Everything I know, in case I forget as I am getting old

[paul b]

Elbowdeep, that is a nice analogy about the toddlers.  As a kid I never got sick and I did play in the mud, drink water from a lake and never washed my hands.  I practically grew up in a muddy tide pool digging for worms or clams.  I am sure I often stuck my filthy fingers in my eyes, nose and mouth.  While in Viet Nam I spent an entire year in the jungle with very little fresh water except rain.  I got stung by every insect known to man and bit by almost every animal on Noah's Ark.  I didn't get sick.   And the insects there are huge, once a scorpion was chasing me and the only reason he didn't catch me is that his antlers got stuck between two trees.  Today I still rarely get sick but my Grand Children who never play in a sand box or God Forbid, Mud are always sick.  My neighbors are a very nice couple but they live with that sanitizing hand lotion.  It is on the table when they eat and they are always washing their hands.  I have never seen those people when they are not sick.  Their noses are always running as is their kids.  I wonder why.

That is why my fish never get sick and never will.    They were already there, done that and are exposed to mud, parasites and bacteria every day so now they are bulletproof.  I have never had to post on a disease thread about my fish but most of the posts are about problems and the rest of the posts are about vacuuming sand beds and changing water.  But the disease threads still predominate.  I am not sure exactly how one would take a sterile tank and make it into a naturally healthy tank as I am sure you may lose some fish along the way.  It would not be a quick process as many people keep their fish in a bubble where even the slightest think such as Myley Cyrus sneezing in your tank would cause a catastrophy.

Edited July 22, 2014 by paul b

[paul b]

I just thought of something else.  Those tiny tube worms that grow everywhere in moving water.  Some of them are bright red and some are a neutral color like ecru.  Ecru is a stupid name for a stupid color and real men would never say something is ecru, but it is in crossword puzzles all the time and I noticed it yesterday.  A real man would just say white or dirty white.  Remember never wear white after Labor Day unless it is Winter white. (whatever that is)  My wife tells me that all the time.  Getting back to tube worms I think they are one of the greatest inventions this hobby has and also one of the main reasons that more mature tanks are so stable.  My reef is filled with them as is my algae trough that used to grow algae but now is filled with tube worms.  They totally prevent the tank from crashing as each one is a little vacuum cleaner.  A fully grown moose could literally die from exhaustion from doing the macarana, then fall into my tank and rot, and nothing bad would happen.  Except of course for that wet, rotten moose smell.  I have had carpet anemones die in there that were almost the size of my living room carpet and although the tank would stink, nothing bad happened.  Of course the bacteria take care of the final stages of eliminating wastes such as moose parts, but the tube worms are the first to get it.  I feed my tank pieces of shaved clams almost every day and there is a lot of clam juice associated with that.  That is one reason I have so many tube worms.  I once looked under my UG filter and there was almost no room for water.  It was all tube worms.  I bet if I could weigh the tube worms, they would weigh more than my fish  (you thought I was going to say Paris Hilton or a Supermodel didn't you?)  Here is a picture of my algae trough.  It is filled up to the top with hard shelled tube worms.  Fantastic little inventions.

 

 

These are some fantastic Ahi Tuna steaks I grilled yesterday.  They have nothing what so ever to do with this thread but they are fish, so they are kind of allowed.

 

[paul b]

This is my vacation feeder, (almost)  When I go on vacation I get a girl to fish sit.  I don't want her to hatch shrimp, deal with worms or cut clams so I freeze individual, daily portions of food in old film containers.  Film was like Scotch tape but pictures stick to it.  Any small containers will work.  Ask your Grand Mother for the cup she puts her teeth into.
Anyway, my fish sitter just takes one of the pre packaged food containers and dumps it into this device that thaws it and disperses it to all parts of the tank.  It is just a tiny powerhead that pumps into a small plastic container that has holes in it.  The food thaws and goes out the holes to the tank.  If I didn't do this, the copperband would eat all the food or it would just go under a rock.  I have always done this but I figured it may be interesting for anyone that lives under a rock

[YHSublime]

Cool idea for a dispenser! I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever get a fish sitter.

