Wild Collected Macro/seaweeds

[thefirethief]

Good Evening all! I'm planning a captive bred Hippocampus Breviceps system that I hope to be filled with lots of lovely Macro's including plenty of Sargassum however sourcing plants that will thrive in lower temperatures isn't going to be easy. That's where I had the idea to collect Macroalgaes from local(ish) beaches here along the west coast of Scotland.

My biggest concern is that the Macroalgaes will be carrying pathogens that are alien to the seahorse immune system, which is almost certainly going to cause problems.

The plan is to freshwater dip everything I collect and leave the system to run for a few months, that way things will have time to establish or die off.


So my question is, do you think the FW dip is an adequate measure to take to ensure the safety of my livestock?

 

[SkiFletch]

I think actually a QT of the plants of a month is a better option than the FW dip. Basically set it up with the plants you collected and leave the tank seahorseless for a month. Should give any pathogens ample time to die without a host

 

[Colin_T]

you will probably kill the macro algae if you give it a freshwater dip. Most marine alga have very thin cell walls that rupture easily. A minor change in salinity or temperature can damage them.

There aren't many parasite that get transmitted from the ocean to the aquarium. I collect natural seawater for all my tanks and virtually every shop around here uses it too. We never have problems with diseases or parasites getting into the tanks and affecting fish or seahorses.

The best way to get the macro algae is to chisel off a piece of rock with algae on it. Then keep it in water out of the sun. When you get it home make sure you acclimatise them for a while. I prefer to collect enough natural seawater and bring it home with the algae. Then set the tank up with the new water and put the plants straight in.

Marine algae need good water movement and bright light.

 

[Donya]

Don't FW dip your macro - that runs a chance of killing it or badly damaging it. IME a sudden low salinity dip can actually trigger releasing spores and/or generally falling apart and turning into sludge depending on the maco species (while a more gradual shift won't have the same effect). Hardy beach macro species that have to huge tolerate salinity swings would obviously handle it better than others, but it is really much better to QT.

 

[thefirethief]

Thanks for the quick response everyone!

Skifletch, QT for a month or so sounds good. That's actually pretty straightforward for me. The place I'm getting them from has only just imported some WC pairs, so it'll be the middle of the year at the earliest before any captive breds are available. Gives me plenty of time to get things on the go.

Colin, thanks for the response. Encouraging to hear that you guys use seawater without any issues. My lighting is around 3WPG, which I'm hoping will ample for the stuff I collect around here. Almost every day here in Scotland is overcast, especially at this time of year. As Donya say's, I'd imagine the beach stuff I collect will be almost indestructable. That said, my understanding of rockpool ecology is zero, so I might be way off.

Donya, I was actually guessing the stuff, being from the beach, would be hard as nails but going on the other advice, I don't even know if thats much of an issue if I only need to QT.



I'd like this system to be pretty stable and self sufficient so my next decision is whether or not include a chaeto refugium for nutrient uptake and zooplankton production. I don't know if the chaeto growth will have a detrimental effect on the display algaes though? I think this might just be a case of getting the finger out and experimenting. It's nice to hear other opinions though.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well the difficulty here is mixing coldwater species with warmwater species... Might be hard to get chaeto to grow at temps low enough to keep the algaes you collect healthy. And vice versa, may not be able to sustain the collected algaes at temps chaeto would prefer.

 

[thefirethief]

Yeah thats something I had thought about but apparently chaeto will be fine at those temperatures. That's why I chose that over any of the caulerpa species.

 

[Donya]

may not be able to sustain the collected algaes at temps chaeto would prefer.

I know of two people who set up nanos including coldwater beach macro species, and their tanks seem to be doing fine at room temperature. They collected species from the beaches of Sweden and Iceland and one of them is keeping the coldwater species successfully with red sea species, so evidently the wide-spred beach varieties they collected are pretty hardy (of course, I don't remember the exact genera they had...I'll have a look for that later today if I can findi t referenced). So far I don't think they've had any failures with the coldwater macro species the've collected over time.

 

[thefirethief]

may not be able to sustain the collected algaes at temps chaeto would prefer.

I know of two people who set up nanos including coldwater beach macro species, and their tanks seem to be doing fine at room temperature. They collected species from the beaches of Sweden and Iceland and one of them is keeping the coldwater species successfully with red sea species, so evidently the wide-spred beach varieties they collected are pretty hardy (of course, I don't remember the exact genera they had...I'll have a look for that later today if I can findi t referenced). So far I don't think they've had any failures with the coldwater macro species the've collected over time.

Sounds good then donya. Do you have any links/pictures of your friends tanks? I just need to decide on what to do with the sump and get things plumbed and I'll be able to start collecting. I'll put a thread up on here when I do, let ye know how things are going.