What I do to keep fish healthy
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
Squidmotron
New member
Will they eat night crawlers? No shortage of those.
My fish disappointed me because the other day a giant mosquito landed in my tank and none of my fish went for him. I had to manually remove.
My fish disappointed me because the other day a giant mosquito landed in my tank and none of my fish went for him. I had to manually remove.
Squidmotron
New member
Cool. Maybe I will try that every now and again.
Nice thread Paul.
You know I strongly disagree about the quarantine part and always without exception quarantine new fish additions and treat them preventatively via the tank transfer method.
My fish are very healthy and long lived , breed regularly , even the seahorses. I feed frozen pre thawed and rinsed mysis, bloodworms , brine cycloppeze 2x per day with Prime Reef flake, nori an spirulina evry other day. I feed seahorse fry newly hatched atremia nauplii . Some coral frenzy is fed once a week or so to corals but some is there for pods and such and fish take some too I've tried blackworms for finicky eaters with some success. There is no disease in my tanks.
You know I strongly disagree about the quarantine part and always without exception quarantine new fish additions and treat them preventatively via the tank transfer method.
My fish are very healthy and long lived , breed regularly , even the seahorses. I feed frozen pre thawed and rinsed mysis, bloodworms , brine cycloppeze 2x per day with Prime Reef flake, nori an spirulina evry other day. I feed seahorse fry newly hatched atremia nauplii . Some coral frenzy is fed once a week or so to corals but some is there for pods and such and fish take some too I've tried blackworms for finicky eaters with some success. There is no disease in my tanks.
Paul B
Premium Member
Tom old buddy, I didn't say to give up quarantining, I said, "I" don't have to quarantine.
I just have a different theory than many people and it is only one way to look at this.
Remember I add all sorts of things from the sea including mud, seaweed, water, amphipods etc. I couldn't quarantine these things if I wanted to as I feel the benefits from all this natural stuff outweighs any harmful effects. I could be wrong.
I also feel that fish actually benefit from paracites as long as the fish lives of course.
Paracites, bacteria and viruses in a fish, as in us elicits an immune response that "may" protect the animal from future infections and also "may" protect them from other similar malady's. Again, I could be wrong. I am wrong a lot. But after over 30 years of adding animals this way, there has not been any paracites or anything else.
Before that I used to quarantine everything and had all sorts of problems from paracites, infections, fin rot etc. I know I can put an ich infected fish in my tank, and nothing will happen. (Please don't do that) I know they are immune. If my tank was a scientific study it would have been proven to be immune decades ago because no scientific studies last 40 years.
I also know that tomorrow, my tank may crash from ich, malaria, diptheria, ghonerah, plague etc. but it is what it is.
Quarantining or not quarantining should have no effect on the longivity, health or breeding success of fish. If a person was raised in a bubble, he could live a long healthy life, but if he comes out of the bubble after 30 years, or if there was a tear in the bubble he would be at an extreme loss and very suseptable to all sorts of diseases because his immune system was never exposed to it. And I feel our immune system is a living thing and learns over time what it is supposed to protect a body from.
In the sea, fish are exposed to every disease imaginable.
From all the years I have been posting on these forums I have never once posted that I lost any animal from a disease.
Yes, they did die from jumping out, or some internal bleeding from collection, I would imagine they get heart attacks, strokes etc. But not paracites, fungus or bacterial diseases.
But Tom, this is my theories, for my tank and in no way do I want to tell anyone to do anything. The title of this thread is things that "I" do. :wavehand:
Tom, you also feed much the same way I do.
I just have a different theory than many people and it is only one way to look at this.
Remember I add all sorts of things from the sea including mud, seaweed, water, amphipods etc. I couldn't quarantine these things if I wanted to as I feel the benefits from all this natural stuff outweighs any harmful effects. I could be wrong.
I also feel that fish actually benefit from paracites as long as the fish lives of course.
Paracites, bacteria and viruses in a fish, as in us elicits an immune response that "may" protect the animal from future infections and also "may" protect them from other similar malady's. Again, I could be wrong. I am wrong a lot. But after over 30 years of adding animals this way, there has not been any paracites or anything else.
Before that I used to quarantine everything and had all sorts of problems from paracites, infections, fin rot etc. I know I can put an ich infected fish in my tank, and nothing will happen. (Please don't do that) I know they are immune. If my tank was a scientific study it would have been proven to be immune decades ago because no scientific studies last 40 years.
I also know that tomorrow, my tank may crash from ich, malaria, diptheria, ghonerah, plague etc. but it is what it is.
Quarantining or not quarantining should have no effect on the longivity, health or breeding success of fish. If a person was raised in a bubble, he could live a long healthy life, but if he comes out of the bubble after 30 years, or if there was a tear in the bubble he would be at an extreme loss and very suseptable to all sorts of diseases because his immune system was never exposed to it. And I feel our immune system is a living thing and learns over time what it is supposed to protect a body from.
