Biologists from AZaquaculture will be attending the annual meeting of the Desert Fishes Council in Cuatrociénegas, Coahuila, México.  Only a skeleton staff will remain in Tucson.  As such, we will be closed during the period of November 10-20.  Phones will not be answered, but you can leave a message and we will do our best to get back to you in a timely fashion.  Emails should be answered, but this will be limited by the availability of wi-fi or other internet accessability in Cuatrociénegas, and we won’t know that for sure till we arrive.

Thanks for your patience and understanding, and we look forward to serving your aquaculture needs upon our return!

Critter Packs
After being swamped with orders when we introduced these last year, we have increased our production systems significantly. However, to avoid being overwhelmed, we are limiting the public distribution of these refugium critter packs to only 10 per week. If there is a wait list, we will let you know at the time of your order, or you may contact us before your order to see if a delay is expected.

Let Nature Keep your Marine Aquarium Clean and Healthy.
If you have been looking to add some serious oomph to your clean-up crew, or give your sand bed or refugium some needed diversity, look no further. This is your opportunity to get some of the most beneficial organisms available for a marine tank. Best of all, these organisms are aquacultured in fish-free systems, so they will arrive in excellent health, accustomed to spending their whole life in aquariums, and most importantly, will be free of the parasites that wild-caught specimens may carry. And because they are aquacutured, no organisms will have been taken from the reefs. These organisms have been selected to fulfill overlapping and complementary cleaning duties that will leave your sandbed healthy and clean. In most healthy aquariums, they will continue to breed and will adjust their populations to the level of pollution in your tank. ALL Species Offered Here Are Reef Safe.

Eric Borneman recently published a very nice article in Reefkeeping Magazine, entitled Two Potential Molluscicides Useful Against Pest Aeolid Nudibranchs Common on Species of Montipora in Aquariums. Of particular note within this article was a description of the effectiveness of potassium permanganate dips as a method of eradicating aeolid nudibranchs without overly stressing coral tissue. You can find the text of the article here.

Potassium permanganate is a staple chemical in the aquaculture industry. It has been widely used as a method of removing oxygen-consuming dissolved organic chemicals from water, increasing oxidation-reduction potential, and controlling nuisance hair algae. It is also used as a dip for removing parasites from freshwater fish. We use it regularly for treating rapid tissue necrosis (RTN) in corals and preventing bacterial infections. It is also highly effective at removing other pests, and now it seems that it has potential for removing both the adults and egg masses of coral-eating aeolid nudibranchs.

Care should be taken whenever one is using potassium permanganate. An overdose in a reef tank will quickly kill every inhabitant. Treatment for ectoparasites, rapid tissue necrosis or aeolid nudibranchs should always be performed as a separate dip, never in a display aquarium.

Arizona Aquaculture Solutions produces our own line of aqueous potassium permanganate for home aquarists to use. Unlike the dry form of the chemical which must be shipped as a hazardous material, aqueous potassium permanganate can be shipped without difficulty.