The eelgrass in our trough has been periodically replaced as die off occurs. The good news is that the bio diversity in the tank is very high currently. Snails, pipe fish, crabs, limpets, scallops, mussels, small fish, slugs, and a few more species have been spotted. The bad news is the eelgrass, the habitat that has allowed for all this great bio diversity still hasn't stabilized. Black blotches that start out small but can grow larger over time till entire leaves are covered might be our best clue at the moment. It's too soon to tell but these legions are tell tale signs of eelgrass wasting disease caused by a species called Labyrinthula zosterae, a marine unicellular protist.
If this happens to be the case it indicates that the eelgrass in the trough is stressed and becoming susceptible to disease. This has the potential to be beneficial to our cause if we can identify the symptoms as wasting disease. Eelgrass is a great indicator of water quality and if clarity, toxicity, or nutrient levels fluctuate eelgrass is usually one of the first species to show signs. One of which is the increased susceptibility to wasting disease. From there we can test to find what stress factors are causing the eelgrass to be more susceptible to disease and hopefully keep it healthy in the near future.
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