Is fish-keeping harder and diseases more prevalent now than it was 10 years ago?

[663]

Maybe cynical but is there a darker side of the coin?
As a species we have devoted so much to preserve and increase the population in a world that is already seriously over populated to the point that resource demand exceeds (sustainable) capacity. Could it just be nature's / God's / the planet's (delete as you deem appropriate) way of balancing the books? If this is the case the balance has been tipping away from homeostasis for decades and the counter measures are likely to become more extreme to try to restore the balance.

Anyone remember Conway's game of life?

All things considered, it doesn't take any intent for a population to grow. This is true for us and many other species. A modest amount of food and safety will do. I agree that viral activity may be Gaea's remedy for a world increasingly coated with humanity. Sort of mean, but understandable in mythological terms. My wife played a small part in this theory years ago. I was trying to increase the SG in my first marine tank. I called her from work and asked that she add a measured amount of salt to the tank. She did, but instead of salt she mistakenly used laundry soap instead.

Sadly, the night before we watched a banded coral shrimp spawn. No, until you mentioned it I'd never heard of Conway's game. Thanks for that. If anyone's interested the MS store has a version of the game that's free to DL.

 

[mcordelia]

It's also interesting how strongly people feel about this topic when it comes up. For example, a local issue here for us is that the deer population is unsustainably large, and almost every year there is a local election to get permission for the local government to cull the deer population. Invariably, it always gets shot down (pardon the pun), because there are a large enough group of people who "feel bad" for the deer, and don't want them shot. As a result, hunting deer as a pastime has now become dangerous, because there is a prion disease that has spread to deer that can infect humans as well (similar to mad cow disease). Just another example of too many animals in too close proximity with too much inbreeding resulting in more diseases of increased severity as the laws of nature try to balance the books. It's actually not anything like "laws of nature", the explanation itself lies in the opportunistic nature of most pathogens. For a virus/prion/bacterium/etc, the more things you can infect (more population density), statistics say the more likely you are to reproduce. Probably both the benign and the malignant pathogens are reproducing at high rates if there is a "substrate" of organisms available to reproduce in, but it's only the bad ones that have a measurable effect, the benign ones just go about their life and nobody measures them because they don't have an effect in population or function of the host organism.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

So while I think that the farms are partially to blame I also think that it is the responsibility of each of us as well.
The farms and the breeders are supplying what we are asking, more attractive fish, different colour variations, new fin shapes, large fish. If you want more robust fish you need to push for that.
But at the same time you need to accept that you will potentially loose other features you find desirable.

While the management for broodstock in ornamentals is key in this aspect. It is also our responsibility not to overuse medications, especially antibiotics.

I have been thinking about this issue a lot coming from a broodstock background and how we might have to tackle this issue as a community. Many of the suggested fixes within the current literature may or may not be applicable to us.
While the better management of broodstock need to be implemented in many species we use, It also needs to be in our behaviour as "consumers" and owners to better manage our stocks (over medicating ect) and to drive output to more robust fish from farms/breeders as well.

 

[Airwreck]

Colin_T the Mayan civilization did not collapse because of any of the reasons you said.. but stupidity.. they built their cities on their prime farm land..
The problem with modern fish keeping is the exact same type of problem that is happening with beekeeping.. man just thinks they can do better than nature. The modern beekeeps think bigger is better.. its not. It has created a whole host of problems. One being colony collapse disorder.
In fish keeping just like beekeeping we must follow nature. Nature knows.. I'm lucky.. where I live there really not main stream fish stores.. everybody breeds fish.. yeah the selection is limited, but the fish are healthy.
IMHO.. I would use aquabid.. find a "family breeder" check them out.. and if possible buy eggs..
Oh and lastly feed live food.. if they are not eaten right away... They can add to the balance of the tank.
But then this is just my style.