Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

I can give you all the blue sponge you want.

 

[Rybren]

Tap, tap, tap.

Hello? Is this thing on?

Happy Thanksgiving Paul (and to the rest of my American friends)

 

[Paul B]

Rybren, we gust this minute got back from visiting our Daughter in her "country" home in "Nowhere Vermont" on top of a mountain 5 miles up a dirt (now mud) road. My car is so dirty that no light comes through the back lights.

 

[siggy]

My car is so dirty that no light comes through the back lights.

What No Helicopter ;Pompus

 

[Rybren]

That Blue sponge has ben one of my 'elusive" Must Have for quite a while ...

If you can make it to Ottawa, I can give you some.

 

[Paul B]

I had my tank water tested by AquaBiomics and I find it very interesting, but I need someone to explain it to me.
I love this and want to find out more about my results.

 

[Victoria M]

That is awesome Paul. And totally what I would hope for with all your collecting.

ps. Was that sarcasm? You know I dont get sarcasm most of the time.

 

[Rybren]

I agree, it is very interesting.

I wonder how accurate it is? Strange that it shows no Nitrite processing bacteria and very little Ammonia processing bacteria.

 

[AquaBiomics]

I agree, it is very interesting.

I wonder how accurate it is? Strange that it shows no Nitrite processing bacteria and very little Ammonia processing bacteria.

Hi all,

We're also discussing these results over here, I link it here just to keep everyone in the loop
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i-had-my-water-tested-but-need-explanation.668326/

Your question about accuracy is an important one. My overall response is that the measurement is very reproducible, and also pretty sensitive. If a microbe (Bacteria or Archaea) is present in Pauls sample at a level of at least ~1 in 10,000, we will detect and identify it. The biggest limitation is sampling - if it's not on the filter or swab I can't detect it.

We should not conclude these were absent, but rather they were below the limits of detection within the sample. There is more variation in the levels of nutrient processing microbes across tanks than I would have expected when I started this endeavor.

Now details in support of the above. Here is a figure that shows the communities in 2 experimental tanks side by side (A and B). A1 and A2 are two samples from tank A. As you can see, duplicate samples are very very similar, showing that the measure is highly reproducible.


My statement about sensitivity is based on the number of DNA sequences produced for each sample. (about 10,000 DNA sequences per sample). We can think about this as drawing marbles out of a bag that contains millions of marbles with hundreds of different colors. If we draw 10,000 marbles, we can be confident we'll collect all the most common colors. But a super rare marble , 1 in a million, is unlikely to be detected.

So I am confident these microbes were not present at high levels in Paul's sample. We sampled water and biofilm from the inner surface of a pipe (I chose the latter because every tank has pipes of some kind, and NOB are known to accumulate in the biofilm of pipes in water treatment plants). In many tanks I sampled, both of these samples contain ammonia-oxidizing and (AOB) nitrite oxidizing (NOB) microbes at low but very detectable levels (up to 6% AOB and 0.4% NOB). Not Pauls. And also not my 4 home aquariums.

The variation surprises me a lot but I've learned not to discard findings that surprise me. As often as not, its my expectations that were wrong

I think the physical sampling of the tanks remains the most important area to explore for these particular bugs, rather than any general methodological issues. But its clear there is real variation among tanks here. The question I'm asking is, are they rare everywhere in my tanks (and Paul's) or are they localized in a different part of the tank in our tanks than others? Its hard to understand why the latter would be true but I can't rule it out.

 

[Rybren]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. It is a fascinating area of study and I hope that with time, as your database increases, it will provide much insight into our tanks and husbandry techniques.

 

[Brew12]

Well Paul, I hate to do this to you but I found proof that your success has nothing to do with clam guts. ;Wideyed

It's all about not playing rap music!

Dying coral reefs could be saved by playing sounds of healthy coral reefs from speakers

Scientists have looked at various methods to save endangered coral reefs for years, looking at everything from growing them in labs to making them pollution resistant. A new study suggests that sounds from healthy reefs could also play a role in saving them.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Sea MunnKey]

If you can make it to Ottawa, I can give you some.

Wha ...what!!?? Sounds near and yet so far. Thanks for the kind offer Rybren ;Happy

 

[Paul B]

What No Helicopter ;Pompus

I had a small one, but they wouldn't let me take t home.

 

[Paul B]

I think my copperband is developing a neurological condition. He is a very big eater but lately he has been missing the food with his mouth. He used to suck it right in but now comes a little short. Maybe he is nearsighted or is getting cataracts. I don't remember how old he is, maybe ten.

I don't think he is very old but I want to figure this out.

 

[atoll]

I think my copperband is developing a neurological condition. He is a very big eater but lately he has been missing the food with his mouth. He used to suck it right in but now comes a little short. Maybe he is nearsighted or is getting cataracts. I don't remember how old he is, maybe ten.

I don't think he is very old but I want to figure this out.

 

[Paul B]

I will try that, thanks.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Good morning Paul, how's your African Blue Stripe pipefish doing these days? My 2 males are getting fatter and once in a while they would chase each other for work out ;Happy

 

[count krunk]

Do you feed frozen or fresh clams? For frozen would I be able to just open them up and drop in? Or would I need to thaw it some first?

 

[Paul B]

I buy the clams live and freeze them myself as they are huge and don't last long in the fridge.

Sea Munnkey my pair of bluestripes are gone. They only have a lifespan of about 3 or 4 years and I had them longer than that. My Janss pipefish almost bit my male bluestripe in half so I am afraid to replace him until the Janss goes. I also have him about 4 years and he was an adult when I got him so his life is almost over. Pipefish don't have very long lifespans.

 

[Paul B]

My Copperband sees fine and can probably see better than me, but her depth perception is off by a few millimeters. She sees the food but snaps at it just short and misses. Then she looks at the food in bewilderment because she can't understand why she can't bite it. Now I think she is getting tired of trying to eat because she knows she can't.

This is neurological. I know we think we can cure everything in fish, but we can't. Just like we can't cure MS, Parkinson's, Als, Lou Gehrig's disease, stupid etc.
I can hold a piece of clam, her favorite food, right in front of her mouth and she will continually try to get it, but she can't.

It could also be an eye muscle problem. I myself had a similar problem and was fixed by a slight eye muscle tightening up operation. (but I could still eat clams like I did last night) We are not yet at the point where we can operate on a fishes eye muscles or brain tumors which she may also have.

I have been keeping copperbands for almost 50 years and don't remember ever having one over ten years because something always happened to them at the age. But I "assume" a fish of that size should live at least 15 or maybe 20 years. I wish I knew their lifespan. Does anyone here know?