The Coral Reef Project At Stratton Elementary School

[helen ann]

Beautiful! Haven't forgot about sending you a care package, will be breaking down my BC29 soon as I am upgrading and will have more stuff for you

 

[NBcoralreef]

Not sure if I announced it to R2R but I have a 7 week old son Will who is taking up a lot of my time. I promised my wife I'd only stay 3 hours after school, which means I often bring my son Will to my classroom late at night to catch up on things. At 1am Friday morning I turned on the lights to find this huge bristle? worm eating a snail. It seems like several snails have died under mysterious circumstances and I wonder if this critter is responsible. Pictures don't really show scale but it has to be at least 10+ inches long. I was so scared of dropping it, I couldn't get a good photo. I put in one of our QT tanks to see if we can grow it out.

All of our rotifer cultures have been contaminated with artemia. We only have one screen to strain our nauplii and rotifers and I'm guessing that a student didn't wash it out between the two cultures. The brine shrimp don't seem to negatively affect the rotifer population and once in a while we strain them out to give our fish a tasty treat.

Our two pet rats are taking my school by storm. I'm actually a little jealous that they are taking attention away from our reef tanks and new baby clownfish which are arguably just as cute (to me at least). Recently several students from other classes who've been extremely upset have been sent to my room for some 'rat time' to calm down. They make surprising good therapy animals and will fall asleep in your hand or sit for hours on your shoulders if you let them (though they can and will poop on you).

The schedule to take them home is getting increasing complex and I don't know how I'm going to manage it. Plus the response from some of the teachers in my building is becoming increasing divisive with multiple areas declared 'rat free zones'. Luckily my boss, Stephanie Eckels, who is amazing and the reason why I work at Stratton, has my back.

Last spring I blew off several people from R2R who wanted pictures. A lot of pictures were damaged by a water spill and during the end of the year craziness, shipping the rest out slipped my mind. We're still painting after school almost every day now and I hope to keep good on my offer of free pictures to those who want them. Aislin painted this one with a rat on her head almost the entire time.

That makes me think that the reason why our snail and a crab suddenly died might have been due to the increasing population of bristle-worms in our tank.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Most of the kids in my class have taken home mini cultures of rotifers and brine shrimp. They've been surprising successful in keeping them. I sent them home with reed mariculture rotogrow plus and some RO water to top off the jars.

The rotifers help clean up the good on the bottom if over feeding occurs. They are a source of food for the larger brine shrimp. The population of rotifers have been keeping pretty steady with proper feeding and the brine shrimp are now fully grown and reproducing.

The kids are super into keeping the cultures going at home, as you can see in the picture below. Robert is a master of the intense stare.

Lan from Algae Barn has been skyping in weekly to do mini marine biology lessons and answer student questions. Dude is super nice and I encourage you to buy from Algaebarn.com for all of your live food needs.

A branch of frogspawn is being slowly taken over by this sponge. Its been slowly growing up the skeleton and is now engulfing the coral polyps.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

That makes me think that the reason why our snail and a crab suddenly died might have been due to the increasing population of bristle-worms in our tank.

I think that my inverts were dying from high nitrates.

 

[revhtree]

So awesome!

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Our recent batch of clownfish are healthy and growing. Think? they're about 6 weeks old and the mortality rate is now about zero. Still feeding artemia everyday but now the bulk of their diet is TDO Chroma Boost from Reed Mariculture. I'm working with my sponsor Quality Marine to sell them once they're big enough. I will also offer them for free to any hobbyist in the area who wants to pick up a pair in person.

I've been thinking hard about how expand our breeding setup to include more students and rear more fish. Still trying to scrounge more supplies and money from donors and community groups. Recently Nipun and my new student leader Alice gave a presentation on our project to a local freshwater fish breeding club connected to the University of Illinois.

I hope to start hatching out eggs at least twice a month. Our pair of saddleback clownfish spawn regularly but it's hit or miss whether they lay on a surface that can be removed from the aquarium. We have a dozen or so other clownfish in our various tanks but none are mature enough to reproduce. Our mated pair are so happy in my reef system I don't want to put them in another tank. I'm trying to buy a fully grown and spawning pair from someone so I have another source for eggs but until then my friend Justin Rhodes is donating ocellaris clownfish eggs from his research lab. My class took a field trip to his lab last Friday.

Evani and Sam, and other kids from my class look at clownfish eggs under a dissecting mircoscope with Ross (Dr. Rhode's graduate student). We don't always know the exact time when our clownfish spawn and though we're trying to get better at record keeping, it's also possible to determine gestational age by looking at a sample under the microscope. I try to leave the eggs with their parents as long as possible before pulling them out.

Students take notes on clownfish behavior, including behavior that proceeds laying and dominatrix behavior in takes full of juvenile clownfish. Ross is an excellent teacher and pretty good at keeping my kiddos interested. He is the first person to breed this rare type of clownfish from madagascar.

