Tank turned 49 this year
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I have an update on my mandarin feeder. A lot of people are having a problem finding an appropriate size mesh for the top of the think. I now use a piece from the inside of a reverse osmosis cartridge. If you cut off the ends of a used RO cartridge there is a large screen rolled up in there that has the perfect sized holes and it is enough to last you the rest of your life. It is also plastic so it lasts a long time and my urchin so far has not eaten through it.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
Lets talk about detritus. If you feel detritus is bad, don't read this. You can still see re runs of The Brady Bunch which will be much more interesting, I think Mrs, Brady has bunions this week.
I like detritus. My tank runs on detritus (and worms) Of course I use a reverse undergravel filter. State of the art in my head. If you don't use a reverse undergravel filter your fish probably hate you, but they will get over it.
My UG filter stores a lot of detritus and that's what I want It to do. Yes, I realize much of the stuff I post is exactly opposite what everyone reads about but if you don't want to watch, or never heard of the Brady Bunch, you can still catch Kathy Lee with whomever she is hosting with today.
Detritus is organic left overs. It is composed of pod shells, bacteria, dust, and the shells of the Mysis you feed your fish. Of course it has other stuff in it like the end products of poop and whatever the Pilgrims tossed overboard.
If you feed mainly flakes and pellets your fish are most likely sick, or will be sick so you need not worry about this stuff.
I use detritus for a few things. It helps my UG filter reduce wastes by restricting the water flow through my gravel thus limiting oxygen flow and increasing anerobic bacteria. (I think anyway as I can't see the bacteria and they are not talking) but what else I use it for is to feed corals. I have a bunch of wrasses that quickly dig into my gravel. I also have mating fireclowns that constantly dig deep holes with their tails. These things create huge detritus storms that the pumps swirl around the tank. The corals were designed, probably by Briant Gumbal, to eat this stuff. It's organic and can be further broken down into it's basic chemicals by corals.
Almost every day (when I am not entertaining a Supermodel, in my head anyway) I take one of my many baster things and blow around the gravel especially in the corners producing huge "dust" clouds. I suck this up and distribute it over the corals and especially the gorgonians, some of which are very old.
Now that you have nothing else to do you can read all the threads about how bad detritus is and reverse undegravel filters. If you read about a tank that has no detritus and undergravel filter, and is older than mine, send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I will steam off the stamp so I can re use it and throw away the letter.
I like detritus. My tank runs on detritus (and worms) Of course I use a reverse undergravel filter. State of the art in my head. If you don't use a reverse undergravel filter your fish probably hate you, but they will get over it.
My UG filter stores a lot of detritus and that's what I want It to do. Yes, I realize much of the stuff I post is exactly opposite what everyone reads about but if you don't want to watch, or never heard of the Brady Bunch, you can still catch Kathy Lee with whomever she is hosting with today.
Detritus is organic left overs. It is composed of pod shells, bacteria, dust, and the shells of the Mysis you feed your fish. Of course it has other stuff in it like the end products of poop and whatever the Pilgrims tossed overboard.
If you feed mainly flakes and pellets your fish are most likely sick, or will be sick so you need not worry about this stuff.
I use detritus for a few things. It helps my UG filter reduce wastes by restricting the water flow through my gravel thus limiting oxygen flow and increasing anerobic bacteria. (I think anyway as I can't see the bacteria and they are not talking) but what else I use it for is to feed corals. I have a bunch of wrasses that quickly dig into my gravel. I also have mating fireclowns that constantly dig deep holes with their tails. These things create huge detritus storms that the pumps swirl around the tank. The corals were designed, probably by Briant Gumbal, to eat this stuff. It's organic and can be further broken down into it's basic chemicals by corals.
Almost every day (when I am not entertaining a Supermodel, in my head anyway) I take one of my many baster things and blow around the gravel especially in the corners producing huge "dust" clouds. I suck this up and distribute it over the corals and especially the gorgonians, some of which are very old.