[paul b]

Fish Slime.  You have no Idea how important fish slime is.  We think of fish slime as just, well, slime.  But it is more, much more.  Do you know why fish have slime?  I do.  I just wrote an article about it but I will try to post the highlights.  Water is an extension of the fishes circulation system and everything that is in the water is in the fish.  That is not good news for the fish.  The sea is full of toxins, pathogens, poisons, parasites and Christopher Columbus ear wax.  We evolved from fish (I used to date a girl who looked like a flounder so I assume she wasn't finished evolving)  Our slime glands became sweat glands. ( the reason fish don't sweat is because, if they did, the oceans would over flow)  Fish slime is actually a living thing and not just slime.  A fishes skin, unlike ours is alive all the way through and it is very thin. It is thin because it has to pass some nutrition, minerals, gasses, odors, phermones and a few other things.  The slime has to allow this to happen while protecting the fish from pathogens.  It is able to do this because fish slime is a major part of the fishes immune system.  All the imunoligical benefits inside the fish are also in the slime and new slime is constantly made "If" the fish is fed correctly.  Fish do 3 main things.  Well 4 if you count jumping out.  They grow, they re produce and they maintain an immune system.  All these things require energy from food.  If the correct food is lacking, one or all things will suffer.  That is the reason most captive fish don't spawn.  Not enough of the "correct" calories.  The immune system is a huge drain on fish resourses and is rarely working correctly which is the reason for all the ink spent on ich, bacterial infections, fin rot, Paris Hilton etc.  

I can finish this later if you like as I have to go someplace now, but there are no Supermodels there that I know of. 

Edited October 1, 2014 by paul b

[elbowdeep88]

This seems reasonably sensible. So...what is the correct diet? And how does the nutrition-for-proper-immune-system theory interface with or caveat the exposure therapy you often give your fish using nsw? Which do you consider more important, or why do both?

[paul b]

Glad you asked, I will get to that.  But in a little while I have to go give a dentist a bunch of money for very little work.

[paul b]

I have a little time before the dentist.  Fish slime protects the fish in a number of ways.  The first way is that fish slime is, slimy and sticky.  Becuse of that, pathogens get trapped in the stuff and few actually make it to the skin.  The slime constantly slough's off taking the pathogens with it.  That is why the slime is constantly renewing itself.  The second way the slime works is, as I said, through the anti bodies and anti parasitic substances that are also being constantly added to the slime as it is formed.  Most pathogens that get trapped in the slime are destroyed by the immune properties of the slime.   

Fish slime does one other important thing.  As I mentioned, it is a living substance (did you ever see the movie, "The Blob"?)  If the fish gets an injury, like a fin gets bitten off, the living slime covers the wound there by offering it's anit bacterial properties to the area so the wound is protected and allowed to heal without the threat of infection.  Our skin is dead on the outside so we have to wait for a scab to form.  During that time, bacteria enters the wound and our internal immune system has to control the invading pathogens.  A fish has it much easier and there by heals much faster.  Of course fish also have an internal immune system and it is in some cases more complex than ours.  Antibodies are made in a few places in a fish, the kidneys being one large producer.  Our kidneys just make us pee all the time.

So getting back to the beginning, reproduction is a huge burden on a fish as is slime production.  If you have ever seen a very pregnant fish, the eggs could be half the weight of the fish and "healthy" fish are always pregnant.  Not so much in our tanks.

We as aquarists are happy if the fish are swimming and eating but that could be any half dead fish.  If a fish is not in spawning condition, it is also not producing antibodies in it's slime and there fore suseptable to bacterial "and" parasitic infections.  Fish in breeding condition have no need for quarantine, hospital tanks, Prizapro, copper, or anything else as they are quite able to protect themselves.  

For fish to aquire this immunity they first have to be exposed, just as we do through inoculations.  Most of us who are not Jibonies are given shots to prevent flu, polio, tetanus and other things.  I recently looked at my shot record from when I went to serve in Viet Nam and it goes on for pages just to prevent disesase I have never even heard of.  A fish fry gets immunity from it's Mother in the womb.  If it were not for that, baby fish would be killed very fast from paracites, viruses and bacteria.  As a fish grows in the sea in a soup of bacteria and paracites, it's immune system recognizes these threats (just like in us) and starts turning out antibodies to combat those threats.

