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We're learning a lot, but there's still a lot we don't know. We are very grateful for the assistance and support that we're receiving. Sometimes we do things by instinct and it works. But we don't always know why and this is a report along this line. It's unusual but I had two contacts recently on what seemed like the same subject. One came after a crash while the other came just as the crash was beginning!
THE SYMPTOMS: 1) Water becoming murky. 2) Larger increase in the amount of algae growth. Stacie called after the crash and explained what she saw. Water turned murky, she kept feeding, Micro-Lobsters died. The objective was to clean-up, refill and restock the unit.
DISCUSSION: This happened to me once before in the early spring of 2003 before we formally recommended and supplied pure spirulina as a premium Micro-Lobster food. I needed to find out how much food could be given and the most obvious way was finding out how much is too much, then recommend feeding less than that. So I set up a 1/2-gallon breeder tank on my dining table and every time I ate breakfast, the Micro-Lobsters did too. I ate lunch and dinner and they did too! But the amounts that I fed were very small compared to other tanks being fed by the staff following our instruction guidelines: "Feed only as much as can be eaten in 1 to 2 hours and have a "no food day" after each feeding."
Although I was feeding three times per day everyday (21 times per week) instead of the recommended maximum three times per week, I was pretty sure that all food was eaten in two hours. About two months after the experiment began, the water turned murky! Normally the Micro-Lobsters were active and "swimming laps" but they were inactive and just hanging on to the upper parts of the tank walls. I stopped feeding and observed more carefully. In 4 to 5 days, the water began to clear and in about two weeks, the tank was back to normal and the Micro-Lobsters were active and swimming laps again. I suspect that I had overloaded the system and that there was some excess food and buildup of anaerobic bacteria known as a "bacterial bloom." Since then I've stayed with the more conservative feeding and haven't had this occur since.
FIRST AID PROCEDURES IF WATER TURNS MURKY: STOP FEEDING & CONTACT ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! I've heard of similar crashes that began with murky water. Those that kept feeding experienced a full crash and Micro-Lobsters died. If for any reason your unit crashes, for a modest fee, Fuku-Bonsai will assist and advise on how to clean, "cycle" your unit and restock with Micro-Lobsters. (Past customers only; we will not retrofit or restore tanks created by others.)
May 31, 2005: I received a call from Stacie from Southern California who reported she observed murky water a few days before. But she kept feeding, the unit crashed, but a single Micro-Lobster was still alive. I advised her to stop feeding and cut a deal with her to help me with an experimental procedure in exchange for a discount on restocking her tank and providing the needed supplies.
June 1, 2005: "Stacie, I'm sending a packet of Brackish Water Concentrate that is the amount for mixing with 1 gallon of distilled water. In addition to the water being sent with the Micro-Lobsters, you're going to need about 1 quart more or so. So mix about 1/4 of the packet with one quart of distilled water. Keep the balance and every 3 months or so, mix about 1/4 teaspoon and mix with one cup of distilled water. Remove one cup of old tank water and replace with the new water. This may benefit in your situation."
(Essentially, I was asking Stacie to test the new Brackish Water Concentrate and to consider making roughly a 14% water exchange every three months by replacing 1 cup of old water out of the roughly 7 cups in the Mini-Breeder Tank with 1 cup of "new water." The packet was enough for 1 gallon (16 cups) so at this rate, the packet of concentrate would last 4 years! Stacie had given a second unit as a gift so I was interested in her seeing if a 1-cup water change would have noticeable effect on that unit.)
Stacie called a few days later to report most of the replacement Micro-Lobsters arrived safely, that she had cleaning of her tank and that the bottom of the tank was really dirty (dark green deposit - looks like old food/algae). She mixed the proper amount of Brackish Water Concentrate with distilled water, added it to the water sent with the Micro-Lobsters and poured it into her cleaned tank where the survivor seemed happy to have company! All seemed to have gone well. Stay tuned for future reports.
WE KNOW HOW TO RESTOCK A UNIT THAT HAS CRASHED, BUT ALSO THINK WE KNOW HOW TO PREVENT THE CRASH! Read on for the success story that began when I was contacted by a really nice guy that I hadn't met for 47 years!
