Care of African blue zoanthids...

[sdcfish]

Chicken Dinners

Chicken Dinners

Thanks Ben....you are very welcome

Charles.....our warehouse is not really that bad. We have some good air flow coming in from the coast, and I would say the temp inside you could describe as "Tropical".

I wear shorts and clogs every day

Check me out from video last week and you can get a better idea of what's up here.

http://www.lafishguys.com/60- Fish Wholesaler-01.htm

Please don't laugh...this was all done two weeks ago on the fly.

Hope you like it.

Eric

 

[650-IS350]

Not bad. good learning info for folks.

 

[SIR PATRICK]

Free polyps? Did I read this right? Darn 2 jobs! J/K!

I have a good fealing these polyps will do alot better than some of the same did a month ago, with all the accurate info on them. Good luck every one! Keep in mind all you that do well-

Aquaculture (with time) and get them stable for our captive tanks. Keep these guys wild line running for the future of us that dont have them yet.

Good luck everyone.

Starting to think I should give these a whirl.....Pretty sure I have some available localy.

 

[kingsland]

Cool videos. Thanks for sharing those.

 

[sdcfish]

Thanks! If you like those....you would really love the one I did with Bill Nye the Science Guy! That was super cool. I am trying to get that converted onto a format that I can post on youtube or something.

I guess I should add to this thread more information I got from the supplier. He told me they are found in the tide pool areas...inner tidal zones. The ocean around the area is very turbulent and constantly pounding the rocks around them. They are mostly in very shallow water, 2 inches deep in many cases. The animal variety around them are mostly inverts like hermit crabs and snails....millions! All this just confirms I have been saying, that we need to treat these species from African with optimum lighting and current. Propably why the they colonies are so dense with polyps.

Cheers!

E

 

[650-IS350]

cool.

 

[Pigmonster]

Darn I missed the free stuff. Wanted to drop a good word about SDC. I used to work at a store and we ordered from these guys almost every week! Always had great service and healthy stuff. I worked with Bryan A LOT! I even nick-named him B-RAD. he he. Thanks for supplying stores and customers with quality product and advice!!

 

[ct_vol]

sdceric~ Great feedback on the care of these zoanthids!!! I have been hesitant to buy a colony from my LFS because of this thread... I have seen a dozen or so come through there, out of the three colonies that didn't sell, only one of them hasn't melted away...

My question to you is, now that you are doing this formalin dipping treatment and whatnot, would you say that all of these protozoan have been killed off??? Or that this is a treatment that we should continue to do in order to have success in our home aquaria???

 

[650-IS350]

I wonder if this protozan is responsible for other polyp deaths that some of us experience.?

 

[Skipper]

I just spoke with someone who visited an exporter in Ghana where these are collected, and here's some observations that were shared with me:

1st - they are collected in tidepools where the river drains into the gulf.
2nd - the gulf's salinity is already about 20% less saline than Indonesia. Add this with constant fluctuations & lowtide from the river, it can't be recreated in a tank.
3rd - very silty water & high nutrient levels/minerals. The rocks they are growing on are heavy mineral-based rocks, not of coral origin (there are only 8 hard coral species there - and pretty much zero actual reefs - unless you get a few hundred miles out towards Sao Tome & Principe where there are some fringing reefs).
4th - holding/handling - they sit on a hot truck for hours before being put into holding systems. The holding systems have barely any water movement. The facilities were comprised mostly of air blowers running off of a generator - barely any water movement.
5th - packing - they are dry-packed in wet newspaper, which would be fine if they weren't piled in boxes. No styrofoam is used, so the temp fluctuates a bit, which doesn't necessarily kill them, but once stateside they are blasted with halides and crushed from the heavy rocks they grow on.

 

[Stripe01]

I take it these are being over collected and will be gone soon enough?

 

[sdcfish]

Ct vol....

You asked about killing off all the protozoans when dipped in Formalin? Well....the answer is yes...all the protozoans will die when you dip. BUT, you only have to dip the colony if you have some polyps dying. If the pieces comes in healthy, and you have it in the right conditions, you might never need to dip them.

Charles....I think these types of cilia protozoans are most likely commonly found on dying polyps. I have seen other polyps from other regions also have polyps die and white slime over, but not exactly the same....these are definately more sensitive and need to be handled differently...in my opionion anyway.

Striper - Your question is awesome! My sentiments exactly! From day one, I have been discussing with the supplier about "sustainble limits" we can import. I was surprised to get a response that this new partner in the company is a biologist and sits on the board of directors for thier fisheries ecological committee. Not sure exactly all the details, but he did tell me his image is important and they agree with me that they need to export responsibly.

If you guys didn't know, I have been on the board of directors for Reef Check for 8-9 years now and trying to revolutionize our industry is my goal. I am currently working with Reef Check to develop a new set of standards for a "Green Label" for all our products and hopefully become on the standard for the industry. The label's name is called S.M.A.R.T and it means Sustainably Managed Aquarium Resource Trade Love it right? Anyway...With Reef Check's training and monitoring, helping to set up quotas for collection sites, this is the basis for a management fisheries plan and we are currently doing this already in Mexico, and that will be the first collection site that will be traded with this new label. Too much info here...but I hope you get the idea.

Skipper - Good information on the visit to Ghana....except over the last 6 months, the facility was re-done to my standard and they have been curing these polyps with heavy flow and that is THE ONLY reason they have been arriving to us 99%alive and well. Not like 2 years ago when it was just a total mess.

Gotta get me the last few hours of weekend....be back at it later!

Cya

Eric

 

[Skipper]

For the record, my African blues have been closed up for the past couple of days. Definitely not happy campers. So, I moved them up into higher light and flow. Crossing fingers...

 

[650-IS350]

Good luck Skip.

I really like the wa this thread has been turning too. More information is coming up everytime.

 

[sdcfish]

Skipper...good that you moved the polyps to higher ground, but you should also give them a good blast of current if you can. One thing I like to do is use a small powerhead held in your hand and blast them with the powerhead. Then replace in a high current area like you have done.

If you see any decaying polyps, you have to act swiftly and follow some of the dips that were discussed earlier in the thread.

My fingers are crossed, keep us posted.

E

 

[Timanator]

Good thread guys, first one that's civil in a while.

 

[Aquatic Hamster]

The move I made with my large colony has seemed to improve things. It is now setting about 10" under 800 watts of t5 ligthing. In general the colony has a healthier look. Its also a higher flow area in front of a vortech in reefcrest mode.

The two small frags of the same colony get slightly less flow, but are 5" under the same lighting. I see two babies deveoping on one of the frags. Fingers crossed.

 

[650-IS350]

I think that's the hard part with polyps. So many collected from different areas of the world and different requirements. Not all requirements are known by us, so we use a general rule on them. Sometimes not enough like with these specific polyps.

 

[Gdevine]

Had 10 polyps 3/4 up and in decent flow...now down to one...but the one standing looks really strong. I have a small suspicion that it might make it. Time will tell...

 

[MartinEric]

I have mine about 10-12" from a 234w T-5, semi sheltered in a high flow area. I dipped one colony and left the other one be to see if it makes a difference and so far both look good, open every day no signs yet of decomp.