Only fish in perfect condition will be immune and a spawning fish is in perfect condition.  If a fish is not spawning or making spawning jestures, it is not in good condition.  That is of course fish that will spawn in a tank suck as clownfish, mandarins, pipefish, gobies etc.

I will get back to how this comes about although I did write a few articles about it.

Dentist time.

[DuffyGeos]

This makes sense. I am planning on trying to keep as many mated pairs, or bonded pairs of each variety of fish that I keep. I think they will be happier and health if they have a companion. Most fish seem to be social creatures since they tend to school or stay with a mate.

 

I am always "spawning or making spawning jestures", so I must be very healthy.

[paul b]

Yes Duffy you must be very healthy.  Most fish don't need companions or Main Squeezes, at least I don't think they do.  Well, maybe kissing gourami's do.  But most fish don't seem to care.  But they should be in spawning condition weather they are spawning or just looking at themselves in the mirror.  Spawning fish or fish in that kind of shape rarely, if ever get sick.  My tank proves that as I have not had to quarantine in over 30 years and parasites wouldn't dare infect my fish.

But to get them into that condition almost always requires live foods.  Damsels don't count as they need very little to spawn and they are hard to kill.  As I may have mentioned to kill some damsels you almost have to run them over with an Oldsmobile, then put it in reverse and run them over again.

[DuffyGeos]

Now is that an Oldsmobile Station Wagon Custom Cruiser or Vista Cruiser....I hope the Vista Cruiser. That window up top was awesome. Of course you would need the fake wood paneling on the sides.

Edited October 2, 2014 by DuffyGeos

[paul b]

I think it would be a 1959 Olds 88.  They were about 20' long and 10'000 pounds.  I had one and was an Oldsmobile mechanic.  The Vista Cruiser was much smaller but the "check out" windows were cool.  I am partial to the 1969 442s although the Toronado also weighed a couple of tons.

[DuffyGeos]

I think it would be a 1959 Olds 88.  They were about 20' long and 10'000 pounds.  I had one and was an Oldsmobile mechanic.  The Vista Cruiser was much smaller but the "check out" windows were cool.  I am partial to the 1969 442s although the Toronado also weighed a couple of tons.

 

I had a 69' Cutlass convertible growing up. Torn the thing all apart and restored it in high school, with a lot of help from a mechanic up the street. Not a real W-30 or 442, but it moved.

[paul b]

That's the year I worked for Oldsmobile.  That was a beautiful car.  I had a 64 Cutlass convertable

[dave w]

Paul, 

 

As always, your posts are informative and very humorous.  Too bad you don't have time to write a book, I'd bet a lot of people would buy it.  I always enjoy reading your contributions.

[paul b]

I am sure if I wrote a book at least 3 people would read it, but my wife and Daughter don't count. 

[toastiireefs]

I am very fascinated by everything you are writing -- and i love your humor! (It reminds me of my dad's!). 

 

What combination of foods do you feed? You catch your own food? I live a couple miles from the beach and have access to a lot of freshly dead seafood. I recently blended some shrimp heads with some shrimp meat and my fish seem to really love that-- though I am sure it is super nutrient rich. I have been playing with the idea of making my own blend of seafood. 

 

Clams were at the top of my list. And grass feeder shrimp that I can catch at the marsh. Unfortunately my tank is only a 30 gal and and my fish are small and I am not sure they can handle the size of the shrimp as live. 

 

In a fix last night I went out and bought some reef pellets -- I am regretting that a bit-- clowns were OKAY with it, the cardinal was having nothing to do with them. I was VERY disturbed by all the soy /wheat meal that was in the pellet-- I know we feed that to the fishes we eat... but we kill those fishes in the end. 

 

But I also have access to fresh and fresh filtered (gets all the algae and suspended solids out) seawater. I have used some of that but I go back and forth between mixing my own salt and running to the beach tap to get ocean water. I have always wondered if it was a benefit or a harm to introduce natural organisms back into my tank. 

