Aquarium microbiome response to ninety-percent system water change : clues to microbiome management
2015-04,
Van Bonn, William,
LaPointe, Allen,
Gibbons, Sean M.,
Frazier, Angel,
Hampton-Marcell, Jarrad T.,
Gilbert, Jack A.
The bacterial community composition and structure of water from an established teleost fish system was examined before,
during and after a major water change to explore the impact of such a water-change disturbance on the stability of the
aquarium water microbiome. The diversity and evenness of the bacterial community significantly increased following the
90% water replacement. While the change in bacterial community structure was significant, it was slight, and was also weakly
correlated with changes in physicochemical parameters. Interestingly there was a significant shift in the correlative network
relationships between operational taxonomic units from before to after the water replacement. We suggest this shift in
network structure is due to the turnover of many taxa during the course of water replacement. These observations will inform
future studies into manipulation of the microbiome by changing system environmental parameter values to optimize resident
animal health.