[Coral-List] black band disease after bleaching in BVI
Lianna Jarecki
LJarecki at email.hlscc.edu.vg
Wed Jan 4 15:38:36 EST 2006
I'm replying to Ernesto Weil's comments about WP in La Parguera. We saw black band disease on quite a few Colpophyllia colonies in the BVI in November. This also seemed to me to be a secondary infection after the widespread-bleaching event we experienced during September and October.
Lianna Jarecki, Ph.D.
H. Lavity Stoutt Community College
Box 3097
Road Town, Tortola
British Virgin Islands
________________________________
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Today's Topics:
1. RE: NH4 Levels in Aquaria (Tom Williams)
2. White Plague in PRico (EWeil)
3. RE: NH4 Levels in Aquaria (jmcmanus)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 09:48:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Tom Williams <ctwiliams at yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: [Coral-List] NH4 Levels in Aquaria
To: Julian Sprung <julian at twolittlefishies.com>, "D'Elia, Christopher
F." <cdelia at spadmin.usf.edu>, Stephen Lowes <slowes at twcny.rr.com>,
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID: <20060101174816.10790.qmail at web50403.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
To List
I have been interested in the ammonia/nitrate issue
because:
- I don't understand how the ammonia can persist in a
>2mg/L dissolved oxygen environment;
- I don't understand how an equivalent nitrate can
persist in a "nutrient" deficient environment
typically ascribed to reefs;
- How any coral can directly use/survive a high
dissolved ammonia/nitrate environment;
- what mechanisms/sources the coral can use for
gathering nitrogen for reproduction from the media vs
from ingested food;
-from a habitat/foodchain - I would assume that the
algae could be far more stimulated by such levels opf
ammonia or nitrate and would generate a habitat which
would Kill the coral;
- when in Kota Kinabalu Borneo (E.Mal.)the rive runoff
appear to have high levels of nitrate fertilizers and
although the reef water was clear - no blooms - a
brownish slime layer had formed over many coral heads
near the river discharge;
- in sewage works we are required to keep the ammonia
less than 1mg/L but with a DO of 2mg/L it is virtually
impossible to get an ammonia of 0.5-1.0mg/L
The reef fish observation may also be of conservation
interests as the entire reef formation balance depends
on the nitrogen assimilation of the coral/good algae
vs the "bad algae".
I am interested in the direct runoff and indirect
leaching discharges of "treated sewage effluent" for
irrigation on golf courses and hi-end residential
units on recently reclaimed areas of Dubai, Sharjah,
Ajman, and Ras Al Khaimah UAE.
I am glad to participate in these discussions, as
these are the sorts of issues which the LIST I believe
was created to discussed (sorry about resumes /
employment as I am semi-retired).
Dr. Tom Williams
--- Julian Sprung <julian at twolittlefishies.com> wrote:
> Dear Coral List,
> I have been reading the responses to Angus with
> interest. I have a slightly different angle to add-
> I'm not sure but I believe that Angus was asking
> about maintaining an elevated ammonia level to
> promote higher than normal growth rate in a coral
> farm system.
> In any aquarium system with a sand or gravel bed of
> any significant size, living rock, strong
> illumination, various algae, and corals, the
> maintenance of high levels of ammonia would be quite
> difficult without daily addition of ammonia or lots
> of food. I don't think that Angus was asking about
> how to lower the ammonia level in a system-- that
> happens automatically. On the contrary I think he
was exploring raising the level artificially to boost
coral growth. The concept has merit because to a
limited extent it works.
Corals in the natural setting benefit from resident
schools of fish that release elevated levels of
ammonia directly among the coral polyps. This
increases available nitrogen to a "level" in excess of
the background nutrient poor seawater. One of the
downsides of overfishing is that it potentially
LOWERS the amount of nutrients a coral may recieve,
and thus lowers growth potential. If the overfishing
affects herbivores, then coral growth is slowed at
> the same time that algae are given an advantage.
>
> In any case I agree with all the responders who
> pointed out that the proposed level from Angus seems
> quite high. I have not tested such high levels with
> corals, however. In an established aquarium with
> sandbed the dosing of ammonia to achieve this level
> would produce a spike for a limited time, followed
> by both nitrification and assimilation. The expected
> outcome would be excess algae, but with strong
> herbivory it MIGHT produce strong coral growth in
> certain species. Someone on the list probably knows
> of a saturation level for zooxanthellae assimilation
> of ammonia. That appears to be the main question--
> beyond a saturation level it would seem that any
> additional amount of ammonia added would have no
> benefit.
>
> Happy New Year!
>
> Julian
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov on
> behalf of D'Elia, Christopher F.
> Sent: Thu 12/29/2005 10:05 AM
> To: Stephen Lowes; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: RE: [Coral-List] NH4 Levels in Aquaria
>
> Steve, Angus, and others-
>
> I agree - these are very high levels of ammonia
> (~1.4 mM), and it suggests that denitrification
> needs to be enhanced in the aquarium. Note that in
> his book Aquarium Corals, Eric Borneman recommends
> that "ammonia levels should remain effectively
> undetectable or near zero parts per million (ppm)."
