What's a good organism to use as a "mine canary?"

DEmigh

DEmigh

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Dec 5, 2003
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Back in the bad old days, coal miners would take a canary with them (in a cage, natch) as a sort of primitive gas detector. The canary had a much lower tolerance than the miners for toxic/low-oxygen conditions, so if the bird fell off its perch, the miners still had time to get the HE<double hockey sticks> out of Dodge.

I'm curious about which of the fish/inverts in our hobby might serve the same role?

This is mainly intellectual curiosity, so I appreciate any additional input / ideas that respondents might have beyond simple species ID.
 
Why bother? We have test kits for almost every chemical factor that needs to be watched that will be more accurate then a living organism. Most living things have developed some immunities and can adjust to slowly changing environments.

Plus the fact that by the time the canary died the miners had already had a hit of gas that may not have been fatal at the time but would slowly build up and kill them after several years.
 
Pods and tangs. Both are sensitive to sudden swings in parameters. Corals are also good indicator species--but of course, as with the canaries, indicator species often do not survive the conditions they 'detect'.
 
We have test kits for almost every chemical factor that needs to be watched that will be more accurate then a living organism.
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I think I might disagree with this. Hobbyist test kits are actually rather crude, and we tend to test for a limited number of components in the system. If there is something wrong with my system, the corals will tell me a lot faster than any test kit.

I agree with JesseJ, though that if it's something testable, then the test kits can help to figure out what is out of balance.

I might modify the proposal, using instead something that gets droopy or visibly changes in response to environmental stress. It would be depressing to have a delicate specimen croak just because your tank chemistry is out of whack. Also, it doesn't tell you what killed it, just that it wasn't happy.

As an example, my montipora gets pouty when the activated carbon is old, presumably because the defensive chemicals from the softies start to build up.
 
Originally posted by mogurnda
I might modify the proposal, using instead something that gets droopy or visibly changes in response to environmental stress. It would be depressing to have a delicate specimen croak just because your tank chemistry is out of whack. Also, it doesn't tell you what killed it, just that it wasn't happy.
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That's actually more what I meant. My rather flippant description of the canary "falling off its perch" has (understandably) led some to the conclusion that I was looking for an organism that would :thud:

I was really hoping to get some ideas for which creatures to watch very closely, as they would give behavioral cues to trouble long before anything else.

It's not that I'm going to rush out and buy such creatures, and especially not that I would use them in lieu of regular testing, but rather that, should I decide for other reasons to get such a creature, I could let them communicate aspects of the tank's condition that might otherwise go unnoticed until it was too late.

Edit:
So at this point, OrionGirl has suggested 'Pods and Tangs in general, and mogurnda has suggested montipora corals in specific.

Thanks for the input so far, are there other ideas out there?
 
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My stars start acting funny when the water chem is out of whack or if I have a rapid fluctuation in salinity. The feather star will ball up and not respond to feeding etc until I correct the condition. I'm not sure that I would recomend one though because it takes a LOT of work to keep that guy healthy. Stars would be my vote though. Tangs and pods to but, O.G. told you that one.
hth
chris:D
 
Xenia will be the canary if Ph or harness in yuor tank drops they will be the first to know. Thats how it works in my tank, but I still test for everything they just let me know if I forget.
 
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