Why so many problems

[paul b]

I started a thread exactly like this a long time ago, but I can't find it.
Every time I go on here, or any forum, I just hit "New Posts" and probably 90% of the threads are about problems of some kind and there is a plethora of posts giving advice to correct those problems.  I shy away from many of those threads because much of the advice I perceive as wrong and after so many years, I really don't feel like argueing.  I am getting old.
A good percentage of the posts are about some sort of spots on some creature, usually a tang, then of course someone will say, well that is an ich magnet so it can't be helped and they say to add garlic, kick ich, cleaner shrimp, hyposalinity, Vodka, Gin and Tonic, or just let the fish watch Oprah Winfrey.  In my opinion, none of those things will work, but I try to stay quiet.  If you think garlic or cleaner shrimp will cure anything, go for it.  
People PM me all the time and ask a specific problem.  I don't know why, maybe they think I am part fish, or I look like a fish or worse, smell like a fish, but they do ask me.  I usually advise them that diet is the most important thing in this hobby and it may not cure anything, but it will get your fish in such a state of health in a couple of weeks that you may never have to post in a disease forum.  Then they may say, great, but I can't get that, so can I just feed flakes?  I say, no, and that is the end of the conversation.  Then I see that poster on the disease forums again.  It happens all the time.
Now, I am not the God of fish or anything else, I am a retired electrician, but if you ask for someone's advice, the person giving the advice will assume you will use at least some of it.  There is no magic pill but many people make this a lot harder than it has to be.  
Then there is the sterility factor.  Virtually all of your animals, except some designer clownfish, came from the sea.  It is the same sea that is right off Florida or Bayone New jersey.  The sea is not sterile and neither should your tank.  If you keep everything sterile and never add anything from the sea, your fish will be like that boy in the bubble where he can't be exposed to any sort of bacteria or virus or he will die.  Fish, like us, need to be exposed to these things to become immune from them.  We Humans get inoculated with weak forms of these diseases to protect us from them.  Fish also need to be exposed to certain things to build up an immunity.  
When I go to Mexico, I get sick, the Mexican people do not get sick, guess why?  In my own tank my fish are immune to almost everything (except jumping out or Rap music)  How do I know?  (I know, most of you are saying, I am lucky and my tank will crash by Tuesday) No it won't.  But if it does, it had a good run.  I feel that it is the diet and the lack of sterility that keeps it going.  Luck has little to do with it.  I have been trying to date a Supermodel all my life and never got lucky with that, so I know I am not lucky.
I get in trouble all the time when I say something like "Ich may, in some instances be good for your fish".  Now don't go putting ich in your tank, although I can.  Your fish can become immune from it, in time, if you feed them correctly.  Pellets and flakes is not correct.  I know many, if not all of you will disagree with me, that is fine, but lets hear how you keep fish spawning for 20 or so years.  I know there are many theories and we all have our own secrets, these are mine.  What are yours?
On another forum someone asked if the lifespan of gobies was just a few months?  I guess that person can't keep them more than a couple of months.

 

[Coral Hind]

So if diet is the key, what do you feed your tank? How often? How much?

[Djplus1]

Blue crabs, maybe?

[paul b]

Remember, "I" said diet is the key.  It is the major key as there are other factors, just not as important as diet.  You can't kep the fish in damp sawdust instead of seawater and have much luck.

As for your question, I feed my fish live blackworms and live whiteworms every day.  The tiny fish like the pipefish and mandarins get a suppliment of new born brine shrimp.  I also feed clams from a supermarket and mysis.  That is all I feed and virtually all of my paired fish are spawning including the mandarins, clown gobies and the 20 year old fireclowns.  I do not have to quarantine and have not in about 35 years.

But besides feeding live foods, I also add some bacteria from the sea a few times a year.  I am not sure if that is important or not as I have no way of checking that.

I have been breeding salt water fish since 1972 when I spawned my blue devils.  They spawned after a few months only after changing their diet to live blackworms.

Spawning fish are healthy fish as only very healthy fish can spawn.  It takes a lot of energy along with proper food to get most fish to spawn (clownfish will spawn if you feed them cardboard) but most fish need better food.  Spawning fish also have the best immune system they can have and are "almost" immune\

from most diseases.  If you have paired fish and they are not spawning, they are not as healthy as they should be and are not immune from anything.

