Would It Be Possible To Have A Section Dedicated To Marine Fish Emerge

[OohFeeshy]

it may well be a low traffic board but isnt the brackish and oddballs a low traffic board?

That's not really the point, oddballs is now low traffic because of the (IMO rather silly) introduction of a predatory forum which has pretty much killed it off. Brackish is different enough to other areas to warrant it, plus those who are wanting to know/knowledgable know where to look.

One thing I would say is that emergencies may get a bit side-tracked due to the splitting of the section as a whole, which doesn't nessecarily warrant a whole new section, rather perhaps a note saying that chit chat should be used for all emergencies? Perhaps that would be a better option; it would mean the posts are mostly in the same place without even more pointless, messy subdividing.

 

[nmonks]

This is simply not true. Treating marine whitespot is no more difficult than treating freshwater whitespot, unless you happen to have invertebrates or live rock in the tank. Treating freshwater whitespot in a freshwater aquarium that has shrimps and snails is just as difficult as treating marine whitespot in a reef tank for the same reason: copper is toxic to invertebrates, whether freshwater or salt. Provided you have a hospital tank, removing parasitised fish to that tank for 6-8 weeks for treatment, while leaving the reef or live rock tank "fallow" so the free-living parasites die off, will easily solve most problems.

Actually, marine healthcare can be very simple indeed. It can be summarised in just five words: Quarantine new livestock without exception. Virtually all marine whitespot problems come down to people not quarantining new livestock. Hyposalinity dips can augment this approach, but they shouldn't be seen as an alternative, as they so often are. Most of the other problems come down to the same things in marine tanks as in freshwater tanks: poor environmental conditions and/or the wrong diet.

All this being said, I think the idea of a marine aquarium emergency board is a good one.

Cheers, Neale

have you ever kept marine fish? because treating freshwater white spot is 1 million times easier than salt water. and most salt water treatments require elaborate steps in order to save livestock.

 

[bronzecat]

As a new marine keeper I have found the Saltwater section very helpful Having had a problem in the tank recently, I would have found it a lot easier to search for similar problems if there had been an "emergencies" type section.

I think the people that frequent the Salty forums are more qualified to comment on this than people who A) dont go in there or B) haven't got a marine set-up.

That said, it would probably be a good idea for a Mod to Pm the members who are frequenting the salty forums and ask them? Like Truck has said, there has been a fair few newbie salty keepers recently. And does it really make any difference if there are 10 posts a day or 100?

 

[SkiFletch]

I'm gonna have to agree with nmonks here on the simplicity of treating marine whitespot in a hospital tank and the difficulties inverts pose on that treatment. Do we need a whole other section reminding members that the only effective measures for treating marine diseases is copper and/or hyposalinity; or could this issue be resolved more with a pin on the topic that anybody could link to every time someone else fails to quarantine and runs in with a whitespot outbreak because of that?

Truth be told there are far fewer options in treatment in the reef/invertebrate world as compared with the newbie freshwater keeper. I just don't know if we need a whole forum to tell people they have to QT?

 

[bronzecat]

But its not just about "whitespot", its about Ph crashes, Injured fish, Corals falling apart, infections brought on by injuries/stress etc etc
Its fine if you have been keeping marines for ages, but for newbies it could be very helpful.
Afterall, at least its fish related unlike a birthday forum! I really dont care who's birthday it is, but i do care about my fish health.

 

[Truck]

Afterall, at least its fish related unlike a birthday forum! I really dont care who's birthday it is, but i do care about my fish health.

well said

 

[nmonks]

But its not just about "whitespot", its about Ph crashes, Injured fish, Corals falling apart, infections brought on by injuries/stress etc etc

The thing about marine fishkeeping is that virtually all healthcare is preventative. I can't think of a single invertebrate disease that can be treated after the event occurs. You either prevent problems (e.g., by offering optimal conditions) or else you hope the invertebrate gets better by itself (e.g., by offering optimal conditions). There's really nothing else you can do in most situations.

As for infections of fish such as finrot, Hexamita and lymphocystis, if they can be medicated at all, infected fish will need to be medicated in quarantine tanks if there are invertebrates or live rock in the display aquarium.

Its fine if you have been keeping marines for ages, but for newbies it could be very helpful.

Yes, but then what's left to talk about in the main Saltwater Invertebrates & Corals forum? Do be careful not to gut one forum simply to create another. Would simply renaming the Saltwater Invertebrates & Corals make more sense?

