Well folks, nothing new to say really. There are PNG Maroons being held @ Blue Zoo Aquatics by the trusty staff there…they’ll send them to me when the time is right. In the meantime, the Lightning Maroon enjoys swimming in its Bubble Tip Anemones, and I enjoy being a new dad! Yes, not much to say…amazing how “boring” and un-news-worthy each day is when there’s nothing to say other than “it’s still alive” 🙂
I have 4 empty tanks up and running, fully established and ready for new PNG Maroons. Some of these are dividable as well. I’ve been setting my sights on getting the fishroom at large up and running, as well as trying to figure out a permanent home for the Lightning Maroon and its mate (when it’s finally paired up!). I’m sure this wait is simply killing some of you out there…nothing good in this hobby ever happens when you rush it!
- About The Lightning Project
- Inventory of F1 PNG Lightning and White Stripe Maroon Clownfish
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, BZLM1
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, BZLM2
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, FW1
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM10
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- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM14
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- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM16
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM17
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM18
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM19
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM20
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM3
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM4
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM5
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- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM9
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, MD1
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, MWP3
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, WS17
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon, EC1
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon, GL1
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, BZWS1
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, BZWS2
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, BZWS3
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS10
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS11
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS12
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS13
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS14
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS15
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS16
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS4
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS5
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS6
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS7
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS8
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS9
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon, EC2
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- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon, GL2
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- Lightning Breeding Directive
- Lightning Maroon Clownfish Links
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- About The Lightning Project
- Inventory of F1 PNG Lightning and White Stripe Maroon Clownfish
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, BZLM1
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, BZLM2
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, FW1
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM10
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM11
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM12
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM13
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM14
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM15
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM16
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM17
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM18
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM19
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM20
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM3
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM4
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM5
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM6
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM7
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM8
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, LM9
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, MD1
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, MWP3
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon Clownfish, WS17
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon, EC1
- F1 PNG Lightning Maroon, GL1
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, BZWS1
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, BZWS2
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, BZWS3
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS10
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS11
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS12
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS13
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS14
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS15
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS16
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS4
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS5
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS6
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS7
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS8
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon Clownfish, WS9
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon, EC2
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon, FW2
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon, GL2
- F1 PNG White Stripe Maroon, MD2
- Lightning Breeding Directive
- Lightning Maroon Clownfish Links
Browsing Posts published by TheLightningProject
So good news! The fine folks @ SEASMART and BLUE ZOO have more PNG Maroons for me, on their way from Fisherman’s Island! Amazing how a short chain of custody, with fish collected specifically to fill particular orders, can work to the hobbyist’s benefit. I’m eager to see what arrives and to document it all.
But of course, things couldn’t go smoothly. That’s just not the way. Patience is key if you’re going to find the right time.
First, it was a snowstorm in Duluth MN in MAY. Yes, it SNOWED. Mark Martin was all set to send ’em, but a snowstorm isn’t really ideal for the fish to make it here safely. Check it out! No Joke!
Yes...that's May 7th, 2010!
Of course, I figured probably, after the weekend, things would be better. But Sunday night, my wife and I got the surprise of our lives. Our baby was coming a full month early and there wasn’t gonna be any stopping it. We didn’t know what we were having. Monday morning, May 10th, 7:15 AM, Renee and I had our first child, a baby boy, coming in at 5 lbs, 5 oz., and 17″. We named him Ethan Thomas Pedersen!
Ethan Thomas Pedersen, born 5-10-10
So…being premature (and missing having an obligatory stay at the NICU by a DAY), we’ve had a crazy week. I instantly had to let Mark know that nothing could be shipped until further notice! Everything fish-related has been in a holding pattern. We’d been staying at the hospital day and night since he was born, and as recently as this afternoon, it was looking like he’d be there until Sunday at least. Mostly, I just snuck in a couple times a day to take the dog out, feed the fish, and maybe a water change here and there. But, a few hours ago, in what I can only describe as another stunning twist, they gave Ethan the green light to come home!