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March 22, 2005: David: I don't know if you can recall me, but I was your classmate at Roosevelt High Class of '58. Glad to see you're doing well with your business. I purchased one of your Micro-Lobster aquarium units last August at the VUE-Hawaii store in Kahala Mall. Great gift shop for Hawaiian type stuff. We've enjoyed watching them as they look like they're actually growing. The 7-watt light bulb gave out and I just haven't been able to find that specific bulb. Tried hardware stores, aquarium shops and even specialty lighting shops but with no success. I don't know how long they're supposed to last as we keep it on 24/7 partly to keep the water warmer in our cooler mainland environment. I haven't noticed any babies but they do seem to be getting larger. Are the younger ones not as orange and more plain colored? Also, even though we still have food, I'd also like to get another vial. When I was back in Honolulu this past Feb, VUE was out of it. Thanks. Brad Wong
It was great to make contact and I sent Brad a vial of food and light bulbs.
June 12, 2005: Dave: The mini-lobsters are doing well, but we notice a cloudiness of the water as well as algae building up on the inside of the tank as well as green growth on the rocks. The tank is placed on a shelf that got some afternoon sun during the winter months so that probably caused it. I don't thing it's harming the little critters but what can done to clear the scum. Could I transfer them temporarily to another tank and clean the original tank? Thanks for any advice. Brad
Aloha Brad, something's happening to the water chemistry and your system is aimed for a crash. Do not feed and move unit to a dark place. I'll be sending you by postal, 1 packet of Brackish Water Concentrate, and 1/2 cup of new pre-inoculated gravel. Please pick up one gallon of distilled water. Upon receipt, pour out about 1 cup of the cleanest water and set aside to be used with the new replacement water to help condition the water. Then pour out all remaining contents of the tank into a clean large plastic bowl including all gravel. Most of the Micro-Lobsters will come out and they are less hurt if you just dump out everything rather than try to get the gravel out stone by stone.
Pour water back into the tank to cover the main rock as some may be in the rock. Clean the inside of the tank with the stick cleaner. Pour out and rinse tank with a little distilled water. Mix half of the salt packet with 1/2-gallon of distilled water and fill tank 1/2 full. Pick out the small rocks and set aside. Net the Micro-Lobsters and replace into the tank by turning net inside out and allow Micro-Lobsters to touch the water and swim into the tank.
Please put some of the rocks (with green algae attached) with some of the dirty water sealed within two ziplock bags in a small plastic sealed jar and mail back to me to examine. If you have a digital camera, please take a series of photos before, during, and after. By coincidence something like this was reported just last week from a Hawaii gal who lives in southern California and her system crashed. With your help and photos, I may be able to put together an emergency protocol to place on the website. Look forward to your reply. Regards, ~~~David
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June 13, 2005: Dave: I did it! Following your instructions I cleaned the tank and replaced the water and rocks. There were no fatalities and they've survived overnight. Had a chance to finally count when I netted them and turns out I have about 2 dozen. I sent you a vial of water and some rocks for analysis so let me know what you find out. By the way, I purchased the tank in Aug 2004 so it's been about 10 months. I'm wondering if a couple of things could have set up this algae build-up. In the winter it would get the late afternoon sun for about an hour. Also, we've kept the light on 24/7. Mahalo, Brad
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June 21, 2005 Dave: Finally have an opportunity to give you a blow-by-blow of the Micro-Lobster tank recovery procedure. It's been a hectic last couple weeks as I was in a period to close my dorm for the academic year. I'm a Resident Student Advisor at Stanford University and handle an undergraduate dorm of 400 students, their housing problems as well as minor personal issues. It's not as bad as it sounds because most of the kids get through the year with no problem. It's usually only a 5 hr/day position with summers off, so it's been great as a retirement job. Compared to my job as an engineer at Lockheed, I find it refreshing here as I can interact with the students and in return it keeps me young, at least in spirit. Anyway, the Micro-Lobster tank has provided a nice calming touch to our busy world. So it caused quite a bit of concern when we started noticing the build-up of algae on the tank walls and a green growth on the rocks. It didn't seem to affect the Micro-Lobsters, but it started obscuring our vision. I had purchased the tank in Aug 2004 and hand-carried it to California, so this problem surfaced after 10 months. The environment is temperate with a late afternoon sun hitting it for an hour. The tank light was on 24/7. It helped to keep the water warm through the northern California winter. They were also fed twice a week with a toothpick. After receiving the opae-ula brackish water concentrate, a package of clean lava rocks and a scrubber, I followed your instructions and was able to clean the tank with seemingly no bad effects on the Micro-Lobsters. I used only distilled water even when rinsing the scrubber, brush and fishing nets. Step-by-step, I 1) scooped out and saved one cup of the tank water; 2) mixed the brackish water concentrate and let stand overnight; 3) poured out the rest of the tank water with all of the rocks and micro-lobsters into a plastic container (there was a stagnant odor); 4) poured in enough distilled water to scrub the walls and used a toothbrush to try with no success to clean the green growth on the large glued center rock; 5) rinsed out the tank with distilled water and wiped the insides; 6) filled the tank with the one cup of the originally saved tank water and the brackish water solution; 7) poured in the package of new lava rock; 8) netted the micro-lobsters and released them in the tank (I think I counted 24). I sent you a vial of the tank water as well as some rocks. Discover anything? It's been 10 days since the cleaning and the micro-lobsters are doing well. Took a few pictures, but it's pretty hard to capture them. The sun doesn't hit the tank anymore and I've put a timer on the light which clicks on for a few hours a day. Hope this synopsis helps in your investigation. Please let me know if you find anything out. Brad |
DISCUSSION. Brad's a solid highly competent fellow so it's no surprise that he's done so well. Mahalo Brad for sharing a fine report with great photos! I'm a bit shocked to find my classmates are retiring and I just can't imagine ever retiring as I really enjoy what I do!
