Do any vendors test for SCTLD?

[BrianReefer]

Curious if any vendors do any somewhat regular Aquabiomics DNA sequence testing to determine if there are any major coral pathogens in their tanks, particularly Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. It wiped it out my 8 year old high end SPS reef (had to do full restart) and I’m trying to “source responsibly” now to avoid the same full tank disaster again. My fear is few if any do test for SCTLD given cost and time delay in results, but if any do test, they’d be my new main vendors in my restart.

Tagging a few of my favorite coral providers to weigh in if they’re open to doing so!

@WWC @TCK Corals @SBB Corals @Battlecorals @Camaro Show Corals @FraghouseCorals @Pieces of the Ocean @AquaBiomics

 

[SinkyShippy]

Curious if any vendors do any somewhat regular Aquabiomics DNA sequence testing to determine if there are any major coral pathogens in their tanks, particularly Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. It wiped it out my 8 year old high end SPS reef (had to do full restart) and I’m trying to “source responsibly” now to avoid the same full tank disaster again. My fear is few if any do test for SCTLD given cost and time delay in results, but if any do test, they’d be my new main vendors in my restart.

Tagging a few of my favorite coral providers to weigh in if they’re open to doing so!

@WWC @TCK Corals @SBB Corals @Battlecorals @Camaro Show Corals @FraghouseCorals @Pieces of the Ocean @AquaBiomics

following cause of my recent post...

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Curious if any vendors do any somewhat regular Aquabiomics DNA sequence testing to determine if there are any major coral pathogens in their tanks, particularly Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. It wiped it out my 8 year old high end SPS reef (had to do full restart) and I’m trying to “source responsibly” now to avoid the same full tank disaster again. My fear is few if any do test for SCTLD given cost and time delay in results, but if any do test, they’d be my new main vendors in my restart.

Tagging a few of my favorite coral providers to weigh in if they’re open to doing so!

@WWC @TCK Corals @SBB Corals @Battlecorals @Camaro Show Corals @FraghouseCorals @Pieces of the Ocean @AquaBiomics

I often get questions and PMs from
Newer reefers on how Camaro
Show Corals became successful which has many reasons but one reason I always say is good husbandry and frequent testing. I do daily testing and weekly water changes. You have to learn and know your tank/system because I’m a very firm believer every tank is different in saltwater. I did a Aquabiomics test a while ago and came back with great results. As I was very interested in learning more about it compared to icp which mostly tests trace elements. I have always had very limited stn and rtn as long as I keep alk stable and my po4 down and my RODI filters fresh. I have a very high tap TDS well over 400 and Poor water in WV which I believe has caused issues in the past. I do believe in quarterly icp tests atleast. The more you test regularly the more you know. I often will test Alk by hand at the same exact time every night.

 

[paragrouper]

Curious if any vendors do any somewhat regular Aquabiomics DNA sequence testing to determine if there are any major coral pathogens in their tanks, particularly Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. It wiped it out my 8 year old high end SPS reef (had to do full restart) and I’m trying to “source responsibly” now to avoid the same full tank disaster again. My fear is few if any do test for SCTLD given cost and time delay in results, but if any do test, they’d be my new main vendors in my restart.

Tagging a few of my favorite coral providers to weigh in if they’re open to doing so!

@WWC @TCK Corals @SBB Corals @Battlecorals @Camaro Show Corals @FraghouseCorals @Pieces of the Ocean @AquaBiomics

Very good question. I look forward to reading the responses.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Very good question. I look forward to reading the responses.

Thank you

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

Curious if any vendors do any somewhat regular Aquabiomics DNA sequence testing to determine if there are any major coral pathogens in their tanks, particularly Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. It wiped it out my 8 year old high end SPS reef (had to do full restart) and I’m trying to “source responsibly” now to avoid the same full tank disaster again. My fear is few if any do test for SCTLD given cost and time delay in results, but if any do test, they’d be my new main vendors in my restart.

Tagging a few of my favorite coral providers to weigh in if they’re open to doing so!

@WWC @TCK Corals @SBB Corals @Battlecorals @Camaro Show Corals @FraghouseCorals @Pieces of the Ocean @AquaBiomics

I actually had this test done a while ago in fact he did a write up un the entire process. not sure if this was included in the test results though. oddly enough I decided to go ahead and do another one recently. haven't got the results yet. will update when I do though.

The Microbial Community in a Professional Coral Aquaculture System

The Microbial Community in a Professional Coral Aquaculture System A discussion with Adam Derickson of BattleCorals Eli Meyer, AquaBiomics EM: Ever since I started trying to grow corals, I’ve been awed by some reef-keepers’ abilities to...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

We are actually sending in an Aquabiomics test this week. Will post results when they are back.

 

[BrianReefer]

Excited to see the results @Battlecorals and @Epic Aquaculture…and to put in an order afterward!

Any thoughts from the others @WWC @TCK Corals @SBB Corals @FraghouseCorals @Pieces of the Ocean

 

[jda]

Are you all talking about the real SCTLD from the Atlantic Ocean, or some sort of other pathogen that just has a generic name?

Who here has stony corals from the Atlantic that might have brought such a disease with them? If you do have some, I would like to know how since they are illegal to collect, but there are a few that I have always wanted.

 

[BrianReefer]

Are you all talking about the real SCTLD from the Atlantic Ocean, or some sort of other pathogen that just has a generic name?

Who here has stony corals from the Atlantic that might have brought such a disease with them? If you do have some, I would like to know how since they are illegal to collect, but there are a few that I have always wanted.

