[Coral-List] Black Band Disease

[DeeVon Quirolo]

The leading edge of Blackband disease is high in phosphorus, which is why
Reef Relief worked to get a strong phosphate ban for detergents in the
Florida Keys years ago after observing the spread of blackband and studying
its causes.   Best, DeeVon

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 9:03 AM, MelissaE Keyes <melissae.keyes at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Hello, Listers,
>
> Dr. Shinn comented,  "Black band disease also killed Montastrea species
> throughout the Caribbean. Its exact cause (i.e. the source of the pathogens)
> has never been identified, especially around uninhabited islands in the
> eastern Caribbean where sewage can not be blamed."
>
> I am wondering if the source could be African rivers.  Fresh water floats
> on salt water, and there is an eastward flowing Atlantic ocean current, and
> surface winds coming straight from Africa to the Caribbean.  Sahara dust
> makes the 6,500k trip, why not water borne pathogens?
>
> Gorgonia, sea fans, are suffering land diseases from runoff..  Perhaps a
> forty-odd day trip from the African coast isn't too great a time and
> distance for the survival of black band disease spoor.
>
> Also, there's runoff from the Orinoco river.  When conditions are mild, and
> the Orinoco's turbid fresh water plume reaches eastward of its' usual path
> northward between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, the water here in the Virgins
> becomes so green that a diver's own fins can barely be seen, i.e. water
> clarity drops tenfold.  I have seen this happen twice since 1988.mel
>
> Cheers,
>
> Melissa E. Keyes
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Melissa E. Keyes
> St. Croix,
> U.S.Virgin Islands
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-- 
DeeVon Quirolo

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Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948)

We can do no great things; only small things with great love.
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