SandJ

Is it turf algae?

I store mine full of rodi water.

Some people just put super glue over them.

I would probably be more concerned with infection than palytoxin if you do not show symptoms within the first few hours. Mycobacterium marinum seems to be one of the more severe infections, and can lead to hospitalization/surgery. And there was that man on Monsters Inside Me that had a barnacle growing in his hand. You do not have to have a cut to get palytoxin. It can actually be absorbed through the skin. As well as inhaled if it becomes aerosolized (boiling, pressure washing, etc...). In the case in Alaska, it seems that the palytoxin may have became airborn. Some of the people reported "visible mist and sensed humidity" in the home.

Another option if it is cyano (and not spirulina) is hydrogen peroxide. You can do a quick test on the algae by placing some in a cup with hydrogen peroxide. If the water turns red, you have cyano. If you treat the tank with hydrogen peroxide and it does not go away, you may also have spirulina.

Now I am going to have to try this and see if I see any in my tanks. The kids and I take a flash light out in the yard and look for spiders. Their eyes will reflect also.

Want to say thank you to saltwateraquarium.com for the IM Aqua Gadget ReefRack50 I won! Can't wait to try it out! Thank you for supporting WAMAS :0)

Oooh, good article. This is the one I have https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6431a4.htm

I don't think it is as much of a warning to the aquarists, as info in case you are sick and not able to tell someone or as an aid for emergency personnel.

I have had the same thought. I was thinking of making a refrigerator magnet style one. That way it could be grabbed quickly and given to first responders or er doctor. Also, you could just print them as photos (4x6) and they could be mounted as magnets if desired. Should only cost a few cents to print. Probably would like to see it list: -symptoms (human and maybe animal) -What to do (I actually don't know some of this like should you rinse your eyes? Induce vomiting? Does rinsing skin with anything specific break down the palytoxin faster?) -Poison control number (is there a poison control for animals?) I have talked with my family about the symptoms and what to do. I also printed out the CDC info sheet on it and the family knows that is in the front of my fish binder.

Wry creative way to repurpose lenses! And awesome pictures! After looking at what all lives in a single drop of water under the microscope I think twice about starting a syphon with my mouth now lol

Using a fish to cycle has been a method for many years and many people still do it. But to me using pure ammonia is just an easier and measurable way to start the cycle. Plus if the fish was not quarantined, you can risk adding a disease to your tank. And some fish can be very difficult to catch once in the tank, and people sometimes find the damsels (especially the blue with a yellow tail) can be a more aggressive fish that they no longer want. A stressed fish may breath fast, stop eating, and with ammonia burn you may notice the gills are red.

If you have .5 ppm of ammonia, that is a dangerous level for the fish. While the ammonia level is serving the purpose of cycling the tank, it is also damaging the fish. As long as you have ammonia showing, you have not cycled yet. First you add an ammonia source to the tank. I like to use pure ammonia when cycling because you can measure exactly how fast the bacteria can process ammonia (Can't do that now with a fish in the tank). The fish is adding the ammonia in your tank. Then the bacteria population that breaks ammonia into nitrites increases, so you will see ammonia decrease and nitrites increase. Next, the nitrites will be broken down into nitrates by a different bacteria. Nitrites decrease and nitrates increase. This is when your tank is considered cycled. What test kit are you using to test for ammonia? The API test kits are notorious for giving false positives. If you are using an API, you may want to run the ammonia test on fresh salt water as a control, just to make sure it is giving you an accurate result. And someone correct me if I am wrong on this please...you will want to add fish slowly after the tank has cycled. The tank has grown enough bacteria to process the ammonia from the fish you have in it. When you add more fish, the ammonia production in the tank will increase and it will take the bacteria a little while to catch up.

We just had the lights of flash. No big deal, happens some times. Only tonight I think it killed my EB8. None of the outlets work. :0( It is not the outlet or the breaker. The head unit still works. Nothing happens if I push the white breaker button (with a 15 on it). I can push it in a little, but it does not pop or click. Anyone have any suggestions on repairing it?

Just FYI in case someone is looking for one of these :0) Hydor Koralia Smartwave Reef Pump Kit for Aquariums, 240 GPH https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G494D5Y/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_tai_PHpmybE7K4XR3 It is showing up as $104 if you click on the link. Search through the lightning deals and you can find it for the sale price. Or it may show up the correct price when you put it in your cart.