These are "my" opinions from keeping fish for over fifty years and diving with them for over forty years.  In the distant past my fish had every disease known to man and Miley Cyrus.  I used to keep pennies in the tank to ward off ich, those days are thankfully gone now.

Blue devil eggs 1972

 

 

 

 

Watchman gobi with her eggs.

 

Even these guys spawn

Edited August 30, 2013 by paul b

[TheyCallMeMr.703]

I want to sit in front of your tank for hours.... I bet There is Sooo much to see, would prob take days to notice Everything in there... BTW, Nice " diet "

[Mattiejay6]

Where do you get your live black worms and white worms from?

 

And what do you mean you add bacteria from the sea? You get a cup of seawater and throw it in?

[sachabballi reef]

Qr is starting to carry them now....easiest since you need to do small small quantities. Take in from me...hard to keep alive en mass unless of course you're Paul b. Then you just macgiver a contraption and voila.

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[sachabballi reef]

Oooh no not just sea water...Paul throws in good old NY water sludge and inhabitants he calls pods and the rest of us call shrimp sized

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[Enkay]

Although I am not as learned and qualified as paul is, I have to agree with the live worm diet. I very new to saltwater but I have kept freshwater aquariums since I was a kid. Live tubifex(when I was little) and now live blackwomrs, new born brine shrimp, white worms, walter worms, moquito larvae is what I have always been feeding my freshwater fish.

 

And they do spawn. I have had all kinds of fish including discus spawn in my community tanks. I have never had much of a disease problem in my fresh water tanks. I dont use RO water or put in chemicals to "purify" anything. I have friends who change 50% of water in their tanks every week and still complain about issues, I barely make 10% water changes once every couple months. Now, of course it is not the same as salt water but if you ask me, it is life and health and sustainance. So I would be surprised if the parameters for healthy fish would be so much different for saltwater and compared to freshwater.

 

Just my two cents fwiw.

[Enkay]

Jen,

 

IMHo and IME blackworms are very easy to keep. You get these thing called a worm keeper for 5 bucks. I have kept blackworms for more than a month in the fridge in the basement and all I did was changed the water and rinsed off once a week maybe.

 

A PVAS (the freshwater club) member does an order of blackworms every month and I get about a quarter pound (6 bucks or so) every meeting every month. Those last me until the next supply comes in. When I was running 20 FW tanks and breeding all kinds of fish I could lay my hands on, the surefire way to get them to spawn was black worm diet and one big water change.

 

If no one has seen a wormkeeper, I can post a picture when I get home tonight.

 

Thanks!

 

Qr is starting to carry them now....easiest since you need to do small small quantities. Take in from me...hard to keep alive en mass unless of course you're Paul b. Then you just macgiver a contraption and voila.

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[paul b]

I want to sit in front of your tank for hours

 

Bring some beer and a loaf of bread.

 

Where do you get your live black worms and white worms from?

 

A pet shop, you can try a bakery or shoe maker, but I think your best bet would be a pet shop.

 

And what do you mean you add bacteria from the sea? You get a cup of seawater and throw it in?          

 

No, I go to a bay or inlet, find some mud, and throw that in.

 

 I very new to saltwater but I have kept freshwater aquariums since I was a kid. Live tubifex(when I was little) and now live blackwomrs, new born brine shrimp, white worms, walter worms, moquito larvae is what I have always been feeding my freshwater fish

 

Are all your worms named Walter, or just a few?  What are the other ones named?

I keep the worms in here, they live forever because of the moving water.  Most people keep them in the fridge, but my wife goes to the gym 4 times a week and can take me so I don't put them there.

[url=http://s258.photobucket.com/user/urchsearch/media/Wormkeeper008.jpg.html][/

 

 

URL]

Edited August 30, 2013 by paul b

[paul b]

Here is a video of them eating live worms.

 

 

And this is the whole tank.

 

[Enkay]

Locally, Petland in FFX and Pristine Aquariums in Alexandria have them. I think Centerville aquarium as well carries them but I am not sure. QR said they will be keeping them.

 

Where do you get your live black worms and white worms from?
 

[Enkay]

No, only the ones that look like him . The others, I dont bother naming. What do you name a worm that looks like a worm anyway? Worm worm?

 

Are all your worms named Walter, or just a few?  What are the other ones named?