Now that you have nothing else to do you can read all the threads about how bad detritus is and reverse undegravel filters. If you read about a tank that has no detritus and undergravel filter, and is older than mine, send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I will steam off the stamp so I can re use it and throw away the letter.
deaclauderdale
Well-Known Member
Man those crabs are beautiful Paul, and I'm always interested in hearing about your husbandry practices even of they go against the so called grain. I believe we are all learning now that sterility is not conducive to the inhabitants of our aquariums.
Reef keeping is life!
Reef keeping is life!
Paul B
Well-Known Member
Deaclauderdale, my husbandry is not against the grain, even though I am a husband. The "grain" started in 1971 when the hobby and I started. Then someone, maybe Brian Williams started the internet and all these silly practices came to be so all the Noobs that came in the 80s changed the grain. It was fine the way it was.
Now we hear all about keeping detritus out, quarantining for 72 days, dipping corals in insecticide and all sorts of things that I feel are silly or even dangerous. This hobby is kind of simple but many people want to make it difficult, expensive and complicated. It is not, if it were, I, with my high school education would not be able to do it.
We need to get it through our heads that the bacteria run our tanks and we are just here for the bacteria to have something to laugh at. Things like detritus are needed to feed all these things as that is almost at the bottom of the food chain. (Lawyers and politicians are closer to the bottom. OK, only some lawyers)
Algae is also a sign of a healthy running tank, Not the other way around. Everything is backwards which is the reason for all the disease threads. People have more problems with disease now than they did 30 years ago, I wonder why.
Now we hear all about keeping detritus out, quarantining for 72 days, dipping corals in insecticide and all sorts of things that I feel are silly or even dangerous. This hobby is kind of simple but many people want to make it difficult, expensive and complicated. It is not, if it were, I, with my high school education would not be able to do it.
We need to get it through our heads that the bacteria run our tanks and we are just here for the bacteria to have something to laugh at. Things like detritus are needed to feed all these things as that is almost at the bottom of the food chain. (Lawyers and politicians are closer to the bottom. OK, only some lawyers)
Algae is also a sign of a healthy running tank, Not the other way around. Everything is backwards which is the reason for all the disease threads. People have more problems with disease now than they did 30 years ago, I wonder why.
deaclauderdale
Well-Known Member
My against the grain comment should have had single quotes surrounding it.
Reef keeping is life!
Reef keeping is life!
The algae part I agree with. In almost any tank that has been around any length of time, your going to see at least some algae. This can't be helped. If you see a tank that is completely pristine and has no algae, you can generally be sure it was just set up, or just totally cleaned out. It's not likely to stay that way.
On the disease problems, I believe this is a combination of factors.
I think the main factor is that the quality of livestock is way down. The demand for popular fish is so high that many low quality fish are shipped out. I see this a lot in clowns, and hipo tangs to name two.
Shipping is also a factor here. Most wild caught stock comes out of the pacific ocean, so it travels a long way before it gets to your tank. You only see a few popular fish coming out of the Caribbean sea today. Years ago you'd see most of the fish being sold coming from there. That's a short hop of us east coast people.
Another factor is that people are more aware of diseases today. It's easy to check out a possible disease problem on the net, or post a picture and ask.
30 years ago most systems were fish only systems and you could treat the display tank with copper. This was a mess but copper is effective against SW ick and SW velvet. Today we see a lot of garbage "reef safe" meds being sold that are totally ineffective against any diseases at all. The result is an infected tank just gets worse.
Many years ago, SW systems were not well understood, so the fish didn't live a long time. We've both been in the hobby a long time, and I can remember "way back when" that if you kept a SW fish alive for a year you were doing good. I suspect a lot of losses were disease and it just wasn't noticed. In fact, it was even said that SW fish have few disease problems, so you didn't have to worry. Obviously this was untrue.
