a bit about things we were finding on the beach.

He thought finding live shrimp inside a sponge was very cool. Then the heard one snap it's claw closed from inside my bucket. That was it, he was hooked! Mom even asked if I would be willing to send them some photos of what I collected and pics of my tank. Liam has a small freshwater Betta tank.

I always wanted to be a teacher and Liam just made my day. Altogether we spent about 2 hours talking and searching for stuff. It got to the point that Liam and his grandmother were doing the collecting for me! And as it turned out, Liam's grandfather races a Porsche Cayman. So we had lots of things to talk about.

All in all, a really nice morning.

Me as we arrive at the beach... temps just about 50ish.


Crab traps had washed up, that's always a good sign for finding cool stuff. The Sanibel beach patrol were collecting the traps (and emptying them) and the owners could claim them at a central site.



One of the freed stone crabs.



Elaine says this is me in my 'classroom' with Liam, his mom and grandparents.




It's been a few years since I've seen this much stuff washed up on the beach.



Up the beach a bit was a tidal pool that could drain back into the Gulf. Lots of mollusks along the water were still alive.

 

[littlefishy]

That is a huge sponge. Are they too far gone when you find them to keep?

 

[Ron Reefman]

That is a huge sponge. Are they too far gone when you find them to keep?

Two points. (5% of all sponges (maybe even more) are destined to die if they are out of the water for more than a VERY short period of time. With some species the time frame is mere seconds. Sponges take water in through VERY small pores, extract the organics from the water and exhaust the water through much bigger holes. Take a sponge out of the water and the small pores lose their water. Put it back in the water and the pores have air in them and it's like a vapor lock. They can't clear the air out and the can't take water in and the starve to death. The second point is 98% of all sponges will not survive long term in a reef tank anyway. Most won't survive even in a tank dedicated to sponges. There water requirements are different than for fish, coral and most other inverts.

I've been very careful when collecting a variety of different species of good looking small sponges when we go snorkeling in the keys. It never is out of the water for a second. And at home, I put the sponge in a small container and then flood it with fresh made saltwater. Now it's safe to put the container in my tank and release the sponge and the saltwater into my water. I have one weird sponge about the size of a golf ball that has survived for a few years now. But the norm for all the other sponges I've tried is they slowly decay and wither away over a week to maybe 6 weeks.

The sponge in the photo was huge! But it was quite dense and I couldn't find anything alive in it. I did find some other sponges and collected a handful of yellow pistol shrimp, about 10 very small porcelain crabs and a few others as well, all quite small. Like the biggest one being about the size of an eraser on a pencil. I did get 2 different species of sea cucumbers. One is a very cool filter feeder. I have a video from one I had some time ago. It's about double the size of a golf ball and it buries itself in the sand. It's mouth is at the surface and it has feather like arms. Watch and you'll see it put each arm in it's mouth and clean off whatever it caught as it pulls the are out.

View attachment cucumber video.mp4

 

[littlefishy]

Water is too cold to get in it, but here's what was at the pass between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf today:







Last pic is a 3-4" nudi munching next to a coral. Sponge is in the lower right hand.
I'd like to get a waterproof camera and put it on a long stick to take clearer pics, especially in the summer when we're in the water.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Water is too cold to get in it, but here's what was at the pass between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf today:

Last pic is a 3-4" nudi munching next to a coral. Sponge is in the lower right hand.
I'd like to get a waterproof camera and put it on a long stick to take clearer pics, especially in the summer when we're in the water.

Look at the Olympus Tough camera. We have two that we bought off ebay used in very good condition. They work great in our tank at home and we both use them when we go snorkeling in the Keys. They often go with us on beach walks as well. No concerns about getting them wet or dropping it in the water.

The Olympus has a bigger aperture (f-stop) than other tough cameras. That lets in more light and allows for faster shutter speeds... both important when you are under water.

You can find used TG-3 model for a $100 to $200 and almost new TG-6 for under $300. I still use a TG-3 and my wife has a TG-5.

