Why do so many fish get sick?

[Paul B]

So many posts are about fish dying and this is a shame. Most of the fish we keep should live at least ten years and many 15 or 20 years with the exception of small gobies, pipefish and seahorses as their life span is only a few years. Fish should also almost "never" get sick with anything. No spots, discolorations, fin rot, losing appetite, the heartbreak of psoriasis etc. I feel it is all about food. No, not water parameters, salinity, hair algae, cyano or Lady GaGa, although Rap music may cause some problems. :hmm2: Food is the secret and flake food and pellets are not helping your fish even if they love the stuff. I love peanut M&Ms but I don't eat them every day. Fishes health depends on their immune system and their immune system will hardly function without the proper food. I wrote many articles on that so I don't want to do it again but virtually all of my paired fish are spawning and they spawn all the time. That, and only that is the sign of healthy fish as healthy fish spawn continuously all of their adult lives. Almost all fish will live much better and have few if any health problems if they are fed whole foods such as clams or worms. No, freeze dried do not count at all. Some commercially available frozen foods are very good but look for whole foods on the label such as clams or fish eggs. Trout pellets, fish fillets, squid, octopus tentacles and cocktail shrimp are not real good foods so you can send the shrimp to me.
Oysters, clams and mussels are excellent foods. But then live or frozen, not canned. Freeze them and shave off thin slices. Live blackworms which I have been using for fifty years are excellent and all of my fish get some every day even my 24 year olds and they are still spawning. I realize many people live in Siberia, Tunesia or Utah and have a problem with these foods all I can say is, move. I am sure they ship clams to Utah but I don't remember the last time I was there what I ate. Live blackworms can be ordered on line. Live earthworms are also an excellent food. Hold the worm up to a faucet (preferably while your wife is out) and gently squeeze the thing down to the tail. The head is the end where the eyelashes are. Cut them up or use them whole for larger fish. Anemones and crustaceans also love them (as do Platypusses) You can also cut them up and freeze them. If you don't want to wash them, just put them in some clean soil for a week to flush them out and don't take them from a place that weed killer , bug killer or fertilizer has been used. They are a great food and free. Free is good but many people don't think a food is good just because it is free. If you feed nothing but whole foods to your fish, they will get so healthy that they will start demanding things from you like the TV remote. If you quarantine, that is up to you. I personally don't have to but I don't want to get into that because of the hate mail I will get demanding that I stick myself in the eye with a bristleworm and leave town.
For more "difficult" fish such as mandarins, pipefish, shrimpfish, manta rays etc, a target feeder is almost a necessity. Those fish will live without one, but not really thrive for many years and also spawn. I am not sure about the manta ray.
Pregnant ruby red dragonette.

Pregnant blue stripe pipefish

 

[zesty]

Very nice. I really like the no bs approach you have. So, what do you feed your manta ray? ;)

 

[veselym]

I have had plenty of sick fish come in and I only feed Rods and LRS...The problem IMO is acclimation and or state of the fish when it comes from a distributor

 

[Paul B]

The Manta Ray eats anything he wants to because it is very expensive to feed him blackworms. Fish coming from a distributer have all sorts of problems, the ones that come in still alive. But if they make it a week, they should live forever if they are fed correctly.
LRS is good and I know Larry who owns it. He recently started to add blackworms to his food after we spoke.

I went to a very old LFS last week and asked for blackworms. The guy looked at me and said what are you feeding? I told him my reef. He said you can't feed blackworms to saltwater fish, they are no good for them. He was surprised when I told him that I helped start the salt water tanks in that store in the early 70s, and that my 24 year old still spawning clownfish who have been eating blackworms every day of their lives would disagree with him,.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

You mention earth worms, Paul. What about using the night crawlers and other bait worms you can find in a bait shop? Just thinking outside the box for a bit.

 

[3Twinklets]

I agree with you 100%. Where do you buy your blackworms please?

 

[Shep]

This was a great write up but I think to say that A) no fish should ever get sick is just not possible, fish get sick and die from it in nature. B) while I think food is a huge part, I do not think you can say that its the only thing keeping a fish from getting sick. There are a lot of other factors that contribute to their health. But as always this was a great read, you have some great insights. I hope to keep a take running as long as you do! :D

 

[Paul B]

You mention earth worms, Paul. What about using the night crawlers and other bait worms you can find in a bait shop? Just thinking outside the box for a bit.

That is not outside the box,it is right inside it. Nightcrawlers are just big earthworms. They are worms and live in the earth. Hence, earthworm. Bait shop worms are also fine. There is one type of red worm that I don't think you should use, it is a dung worm or something like that. Remember, earthworms may have bug killer, fertilizer or weed killer in them. You need to be careful where you get them or keep them for a while in clean, damp soil.

