August 2014---ROTM, OrionN!!

[Nanook]

I have kept fish for as long as I can remember. As a young child I kept Siamese fighting fish, Guppies and other live bearers. I kept fancy Gold fish in homemade aquarium before the age of 10. When I came to the US in 1975, there was an enormous increase in availability of tropical fish species in comparison to the fishes that were available to me in Viet Nam. I ventured into Oscars, Discuses, African cichlids, and South America fishes. At one time I had 17 aquariums in my apartment. In 1980, I got hooked on marine aquarium when I saw my first anemone and clownfish at a LFS in Austin, Texas.

Information was hard to come by at that time. All the books were out of date and there was no such thing as the Internet. Needless to say, I followed the recommendations of the LFS employee and my first anemone (Condylactis gigantea) and clowns (tank raised A. ocellaris) did not last 2 days. Of course I had no idea what type of clowns or what species of anemone they were at the time, but clearly remember what they looked like.

Not deterred by my failure, I became very skeptical about information given to me by the LFS. I started to read as much as I can about keeping marine animals. I was successful at keeping fish and even had a thriving marine aquarium with Caulerpa sp. and non photosynthetic invertebrates. However, I did not attempt to keep anemones again for many years.

In the late 1990's the Internet become widely available. With it came information exchanges. With the help of other reefkeepers, I started to keep reef tank in 1997. I have always been fascinated with anemones and clown fishes and have kept them since 1997.

Giant clams is another interested of mine. I have always kept anemones, clownfish and clams in my tanks. Back in 2001, I had up to about 20 clams in my 450 tank. Pinched Mantel Diseas (PMD), the disease I named here on RC and Reefs.org in 2002, hit in the early 2000's. My tank was selected as the featured aquarium for Advance Aquarist in Jan 2002. In this article, there was a picture of my Blue Maxima with PMD. No one knew anything about PMD at the time. All the research and reading, asking for advices were useless. This disease devastated my clams. Over 2 years I tried various treatment methods, setting up a small aquariums trying to isolate and trying various treatments. Nothing worked until I tried Fresh Water Dip (FWD).

Back in 1997, while living in Seattle, I ordered some clams from Richard (Dick) Perrin at Tropicorium. My shipment was delayed by 1 day by UPS. I called and talked to Dick. He advised me to go ahead and drip and put the clams into my tank. He stated that they are very hardy. As an example of their hardiness, Dick stated that he once forgot a tray of 2 inches Maxima in fresh water for 6+ hrs. Most of them did fine with this mishap. When I asked why he dipped them in fresh water, he stated that, like fish, he used fresh water dip to prophylactically treat them for possible parasites.

From observations of my dying clams, I felt that PMD is a mantel surface infection, not internal infection. With various treatment failure I choose to try FWD as a treatment. I choose FWD because I remembered the conversation with Dick 5 years earlier, and from guessing that PMD is a surface infection. Fortunate for me, this treatment cured PMD in my tank and help me save some of my prized clams that I had at the time.
Once I was able to identified and found treatment for PMD, I was in a much better position to help other reefers with their clams. I participated in a numbers of threads on RC, Reefs.org and The Reef Tank, regarding how to diagnose and treat PMD around 2002-2004. PMD devastated many clam keepers and even clam distributers. I am glad that I was able to contributed in a small way to help keep these beautiful animals.

Aside from my interested in clams, I never lost my interested in clownfishes host anemones. I was successful with H. magnifica early on but for many years, I was not able to keep S. gigantea. They would died within a month of getting into my tank. Everything else were thriving, so I knew that the condition of my tank was not likely the cause of their death. With a lot of research and help from other anemone keepers at RC Anemone and Clownfish forum, I came up with antibiotic regiments that can be use to significantly improve the survival of newly imported host anemones, especially S. gigantea and H. magnifica. These regiments are not 100% effective, but defiantly improve our chances of keeping these beautiful and delicate animals. After years of failure, I now have 5 S. gigantea under my care, the oldest of which have survived 2 years in my tank and counting.

Currently, I keep 3 systems. The main DT system is a 320 gal tank with sump and a 40 gal frag tank. At home, I also keep a 30 gal reef tank that I use to QT new anemones or clams. I also have a 65 gal reef I keep at my office. There is a build thread of my 320 gal tank in the Large Reeftanks Forum.

At this time, I am still trying to refine antibiotic treatment protocols in hope of improving the survival of anemones. At the same time, I am trying to see if I can sexually reproduce H. malu and S. gigantea in my aquariums. From my research, I knew that in both of these anemone species, the female take in sperm from the male. Fertilization of the eggs take place inside the female. Miniature anemones with zooxanthellae released by the female after a few days. I was able to spawned and had fertilized eggs of H. malu. Baby Malu released at 72 hrs by the mother at night and got chewed up by my filter system. Shortly after this, my tank cracked and I lost my female Malu. I have been on the hunt for a female Malu ever since.

Getting selected to be ROTM by RC staff is a big honor. Thank you very much for this unexpected honor. I have always been a believer is free exchange of ideas, and have always tried to help other reefers as much as I can. These factors are essentials for advancement of our hobby. Many thanks to RC for proving us with a mean to discuss, exchange ideas and help each others. Our hobby have advanced a lot in the last 30 years. IMHO, RC is instrumental for the advancement of our hobby in the last 15 years. I have learned a lot by participating in forums at RC and also have contribute to our hobby, and help other reefers.

[mbauma]

Congratulations!

[OrionN]

Thanks.

[ca1ore]

Excellent choice! That my Magnifica anemone is thriving is due in no small part to the Minh Cipro treatment protocol. Love that Gigas .....

[Epizzle]

WOW Love the tank!!

[OrionN]

Thanks.

[OrionN]

There is another thread here. If you wish please post on the other thread instead of here.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2430915

[zaitmi]

Congrats. Amazing Tank. How did u got so much coralline algae?

[OrionN]

Thanks.
Regarding the coralline, if you have high enough Alkalinity and Ca, and low enough Nitrate and phosphate they just grow like crazy. In my tank, the coralline together with the tangs and foxface keep the green algae from growing. If I put a piece of dead rock or coral in the tank, the first thing that grow there is coralline algae.

[zaitmi]

Got it. Thanks for the reply.

[snorvich]

Congrats! Well deserved!!