So yes, there is a lot more disease being seen today, but I think it's for the above reasons, rather than the methods being used today.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
Hello there Dave, nice to see you. It is true that 30 or 40 years ago we didn't know much of what we were doing and our fish only tanks were in horrible shape. I think the fact that we now keep reefs help keep the fish healthier. Many years ago, about 38 or so I discovered how to keep my fish healthy through mostly food and since then I don't think I ever had a problem with diseases. Of course I sometimes get a new fish with a disease but almost every affliction can be cured except on the rare occasion where a fish was drugged or has some weird internal problem. Skinny fish like copperbands, Moorish Idols, and angels seem to have that problem more than most fish. After decades of looking at these things we learn how to identify a fish that will die in a week and one that will live forever.
There is a lot of information out there unfortunately, most of it is wrong. This hobby is run on rumors and advertisements as there is a lot of money in it and no one with a reef tank is poor. At least we didn't start out like that. I try to help people as much as I can but many, OK all of my theories are dismissed as me being lucky or I don't keep difficult fish or any number of silly things.
The truth is that my fish do not get sick. I can't help it they just don't. I also don't quarantine as I have found out how to make the fishes immune system take care of that. I realize many people get sick fish. It's because of improper food and living conditions. I am not that smart and if I can have healthy fish, anyone can.
The week the hobby started in the US, in New York anyway I bought 7 of these guys. Blue devils were the only fish available then and they were not cheap.
I had problems with ich and treated them with copper pennies. After a while I learned about the proper food after wrestling with ich and other parasites for months. There was no salt water fish food so I had to improvise. Improvising turned out to be a blessing because the clams I feed are much better for the fish and much cheaper. Once I added live worms my problems stopped. I didn't realize it then and didn't feed worms every day as I couldn't get them. I also didn't know about how bacteria keeps our tanks healthy and I was using filthy Long Island Sound water for lack or a better supply and there was no ASW that I could find, or afford.
Now that I understand about the role bacteria has and understand the fishes immune system, everything fits into place.
I tend to post mostly on this thread to avoid a lot of arguments because not everyone reads stuff here which I am happy about. I don't post on Reef Central any more because I am tired of the arguments and people telling me I am lucky that my fish ae never exposed to velvet or bubonic plague.
I kept blue devils for 7 years and they spawned. This male is over his nest of eggs in that barnacle shell. And that was in the early 70s while using pennies for medication.
This is not that hard, but we make it so by having too much advice with no fact checkers.
Here are his eggs.
These shrimp also spawned for 7 years. It seems everything happens in sevens.
There is a lot of information out there unfortunately, most of it is wrong. This hobby is run on rumors and advertisements as there is a lot of money in it and no one with a reef tank is poor. At least we didn't start out like that. I try to help people as much as I can but many, OK all of my theories are dismissed as me being lucky or I don't keep difficult fish or any number of silly things.
The truth is that my fish do not get sick. I can't help it they just don't. I also don't quarantine as I have found out how to make the fishes immune system take care of that. I realize many people get sick fish. It's because of improper food and living conditions. I am not that smart and if I can have healthy fish, anyone can.
The week the hobby started in the US, in New York anyway I bought 7 of these guys. Blue devils were the only fish available then and they were not cheap.
I had problems with ich and treated them with copper pennies. After a while I learned about the proper food after wrestling with ich and other parasites for months. There was no salt water fish food so I had to improvise. Improvising turned out to be a blessing because the clams I feed are much better for the fish and much cheaper. Once I added live worms my problems stopped. I didn't realize it then and didn't feed worms every day as I couldn't get them. I also didn't know about how bacteria keeps our tanks healthy and I was using filthy Long Island Sound water for lack or a better supply and there was no ASW that I could find, or afford.
Now that I understand about the role bacteria has and understand the fishes immune system, everything fits into place.
I tend to post mostly on this thread to avoid a lot of arguments because not everyone reads stuff here which I am happy about. I don't post on Reef Central any more because I am tired of the arguments and people telling me I am lucky that my fish ae never exposed to velvet or bubonic plague.
I kept blue devils for 7 years and they spawned. This male is over his nest of eggs in that barnacle shell. And that was in the early 70s while using pennies for medication.
This is not that hard, but we make it so by having too much advice with no fact checkers.
Here are his eggs.