> In case you are not aware of it, his book is a
> scientifically based treatise on maintaining corals
> in aquaria, but is written with a lay audience in
> mind. It has superb pictures and illustrations. I
> recommend it highly.
>
> Chris D'Elia
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Stephen Lowes [mailto:slowes at twcny.rr.com]
> Sent: Wed 12/28/2005 8:11 AM
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: [Coral-List] NH4 Levels in Aquaria
>
>
>
> Angus:
>
> I'm not sure where you are getting your published
> NH4 levels for coral
> propagation. 20ppm NH4 would be very detrimental to
> any aquaria, fish or
> invertebrate culture. I run a small coral farm and
> strive for undetectable
> ammonia (ammonium), and nitrite levels. There is
> reasonable rationale for
> maintaining 1-5 ppm nitrate levels for efficient
> coral growth but there is
> little work published species by species.
>
> Steve Lowes, Ph.D.
>
> Angus, others.
>
> Sorry about the following but I am not familar with
> the aquarium worlds.
>
> Could you provide some of the "lot" references for
> ammonia NH4 being 20ppm
> for coral propagation as these levels far exceed the
> levels accepted for
> discharge of treated sewage effluent to marine
> waters.
>
> Are these levels acceptable for aquaria only ?? - I
> believe they would
> stimulate alot of alga in the tank or real water.
>
> Dr. Tom Williams
>
> --- Angus Macdonald <angus at ori.org.za> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> >
> >
> > A lot has been published about optimal NH4
> concentration in aquaria in
> > which coral is propagated. 20 ppm seems to be
> about right.
> > Is this in the right
> > ballpark and does it become toxic to hard or soft
> corals at higher
> > concentrations?
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Angus Macdonald
> >
> >
> >
> > Oceanographic Research Institute
> >
> > uShaka Marine World
> >
> > Point Road
> >
> > Durban
> >
> > (031) 328 8168
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Coral-List mailing list
> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >
>
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 18:47:16 -0400
From: "EWeil" <eweil at caribe.net>
Subject: [Coral-List] White Plague in PRico
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID: <9aab74c5aaf4416b93c10f4a2ceedd99.eweil at caribe.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Dear colleagues, apologies for delivering sad news at the begining of 2006.
An outbreak of white plague (WP) started in many reefs off La Parguera during late November-December. I went diving the last couple of days and found high numbers of M. faveolata, M. franksi, M. annularis, C. natans and D. labyrinthiformis, U.danae and M. ferox infected or recently killed by WP. Many colonies are still inefected but the disease seem to be slowing down (narrow white band) and arresting in many colonies as the water temp drops. This is the second time an outnreak of WP has followed a bleaching event in La Parguera. Similar outbreaks were reproted by J.iller for the US VI.
It seems that these observations support the high water temperature-stressing coral hypothesis. High temp might render them susceptible to infection by A. coralicida, or A. coralicida becomes more virulent, or a combination of these. We will be collecting samples next week to be checked by L. Richardson's A. coralicida probe.
Saludos!
Dr. Ernesto Weil
Department of Marine Sciences
University of Puerto Rico
PO BOX 3208
Lajas PR 00667
Pho: (787) 899-2048 x. 241
Fax: (787) 899-5500 - 2630
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2006 10:29:13 -0500
From: "jmcmanus" <jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu>
Subject: RE: [Coral-List] NH4 Levels in Aquaria
To: "'D'Elia, Christopher F.'" <cdelia at spadmin.usf.edu>, "'Julian
Sprung'" <julian at twolittlefishies.com>, "'Stephen Lowes'"
<slowes at twcny.rr.com>, <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Message-ID: <001301c60fb1$4a064230$4a00a8c0 at GOLIATH>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Would it not be the case that the ability of corals and their zooxanthellae
to assimilate biologically available nitrogen depends on the availability of
biologically available phosphorous and carbon? Are we to assume that the
latter are always in excess?
Cheers!
John
John W. McManus, PhD
Professor, Marine Biology and Fisheries
Coral Reef Ecology and Management Laboratory (CREM Lab)
Director, National Center for Coral Reef Research (NCORE)
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospherice Science
University of Miami, 33149
Office: 305-421-4814/4820, Fax: 305-421-4910, Website: www.ncoremiami.org
If I cannot build it, I do not understand it. -- Richard Feynman, Nobel
Laureate
-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of D'Elia,
Christopher F.
Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:27 PM
To: Julian Sprung; Stephen Lowes; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: RE: [Coral-List] NH4 Levels in Aquaria
Hi Julian et al.-
Len Muscatine, Ken Webb, Steve Domotor, Clay Cook, Gisele Muller-Parker and
I (in various collaborative combinations) published quite a few papers on
the nitrogen uptake kinetics of corals, anemones and isolated zooxanthellae.
Other folks, such as Alina, who has weighed in on this discussion, have also
published quite a bit on this topic. Many of these papers are cited in your
comprehensive Volumes I and II with Delbeek. Ammonia does not seem to
saturate based on the Muscatine and D'Elia 1978 paper, but I am not sure if
that means anything about growth since with very high N availability other
things would probably be growth limiting.