I suspect Brad is over-feeding. He's had the unit for about 10 months and thinks he needs another vial. A number of other customers tell me they think their vial will last two years or more. Generally I recommend keeping the unit in a fairly dark place where it doesn't get bright sunlight and if algae grows, to move it into darker light. If a lot of algae grows, that's food for the Micro-Lobsters and you should cut back on the amount of spirulina that you feed.
Brad's count of 24 Micro-Lobsters is good as that was the original number packed about a year ago in the 1/2-gallon unit. If he's had no babies, that means 100% survived the FedEx trip to VUE-Hawaii in Honolulu and Brad's handcarry trip to California. But that's unlikely as there usually is some mortality and it is more likely that Brad had some reproduction to off-set the mortality. We are not yet sure why in some cases we see berried females and larvae while in other cases we only first notice tiny juveniles that tend to hide until they are about half of adult size. So even if you don't spot the early stages, if you have small ones in your tank, your tank is probably reproducing.
Brad's water samples show the start of detritus build-up and the growth of heavy green filamentous algae. Detritus is a Micro-Lobster food and green filamentous algae is also. If the tank is kept in the bright light and with lights on all the time, it will probably be able to produce enough food to be able to cut back and feed 75% to 90% or less food. If you enjoy feeding, turn off the lights and move the unit to a darker area. Green filamentous algae tends to grow in low salinity water in areas where opae'ula are the most abundant. The opae'ula tends to keep the algae down to just a thin growth. But in ponds where alien predator fish have been introduced, the algae often takes over the pond!
At the Micro-Lobster exhibit at the Fuku-Bonsai Cultural Center, we are experimenting with various types of lighting. Generally we leave the lights off except when visitors are enjoying the exhibit. Our BT-1D and BT-2 breeder tanks have the 7-watt incandescent lamp. The prototype 2.5-gallon Showstopper Breeder Tanks have 15-watt incandescent lamps. Two glass 2-gallon cylinder tanks have a fluorescent fixture. But one unit has a 20-watt Halogen lamp. This is the strongest light and the tank with the most successful breeding. But it also has the most green algae and there is concern that the unit may crash. To increase reproduction, more light is needed. But if there's too much light and too much algae grows, it is necessary to cut back on feeding! We will be starting a new set of trials to resolve this.
I'm starting to think that you need one set of conditions for easiest care but another set of conditions for optimum reproduction. But I hesitate to advise those wanting more reproduction to increase the light levels as this will increase the algae growth. If you do, cut back on the amount of spirulina. But there may be other answers!
In the short time after addressing Brad's situation, I supplied a BT-2 tank for optimum long-term holding of opae'ula research specimens and while our units have a solid track record, we needed "insurance". We, therefore, went back to standard aquarium practices and installed a sub-gravel aeration filter to produce an optimum environment. The steps for customers to "retro-fit" is explained in a new article: "CRASH-PROOFING; breeder tank modification to prevent crashing even if you tend to over-feed and keep the unit well lit."
Stay tuned! There's more to come! ~~~David
*** Go to "CRASH-PROOFING;" retro-fitting a sub-gravel aeration filter system!
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