So finally we’re home, and life, while never returning to “normal” as I knew it, will still hopefully settle down a bit and we’ll get into a routine. Part of that routine means being home and able to handle new fish when the arrive on my doorstep. Mark has been waiting patiently, and currently, the 10-day forecast is showing daytime highs in the 70’s. With no snow in sight, and me returning to work next week, the timing is finaly perfect for the newest ambassadors from Papua New Guinea (and SEASMART) to show up on my doorstep. There will be fresh rounds of quarantine, and if all goes well, we could be back to pairing attempts in a few weeks!
In the meantime, the Lightning Maroon has settled in, enjoys his three Bubble Tip Anemones, and in every respect has adjusted to captive life. It’s only a matter of time before the next chapter begins.
My May/June 2010 issue of CORAL Magazine just arrived today. I knew what was coming, but still, it’s always exciting to get a fresh issue of CORAL. Ret Talbot’s article in Reef News on the Lightning Clown provides yet another view on the story of the Lightning Maroon. There’s a bit more about SEASMART as well, and a grew new photo of the collectors in PNG! Ret knows I’m wanting to talk more about SEASMART (and sustainable collection) in the future here at the Lighting Project, and I hope we get to pull that together soon. In the meantime, go look for the newest issue of CORAL Magazine – it looks like THIS!
Me? I was at MASC’s Reef Ed in Colorado all last weekend, got to hang out with Christina and Chris Pearson, Andrew Berry, Gale, Joe Thompson, Eric Borneman, Jake Adams and Guin Burnard. I love events like this, and I’m going to strongly encourage hobbyists to patronize their clubs and events. You get a whole different experience than reading or posting online. Don’t think the talks are going to be boring because even if they ARE, you will STILL learn a lot that will make you a better marine hobbyist in ways you can’t anticipate. So yeah, I finished moving, went to Reef Ed to speak on captive breeding, and returned home to spend every evening this week in birthing classes (my wife is due in 5 weeks).
Lightning Clown? It’s still living in a breeder net. Happy with a good appetite. I thought I saw some dislodged scales, but it’s hard to tell with the net. I DO know that our Onyx Percs have come down with what may be Brook or Amyloodinium, it’s hard to say, but they’re doing white well and will likely pull out with no treatment. I’ve seen ’em worse. It is arguably perhaps for the best that my attention to the fish is limited…it’s allowing them to just sit, eat, and recuperate from the move.
I gotta say, the “Breeder Net” kinda sucks. I’m having to think about the long term home for the Lighting Maroon (any tank, filter and lighting manufacturers looking to sponsor the Lighting Project by giving ‘El BOLT a better home, I welcome offers!). I also got some “news” this evening that’s made me smile, but I don’t want to speak prematurely!
Some of the readers of this blog are aware that we had a pending home purchase in the works when this project started. Thankfully it was a short move. NOTHING like my marathon 8-hour drive move from Chicago, IL to Duluth, MN, where I moved 4 reefs and 2 juvie tanks all in one shot in one car. No, this was not going to be anything that drastic.
The short story is that after months of wrangling with the seller (Freddie Mac) we were supposed to close on Friday. Let me tell you now that Freddie Mac, as a seller, was absolutely horrible to deal with. We probably got a great deal on the house, and now that I sit here I’m pretty happy about it I guess. But if you find yourself looking to purchase a foreclosure (we didn’t know it was when we first put in offers), be forewarned that what you hear about foreclosure purchases is probably true. Whoever was handling our house as Freddie Mac genuinely should be fired. I say that because Freddie Mac is a company and had something to sell. When you are trying to sell something to a consumer, the last thing you should do is treat them like crap and screw up the deal. Honestly, were it not for my wife, I would’ve walked away from the entire deal sometime last week, and yes, it would’ve largely been out of spite and teaching someone a lesson.
I had several members of our local marine aquarium club, LSMAC (Lake Superior Marine Aquarium Club) who were going to come help move stuff, including fish. Of course, the seller screwed things up on their side and pushed our closing to Monday. Which meant all that great help in moving basically evaporated. My inlaws (bless them!) came Sunday and helped us pack. Renee did all she could despite being almost 8 months pregnant. We moved all the house stuff into trucks on Sunday, and all Monday we unloaded, again with the help of my wife’s parents, as well as a coworker’s husband and one of his friends (wow, thanks again…two people to me who are basically strangers helped us move – I am still floored and grateful they came to our rescue to help!).
