Looking back in the years. 90's even early 2000's. I dont remember all the pest we have showing up today. Like if you caught green hair it was a death sentence. The mantis shrimp was the the main pest. Why are there so many pest and things showing up now comparing to 20+yrs ago????
Calling all the old reefers.
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fish farmer
2500 Club Member
I remember plenty...aiptasia, GHA, mantis shrimp, AEFW(in a popular reef store at the time), red bugs, etc.
The pests were there, just more extreme measures are taken today to quarentine or start sterile systems.
The pests were there, just more extreme measures are taken today to quarentine or start sterile systems.
KrisReef
10K Club member
Because we reefers demanded more and more corals from all over the world, and those corals brought their pests with them. Those pests multiplied like lemmings at the wholesalers, and the results were delivered like a hot pizza to our LFS for our consumption.
On top of this, people started trading frags like hippies passing joints around the commune back in the 60's . Before you knew it everyone had shared in everyone elses reefer diseases and lots of corals died in the process.
On top of this, people started trading frags like hippies passing joints around the commune back in the 60's . Before you knew it everyone had shared in everyone elses reefer diseases and lots of corals died in the process.
ca1ore
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Yeah, I think the fundamental premise is incorrect. I recall the same pests 20 years ago that we see today, though I do think more contemporary reefers get a little too hysterical about a pest anemone or a bit of algae. I do think there is a higher prevalence of disease in the reef fish supply chain - incidences of things like velvet, urinema and gram negative infections.
Been in the hobby for decades, things have gotten worse.
With that said think a lil problem before could be worse now because we are housing things that couldn’t be dreamed of then.
Another factor is profit margins have gotten so tight that instead of having hobbyists who love it and can turn a profit doing something they love, we have a higher ratio of people who run a biz and see dollar signs instead of beauty and interest, more like s meat market, especially in terms of wholesalers
With that said think a lil problem before could be worse now because we are housing things that couldn’t be dreamed of then.
Another factor is profit margins have gotten so tight that instead of having hobbyists who love it and can turn a profit doing something they love, we have a higher ratio of people who run a biz and see dollar signs instead of beauty and interest, more like s meat market, especially in terms of wholesalers
James Tucker
Active Member
I think one aspect has to do with the internet culture seeping into the hobby. The culmination of information coming together in centralized locations and a lot more min/maxing point of views being adopted.
To add to that I think there are a lot more people keeping higher-end reef tanks than ever before, leading to more cases of diseases. With modern systems people can keep tanks with a much lower skill requirement for entry and may not have the dipping procedures we were raised on.
Because standards now are slop, from collection through out. The mass quantities being collected, every thing thrown together, quickly moving through and nothing kept clean. What people call live rock is a joke, I won't use it anymore. I worked at a top notch store around 1990, we use to get live rock and clean it using magnifying glasses and a series of pick tools. Rocks, macros, inverts, and fish were all kept in separate systems. It's ridiculous to think that today you can transfer a fish disease to your tank because inverts systems are plumbed right into the fish systems and running right through the live rock containers; what a joke. I've been around 30 years now, I would not start in the hobby today, We had this same discussion about disease before, and it's just as bad.
True
On the very positive side, with the internet and people being able to freely share info and experience from anywhere in the world, progress has been huge in the last 10 years or so. IMO a great time to be in the hobby
It's been over 20 years now, but I used to work for an aquarium maintenance company. This is actually where I first learned to quarantine. All fish would get 30 days in Coppersafe, plus just the initial dosage of Maracyn 1 (erythromycin) & Maracyn 2 (minocycline). The owner only allowed us to feed raw shrimp, flake food and romaine lettuce. I didn't realize back then just how special it was to watch a Copperband Butterfly eat flake food. 
I do now as I'm constantly having to buy live blackworms, clams, oysters to get them to start eating. :mad: I also had no idea what flukes were back then, because we never dewormed any of the fish. We would order 60-70 fish at a time, and maybe lost 5-6 during QT. Once they went into our clients' tanks they lived for years and years. Only thing that would go wrong is many of them would eventually develop HLLE, but knowing what I know now I suspect that was due to lack of nutrition.
I do now as I'm constantly having to buy live blackworms, clams, oysters to get them to start eating. :mad: I also had no idea what flukes were back then, because we never dewormed any of the fish. We would order 60-70 fish at a time, and maybe lost 5-6 during QT. Once they went into our clients' tanks they lived for years and years. Only thing that would go wrong is many of them would eventually develop HLLE, but knowing what I know now I suspect that was due to lack of nutrition.Dan D
Community Member
I think all of you bring good advice about how the industry has progressed . The web has made a huge impact on quality of fish and inverts. I think that it can be positive? I think the range of problems and resolutions are a wide range think CL AND EBAY. CL is a crap shoot, ebay is maybe ok if u know seller,and scrutinize the seller pasts.
U develop a camaraderie with your seller,i hope. I hope to be that good to start with and get better with time and spend many years supplying the good folks with the healthiest fish i can catch and ship.
Is there a place on this forum where you are allowed to grade your favorite shop or seller.?
I have allways loved any aquarium, any kind . Im lucky to have dived in a few great places. And hope to enjoy the fishes i saw forever.
Melikalikimaka
U develop a camaraderie with your seller,i hope. I hope to be that good to start with and get better with time and spend many years supplying the good folks with the healthiest fish i can catch and ship.
Is there a place on this forum where you are allowed to grade your favorite shop or seller.?
I have allways loved any aquarium, any kind . Im lucky to have dived in a few great places. And hope to enjoy the fishes i saw forever.
Melikalikimaka
mta_morrow
Of course I have room for 1 more fish!
Love the analogies!
ikolbaba06
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I agree with most people that have chimed in. I had a tank mid 90’s with my brother and the stuff available that you could get was not even close to the coral you can get now. Plus acropora was unheard of in most tanks and if you kept it you were a reefing god at the time. I remember reading in magazines about the Germans and their acropora, especially the stuber acro. In my local area inland was the place to go and Xenia was in huge demand. The downdraft skimmer was a huge thing back then too. But I will also chime in on the live rock that is supposedly live rock. The stuff available is terrible now and the dry rock isn’t much better. I have had the hardest time with my tank because when I came back to the hobby dry rock is everywhere and takes forever to cycle/become “live”. Also I really miss garf. Not sure if they are still around or not.
But back to the original question. I just think that people are also more aware of the pests nowadays. Also most of the pests we see are hard coral sps related which was a harder coral to keep alive for long back then.
Also fragging was in its infancy back then and only became a big deal in early 2000’s with Calfo, garf, etc leading the way.
But back to the original question. I just think that people are also more aware of the pests nowadays. Also most of the pests we see are hard coral sps related which was a harder coral to keep alive for long back then.
Also fragging was in its infancy back then and only became a big deal in early 2000’s with Calfo, garf, etc leading the way.
