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47 year old tank


sen5241b

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Maevepotter.  I have not lost a fish to any disease in at least 35 years.  I can't remember when it was.  I add fish all the time as sometimes they jump out and they all die of old age.  I lost a pair of Bangai cardinals and a female bluestripe to old age as well as a pair of watchman gobies and a spotted wrasse.  

None of my fish have ever been infected by a new fish.  Diseases are a non issue for me and I never have to think about it.  

 

Here was my watchman gobi as a baby

 

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I paired her up as a baby and here they are as adolescents a few years old.

 

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Here they are as an old, out of shape married couple.

 

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Here she is with one of her many broods of eggs.

 

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And in a nursing home near the end of her life about 12 years later. 

 

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Edited by paul b
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It seems that I cured my wife of the night time pains from MS. I got this from Montel Williams who also has MS. I use a juicer to juice mostly fresh beets, about 5 large ones and to that I add berries, ginger (about a 5" piece) and tart apple juice. Sometimes I add plums, carrots, or other vegetables.

She drinks about 4 OZ a day over three doses. So far it has been about 3 weeks and no more night time pains as these things are anti inflammatory s.
Now if I can cure all her other MS issues, that would be great.

Prizapro and fresh water dips don't seem to work.   I tried

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Sorry to hear about your wife's MS. Glad the juice is helping.

 

Thanks for sharing the life cycle pictures :) love it. Are you quite careful when selecting your fish, or have a specific source for your go to fish? I know you do fresh seawater. Is that always what you do? Do you think your bio filter is so well established that it just has everything the fish need for a healthy immune system/microbiome/virome? Do you dip the fish before putting in at all?

 

Thanks!

 

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Maevepotter.  (are you related to Harry?)  I am not careful in buying my fish but I would rather not buy one if it is in the process of receiving last rites.  :rolleyes: I often get fish for free or almost free because they are very sick and I can sometimes cure them.  I have no worries putting sick fish into my reef and have been for decades,  thats how my fish stay immune.  The issues with this hobby in relation to disease is almost everyone thinks about it wrong.

 

As I keep saying, fish in the sea are swimming in a swarm of diseases and parasites constantly and they were built to do that.  It is what keeps their immunity working and it works very well but it depends on the fish meeting parasites and diseases constantly.  These things do not bother fish, but the lack of them will.  If you keep a fish away from parasites and diseases for a time which varies with the species, those fish will have no immunity and will end up on the disease threads, then medicated than most of the time die.  My particular tank is the oldest on here by far and my fish never get sick but people refuse to want to learn about that process and tell me it is ozone, seawater, natural mud and luck.  

I use NSW now but I just moved here and for most of the years my tank was filled with 98% ASW.

 

It is none of those things and I rarely start posts about immunity any longer because of the arguments and those people arguing many of the times are people who can't get their fish immune so they get sick.  

 

As for my Bio filter, I just moved here three months ago and I had to wash most of my gravel in fresh water thus killing it.  I tried to rinse it in the sea but was chased away by the police because I didn't have a permit so my biofilter isn't that old.  I also have not had the chance to add mud this year.

 

Their immunity comes specifically from "not" quarantining  "Not" worrying about parasites. and feeding things with live bacteria in it a few times a week.   Parasites are happily living in my tank just as they do in the sea.  It is actually a commensual relationship and not, as thought a harbinger of doom.  The parasites are happy as they can take some bits of slime and blood and the fish are happy because they remain immune.

 

It is totally un natural to eliminate parasites and diseases and those fish are prone to get sick.  Have you ever heard of an old quarantined reef tank where the fish are spawning and they only die of old age?  I doubt it as those fish are running on only part of their physiology.  They are missing their immunity which is a huge part of fish health.  Fish use energy for three basic things, grow, breed and stay immune.   Spawning is a huge user of energy because a healthy fish produces eggs constantly which could be almost half the weight of the fish.  Immunity takes up the next largest part of the energy and growth uses the least amount of energy.

 

Healthy fish spawn constantly and never get sick.  If the fish is not filling with eggs, she is not very healthy.  Also if the fish is not exposed to diseases, it is also not healthy.

 

We just have to re think everything we thought was correct in the hobby.  I am old enough to have figured it out but too many people stay in the box and feel sick fish are normal.  :cool:

 

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Edited by paul b
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Thanks so much for your perspective. If you've had the tank that long you must be doing something right!! I read that about the cops haha. They're a menace. I'm really enjoying reading your updates. I'm brand new to the hobby. I adopted a tank in July from someone who was getting out of saltwater. So far I've added some live rocks, and started a QT tank for new acquisitions of coral and anemones. To wait out ich on the new stuff, I'm into mid November before I can add everything. I only have a 29g so far and I'm a bit concerned about the fish being stung by my floating menace, the BTA, or accidentally touching the Maxi mini.

 

Funny you ask about Harry. :) That was the online nickname I gave myself when I was running a Harry Potter club in college :) here's my HP themed tank thread on Reef2Reef:

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reefwarts-maeve-potters-care-of-tropical-creatures.458472/&share_tid=458472&share_fid=1020&share_type=t

 

:)

 

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Edited by maevepotter
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Very cool. Love the pictures of your Daughter.

