COMAS Meeting August 11, 2007-Minutes

 The August meeting was held at UCO and started at 7.40pm. There were approximately 57 members present for the meeting. 

General Discussions:

President Paul Whitby mentioned there were still CRASE tickets available to purchase, and that these needed to be purchased to assist with the costs associated with this program. In addition, there is a group of reef enthusiasts coming up from the Dallas, Texas area to attend the CRASE event in our fair state.The garage sale extravaganza to help pay for CRASE guest speakers is getting closer (August 17-19) and we need to have more donations & volunteers. Sheryl Coley will be accepting donations & helpers for the sale of these items at her home. Please donate for the cause!  The Tank Tour, which is planned in lieu of a set meeting at UCO for the month of September, is falling short of volunteers to show their tanks. Paul emphasized that this is our club and that participation in these venues are for the benefit of us & our club members. These programs & meetings are designed to help the membership grow in its husbandry skills and knowledge of the hobby/passion. The tours are to be based on the four quadrants of the Oklahoma City area; NW, NE, SW, & SE. Surrounding cities/towns are to be incorporated into the four quadrants. Volunteer, people! This will be a fun event, and a chance to see other tanks and some innovative ideas for your tank. The Frag Program is overloaded with specific types of corals (Kenya Trees, Green Star Polyps, etc.). Please use the Frag Forum on the COMAS website to check on the availability of frags. If you have corals that are needed for the frag program then please donate. If you have corals that are currently on the “overloaded types” let them grow out in your tank and donate at a later date or sell them to your local fish store. The raffle prize for the month of August: An Oceanic 14 Gallon Bio Cube (with all the fixings)!The cost is $2.00 per ticket. 

Prize Winners:David Carnahan won an Eheim Auto Top Off System.

Joshua Rockstad won the “cash raffle” prize for August, an Oceanic 14 Gallon Bio Cube. 

Topic of Meeting:This month’s topic was “Soft Coral Predators and Irritants” by Travis Stevens.  The minutes will provide a very brief overview of what was covered. Travis will post this presentation on the COMAS website (after verifying copyrighted materials/photos & acquiring permissions to use specific photographs with the presentation). The presentation covered most of the common predators & irritants associated with soft corals. These include the Sundial snails, which prey upon Zoanthid colonies and often tuck themselves away tightly between polyps during the day. The snail makes a small hole at the base of the polyp and actually sucks out the contents. Some of the other items covered were False Cowries, Limpets, Vermetid snails, Crabs, and Starfish.  False Cowries usually feed on large leathery soft corals and they have bright colourful bodies. A Limpet is a kind of snail. Most limpets feed by grazing on algae which grows on the rock. They can irritate the coral by getting between the rock & coral. Vermetid snails have calcareous tube like shells, the edges are razor sharp, and are about the width of a pencil lead. Vermetid snails gather food by releasing a string(s) of sticky mucus into the water. After a while, they pull the entire mucus string back and eat all the plankton & stuff attached to it. These can irritate the corals when the mucus string is in contact with the soft coral’s body. Travis Stevens has plans for future presentations on specific treatments for the pests that are troublesome to soft corals.  

Meeting adjourns at 9:00pm