These shrimp also spawned for 7 years. It seems everything happens in sevens.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
Today I tried to move stuff around in my tank to fit the gorgonians in better and of course I broke some stuff and had to re glue it. I am working with one arm (due to shoulder operation) and I have to put on two gloves to prevent the male fireclown from biting my hand off. The two gloves is the secret and he doesn't hurt much through those gloves. If I put my bare hand in there near his stomping grounds I would have to tie a tourniquet around my elbow so I don't bleed to death.
He thinks he is a barracuda.
I moved some stuff from the right side to the left side and vise versa, but I am having trouble with some SPS that I can't get where I want so I will have to wait until I can put both arms in the tank.
I am totally embarrassed this year because I am a big Christmas guy (my birthday is on Christmas day and I have been playing Santa for over 40 years)
We bought a small "fake" Christmas tree. I "hate" artificial trees, I mean, I really hate them. But this year I can't carry a real tree or put it up so we got this thing really cheap so we can throw it out next year.
I also noticed it was made in China so I am having a hard time looking at it and I can't wait until the Holiday is over so I can throw it out.
This is the first time in my life I put something like this up and I would never buy something from China.
Our Grand Kids are coming over and I really needed a tree. I just hope they forget this is a fake tree and next year I will go overboard with decorating.
Even outside my house I couldn't put out my home made, really cool, very big train, plane and Jack in the Box that I always display.
This is very embarrassing and I have to go and hide my head in mud.
He thinks he is a barracuda.
I moved some stuff from the right side to the left side and vise versa, but I am having trouble with some SPS that I can't get where I want so I will have to wait until I can put both arms in the tank.
I am totally embarrassed this year because I am a big Christmas guy (my birthday is on Christmas day and I have been playing Santa for over 40 years)
We bought a small "fake" Christmas tree. I "hate" artificial trees, I mean, I really hate them. But this year I can't carry a real tree or put it up so we got this thing really cheap so we can throw it out next year.
I also noticed it was made in China so I am having a hard time looking at it and I can't wait until the Holiday is over so I can throw it out.
This is the first time in my life I put something like this up and I would never buy something from China.
Our Grand Kids are coming over and I really needed a tree. I just hope they forget this is a fake tree and next year I will go overboard with decorating.
Even outside my house I couldn't put out my home made, really cool, very big train, plane and Jack in the Box that I always display.
This is very embarrassing and I have to go and hide my head in mud.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I just looked under my tank and see that I have to add two more leg supports as two legs are badly rusted. It will have to wait a while because of the shoulder surgery.
This material I used to construct this stand about 40 years ago is called "Kindorf". It is a structural support we use for virtually everything in construction indoors and out. It can also be used to support street signs so it is very corrosion resistant and galvanized. For anyone using regular iron or painted steel, get ready for the rust as steel has no sense of humor around salt water. It started rusting after about 15 years.
This material I used to construct this stand about 40 years ago is called "Kindorf". It is a structural support we use for virtually everything in construction indoors and out. It can also be used to support street signs so it is very corrosion resistant and galvanized. For anyone using regular iron or painted steel, get ready for the rust as steel has no sense of humor around salt water. It started rusting after about 15 years.
Paul B
Well-Known Member
I already posted this someplace and I figured I would also put it here where no one will see it so I won't get yelled at because I am to old and just wouldn't care.
I was just perusing this forum and the amount of "sick" fish threads is mind boggling. I really hate to see so many beautiful fish that we take from the sea and allow them to die. It should not happen.
Of course if you read any of these many pages of this thread I feel it is "all" because we are failing to get our fish immune from even the simplest diseases.
Of course I am going to try to propose a plan. My entire thing is about fish health and I have been a sponge sucking up information about this while I am looking at my fish, and they are looking back. The reason I want to get into this a little now is because in a couple of days I had some shoulder surgery (for the fifth time) and I have to type with my feet so I want to start this. The other reason is that I have been sitting here looking at my fish and noticing that virtually all of them just look extremely healthy as they always do. On a very healthy fish you can clearly see a fluorescent looking sheen on every scale. Each spine on every fin should also be perfect and most fish have vibrant, shimmering colors on their fins. We all know there should be no torn fins, spots, Tattoos or bar codes. Healthy fish sometimes do hide but that is a species thing and all fish should be eating and eating with gusto like I do when I am eating linguini and clams like I had last night.