There is really no good study that I aware of linking the uptake of
dissolved inorganic nutrients to coral growth, and as you well know, it all
depends on the coral of interest as some corals seem to be more phototrophic
than others. (Even the paper linking fish excreta to coral growth as I
vaguely recall, is highly speculative about the effects of excreted N on
growth.) However, I do note that excess N addition may destabilize the
symbiosis and cause the zooxanthellae to "outgrow" the host, as Ove.
Hoegh-Guldberg and collaborators have shown. I would not think that this is
helpful to the coral symbiosis, so I think you are right when you say "MIGHT
produce strong growth in certain species."
The concentration of 20 ppm ammonium is really very high. I would think
that in such circumstances one would want to enhance denitrification to
remove excess N from the system. (Of course, this would require coupled
nitrification as well.)
I am struck by the fact that with all of the "academic" research that has
been conducted, I would not be surprised if there were not some aquarist out
there who may, through years of practical experimentation and observation,
be able to shed light on the relationship between dissolved N uptake and
coral growth.
Happy New Year to all,
Chris
________________________________
From: Julian Sprung [mailto:julian at twolittlefishies.com]
Sent: Sat 12/31/2005 10:51 AM
To: D'Elia, Christopher F.; Stephen Lowes; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: RE: [Coral-List] NH4 Levels in Aquaria
Dear Coral List,
I have been reading the responses to Angus with interest. I have a slightly
different angle to add-
I'm not sure but I believe that Angus was asking about maintaining an
elevated ammonia level to promote higher than normal growth rate in a coral
farm system.
In any aquarium system with a sand or gravel bed of any significant size,
living rock, strong illumination, various algae, and corals, the maintenance
of high levels of ammonia would be quite difficult without daily addition of
ammonia or lots of food. I don't think that Angus was asking about how to
lower the ammonia level in a system-- that happens automatically. On the
contrary I think he was exploring raising the level artificially to boost
coral growth. The concept has merit because to a limited extent it works.
Corals in the natural setting benefit from resident schools of fish that
release elevated levels of ammonia directly among the coral polyps. This
increases available nitrogen to a "level" in excess of the background
nutrient poor seawater. One of the downsides of overfishing is that it
potentially LOWERS the amount of nutrients a coral may recieve, and thus
lowers growth potential. If the overfishing affects herbivores, then coral
growth is slowed at the same time that algae are given an advantage.
In any case I agree with all the responders who pointed out that the
proposed level from Angus seems quite high. I have not tested such high
levels with corals, however. In an established aquarium with sandbed the
dosing of ammonia to achieve this level would produce a spike for a limited
time, followed by both nitrification and assimilation. The expected outcome
would be excess algae, but with strong herbivory it MIGHT produce strong
coral growth in certain species. Someone on the list probably knows of a
saturation level for zooxanthellae assimilation of ammonia. That appears to
be the main question-- beyond a saturation level it would seem that any
additional amount of ammonia added would have no benefit.
Happy New Year!
Julian
-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov on behalf of D'Elia,
Christopher F.
Sent: Thu 12/29/2005 10:05 AM
To: Stephen Lowes; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: RE: [Coral-List] NH4 Levels in Aquaria
Steve, Angus, and others-
I agree - these are very high levels of ammonia (~1.4 mM), and it suggests
that denitrification needs to be enhanced in the aquarium. Note that in his
book Aquarium Corals, Eric Borneman recommends that "ammonia levels should
remain effectively undetectable or near zero parts per million (ppm)." In
case you are not aware of it, his book is a scientifically based treatise on
maintaining corals in aquaria, but is written with a lay audience in mind.
It has superb pictures and illustrations. I recommend it highly.
Chris D'Elia
________________________________
From: Stephen Lowes [mailto:slowes at twcny.rr.com]
Sent: Wed 12/28/2005 8:11 AM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: [Coral-List] NH4 Levels in Aquaria
Angus:
I'm not sure where you are getting your published NH4 levels for coral
propagation. 20ppm NH4 would be very detrimental to any aquaria, fish or
invertebrate culture. I run a small coral farm and strive for undetectable
ammonia (ammonium), and nitrite levels. There is reasonable rationale for
maintaining 1-5 ppm nitrate levels for efficient coral growth but there is
little work published species by species.
Steve Lowes, Ph.D.
Angus, others.
Sorry about the following but I am not familar with the aquarium worlds.
Could you provide some of the "lot" references for ammonia NH4 being 20ppm
for coral propagation as these levels far exceed the levels accepted for
discharge of treated sewage effluent to marine waters.
Are these levels acceptable for aquaria only ?? - I believe they would
stimulate alot of alga in the tank or real water.
Dr. Tom Williams
--- Angus Macdonald <angus at ori.org.za> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
>
> A lot has been published about optimal NH4 concentration in aquaria in
> which coral is propagated. 20 ppm seems to be about right.
> Is this in the right
> ballpark and does it become toxic to hard or soft corals at higher
> concentrations?
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
>
>
> Angus Macdonald
>
>
>
> Oceanographic Research Institute
>
> uShaka Marine World
>
> Point Road
>
> Durban
>
> (031) 328 8168
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
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