The first opportunity to move fish came Tuesday evening, when fellow aquarist Nick Krumrie came to my rescue and helped me move the 4 reefs. Things really couldn’t have gone more smoothly. We moved each 24 gallon nanocube one at a time. Basically draining out the water, saving it all in buckets, removing the rocks and fish, driving them to the new house and setting them back up. Nick got to try his hand at aquascaping the second one we moved and he did some stuff I’ve never tried with those rocks! Interesting to see someone else’s creativity with the same materials.
And no, I’m not forgetting…you’re all here to read about the Lighting Maroon Clownfish! Well, I’m happy to report that the tank housing him (and the Labrador Maroon from Frank & Mary) was the last one we moved on Tuesday night. It’s a bit over 24 hours later, and the Lightning Maroon is doing fine. I haven’t fed today because the tanks are already compromised…no need to add MORE waste to them at this point. The only loss I’ve had on this move was a male Orange-Tail Dottyback…killed by the female. I knew it was risky letting them “play” but they’ve been next to each other for months while forcing the sex reversion. The best time to introduce them was when EVERYONE was new to the tank, or so I thought. Figures. Chalk up another breeding failure.
I’ll leave you with an interesting side note. I think I discovered a way to stimulate Red Bubble Tip Anemones to split. I say that, because I moved four clones on Tuesday night. 2 were recent splits and are small, but the other 2 were rather large (i.e. one filled up a 6 gallon nanocube). I noticed today that the 2 large ones both have split following the move, and they are in totally different tanks. It’s definitely NOT coincidence…something about the move caused them to split.
As best as I can determine, I’m guessing there was a temperature drop combined with a lack of circulation, and/or possibly having physical stress being placed on the anemone during the moving process (i.e. low water levels, sagging weight). In other words, a bit of “stress” applied to the anemone caused a healthy mature specimen to split. I don’t know if it was one stimuli or a combination, but it’s certainly no coincidence in my opinion.
Interesting find. I wonder if it can be replicated again or by someone else.
So just discovered the female PNG Maroon dead this morning. End of her story. The entire tank has crashed out…once agian, a tank running for months and at one point had 150 small black ocellaris in it. . Both anemones I had in the tank are dead too. Basically I was unable to do anything yesterday with the house closing and the move, and that was all it took for things to crap out big time. As best as I can piece together, I’m going to blame the Methelyne Blue dip. Here’s what I think happened.
I think that despite the rinse water following the Methelyne Blue dip, that enough Methelyne Blue made it back into the tank to kill the anemone. Afterall, the fish that had just been dipped went straight back into the anemone, possibly carrying with it whatever small amounts of Methelyne Blue made it past the rinse. And then it rolled around in the nem, so any MB that was absorbed in the slime, even in that short 10 second dip, would’ve been directly brought back to the nem. Once the anemone died and fouled the small tank, soon after, the PNG Female was overcome with ammonia and general decay and being already in poor healthy, *poof*, a dead fish.
Lesson learned – I’m sure I’ve read it before, and I should have thought it through earlier perhaps. You can’t use a medicated dip on a clown that’s hosting in an anemone, lest you bring that medication back to the tank and thus, kill the anemone. At least that’s what I THINK happened here, as I really have no other explanation for why it’d suddenly die off.
So, lacking anything else worthwhile that I could really do to help this fish along, I turned to the group of advisers. I had my own ideas, but when I approach this group of people, I’ve learned I may get better advice if I hold my own ideas back and simply come as a blank slate. Generally, what I’m looking for is one of two things. #1. Consensus among the adviser’s advice and/or #2. Confirmation of my own plans by seeing my own ideas show up independently from one or more of the advisers. Needless to say, the advisers often disagree, or offer their own twists on a general premise. Some say nothing unless inspired to action by something specific.
When it came time to bounce the latest twist off the advisers, Boomer was the only one who came back with straight up “here’s what I’d do”. It just so happens that on this one, Boomer happened to mention a lot of the same things I was already thinking.