Thanks she's a sweetheart. Apparently I'm trying to enter the clumsy Olympics. I just went down the street now in my car with her to pick up some lumber I saw thrown out (for a custom stand), and I snapped my ankle again!! I did it back in April and it still wasn't right and now I'm back to square one. Fantastic. I hope it's still just a sprain and not a break. Then got home and my poor elderly rabbit has GI stasis again :(

 

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My very cool vacuum enhancing invention.  All the dirt goes into the five gallon bucket and just about nothing goes to the filter on the vacuum itself.  You just spin off the lid on the bucket and it lifts right up so you can dump it out.
I use it on my radial arm saw to collect sawdust.  I just emptied it and there wasn't even a teaspoon of dust in the bottom vacuum part.

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I finished the primer coat for the Metallic Blue Epoxy finish coat which may happen tomorrow .  FedEx can't find my delivery of the blue powder or metallic powder.

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Today I went to my first orientation at the Long Island Aquarium.  I will volunteer there for the winter and you have to go to a 6 hour class to make sure you know how to talk to people and not be a Perv.

The first part was the touch tank where they explained to us what a hermit crab, starfish and clam are.
It was exciting and I was on the edge of my seat.  (even though I was standing up)  Then we went through the bird and butterfly exhibit and to the ray feeding tank.  After that we were in a classroom for a talk.  We were paired up with someone we didn't know and after five minutes we had to tell all we knew about the other person.  I was paired up with an older gentleman, even older than me.  He was a Korean War Veteran.  So I asked him his name, then he got a phone call that he went outside to answer.  He came back five minutes later where the instructor said.  "OK Time is up"..

So I had to make up stuff about him .

Next week we go to  the back scenes of the place which is what I am interested in.  I have been back there before but not as a volunteer.

This place rescues seals, turtles, dolphins, whales and I assume Supermodels.  They will rescue anything and they take it back to the aquarium where they have facilities to treat these animals.  They are responsible for all of New York State.

I am kind of excited to "work" there as a Volunteer because I like to talk and speak to people.  But I will talk to penguins or even wood.

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Today I went to my first orientation at the Long Island Aquarium. I will volunteer there for the winter and you have to go to a 6 hour class to make sure you know how to talk to people and not be a Perv.

The first part was the touch tank where they explained to us what a hermit crab, starfish and clam are.

It was exciting and I was on the edge of my seat. (even though I was standing up) Then we went through the bird and butterfly exhibit and to the ray feeding tank. After that we were in a classroom for a talk. We were paired up with someone we didn't know and after five minutes we had to tell all we knew about the other person. I was paired up with an older gentleman, even older than me. He was a Korean War Veteran. So I asked him his name, then he got a phone call that he went outside to answer. He came back five minutes later where the instructor said. "OK Time is up"..

So I had to make up stuff about him .

Next week we go to the back scenes of the place which is what I am interested in. I have been back there before but not as a volunteer.

This place rescues seals, turtles, dolphins, whales and I assume Supermodels. They will rescue anything and they take it back to the aquarium where they have facilities to treat these animals. They are responsible for all of New York State.

I am kind of excited to "work" there as a Volunteer because I like to talk and speak to people. But I will talk to penguins or even wood.

Sounds really fun! Take pictures and share :)

 

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Today I will run my diatom filter on the tank while I work on other projects.  Some algae came back in the tank and my algae scrubber has an algae growth an inch thick.  That is probably because for a month or two I didn't rinse the frozen food, but I will start doing that again.  I wanted to grow the sponges and other microfauna which I think I accomplished.  Now I want to clean it up again.  I also have not changed any water since I moved here and with the gravel and all the stuff I brought here from my other house I am sure a lot of stuff rotted in there and turned into algae.

It's all good and natural and everything is growing and looks extremely healthy.  The pipefish are full of eggs and the fireclowns constantly spawn.
I don't have any other paired fish now so that's all the spawning I have.  I want some more interesting, small fish but have not found any yet.
All the corals look better than they ever did.

Next week, weather permitting I will collect some water.  I like to change some water about 5 times a year and it's due.

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I put my boat away yesterday which mad me a little sad but it is getting cold and windy here.  My marina didn't have room so I drove it to another marina a few miles away.  The water was very calm but it did rain a little.  I winterized it and won't see it until  the spring.  I looked for but didn't see any frost bitten turtles on the way and I was the only boat out.

Today I will go to the tax department to file my new exemption for my new house.  They give you an exemption if you are a Veteran and a bigger exemption if you served in a combat zone and a bigger exemption if you were in combat and another exemption if you have a combat related symptom or injury.  If I get another exemption, they will owe me money.

Actually all the exemptions come out to like 10 or 15% of your taxes and here on Long Island we pay some of the highest taxes in the country.  I think it's because of the excellent amphipods we can collect here.

After fifty years the Veterans Administration tells me I have PTSD and a disability.  (also hearing loss and tinnitus and probably Fi*&#@is)
I don't know about the PTSD because I feel I am fine.  I do run around in circles eating flies and I occasionally recite paragraphs from "Horton Hears a Who" in Arabic but besides that, I am great.

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