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Marine Topics -
Marine Pests
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Written by Nick Dakin
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Question: How do you turn an aquarium brown, that was once full of colour? Answer: Introduce a few brown flatworms! As unlikely as this may sound to those who have no experience of this menace, it is alarmingly true. Although flatworms of this species are only a few millimetres in length they can reproduce both sexually and asexually, meaning that it takes only one specimen to ultimately infect a whole tank. Given the right conditions, the flatworms go for all out reproduction and soon cover literally everything that does not move, including rocks, glass, equipment, algae, corals and sand. Within months the sheer weight of numbers smothers sessile livestock to the point of destruction! Not a pleasant thought but if left unchecked the end result is a brown, lifeless mess. |
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Marine Topics -
Marine Pests
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Written by Nick Dakin
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 We all know how difficult most anemones are to maintain, so what a relief to find a species not only easy to keep but quick to multiply.....WRONG! Aiptasia anemones are the proverbial wolves in sheep's clothing. They have a prodigious sting capable of killing (as a prelude to eating) small fish and even larger fish can sustain a nasty injury if contact is made. Reef tanks suffer particularly badly, for as the anemones spread amongst the polyps, corals, clams and other anemones they tend to sting everything they touch. |
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Marine Topics -
Filtration
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Written by Timothy A. Hovanec, Ph.D.
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After all these years, it turns out that the nitrifying bacteria are not what we thought. Biological filtration is the critical filtration component in every aquarium. Whether the biological filter is live rock, trickle media, a sponge or any other substrate, the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate is necessary to keep these substances from reaching toxic concentrations in our aquariums. It has been a basic tenent in biology and the aquarium hobby that there are two bacteria responsible for nitrification. The first, called Nitrosomonas europaea, oxidizes ammonia to nitrite, while the second, Nitrobacter winogradskyi, oxidizes nitrite to nitrate. |
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Marine Fish -
General Marine Articles
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Written by Nick Dakin
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 Marinists who follow the hobby closely may have recently noticed that there has been a marked swing away from interest in livestock (fish, invertebrates & algae) to a blanket coverage of hardware, almost to the point of obsession! There are often bitter disputes about who ‘invented’ what, when and how (as if it REALLY matters!). Filtration systems come in and out of favour like so many different clothes! It gets all very confusing and extremely expensive for those people prepared to follow ‘aquatic fashion’. |
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Marine Invertebrates -
Star Polyps
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Written by Nick Dakin
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FAMILY: CLAVULARIIDAE
The terms, Star Polyps and Clavularia may be rather unfamiliar to many marine aquarists but all marinists interested in invertebrates will have come across the many species of the these delightful colonies, if they do not already own one or two. Unfortunately, the family Clavulariidae, commonly known as Star Polyps, has long been confused with Xenia to which it superficially resembles; so much so, that it has, quite wrongly, been labelled Xenia with gay abandon and little regard for correct scientific terminology. To put the record straight, Xenia are Pulse Corals with polyps held on elongated stems, unable to withdraw into a basal mass. On the whole, they are far more sensitive than the clavularids and usually require optimum water and lighting conditions. Star Polyps, on the other hand, are not a difficult coral to keep and often make an ideal choice for the newcomer to invertebrates. |
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