We also spent some time discussion our different plankton cultures and looking at rotifer development under microscopes more powerful than our classroom models. This picture shows a 'young' rotifer growing its tail flange thingy.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Dr. Rhodes is studying clownfish neurology, specifically hormonal and neurological changes that occur when clownfish develop gender and reproduce. As most fish keepers know, clownfish are born sterile males and depending on environmental triggers can develop into a females or fertile males. Female fish are more aggressive, but unlike many other animals, their aggression isn't associated with heightened levels of testosterone. To study the effects of hormones on brain and reproductive tissue development, researchers have to dissect fish in different stages of development and collect tissue samples. They have this crazy machine that allows them to make micrometer thin slices of brain tissue. Though not glamorous, I think it's the most impressive piece of equipment they have. Wish they'd let me play with it.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Two weeks ago, I had a local hobbyist donate two 'rescue' tangs that have extreme lateral line disease that were about to die in his tank. I'm keeping them in our cleanest tank and feeding them enriched nori and LRS reef frenzy. Looking forward to doing some before and after pics do document how the quality products of my sponsors. Keeping clean water and using quality salt like Tropic Marin and feeding good food like LRS Reef Frenzy is really all of the intervention that most sick fish need.

 

[ReefFrenzy]

Wow, I cannot believe how this school reef project has expanded it's scope in the few short years we have been a sponsor. You guys are really doing amazing things and the exposure to advanced reefing these children are getting is unbelievable. We are honored to be a part of this and we are overdue for a Skype session! Will your students be at the Aquatic Experience next month?

 

[Reef Nutrition]

I am looking forward to more Brandon. I am a little surprised by the scope of this project as well as the size. Great job keeping it all together! The clownfish look really good. We will continue to support this amazing effort. I hope to see you and the students at Aquatic Experience. We are a Silver Sponsor for the event as well as the towel sponsor. Stop by the booth and I'll get you and the kids some towels and t-shirts.

Chad

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Our latest hatch of clownfish are doing great. We have 80+ that are about 1/2 an inch with zero mortalities. I'm going to move them to a larger tank soon and have a new batch of eggs that we're pulling from our reef tank Saturday.

One of the clownfish seems to have some kind of deformity. I just noticed it today and am not sure if it was always like this or if it recently developed the condition. It is having trouble swimming and tends to float up to the surface of the water. Its eyes are popped out and its skull or skin is swollen and red.

I'm guessing that some deformity is common when breeding large quantities of fish but I want to rule out any kind of infection that might affect the other fish (who all look healthy to me).

Anyone on R2R want to weigh in?




On another note, we're going rat crazy and now have 12.

 

[NBcoralreef]

My tank has this red and hairy layer of maybe algae on the sand and it has suddenly started growing and spreading on the sand. The water chemistry of my tank is fine. But I would like to get rid of this red stuff. Any suggestions?

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

My tank has this red and hairy layer of maybe algae on the sand and it has suddenly started growing and spreading on the sand. The water chemistry of my tank is fine. But I would like to get rid of this red stuff. Any suggestions?

Awesome project you guys are working on! Just spent about an hour reading through this thread. Very impressed to say the least. Keep up the great work!
Now to the question at hand:
That looks to be cyano (a bacteria). Spirulina algae is also a possibility. Being able to ID between the two is possible on a microscopic level. However, You can test to see which it is by performing a hydrogen peroxide test by manually removing a portion by siphoning into a small jar or Tupperware container with airline tubing. Once in the container add a bit more water (about 2 cups total) and 1ml of peroxide. Let it sit out for an hour or so (1-2) and see if the water in the container has changed colors. If it is pink/red water, you have a positive ID for cyano. If water remains the same, more probable to be spirulina algae. Let me know how the test comes out. Regardless of results, you can manually remove by siphoning with airline tubing. Just make sure to cut off flow in the tank as to not spread it while removing. Hope this helps.

 

[NBcoralreef]

Awesome project you guys are working on! Just spent about an hour reading through this thread. Very impressed to say the least. Keep up the great work!
Now to the question at hand:
That looks to be cyano (a bacteria). Spirulina algae is also a possibility. Being able to ID between the two is possible on a microscopic level. However, You can test to see which it is by performing a hydrogen peroxide test by manually removing a portion by siphoning into a small jar or Tupperware container with airline tubing. Once in the container add a bit more water (about 2 cups total) and 1ml of peroxide. Let it sit out for an hour or so (1-2) and see if the water in the container has changed colors. If it is pink/red water, you have a positive ID for cyano. If water remains the same, more probable to be spirulina algae. Let me know how the test comes out. Regardless of results, you can manually remove by siphoning with airline tubing. Just make sure to cut off flow in the tank as to not spread it while removing. Hope this helps.

Thank you for the advice. I finally did the test as per your instructions and the color of the water changed to light pink. What is causing the cyano outbreak? I see it sticking to the glass of the tank too. Could lighting(I've a basic flourescent light)in the tank increase this problem or am I feeding it too much? I've 2 clownfish,a starfish,a goby and a cleaner shrimp in my 10g tank. Thanks.

 

[chickofthesea]

What is your temperature? It was suggested to me once that reducing the temp would help. I had it once and did manage to get rid of it. Not sure what I did but I did lower temp along with lots of water changing.

 

[chickofthesea]

I had a fun time with all the students at the aquatic experience.

 

[chickofthesea]

 

[chickofthesea]

I tried. Lol

 

[NBcoralreef]

What is your temperature? It was suggested to me once that reducing the temp would help. I had it once and did manage to get rid of it. Not sure what I did but I did lower temp along with lots of water changing.

Our temperature stays between 74.6 F-78F.

 

[chickofthesea]

Our temperature stays between 74.6 F-78F.

Maybe try to keep it stable at 72 and see what happens. Does your temp go up because of the light bring on?