In the sea, fish are exposed to every disease imaginable.
From all the years I have been posting on these forums I have never once posted that I lost any animal from a disease.
Yes, they did die from jumping out, or some internal bleeding from collection, I would imagine they get heart attacks, strokes etc. But not paracites, fungus or bacterial diseases.
But Tom, this is my theories, for my tank and in no way do I want to tell anyone to do anything. The title of this thread is things that "I" do. :wavehand:
Tom, you also feed much the same way I do.
Last edited:
In addition to the seafood mix I have fed for many years, I add a little weekly treat for the fish. We eat a lot of extra large Gulf Shrimp and when I de-vein them I save the veins and give them to the fish as a treat. They go nuts for it and every fish will chow down on them like it is crack.
Paul B
Premium Member
Jack, I also feed shrimp guts to my tank. I really should eat more shrimp so I can get the guts.
Today I am making clam chowder so I will have plenty of clams and if I don't eat all of them, the fish will get a little. I do keep frozen chowder clams for them so I don't run out.
Today I am making clam chowder so I will have plenty of clams and if I don't eat all of them, the fish will get a little. I do keep frozen chowder clams for them so I don't run out.
We are fortunate because of our location, we get some enormous shrimp, I cooked up some last night that were 6 to 8" without head or shell. Large gut sections on these bad boys. Another little treat I give them is salmon. We have a specialty food shop here that brings in Scottish Salmon, when I smoke a salmon I cut thin little strips that are bite size and the fish also go nuts for it. It is an extremely oily salmon, you can practically squeeze the oil out of it, great for the smoker and the fish.
Clam chowder sounds great, home made sounds even better, I'll send you my address, send me a care package of chowder, as much as I love Central Texas, they don't understand clam chowder here.
Clam chowder sounds great, home made sounds even better, I'll send you my address, send me a care package of chowder, as much as I love Central Texas, they don't understand clam chowder here.
Paul, I think an extended argument on quarantine is not the purpose of your thread ;so, I wont make it. Suffice to say we disagree about that aspect of the thread and that parasites could be good for fish. Tanks are closed systems.Parsites and other pathogens concentrate at levels unlike the open ocean.,they are deadly.
Paul B
Premium Member
True Tom, we don't want to start one of "those" threads as they have been done to death.
Many people disagree with me, but that is what makes this hobby interesting and fun.
Jack most of the country think of clam chowder as that white stuff which is New England Chowder which is good and easier to make. I make Manhattan Clam Chowder that is red and I like better.
I did a smart thing today, I went to the pool to swim my laps. But I forgot my Bathing suit. Not being George Cloony, I didn't want to skinny dip (and get arrested) so I went bicycling. Not as good as swimming but it will have to do. We are in for another storm today and tomorrow so it is already very windy, cold and damp. In other words, a normal NY day. I have my generator and snow blower ready.
Many people disagree with me, but that is what makes this hobby interesting and fun.
Jack most of the country think of clam chowder as that white stuff which is New England Chowder which is good and easier to make. I make Manhattan Clam Chowder that is red and I like better.
I did a smart thing today, I went to the pool to swim my laps. But I forgot my Bathing suit. Not being George Cloony, I didn't want to skinny dip (and get arrested) so I went bicycling. Not as good as swimming but it will have to do. We are in for another storm today and tomorrow so it is already very windy, cold and damp. In other words, a normal NY day. I have my generator and snow blower ready.
Sorry about your weather, I have been in shorts most days, it will be cold here today, in the 60's but will be back in the 70's tomorrow. I have enjoyed Manhattan as well as New England clam chowder, no preference for either, both suit my taste buds equally well.
For the record, I rarely qt fish but always recommend others do. I have lost one fish over the years to ich, and he was questionable when I got him so he went into qt. I knew better than to buy him from the place I got him, but he was the only copperband I found locally and he was inexpensive. I too believe in feeding a variety and I feed heavily. I won't recommend my methods to anyone, qt is good for people to do. I have a very good relationship with the owners of the lfs's I use and that is a luxury that most simply do not have. That relationship allows me to have the store hold a fish long enough to see how healthy it is. No way would I expect others to have that and I do believe I have been lucky I also believe that healthy fish can fight off ich but there are of course other diseases that kill quickly.
For the record, I rarely qt fish but always recommend others do. I have lost one fish over the years to ich, and he was questionable when I got him so he went into qt. I knew better than to buy him from the place I got him, but he was the only copperband I found locally and he was inexpensive. I too believe in feeding a variety and I feed heavily. I won't recommend my methods to anyone, qt is good for people to do. I have a very good relationship with the owners of the lfs's I use and that is a luxury that most simply do not have. That relationship allows me to have the store hold a fish long enough to see how healthy it is. No way would I expect others to have that and I do believe I have been lucky I also believe that healthy fish can fight off ich but there are of course other diseases that kill quickly.
