Oh, and one other assumption I made here - was that the fish were purchased from a Petco sort of run of the mill LFS, and that the fish were classed as "grade B SE Asian". This I DO have good data on - around a 30 to 50% mortality rate on these weak fish within the first 40 days, without factoring in any disease issues. Then, I added the 15% mortality rate I see on post-quarantine fish annually (from 20+ years of tracking that). The guess that I made was to nudge the 45 to 65% baseline rate to 80% by adding in my guess as to how non-quarantined fish would encounter disease and raise the overall mortality rate.Thanks - I thought so - but just wanted to clarify. Although I know you don't have a 'study' - just to clarify - assuming 80 percent mortality in the first year. What do you think the cause(s) are? The only reason I ask is (rightly or wrongly) - only a small percentage follow a 'Medicated' QT system - at least according to polls here. I just find it difficult to believe that (Lets say 30 percent follow a medicated protocol) - that the other 70 percent of people have an 80 percent mortality of their fish? But - again - the discussion has been a little convoluted - so it's unclear what you were trying to say (to me) - Thanks in advance
Things that lower the rate: (In no particular order)
buying tank raised fish (reduces disease and cyanide issues)
buying net collected fish with short supply chain (reduces cyanide and handling issues)
Proper quarantine (reduces disease issues)
Shipping losses held at less than 3% by using air cargo and not FedEx
picking appropriate species (no orange spot filefish for example)
Doing all of those items reduces my annual mortality rate on new fishes to around 25 to perhaps 30%
Jay