Marine Ich is one of the most prolific parasites in both the Reef Aquarium Hobby and Commercial Aquaculture. Cryptocaryon irritans is an obligate parasitic ciliate that can infect most marine fish taxa. Marine ich has a complex life cycle, which…
Education
Dysbiosis and the Pathobiome – A Molecular Pathway for Coral Disease
In previous articles, we briefly explored the idea of the coral holobiont and what a healthy microbiome looks like. In this article, I will provide a brief overview of the microbiome of a diseased coral and the steps that cause…
What is Coral Polycropping?
In this new series, I will discuss strategies you can use with current technology to help mitigate the risk of coral disease in your reef tank. In this first installment, I will cover the benefits of polycropping. Polycropping vs Monocropping…
The Importance of Coral Nutrition
As we have noted in previous articles most aspects of the hobby have some controversy associated with them. Needless to say, coral nutrition is one of them. For many years the general consensus was that all corals needed to thrive…
Interview with a Seaweed Aquaculturist
Taras V Pleskun interviews Philip John Foronda of the Philippines Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and finds out why seaweed aquaculture is such an important industry. Please Introduce yourself and how you first got into the aquaculture industry. Hi!…
The Jekyll & Hyde Chemistry of Phaeobacter gallaeciensis Bacteria
During the Fall of 2016, I was an undergraduate studying aquaculture at the University of Rhode Island. Like other aquaculture students, I was given an opportunity to work in one of the department labs as an assistant. It so happened,…
Saltwater Beginner Series: Can I convert my freshwater tank to a saltwater tank?
Yes, virtually any aquarium can be converted to saltwater, as long as it doesn’t contain any parts that might rust like iron or steel. Glass and acrylic aquariums are the best for saltwater conversion but if you run an aquarium…
NOAA Educational Poster can Help Reef Aquarium Newbies too
We came across this poster recently on Coral Housekeepers, and how fish help to maintain healthy coral reefs in the wild. It has been produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and explains in simple, easy-to-understand language how…
Reefing Hot Takes Part One: Organic Nutrients and N-DOC Testing
I’ll discuss my “hot takes” on the reefing industry in this new series. In this first installment, I will cover N-DOC testing and the importance of measuring organic nutrients for our tanks. What is an N-DOC test? N-DOC is a…
Amphipods are the “Bees of the Sea”
We stumbled across this excellent infographic by Marine BioDiversity of Yucatán on Amphipods. We knew they could be found pretty much everywhere, from freshwater to saltwater, under rocks on beaches to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, but we didn’t…