 

[londonloco]

I get a few scoops of black worms whenever I'm at Centreville Aquarium.  I agree with Paul, best fish food out there.  I have three black worm keepers and keep them in a little fridge at our wet bar.  Everyone in this house is used to the "ugly squiggly things" in that fridge.  When I was breeding cichlids I used to get a monthly shipment from blackworms-direct.com.  Thinking about doing that again once I get my fish room back in order. 

 

Paul, I've never seen white worms sold around here.  As a matter of fact, I've never seen white worms, is there a "formal" name for them?  I'd be interested in seeing where I can get some locally. 

 

[Coral Hind]

Congressional Aquarium also carries black worms and live brine. I will have to ask about the white ones. Do you have any pictures of them? Can you keep them in with the black ones. 

 

 .

[paul b]

White worms come on line with a little dirt.  You put them in a plastic shoe box with more dirt and in a couple of weeks you have millions of them.  You just need to keep them damp and feed them.   Here they are eating a matzo (I must have thought they were jewish.  But I usually feed them Cheerios with a little fish oil on them.

They eat about 8 Cheerios a day.  Just Google White Worm culture.  They are cheap, but they re produce fast.  Theyare also a little smaller than blackworms which must be kept in water.

 

[AlanM]

Paul,

 

I've seen your videos before of blackworm feeding.  It seems that everything in the tank eats it.  I've never seen you discuss feeding specifically for the herbivores in the tank.  I know nothing is exclusively an herbivore, but do you feed differently for them or do they get the veggies that they pick off what's growing on your rocks?

 

Also, from your post just now it seems like keeping white worms would be simpler than blackworms since it just takes a box of dirt instead of a water flowing contraption.  Do you see the same benefits and feeding response from them as the black ones?  If you're feeding them the same food it seems like they'd basically end up being similar in the fish bellies. You are what you eat, after all.

[paul b]

I don't have any herbevores in my tank now.    When I did, I used to suppliment nori, but there is usually some algae growing in my tank, none now unfortunately.

The white worms are easier but i am not sure if they have the same nutrition as I mix the two types of worms and have only been using whiteworms less than a year and I have used blackworms for fifty years.  I conditioned many fish to spawn on blackworms but never fed just whiteworms so I really don't know how good, they are.  I hope so and I add some fish oil to their Cheerios every day just to try to get some of that into them.  White worms live a long time in saltwater, unlike blackworms that die in seconds.  Whiteworms are great for mandarins because they are small and when they hit the substrait, they move around for hours.  My mandarins love them but rarely eat blackworms which are larger.  White worms curl up in salt water and are much smaller so for a tank of larger fish, you would need millions of them.

They are also harder to see as they are white and almost clear in water.

[londonloco]

Alan, blackworms are sooo easy to keep if you have the worm keeper.  Water and a fridge is all you need.  When I feed, I rinse the worms in tap water (I have well water), feed, fill keeper up with water again, place in fridge.  No hassle. 

 

Paul, you get these white worms online, can we get a link?

[Coral Hind]

Do you have to trade out the dirt for the white worms? Do they like cool or warm temps?

[paul b]

White worms like it cool. like 74 is perfect and they do not live well over 80.  I keep them in a big Styrofoam cooler and every day I change out a freezer pack with a frozen one from the freezer.  I probably don't have to but sometimes it gets very hot here in my basement.  Every few months I remove the dirt on one side while I feed on the other side.  Then I replace that dirt.  I use potting soil. You lose a lot of worms doing that, but they multiply fast, especially if they have a smart phone or even a cheap calculator.

Edited August 31, 2013 by paul b

[zygote2k]

I agree with the varied diet but instead of using live foods, I use the following things everyday-

Cyclopeeze

OSI flake

SA Hatchery Diet pellets

ReefRoids

CoralFrenzy

Nori and fresh assorted greens.

 

My fish rarely if ever get sick and ocassionally produce some eggs.

[londonloco]

Paul, I googled white worms for sale and there are quite a few places that sell a starter culture.  I'm seriously considering doing this.  I have one more questions:  does the container you keep them in smell when the lid is closed? 

[gmerek2]

Thanks for helping me understand earlier that my tank will be just fine with some rust in it. us newbies appreciate your help and advice and sometimes we take advice with skepticism until it sinks in. Im with you i think flakes are about as healthy as Taco Bell packed full of vitamins. The vitamins make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside but really it's still just flippin Taco Bell. Im glad you are showing us more ways to make live food more practical. I supplement my tangs with fresh spinach. Very controversial since its people food and not available in the sea but at least it isn't McDonald's.