Edited October 3, 2014 by toastiireefs

[paul b]

NSW seawater is always better IMO and I use it a few times a year.  As for food, I only use 4 types of food.  Live blackworms, clam, frozen Mysis and new born brine shrimp.  The brine shrimp are only for the small pipefish and to keep the mandarins spawning.  I am sure the corals such as the gorgonians also enjoy them.  I don't use any dry foods except I have a feeder on the tank that dispenses some pellets in the tank.  Those are mostly to feed the pods and microscopic creatures and the few gobies that eat at night.  I put fish oil on the pellets as I am sure there is none in them and food without fish oil is just silly.  IMO again of course because I am sure 97.6% of the 3 people reading this will disagree with me as they feed a "good quality flake food" what ever that is.  Shrimp are OK as long as you remove the shell and feed the entire shrimp, head and all but clams are better.  Clams are mostly guts and shrimp are mostly shell and shrimp shell is not calcium so it is useless.  I buy a chowder clam for 50 cents and freeze it.  I do not use a food processor for anything except fancy, girly drinks.  It is to harsh on fish food and those blades will remove to many of the oils I am trying to get into the fish.  I freeze the clam and shave off paper thin slices so thin you can see through them.  All the fish eat that and because of the calcium content and guts, I feel it is the best whole food besides live worms.  If it were not for live worms, I would not stay in this hobby because I would have to post in the disease threads and I don't do that.

 

Bucket of freshly caught amphipods.

 

Clams (also my favorite food.)

Edited October 3, 2014 by paul b

[Wrench]

LOL my two new favorite quotes:

 

"I bet the Neanderthals thought they knew everything until they were taken over by Liberals."

 

"... that is usually internal bleeding and the fish rarely, if ever recover and Obamacare won't save them. "

 

Thanks for the laughs!

[paul b]

My head is full of quotes that just come to me, but not full of much else.

[paul b]

 

.  Too bad you don't have time to write a book, I'd bet a lot of people would buy it.  I always enjoy reading your contributions.

I have been writing a book for the last 2 months.  I figure I have been at this so long there are some things that I think people should know in case I croak.   I would have been finished but my wife has been very sick and in quite a bit of pain so I get distracted all the time as I am taking care of her.  But the book is almost exactly like this thread written in the exact same format as that is the only way I know how to write.  It is filled with money saving and time saving things that I have developed over the years, many things that I forgot about, but there are always Supermodels to remind me of these things.  They are named multiple times in the book.  I am having fun writing it as like this post, I print it on my monitor with a crayon, and an out of work supermodel comes over and types it.  Hopefully it will be finished before the end of the summer but it depends heavily on my wife's condition (she has MS)  So, it is lunch time and I am seeing linguini and clams about now.  Have a great day, snowing here now.

 

[paul b]

The book is finished and it is out.  It is called "The Avant-Garde Aquarist".  I am probably not allowed to say where it is sold on this sit. I am not sure.  But it will be on Amazon soon.  The site, not the river.

I think it came out pretty good but I may be a little biased. 

[paul b]

This thread is only 2 or 3 years old so I will update. My tank is still doing very well. No hint of any diseases, everything that was spawning is still spawning including mandarans and blue stripe pipefish. It is the middle of the winter so I didn't add any mud for a while, but as soon as I get to a beach, I will collect some.

I did some much needed maintenance on my tank today and noticed something that is very rarely written about. Sponges. Sponges are extremely cool and very common on the reefs.

Each sponge filters 20,000 gallons (I made up that number because I forgot the actual number) of seawater a day and are great at removing car wash soap from your tank.

I feed every day along with other things, clams. Clams come with clam juice that clouds the water. I like the fact that it clouds the water because clam juice is actually microscope particles of clam. Along with< I imagine, clam spit. My water clears in a very short while due to the sponges, some of which are 10" across and 10 years old. Most of them I didn't even buy and have no idea where they came from. Many of them, especially the white ones only grow in the dark. If you move one of those white sponges into the light, they grow algae and croak.

I think we should have as many sponges in our tanks as we can fit. Fantastic creatures.

All this blue stuff is a sponge. I keep cutting off pieces and giving it away so it doesn't encroach on my bed because my wife frowns on that.