In looking through my medication arsenal, I had a feeling that sooner or later, the Methylene Blue would be called upon. It is something I ordinarily keep on hand as it has MANY uses. Ironically, when I told Mark Martin to not worry, that I had a fully stocked medicine chest on hand, one of the first things that came up early on in this project was of course, Methylene Blue. And of course, it, along with Malachite Green, were nowhere to be found. My best guess is that when we moved from Chicago to Duluth, I must have tossed them out (probably not wanting to risk the leakage of MB and MG onto anything/everything we owned!).
Well, since realizing I didn’t have it, I picked it back up. Tonight, it got used. Lacking any other real antibiotic to throw at the eye infections on the female PNG Maroon, interim treatment with Methylene Blue seemed like something that at best, could not hurt. It may not HELP, but certainly would not hurt.
Given that the female is LOVING her RBTA, as well as the fact that MB would kill off the Caulerpa in the tank and likely any other algae grown, as well as some or all of the nitrifying bacteria, my decision was to apply MB as a dip. I honestly wanted a “longer” option, but Kordon’s dosage instructions were clear. If under “constant treatment”, dosing to 3 ppm MB is recommended. For a DIP however, the treatment is 50 ppm of MB for 10 SECONDS.
Honestly, 10 seconds seems like it’s too brief to really do anything, but lacking any other solid dosage alternatives (i.e. dose at X ppm for a 30 minute dip), I went with 50 ppm for 10 seconds. In a nutshell, did the math to figure out how much Methylene Blue it’d take to get 50 ppm in 1 gallon of water (it turned out to be around 8.3 ml). Measured out 1 gallon of water from the tank into a 5 gallon bucket. Added the MB (did 8 ml). Set aside another Quart of tank water for a RINSE to be used AFTER the dip. Netted the fish off the RBTA and dipped it for 10 seconds (counted in my head). Pulled the net out of the dip, and poured the rinse water over the fish (soas to keep MB from getting back into the tank) and returned the fish to the tank.
On the upside, this was a VERY quick procedure. My understanding is that I can probably do this treatment twice daily. Given that I may simply be UNABLE to get an alternative antibiotic tomorrow unless the Kanamycin shows up, I will probably do this dip again tomorrow. If I do, I’ll take some pictures of the procedure.
Hoping to save her good eye…
So, after last night’s update, I went downstairs and gave the fish a closer look and that’s when I saw something I really didn’t like. The female’s right eye was distended and had a big black splotch on it. There was not a spot of Cryptocaryon on her, which was the “moment” I had been waiting for to move her from the 20 long into her 10 gallon “recuperation” tank with a Red Bubble Tip Anemone that I got from Jim Grassinger. So, I did an abbreviated quick drip acclimation and moved her in. I called it a night.
This morning, well, it’s been chaotic around here. We were supposed to close on a new home on Friday and move this weekend. The seller screwed things up, so closing on Friday didn’t happen. I’ve been working all weekend in the hopes that I could trade the weekend workdays for days off next week (overall, I work for a very understanding and easy going guy who “gets it”. I cannot tell you how lucky and appreciative I am for that). Well, today my wonderful inlaws came over and helped move most everything into 3 trucks and a 17′ UHaul. The fish will all get moved later this week.
I say all this, because it explains why I’ve not been paying closer attention to things. I.e. not noticing that the Kanamycin, which should’ve been here Thursday, was still not here by Saturday. I know the Maracyn SW had not been working for the female’s eye troubles, but I’ve been stuck without any good options to treat it with up here in Duluth. There are NO pet stores open on Sunday in the Duluth region that carry ANY medications. In fact, there’s really only one pet store in the area that does, and they didn’t have Kanamycin. Yes, there are potentially other medications I could try in the interim, so it is my fault for waiting for the Kanamycin to arrive and not having a plan B already in place.
Well, after ignoring my fish most of the day, I went down to check in on the female. It appears to me that her right eye has now ruptured. There’s no coming back from that…this fish will be blind in that eye if that eye even remains. This is a great disappointment, ESPECIALLY because circumstances out of my control have now prevented me from giving her a treatment that could have prevented this. I must admit it, I’m a snob when it comes to broodstock. I want them to be pristine. Not missing an eye.