Also, very important if you have any paired damsels, wrasses, pipefish, gobies, cardinals, dragonettes and a few others, they should be pregnant or they just laid eggs and your fish should "never" get sick. So, those things, to me are the criteria of a healthy fish.
Now I am going to hear, "Yeah, but we can't do that because it is to hard". Yes you can as it is very easy and probably cheaper than what you are now doing. (I am sure you are also losing fish before their normal lifespan)
I think that unless you are a Noob you can easily do this so Noobs go and watch Kelly Ripa. Maybe she put on a couple of ounces. It will also be much easier if you have a running, tank. I didn't say cycled because that is a silly thing. There is no such thing as a just cycled tank. We hear all the time things like "my tank finished cycling last night at 2:15 so I added 17 pieces of SPS, a dogfaced puffer, ribbon eel and a Moorish Idol because he was eating brine shrimp and they are all laying on the bottom, texting and breathing hard while the SPS looks like Emu poop".
The truth is if you cycled your tank with a dead or bowlegged shrimp, then your ammonia readings went to zero, that means your tank has enough bacteria in it to process one bowlegged shrimp and nothing more.
A tank continues to "cycle" through out it's entire lifespan as bacteria grow and die according to the load. I added an orange spotter filefish to my tank 3 weeks ago so the tank had to grow enough bacteria to process the wastes from that one fish.
Anyway. If I had a "cycled" natural tank with a little age on it, (and hopefully a little algae) I would buy a couple of fish. Not the most expensive fish I could afford to impress the Supermodel who just moved in next door, but something fairly hardy like clownfish, wrasses, bleenies etc. I would add those fish "without quarantining them". Remember this is my plan, Humble has his. Right after the fish hit the water I would feed them the proper foods. Not flakes, not pellets and God Forbid, no freeze dried anything. The absolute best first foods are live blackworms or white worms. "Live" is the key if you can get it. If you can't get it, it will still work but live is best. Along with the live food you need something that was fresh not very long ago like clams. I buy live clams, freeze them and shave off pieces. If you live in Nevada, Arizona or Tunisia, I don't know what to tell you because you need to get live bacteria into those fish and get it in there at "every meal". I am sure you can get some type of fresh (kind of ) clams in the mid west even if it is frozen. You don't want something that was frozen during the last ice age as the least time the thing was frozen, the better as we are looking for live bacteria. In Lieu of clams you can use (and I do) LRS foods which move quickly off the shelves and have bacteria in them. Never use foods that say "Irradiated to kill harmful pathogens". Leave the harmful pathogens in there. We are trying to keep our fish immune from harmful pathogens and if their immune system doesn't know what a harmful pathogen is, it won't work and your fish will die the first time they are subjected to harmful pathogens, or Rap music.
I realize the things I am saying go against everything we know about fish so if you find someone who has been doing this longer than me, listen to them. And so will I. But they may drool on you or cough up some funky looking green stuff because I "cycled" my tank with trilobites. I also realize I am not the God of fish tanks unless they have reverse undergravel filters which are state of the art.
I am trying to "teach" this stuff the best way I can while trying not to sound like a know it all, (Although I feel I know it all)
If you think I am nuts, senile, amnesiatic, or a "know it all", go with the Noobs and watch Kelly Ripa as I think she is still on. (I actually like her but I like all pretty girls, I mean fish, I like all pretty fish)
The other reason I am trying to convey this information (and I say this a lot) is because for some reason my fish "never" get sick. My 25 year old fireclowns, mandarins, pipefish, hippo tang, copperband etc all live in my tank up to their apparent lifespan and never get sick. Why is that? IT IS BECAUSE OF THE LIVE BACTERIA IN THEIR GUT THAT THEY GET EVERY DAY. How hard is that?
