RE: [GSAS-Member] To Test or Not To Test............

["matt kaufman" <igotadose@hotmail.com>]

Hi Clay.

Good comments - my point about 'rigorous testing' was that another member 
was espousing all sorts of 'voodoo' like megadoses of vitamins as a reliable 
way to treat fish. Implicit in this was that these techniques have been 
proven for humans, which they have not. Note my use of the word 'proven', 
i.e., rigorously tested in a lab, recommended by MD's, etc. They have not. 
Nor am I convinced that 'what "works" for humans will work for fish." Last I 
looked, fish were cold blooded and got their oxygen from water. I know some 
very cold blooded people, but their body temperatures are actually 98.6F 
when healthy, and they breathe atmospheric air.

The megadose technique might work for him, but with no real organized 
testing, for all we know, the fact he did more frequent water changes and 
isolated the fish in a recovery tank solved his problems. He simply might be 
a better fishkeeper than those that gave him the fish. I didn't want the 
advice on megavitamins to be taken as gospel. Call me a skeptic I suppose.

As far as the drug companies go, I think its a bit of a leap to expect them 
to dump chemicals in rivers and streams as their testing of fish meds. 
They'd do so in a lab (I would hope) if they bothered at all, which I 
strongly doubt they would, as there is no money in it. However, nothing 
exonerates the tropical fish food and drug industry from putting expiration 
dates and guaranteed analysis on their products. Many things you buy from 
that gang are nothing more than 'snake oil,' i.e., you have no idea what is 
in the product and the result of using it is unpredictable.

As far as your own experience, nothing beats regular water changes and 
reducing the stress caused by crowding fish or aggressive fish. In my old 
place I had variations on large flow through systems with automatic 
changers, they worked great (except when the mechanicals would break down 
and there'd be floods, details details.) If you could simply change 90% of 
the water every day with clean water at the same temp, your fish would 
thrive. This is how the discus farmers in the far east do it. No filters, no 
drugs, just lots of water, which is readily available to them, and heating 
the tanks isn't a problem either.

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