Of course, really at this point all I can do is hope that the move to a different, well established tank, and the anemone, can help the fish fight off whatever infection has been setting in. If the Kanamycin shows up, I’ll be ready to dose it for sure, and maybe it’ll help. But, it may not. And this fish could end up losing the left eye too.
If the left eye goes, there’s really no use for the fish. We could talk about the ethical and moral merits of continuing to try to keep the fish going, but I’ll say it now, it’ll be time to discuss euthanasia options for this fish. A fish that’s totally blind will have an incredibly hard time living, let alone mating with anything. In the wild, this fish would’ve been dead weeks ago already.
She’s been a fighter. If she can pull through and keep the left eye good I’ll certainly keep her around. The loss of the right eye is admittedly a setback, a really disappointing blow. I did take some pictures for all of you to look at her in her new home this evening.
Yes, another extremely short update because the Lightning Maroon is doing well and his mate is still “sick” but “stable”. Still has cloudy eyes, still eats circling to the left. Kanamycin never showed up this week 🙁 Disappointed to say the least. Kept the PNG Maroon on Maracyn SW for another couple days but it’s really doing nothing beneficial at this point. Daily water changes remain the norm.
So, a bunch of clownfish porn this evening, because frankly, a blog is kinda boring if it’s just always text text text text text.
The female PNG Maroon is definitely doing better, yet still sick. Still has cloudy eyes. After I fed and shot video this evening, she got another water change with full strength saltwater, bringing the specific gravity up to 1.021 in the Hospital / QT Tank. As I’m still waiting on the Kanamycin (should show up tomorrow) I’ve opted to continue with the Erythromycin (Maracyn SW) as the cloudy eyes persist. I should say that the Fin Rot appears to have been fully treated and arrested with the treatments of Maracyn SW, and it’s interesting that the cloudy eyes developed during this second course of Maracyn SW.
The videos that follow are of some healthy clownfish eating. Watch their behavior. Watch how they turn, how they locate food. Watch how far they’re willing to travel to get food and how far away it seems that they can identify food. Compare these 3 videos of healthy clownfish to the last video, which is the PNG Maroon female. What do you think? Blind in the right eye? I can’t speak about permanence, as it’s been documented that blindness can be temporary. What I CAN say is that this fish seems much better over the last 48-72 hours at identifying food particles in the water column, which to me is suggestive that this fish was having vision problems before the cloudy eyes cropped up.
And finally, the PNG Maroon Female.
So, please post your comments – what do you think?
I know most folks are wanting to hear about the Lightning Maroon, but there isn’t much to say. “He’s” clean, healthy, likes to eat pellet foods and doesn’t seem at all interested in the mysis and brine shrimp. Not sure what’s up with that, but I’m chalking it up to him being ticked he’s in a breeder net.
The female PNG Maroon continues to be perplexing, but I think we’re getting a clearer picture. I am now thoroughly convinced that she is currently blind in her right eye. Remember early on, she had a slight case of “popeye” that went away. And now, more recently, her right eye went cloudy first, and now both are, with the right being far more severe. And all along, when the female was feeding, food would have to bounce off her face practically.
Well, when I fed brine and mysis (soaked in Reef Plus and Garlic Guard) today, she’s up, swimming in the water column, again picking off food. But she only picks off food that is on her center to left field of vision. And she turns left about 80-90% of the time as she swims through the tank. This is very convincing behavior that at this point in time, she cannot see out of her right eye.
Of course, it’s concerning that she seems to perhaps be recovering some of her vision, yet her left eye is now cloudy too. Assuming this is bacterial, Maracyn SW is not looking very effective against it. However, I do have Kanamycin on the way, thanks to Christine William’s strong suggestion (echoed by several others). So, I may continue to h0ld this fish in QT to treat it with Kanamycin to see if I can’t fix up whatever infection is now causing the cloudy eyes.
Oh, and the last thing I should mention is that she has another slight case of Crypotcaryon…just a few specks. I should be able to get that taken care of when I move her, just need to do it at the right time.
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