I just read all 15 pages....
I just read all 15 pages....
..... Any updates?
I just spent the day reading through all 15 pages, as I've been observing the things in my tank for as long as I can remember having frags in there. They were present in my old tank as well (where I migrated most of the frags from), so I'm sure they've been there.
I've watched them on all different kinds of Acroporids - nana's, loripes, staghorns, you name it. Got em on pink corals, green corals, and every color in between.. I also have frags that _are_ growing. Every coral in my tank started it's life w/ me in there as a frag, and they've all encrusted and grown. I'll admit some could be growing faster, but.. tank's not even a year old yet, I consider myself lucky they're alive.
The nearest thing I found towards a consensus from reading this thread, was the red slime remover seemed to work most of the time, but only if you actually had red slime growing in your tank (sigh... just my luck ). Fish based predators were at best hit-n-miss. The most common theme were the tiny clown goby's, however from what I've seen in other people's tanks, they can be as much trouble as they're worth.
I've been lucky in that I haven't lost any corals that I've attributed to these bugs, and have to admit I'm still skeptical of them being harbingers of doom. However, lots of people seem to have had this experience, so in my mind, the jury's still out.
What seems to be consistent in all the story's I've read, is that the cream of the crop of reefkeepers, aren't losing corals to these organisms. I don't say that to insult anyone, and won't clarify who I think fits that description, but the folks that really seem to know what they're doing, are not losing corals to this problem. So that begs the question I read in someone else post - what's the common thread that ties all these doomed and dying corals together? Some folks questioned alkalinity (why
are people getting away from NSW?), and that made me think this could be chemistry related. Hard, to be sure, as every tank is different, but... it's GOT to be something systemic if it's so rampant.
I also wonder if this isn't something that is a bigger problem out there in the ocean than we think? I heard one story where a reefer tried observing corals in the wild, and didn't see them (yet one observer does not make it fact)... Part of me wonders if these critters aren't responsible for some of the mass bleachings that have been taking place in the ocean? Timing's right?
Natural predator's I don't think will prove to be an answer. If Xenid (sp?) crabs aren't killing them off, I don't think anything will. Chemical attacks are likely to destabilize the entire tank, and probably kill off entire populations of organisms (that's not a good thing). It's possible there's a compound the organisms are susceptible to, that won't wipe out every other crustacean in our tanks, but .... if it were that easy, we'd have licked Cancer by now.
Have these animals been there all along, and nobody noticed? I personally don't think so. Having spent more time w/ my nose pressed up against the glass than I care to admit to, I just don't think it's possible that they would have gone un-observed for so long. They _are_ small, but they move, and human eyes are very keen to movement. I've stared closely at my corals, and have Macro shots from a few years ago, where you can't see them... no, I'm certain they are a relatively recent development (which makes me think they may be involved in mass bleachings?) Besides that, I'm about the least anal person I know when it comes to their tanks.. there's quite a few folks I know personally, that would have seen these buggers the moment that frag hit their tank.
I'm still stuck on these questions (some of which have already been brought up, but never got answered):
- Why do some corals/systems succumb and others not? General health? Too easy, too vague, but at the moment, the most plausible answer (what is that saying, Ockham's Razor?)
- Is it possible to eliminate the organisms entirely (through any method), and remain infection free (assuming zero imports)? I've only heard 1 or 2 people casually mention, then drop off the thread... I want to hear from
several people, that have done so for a length of time.
- Do we have proof these organisms are causing damage to the corals? I don't mean "I saw the bugs, the coral died"... I mean micrographs of damaged tissue type proof. PROOF, not conjecture and circumstantial evidence (lets all pretend we're scientists for a moment). I don't argue that there's a volume of people suffering under the same issue's, but that doens't make an assumption a fact.
- Has anyone tried exploring the evidence of alleopathy from large soft corals ridding a tank of these things? I read at least one post (sheesh, can't remember already!) where a person observed moving infected acro's to a tank containing large leather corals, erradicated the bugs? Hell, I see big honking leathers for sale at the LFS all the time (brought many of my grown-out frags up there myself). I sense if this is true, and reproducable, that there may be a simple solution to all our problems (anyone got a 2-foot Sinularia they don't want anymore
).
- Where's the community? I'm not thinking specifically of the Ron's and Eric's here, they already do quite a bit for us.... I'm thinking Waikiki and Birch, I'm thinking MASNA, I'm thinking... C'mon folks, lets grass-roots these SOB's and find out what's up!
K, I'll get down off my soapbox now, thanks for listening.
- Mac