 

[LArifleMAN]

We should be heading back down June 3-5. Gotta get my fishing license and modify a cooler for transportation.

 

[Ron Reefman]

We should be heading back down June 3-5. Gotta get my fishing license and modify a cooler for transportation.

Any ideas about where you plan to go? Snorkeling or diving? I'd really like to hear about your experience on this trip. And I always share my results. My wife takes lots of photos... I take some.

We will be down in Marathon on the 7th for a couple of days of snorkeling. Where depends a bit on the weather. Little Money Key is a very high probability and if the water is calm and clear, maybe Money Key.

 

[snorklr]

hey ron thanks for the recomendation...we hit the bailey shell museum when we were down there in february...my buddy lives in bonita springs so walked the beach at little hickory to find some cerith shells for my hermits to grow into...got a couple there and a few more on amelia island...next year hope to hit the water as the KOA at sugarloaf key finally reopened after the hurricane killed it a couple years ago...

 

[Ron Reefman]

hey ron thanks for the recomendation...we hit the bailey shell museum when we were down there in february...my buddy lives in bonita springs so walked the beach at little hickory to find some cerith shells for my hermits to grow into...got a couple there and a few more on amelia island...next year hope to hit the water as the KOA at sugarloaf key finally reopened after the hurricane killed it a couple years ago...

Nice. If you are looking for shells, there are several beaches on Sanibel that are good. And then there is Bunche Beach which isn't a great sandy beach. The sand gets packed and kind of hard. But behind the beach is a huge estuary and where it empties out into the bay there are some grassy flats. Drag a net through the grass and there is no telling what you might find. I netted shrimp, crabs, snails, fish, sea horses, sea hares and more. It depends on what season you're there. One time we even netted five good size blue crabs and took them home for lunch!

Glad to hear that the camp ground is back open. We spend some time at Bahia Honda State Park and it got hit hard by the hurricane. The beach at the northeast end of the island still wasn't open last summer. But the water off the ocean side beach at the south end of the island always had great snorkeling. The hurricane hurt it pretty bad, but it's coming back and gotten better year by year.

 

[Paul B]

Good Morning Ron. I just came back from my beach walk on the Long Island Sound. Of course we don't find the cool living things we do, but we do have interesting garbage.

Anyway, I have that same beach buggy but mine has much wider wheels. I have seen them in a few different configurations. Great little buggy. I use it to bring stuff to my boat and when we go shopping I use it to bring in the groceries. But it does go great on the beach.

Have a great day collecting. :)

 

[LArifleMAN]

Any ideas about where you plan to go? Snorkeling or diving? I'd really like to hear about your experience on this trip. And I always share my results. My wife takes lots of photos... I take some.

We will be down in Marathon on the 7th for a couple of days of snorkeling. Where depends a bit on the weather. Little Money Key is a very high probability and if the water is calm and clear, maybe Money Key.

Well I didn't get down to the Horseshoe last time, which bummed me out. So that's on my list. Basically any place I can collect that's accessible from shore.

I'm sure the kiddos will want some shells but I don't where to go for that.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Well I didn't get down to the Horseshoe last time, which bummed me out. So that's on my list. Basically any place I can collect that's accessible from shore.

I'm sure the kiddos will want some shells but I don't where to go for that.

Hi Paul,
My wife got that 'wagon' for me at Christmas. When the local beach is good for collecting, it makes it so much easier to haul the 5 gallon bucket and bubbler. And when we go to the Keys, I do twice daily water changes for the livestock I've collected. Getting 5 gallons of water from the beach to the motel room is now easier. Also when we snorkel at the Horseshoe, the parking lot is several hundred yards from the water so it's great for hauling the collection bucket and all our snorkel gear! After all, I'm not getting any younger!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Well I didn't get down to the Horseshoe last time, which bummed me out. So that's on my list. Basically any place I can collect that's accessible from shore.

I'm sure the kiddos will want some shells but I don't where to go for that.

If you go to the Horseshoe, there are several different environments so explore.
I'll look for a map... or make one. More to follow.