This was a great write up but I think to say that A) no fish should ever get sick is just not possible, fish get sick and die from it in nature. B)

Shep, you have to listen to the words as they come out of my mouth. I did not say that a fish should "never" get sick because I knew people would correct me on that. I said and I quote "

Fish should also almost "never" get sick with anything.

The word "almost' here makes a ton of difference.

while I think food is a huge part, I do not think you can say that its the only thing keeping a fish from getting sick.

OK food is not the only thing as they won't live in damp sawdust.
I did say

. Almost all fish will live much better and have few if any health problems if they are fed whole foods such as clams or worms.

In that short post I couldn't put in all my thoughts and feelings and every little thing. But you are correct, fish need other things. I wrote many posts on this and even wrote a book.
Here is something I wrote on it that goes more into detail Fish Health Through Slime

I have been keeping fish every day for the last 60 years so I have had a few fish. My fish now have never been sick with anything except 2 cases of pop eye. That is in the last 35 years or so.. No spots, no frayed fins, no bacteria, and nothing else. In short, if they don't jump out, they live long enough to die of old age which is normally about 12 years for the majority of our fish. My clown male is 24 and the female is 16. I have had other fish live 18 years and hippo tangs live 12. The 18 year old cusk eel and 12 year old hippo died in an accident with most of the rest of my fish. If you have a tank long enough, you will have accidents beyond your control. But I stand by my initial post that fish fed the proper, whole foods "almost" never get sick. Providing of course they are in decent water. Water prameters won't necessarily mke your fish sick. It may kill them outright just like if we are in a room with no air we will die, but not get sick.

 

[Paul B]

I agree with you 100%. Where do you buy your blackworms please?

Wendy (do you know Peter Pan?) Here in New York I can get blackworms in many pet shops, even Petco. I know many people get them on line but you have to buy a lot that way and if you have no way of storing them, it is a problem.
Of course, I also wrote an article on that here. Blackworms Mean Better Health for Marine Fish

 

[thormx]

I want your book!
I've been feeding live black worms to my fish since reading one of your posts about a year ago. My fish are fat, healthy, and vibrant. I recently moved, and right before that I ran out of worms. Perfect timing I though, I'll move the tank, get them settled, then get some more worms. Well in that couple wormless months, my damsel got sick for no apparent reason. Real sick. I didn't think he was going to make it. I was going to set up a hospital tank, but I couldn't catch him. So finally I found a LFS that had black worms(I was previously ordering them online). Started feeding worms again, and a couple weeks later he's back to normal swimming record breaking laps around the tank. Crazy. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not, but I'm convinced.

 

[Paul B]

Thormx (could you pronounce that?) I have ben advocating worms for many years but many people just don't see the benefit. That is fine because it is not really my job to tell people what to feed their fish. I don't know exactly what my job is because I retired and shouldn't care if people feed their fish M&Ms. :dance:

 

[chefjpaul]

I feed my platypuses M&Ms every second Tuesday of October.

 

[jokervueboi]

OMG................. Imma go get me some worms!!!!

 

[Paul B]

I feed my platypuses M&Ms every second Tuesday of October.

That is just about what I would recommend. They prefer the red ones

 

[3Twinklets]

Wendy (do you know Peter Pan?) Here in New York I can get blackworms in many pet shops, even Petco. I know many people get them on line but you have to buy a lot that way and if you have no way of storing them, it is a problem.
Of course, I also wrote an article on that here. Blackworms Mean Better Health for Marine Fish

Paul, I am not familiar with Peter Pan.
I did read your article last year.
I also feed LRS with the blackworms.
I just wish there were more of them in there. I am a little leery of ordering them from a site that has not been recommended.
My Butterfly really loves them and I had hoped to be able to freeze them because I'm not sure they would survive the heat here in Texas.

 

[NanaReefer]

I've been feeding my fish nothing but LRS for 2+yrs, have not lost a one to illness. Even better now that it has black worms in it [emoji39]

 

[Squid]

So I guess I'm buying black worms for now on. Thanks for the simple and sound advice Paul!!

 

[Paul B]

Wendy, She was one of the main characters in Peter Pan. Larry from LRS food called me to discuss worms. I asked him to add worms to his food which he did. I would like more worms also, but it is not my company

 

[3Twinklets]

Wendy, She was one of the main characters in Peter Pan. Larry from LRS food called me to discuss worms. I asked him to add worms to his food which he did. I would like more worms also, but it is not my company

Oh silly!! I finally got it!! Lol!

 

[KoleTang]

If you quarantine, that is up to you. I personally don't have to but I don't want to get into that because of the hate mail I will get demanding that I stick myself in the eye with a bristleworm and leave town.

Paul B I'm interested to hear more about this. I won't stick you with a bristle worm I promise.

On another note, do you have any information available on your skimmer's construction?