I mean the real deal SCTLD that shows up in an Aquabiomics report like this (my report from March). My tank was 8 years old, I bought from all the big online vendors, and did a few occasional trades with fellow reefers here. Can't place exactly where it came from, but I can guarantee wherever I got it, others did as well. And given it can travel on rocks, inverts, corals, sand, or even in the water column and is extremely transmittable, I know with certainty that if my tank had these 3, MANY other tanks in this hobby do too...but most dont test for it!

 

[SinkyShippy]

I mean the real deal SCTLD that shows up in an Aquabiomics report like this (my report from March). My tank was 8 years old, I bought from all the big online vendors, and did a few occasional trades with fellow reefers here. Can't place exactly where it came from, but I can guarantee wherever I got it, others did as well. And given it can travel on rocks, inverts, corals, sand, or even in the water column and is extremely transmittable, I know with certainty that if my tank had these 3, MANY other tanks in this hobby do too...but most dont test for it!

Do you mind sharing which vendors you used? It can be in a DM if you don't want to out anyone.

 

[BrianReefer]

Honestly, over the past few years, at least 8-10 vendors (I had pretty massive collection) and I wouldn’t want to incriminate any here as I truly could not trace back the source. But, I would 100% bias my money toward those who do test and publish results occasionally on this.

I do sincerely wish @AquaBiomics would publish some stats on % of tanks, of both hobbyists and retailers, that are testing positive for SCTLD. I think it would be a real service to the hobby.

@revhtree

 

[SinkyShippy]

Honestly, over the past few years, at least 8-10 vendors (I had pretty massive collection) and I wouldn’t want to incriminate any here as I truly could not trace back the source. But, I would 100% bias my money toward those who do test and publish results occasionally on this.

I do sincerely wish @AquaBiomics would publish some stats on % of tanks, of both hobbyists and retailers, that are testing positive for SCTLD. I think it would be a real service to the hobby.

Got it. I misread your post. I thought there was a single vendor you bought live rock from.

 

[jda]

You did not have anything in your tank that matched any known coral pathogens. Even the three suspected ones have levels well below the mean and a rounding error away from not existing... and they are just suspected.

SCTLD is just in infancy right now and even the folks studying it are not sure if it even a real deal or what causes it or if like Philaaster, the stuff just comes when things start to die and they don't contribute to the death it's self. They strongly suspect Rhodobacteriales (bad memory, sorry).

I only went to one presentation, so my memory might not be all that great. This is worth keeping an eye on if something awesome comes out of the research, but it might not ever amount to anything.

If folks are worried about this, why not test for Black Band Bacteria or Philaster.. Black band has a species of matting bacteria (cyano) that lives in the band that may or may not contribute to the death. Philaster has been found in tissue necrosis in acropora and apparently is in every tank.

If SCTLD is Rhodobacteriales, then that AquaBiomics report did not show any. Do we know if they test for it - I have no idea and have never checked or asked.

 

[BrianReefer]

Interesting points JDA. I had a massive coral decline of $20k-$25k of SPS corals, with regular Reef Moonshiners ICP testing for the 18 prior months (which all tested well with no material issues), and during this decline is when I added Aquabiomics into the fold. The results validated SCTLD symptoms of gradual coral decline, greying out of corals (vs RTN/STN) that indicated bacteria infection, and ultimately responded well to a antibiotic in-tank treatment of Azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, and oxolinic acid, after which none of those same SCTLD coral pathogens were identified after a test 90 days after antibiotic dosing.

I'm not trying to start a war here. But there was clearly some material issue with my tank that took down a massive, mature collection of SPS, an issue which was not identifiable on ICP reports, but likely causes did show up on the Aquabiomics report, which were later addressed through antibiotics dosing, validating the likely prior result.

I have discussed with others who tested positive in Aquabiomics results for SCLTD. All observed similar behavior and for the most part, had to resort to full tank restarts. I suspect there's likely a correlation here.

Given my material losses I'm going to assume a relationship of Aquabiomics SCTLD results and my full tank-casualties, and lean toward vendors that are investing in SCTLD testing, but perhaps that's just me!

 

[jda]

Can we leave SCTLD out of this and just say it might have been an unknown pathogen?

SCTLD is a very specific thing in the Atlantic Ocean that might have a very specific potential cause to a very specific subset of stony corals (not acropora). Making this a generic term might not be smart, IMO, for many reasons.

I just read up on some of the suspected pathogens from the AB list. I would be shocked if most of these do not exist in every tank. If they do, then they are like Philaster and healthy corals can keep them at bay, but they are around when corals are dying.

I just think that we should chill a bit on calling things SCTLD. The only two acropora in the Atlantic are defined as resistant to the disease, but they have their own set of other problems. There appears to be absolutely no evidence that what causes the real SCTLD in the Atlantic effects acropora at all.

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) - Coral Disease & Health Consortium

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is a highly lethal coral disease that was first reported off the coast of Florida in 2014 and has since spread rapidly throughout the Caribbean. The disease affects over 20 coral species and is now present on reefs...

cdhc.noaa.gov

 

[BrianReefer]

I was just going by what the @AquaBiomics report shared. I’d love their take on this topic but so far they’ve been quiet. I’m dying to know the % of the time these pathogens show up in their report, as they are the only holder of this information for now.

But I’m ok calling it an “unknown coral pathogen” based on the Aquabiomics report. Whatever it was wiped out a thriving, stable, mature SPS tank.