Brown Jelly Disease - or is it?

As any reef aquarist is aware there isn't a huge amount of information available on different types coral diseases... I did a bit of research on the web and after a bit of digging found a few sites with some useful information. I needed to find some information because parts of my torch coral had started to retract their polyps whilst parts were still very healthy looking. I inspected the coral last night and it seemed fine and dandy. I awoke this morning and noticed the following:

* Please note there are a lot of sites on the web which call this brown jelly disease.... i believe that this would be a common name given to this disease process.. the actual cause may be due to some opportunistic protozoans attacking the tissue which may be compromised for some reason

ohh and the brown jelly actually looked more red but that could be due to the actinics ... and it smelled putrid once removed from the tank....

Basically the following 3.....maybe 4 things need to be considered as a cause of this coral deterioration...

1. A black out happened 4 days ago which somehow killed one of my internal pumps - roughly 1500 lph pump .... therefore the flow rate in the tank slowed right down

2. I have started using a reef supplement 3 days ago - Liquid Reef - I doubt this is the cause unless I have overdosed causing some adverse effect

3. The frogspawn which sits directly next to the torch may have stung the torch coral.... possible.... also the fact that the tank had diminished water flow may have caused the effect to be more pronounced so to speak.

4. There are by the looks of things a few crabs living within the skeletal structure of the LPS - I have read that they can burrow into the skeleton for protection.... causing damage..

So i have added a spare 1500 - 2000 lph pump into the tank and will slowly eliminate the possibilities - water change done 2 weeks ago all equipment functioning great... crabs have been there for a long while so I doubt it will be the cause... more than likely competing corals....

Dan

Aquarium Designs and various things

So I was doing some research for a client and came across the following really interesting aquariums:

http://www.octopusstudios.com/index.htm

I feel in Australia we don't have a massive range of new products available especially when it comes to types of tank designs. You can get these tanks in Australia for a pretty big fee probably over $10,000 with delivery but, it is all inclusive. I can say that the equipment used in the set-up is top quality eheim etc and there seems to be a load of information on how to look after the aquarium.

Its designed for freshwater set-ups for fish which don't grow very large and yes it can be used for saltwater tanks however, they recommend only experienced aquarists try doing that. I can't image that it would be an easy task setting up a FOWLER or reef tank in one of these tanks but, it probably would look spectacular...

Ohh and this guy designs some awesome fish bowls however, sadly I don't think they are available to purchase - check it out - http://www.rogerarquer.com/work/fishbowls/

Also, I found the following article - so they insert bits of DNA into unhatched fish eggs modifying the fishes current DNA code causing them to glow - I do believe bio-luminescence is already found in some fish species - not sure how popular they would be? But in some ways i guess they are cool or at least the science behind it all is.

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=2962
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnhwY7dlbJM&feature=player_embedded

Peace

Dan

Is there anything that Paul can't do - that octopus is amazing lol

So since this is a blog about fish/aquariums etc and octopus are ocean dwellers I though I should make a mention to Paul the psychic octopus - amazingly he has predicted the correct winner for 8 games in a row in the 2010 world cup - a perfect record. Not sure how much they are paying this guy but, i bet he will be popular for all sporting event to come. If only I could get my hands on one !

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/breaking-news/paul-the-psychic-octopus-does-it-again-correctly-predicts-world-cup-winner-spain/story-e6frea73-1225890564185

or become a face friend on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/PsychicOctopusPaul

or just be marvelled by wiki

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Octopus


Now according to Wikipedia this isn't Paul's first time predicting a major soccer event in 2008 Paul predicted 4 out of 6 soccer matches in the Euro cup!

Some people/invertebrates are just blessed

So fish can talk??? really ?? (but not in english.... damn)

Just reading the local news bulletin and found the following which does seem like old news really ... I mean many people have probably heard of talking cat fish which grunt when you take them out of the water - looks like gurnards do it too :)

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/wacky/fish-grunt-chirp-and-talk-to-each-other/story-e6frev20-1225889260920