Adding probiotics to our water?

[Flippers4pups]

Okay, he's my hypothesis. Larry at LRS adds probiotics to his frozen foods. It's added for fish immune systems. Makes sense, right? Loaded with good bacteria.

Okay, coral are animals too. So why not dose probiotics directly to our water for coral health?

Studies show coral respond well with treatment of probiotics when effected with RTN by researchers a marine scientists.

Why aren't we doing this?

 

[ZaneTer]

What is probiotic for a fish may not be probiotic for a coral.

 

[Flippers4pups]

True, thus the question.

Giving Coral Reefs a Second Chance with Probiotics | Hakai Magazine

When faced with high heat and disease, coral treated with microbial supplements fared better.

www.hakaimagazine.com

 

[ZaneTer]

I’ll have a quick read of that.

 

[Catchemall]

Check out aqua forest probiotic method.

 

[Fudsey]

Isn't that what Probiotic salt is all about as well?

 

[ZaneTer]

That’s a good find!

It will have to be done with caution, as acknowledged in the article. A probiotic for one coral could still be a deadly pathogen for another.

Its good to see more avenues of research being carried out for coral conservation.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Marine probiotics: increasing coral resistance to bleaching through microbiome manipulation - The ISME Journal

Although the early coral reef-bleaching warning system (NOAA/USA) is established, there is no feasible treatment that can minimize temperature bleaching and/or disease impacts on corals in the field. Here, we present the first attempts to extrapolate the widespread and well-established use of...

www.nature.com

Isn't that what Probiotic salt is all about as well?

In theory, yes but could there be a supplement developed that could be added that is specifically targeted with probiotics? Engineered specifically for coral?

What is probiotic for a fish may not be probiotic for a coral.

If it's added to fish food, this food is broadcast throughout the tank, if it could be potentially bad for coral, wouldn't we see it's effects?

 

[ZaneTer]

Marine probiotics: increasing coral resistance to bleaching through microbiome manipulation - The ISME Journal

Although the early coral reef-bleaching warning system (NOAA/USA) is established, there is no feasible treatment that can minimize temperature bleaching and/or disease impacts on corals in the field. Here, we present the first attempts to extrapolate the widespread and well-established use of...

www.nature.com

In theory, yes but could there be a supplement developed that could be added that is specifically targeted with probiotics? Engineered specifically for coral?




If it's added to fish food, this food is broadcast throughout the tank, if it could be potentially bad for coral, wouldn't we see it's effects?

You make a fair point but consider this. Probiotics we consume should only be found in the gut. If they make their way into an open wound they become dangerous.

It’s not black and white unfortunately. I really do hope that their research produces some results that trickle down to us reefers.
I will support anything that helps our reefs.

 

[ZaneTer]

Ok so I know it seems I am a little harsh on probiotics in a reef but it’s coming from a position of “enthusiasm should be tempered with caution”

On that note, has anybody used the prodibio reekfit? I know melevesreef uses it with apparently great success. It is sold as a probiotic for a reef not necessarily a coral.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Okay, he's my hypothesis. Larry at LRS adds probiotics to his frozen foods. It's added for fish immune systems. Makes sense, right? Loaded with good bacteria.

Okay, coral are animals too. So why not dose probiotics directly to our water for coral health?

Studies show coral respond well with treatment of probiotics when effected with RTN by researchers a marine scientists.

Why aren't we doing this?

I think if someone demonstrated clear benefits to a reef, more folks might add bacteria. I’ve never seen evidence of a benefit.That said, all fresh and frozen fish foods will have tons of bacteria in then, as dies real ocean water that I added fir that reason.

 

[Catchemall]

I think if someone demonstrated clear benefits to a reef, more folks might add bacteria. I’ve never seen evidence of a benefit.That said, all fresh and frozen fish foods will have tons of bacteria in then, as dies real ocean water that I added fir that reason.

Wouldn’t the added bacteria help consume excess nitrates and phosphates?

 

[Peace River]

FWIW, I just noticed that Dr. Tim's Eco-Balance subtitle on the bottle is listed as "Multi-Strained Probiotic Bacteria".

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Wouldn’t the added bacteria help consume excess nitrates and phosphates?

Better than the bacteria already there? Reefs have plenty of bacteria, just not enough organic compounds to provide them energy for growth. That’s why organic carbon dosing works.

You might argue that one bacterial species is better than another, but is is a big stretch to assume one knows what is there or to assume others have better attributes.

 

[Catchemall]

Better than the bacteria already there? Reefs have plenty of bacteria, just not enough organic compounds to provide them energy for growth. That’s why organic carbon dosing works.

You might argue that one bacterial species is better than another, but is is a big stretch to assume one knows what is there or to assume others have better attributes.

what I mean is not better bacteria but more bacteria. for example aquaforest pro bio s and np pro your adding bacteria in addition to a food source for the bacteria to consume. Just to add more bacteria to consume n and p at a faster rate. I’m not buying into the fact that dr Tim’s has a “better” bacteria strain.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

what I mean is not better bacteria but more bacteria. for example aquaforest pro bio s and np pro your adding bacteria in addition to a food source for the bacteria to consume. Just to add more bacteria to consume n and p at a faster rate. I’m not buying into the fact that dr Tim’s has a “better” bacteria strain.

Adding more bacteria won’t make nitrate and phosphate decline faster if all the bacteria in the tank as a whole are organic carbon limited, as appears to be the case.

 

[Dan_P]

Okay, he's my hypothesis. Larry at LRS adds probiotics to his frozen foods. It's added for fish immune systems. Makes sense, right? Loaded with good bacteria.

Okay, coral are animals too. So why not dose probiotics directly to our water for coral health?

Studies show coral respond well with treatment of probiotics when effected with RTN by researchers a marine scientists.

Why aren't we doing this?

Which bacteria are we talking about? Which bacteria in nature? Which bacteria in the products? What is a good bacteria? A bad one? Can good become bad? How many different species do we need? Who has actually performed controlled experiments on bacteria additions and shared the data? The skeptic aquarists are hanging back for a good reason. In general, probiotics for aquarium just hasn’t caught on like human probiotics.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

There's excellent reasons to be skeptical about "human probiotics" as well.

 

[User1]

Would, or wouldn't, feeding higher quality food do the same thing?

Also while I am not sure what the exact benefits are I used to bring back NSW from Monterey on my day diving trips. After the day of diving just throw in a pump and fill up 30 or so gallons. 4 drive home then store it in the garage and use it during the next water change. Can't say it did one thing good or bad but I recall my soft corals digging it. With our recent political landscape in our great state of Ca and water I've been considering doing this again with my current tank.

Food I believe I understand especially if it is something like LRS and IPSF. Water not sure what survives and I'm just using the water as it is or what is left.

 

[html]

many reefers add vinegar for bacteria benefits including me, also fish poop is natural probiotic so no worries