OK, it is also because they have not been quarantined and are continually exposed to those harmful pathogens that are removed from all dry foods and a lot of frozen foods.
I sincerely do not want to see fish dying in anyone's tank. Mine never do and I am not that smart, just good looking.
I "think" it is due to the fact that my fish are full of live gut bacteria and are exposed to those pathogens on a regular basis. Remember the rest of the fish you are putting in this make believe tank also come with their own pathogens. We want these pathogens and the fish need them as their immune system evolved right along side them.
A fishes immune system is a huge part of a fishes biology and uses an enormous amount of it's calories. Remember the slime is a major part of it's immune system and that slime is water soluble so it constantly washes away. The fish has to constantly replace that slime because that's where most of it's antibodies are. Re-read my first post here so I don't have to type it again.
You can't turn off that immune system but you can turn off it's ability to repel parasites. A fish is well equipped to repel parasites, but only if it is exposed to them so we need a thriving parasite family living in the tank.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Don't faint, it is true. Don't you get flu, measles and tetanus shots? Why do you do that? You do that so your immune system recognizes those diseases and you don't get them.
OK I am done for now.
This is my only medication. It was made in Brooklyn and I probably got it in the 70s. It is copper and formalin, I use it if I get a fish for free from a LFS that is getting last rites and I doubt it will live ten minutes.
I can cure parasites in a day with this and quinicrine hydrochloride (I think that's how to spell that) but that is the only time I would need a medication. I also think hypo is silly as that takes a few weeks to work and a parasite can kill the fish in hours. But that's just me.
I was just perusing this forum and the amount of "sick" fish threads is mind boggling. I really hate to see so many beautiful fish that we take from the sea and allow them to die. It should not happen.
Of course if you read any of these many pages of this thread I feel it is "all" because we are failing to get our fish immune from even the simplest diseases.
Of course I am going to try to propose a plan. My entire thing is about fish health and I have been a sponge sucking up information about this while I am looking at my fish, and they are looking back. The reason I want to get into this a little now is because in a couple of days I had some shoulder surgery (for the fifth time) and I have to type with my feet so I want to start this. The other reason is that I have been sitting here looking at my fish and noticing that virtually all of them just look extremely healthy as they always do. On a very healthy fish you can clearly see a fluorescent looking sheen on every scale. Each spine on every fin should also be perfect and most fish have vibrant, shimmering colors on their fins. We all know there should be no torn fins, spots, Tattoos or bar codes. Healthy fish sometimes do hide but that is a species thing and all fish should be eating and eating with gusto like I do when I am eating linguini and clams like I had last night.
Also, very important if you have any paired damsels, wrasses, pipefish, gobies, cardinals, dragonettes and a few others, they should be pregnant or they just laid eggs and your fish should "never" get sick. So, those things, to me are the criteria of a healthy fish.
Now I am going to hear, "Yeah, but we can't do that because it is to hard". Yes you can as it is very easy and probably cheaper than what you are now doing. (I am sure you are also losing fish before their normal lifespan)
I think that unless you are a Noob you can easily do this so Noobs go and watch Kelly Ripa. Maybe she put on a couple of ounces. It will also be much easier if you have a running, tank. I didn't say cycled because that is a silly thing. There is no such thing as a just cycled tank. We hear all the time things like "my tank finished cycling last night at 2:15 so I added 17 pieces of SPS, a dogfaced puffer, ribbon eel and a Moorish Idol because he was eating brine shrimp and they are all laying on the bottom, texting and breathing hard while the SPS looks like Emu poop".
The truth is if you cycled your tank with a dead or bowlegged shrimp, then your ammonia readings went to zero, that means your tank has enough bacteria in it to process one bowlegged shrimp and nothing more.
A tank continues to "cycle" through out it's entire lifespan as bacteria grow and die according to the load. I added an orange spotter filefish to my tank 3 weeks ago so the tank had to grow enough bacteria to process the wastes from that one fish.
