Pests-cyano,hair algae,mantis,white spot,velvet and more in the marine aquarium

These can be a risk to different forms of life in the aquarium as the pests vary considerably.

The most important things to do when trying to keep a marine aquarium free of pests is to wash all coral and algae life form before placing it into the aquarium.

For the reduction of white spot and velvet, do not use a substrate of any kind in the display tank and provide a stress free tank!

To reduce the chances of roundworm, wash elegance corals in iodne

The fresh water, not salt water you wash these new tank additions with must be either from a reverse osmosis filter, rain water if not near a city with smog or the cheaper and easier option, tap water neutralised and left in the sun for a day or two.

This water, once PH buffed, can be used over and over again!

Leave the water you wish to use for washing your algae-corals in a bucket or similar to remain at room temperature and ad a slight amount of PH buffer each time you go to use it,leave a air stone running or a power head in this water for a few minutes to an hour to mix the buffer properly before using.

The stress of the freshwater bath for your new inverts is bad enough so you do not want the added stress of the freshwater being quite acidic harming it even more.

Just rinse the coral or algae in some of your tank water to begin with and throw away that water than leave it sit in the freshwater for a few minutes, making sure the freshwater is a not great deal of different in temperature to the waters of your tank.

The coral or algae is now ready and most likely free of pests and can be put into the aquarium.

This will stress the life forms and for a time they will need to recover, so with good tank conditions and nothing bothering it in the aquarium, it will settle down nicely.

Botryocladia sp-red grape algae or Red bubble algae.

This form of cyano is a problem in two ways.
The first is these algae can infest your entire tank and nothing can cope with its spread like corals as such, it will win!
The second is that all cyano when touched can spread via its spores or in this ones case, by the fluids with in and when aquarium temps go beyond 27c,they expel toxic spores that can harm all aquarium life!
Get rid of it as soon as possible,most lilely you will have to tear down everything and start again with new live rock.




Plakobranchidae
This extreme eater of algae will wipe out your caulerpa in no time.
Another good reason to always wash algae and soft corals before introducing them any where in your marine system.




Aptasia.

This colonizing anemone can get out of hand quite fast when introduced normally via live rock as many other pests are as well!

These can irritate your fish as they brush past them giving them a small sting to as much as consuming one of your small tank additions.

To help wipe out these creatures, firstly they do not like high KH conditions in the aquarium as most morphs and other anemones as well.

There are many fish and inverts that will eat these pests, some small wrasse will eat them, all dwarf angel fish eat them, all chaetodons will potentially graze on them, also the forcepiger and chelmon/copper band will at times feed on them if they can reach them!

Cray fish will eat these and the most prolific remover of these is the Aus peppermint shrimp,10 peps per foot of tank will wipe out any communities of this pest in a short time and feed on any available cyano as well.

The manual treatment of these pests can be a hypodermic needle used to inject vinegar into the flesh of each one, inject say ten per day; the vinegar will disrupt Ph in abundance, so not to often!




Red cyano-bacteria life form.

Cyano bacteria are nothing to do with algae, yet its oldest ancestor that gave the earth its first oxygen did evolve to become the first plant life.

This is the standard red cyano on the substrate surface.



The surface of this form of cyano.


A close up of the oxygen bubbles as a bi product from the photosynthetic capacity of cyano bacteria.




Hair algae.
This type of algae has a slight toxic content that will repel some algae grazers.
The best fish to potentially eat this are tangs, not surgeon fish.




Mantis shrimp in marine aquarium.

For the sake of your aquarium life it's better off dead or in another aquarium or use it for fish food
In a more primitive form, it was the first large predator.

This not a shrimp and is directly related to dry lands praying mantis.

Classed as the most affective killing machine on the planet should never be let loose in the display tank for as ti grows it will kill near every thing.

Make sure you check your new live rock for mantis shrimp and crabs before entering it into your tank!

With a mantis there are traps for these that you can purchase from most aquarium shops or you can make you’re own out of a plastic coke bottle or similar.

Another more violent way is leave the aquarium for a few hours after the light goes off.
Now use a torch or switch on the lights and have a length of 8 mill timber Dowel ready to use, if you want you can cut a slot in the dowel and insert a Stanley knife razor blade or a needle.

You then find the mantis shrimp or crab and hold the dowl over it and push down on its head and it is history.

It might take a few goes, but it is soon very dead.

The best way is to drill a fine hole in the end of the dowle push in a needle, or just force it in to the end of the dowl and that one works on fish, once you have exhausted all other ways of removal.

This achieves no disturbance to your live rock positioning in relation to its biological attributes.

It sounds bad, but I have known people that class it as a tank saver!



White spot-ich.
A parasitic species of protist.
White spot is always accompanied by velvet as the next line of mutation for protists if the initial infestation of white spot lingers long enough.

The first signs of the white spot blister eggs sacks.



This pic is of a full-blown first infestation to this fish.



This black ocelaris has a majority of velvet with some white spot.



A blue tang with some white spot.



An isopod, blood-sucking parasites that can some times be found in the fishes gill area.
Lay the fish in wet material leaving the parasite exposed and grab this parasite with tweezers and pull it off or out.



Blue tang with white spot damage and a paravortex black turbellarian flatworm infestation.
These worms live with in a substrate in the aquarium that is abundant with detritus and literally dirty waters.
As an adult they infest vulnerable fish species with small scales.



Clown fish with black worm taking hold and the stress of this infestation has brought on the start of white spot.



Round worm usually only found on elegance coral.
Before placing the coral in the aquarium always dip with coral revive or if noticing the infestation as quick as possible take the coral out and apply the dip.



Most of the aquariums parasites are a result of a substrate housing them in the aquarium combined with a stress response from your fish that these creatures that van lay in wait for a very long time,can sense.

It is impossible to rid your aquarium of parasites if there are inverts present!!