Anyway. If I had a "cycled" natural tank with a little age on it, (and hopefully a little algae) I would buy a couple of fish. Not the most expensive fish I could afford to impress the Supermodel who just moved in next door, but something fairly hardy like clownfish, wrasses, bleenies etc. I would add those fish "without quarantining them". Remember this is my plan, Humble has his. Right after the fish hit the water I would feed them the proper foods. Not flakes, not pellets and God Forbid, no freeze dried anything. The absolute best first foods are live blackworms or white worms. "Live" is the key if you can get it. If you can't get it, it will still work but live is best. Along with the live food you need something that was fresh not very long ago like clams. I buy live clams, freeze them and shave off pieces. If you live in Nevada, Arizona or Tunisia, I don't know what to tell you because you need to get live bacteria into those fish and get it in there at "every meal". I am sure you can get some type of fresh (kind of ) clams in the mid west even if it is frozen. You don't want something that was frozen during the last ice age as the least time the thing was frozen, the better as we are looking for live bacteria. In Lieu of clams you can use (and I do) LRS foods which move quickly off the shelves and have bacteria in them. Never use foods that say "Irradiated to kill harmful pathogens". Leave the harmful pathogens in there. We are trying to keep our fish immune from harmful pathogens and if their immune system doesn't know what a harmful pathogen is, it won't work and your fish will die the first time they are subjected to harmful pathogens, or Rap music.
I realize the things I am saying go against everything we know about fish so if you find someone who has been doing this longer than me, listen to them. And so will I. But they may drool on you or cough up some funky looking green stuff because I "cycled" my tank with trilobites. I also realize I am not the God of fish tanks unless they have reverse undergravel filters which are state of the art.
I am trying to "teach" this stuff the best way I can while trying not to sound like a know it all, (Although I feel I know it all
)If you think I am nuts, senile, amnesiatic, or a "know it all", go with the Noobs and watch Kelly Ripa as I think she is still on. (I actually like her but I like all pretty girls, I mean fish, I like all pretty fish)
The other reason I am trying to convey this information (and I say this a lot) is because for some reason my fish "never" get sick. My 25 year old fireclowns, mandarins, pipefish, hippo tang, copperband etc all live in my tank up to their apparent lifespan and never get sick. Why is that? IT IS BECAUSE OF THE LIVE BACTERIA IN THEIR GUT THAT THEY GET EVERY DAY. How hard is that?
OK, it is also because they have not been quarantined and are continually exposed to those harmful pathogens that are removed from all dry foods and a lot of frozen foods.
I sincerely do not want to see fish dying in anyone's tank. Mine never do and I am not that smart, just good looking.
I "think" it is due to the fact that my fish are full of live gut bacteria and are exposed to those pathogens on a regular basis. Remember the rest of the fish you are putting in this make believe tank also come with their own pathogens. We want these pathogens and the fish need them as their immune system evolved right along side them.
A fishes immune system is a huge part of a fishes biology and uses an enormous amount of it's calories. Remember the slime is a major part of it's immune system and that slime is water soluble so it constantly washes away. The fish has to constantly replace that slime because that's where most of it's antibodies are. Re-read my first post here so I don't have to type it again.
You can't turn off that immune system but you can turn off it's ability to repel parasites. A fish is well equipped to repel parasites, but only if it is exposed to them so we need a thriving parasite family living in the tank.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Don't faint, it is true. Don't you get flu, measles and tetanus shots? Why do you do that? You do that so your immune system recognizes those diseases and you don't get them.
OK I am done for now.
This is my only medication. It was made in Brooklyn and I probably got it in the 70s. It is copper and formalin, I use it if I get a fish for free from a LFS that is getting last rites and I doubt it will live ten minutes.
I can cure parasites in a day with this and quinicrine hydrochloride (I think that's how to spell that) but that is the only time I would need a medication. I also think hypo is silly as that takes a few weeks to work and a parasite can kill the fish in hours. But that's just me.
make your artificial tree smell like a real one (spray)
(spray)