Cheers, Neale

 

[OohFeeshy]

Afterall, at least its fish related unlike a birthday forum! I really dont care who's birthday it is, but i do care about my fish health.

That isn't even a proper forum, just a little sub-one that serves an important purpose by ridding the rest of the forum of the annoying 'happy birthday' threads that, like you, no one really cares about.

Yes, but then what's left to talk about in the main Saltwater Invertebrates & Corals forum? Do be careful not to gut one forum simply to create another. Would simply renaming the Saltwater Invertebrates & Corals make more sense?

That could be a good middle-ground option- changing fish to livestock in general and inverts to emergency, perhaps?

N.B, in case you're wondering why all this anti-new section attitude, take a look at some of the forums that have gone down the 'lets subdivide until the end of the universe' road. It's appalling. Messy, really hard to use, a lot of the time you haven't got a hope of getting replies because there are so many possible places for your post to be. It's all very well saying new sections would be better, but I can wholeheartedly say I would rather have one busy, general area than several smaller, more sepcific ones.

 

[Truck]

Afterall, at least its fish related unlike a birthday forum! I really dont care who's birthday it is, but i do care about my fish health.

That isn't even a proper forum, just a little sub-one that serves an important purpose by ridding the rest of the forum of the annoying 'happy birthday' threads that, like you, no one really cares about.

Yes, but then what's left to talk about in the main Saltwater Invertebrates & Corals forum? Do be careful not to gut one forum simply to create another. Would simply renaming the Saltwater Invertebrates & Corals make more sense?

That could be a good middle-ground option- changing fish to livestock in general and inverts to emergency, perhaps?

N.B, in case you're wondering why all this anti-new section attitude, take a look at some of the forums that have gone down the 'lets subdivide until the end of the universe' road. It's appalling. Messy, really hard to use, a lot of the time you haven't got a hope of getting replies because there are so many possible places for your post to be. It's all very well saying new sections would be better, but I can wholeheartedly say I would rather have one busy, general area than several smaller, more sepcific ones.

I think, that the saltwater fish section could do with renaming. change it to saltwater fish, inverts and corals. and change the inverts/corals section to an emergency section.

that way were making the saltwater fish area more active whilst maintaining the same number of sub forums

 

[nmonks]

If this were me, I'd divide up the Marine section into just four sections:

• Saltwater/Reef Chit Chat - Make this the area for genera discussion about starting out in the hobby, recommendations of books and shops, discussions about food, breeding reports, and so on.
• Saltwater Emergencies and Health - Here's where people would post problems.
• Saltwater Fish and Invertebrates - Discussions about the needs of specific fish, compatibility with other species; focused on the needs of fish and invertebrate species, rather than maintenance, which overlaps with hardware, chit-chat and healthcare topics.
• Saltwater Hardware - Discussions on filters, lights, and so on.

The Nano Reefs section is only questionably distinct from the others, since much of what happens here would be equally suited to the other sections. Is treating Marine Ick in a nano tank any different to treating it anywhere else? Do corals in nano tanks have different requirements in terms of allelopathy or water chemistry? When is a nano tank just a small aquarium into which too much livestock has been dumped? But I suspect there would be a fair number of people who would prefer the Nano Reefs section being left separate from the others.

Yes, there are problems with over-splitting forums. When is a healthcare issue actually one about water quality? When does an oddball fish become a predator? Is treating finrot on an angelfish a neotropical cichlid issue or a healthcare issue? There are some sections that make obvious sense as standalone sections, for example brackish water fish, because they're almost hobbies in themselves. But beyond such obvious examples, distinctions between forums and subforums inevitably end up being arbitrary, and as such, confusing to anyone who doesn't know the layout of TFF more generally.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Truck]

If this were me, I'd divide up the Marine section into just four sections:

• Saltwater/Reef Chit Chat - Make this the area for genera discussion about starting out in the hobby, recommendations of books and shops, discussions about food, breeding reports, and so on.
• Saltwater Emergencies and Health - Here's where people would post problems.
• Saltwater Fish and Invertebrates - Discussions about the needs of specific fish, compatibility with other species; focused on the needs of fish and invertebrate species, rather than maintenance, which overlaps with hardware, chit-chat and healthcare topics.
• Saltwater Hardware - Discussions on filters, lights, and so on.

The Nano Reefs section is only questionably distinct from the others, since much of what happens here would be equally suited to the other sections. Is treating Marine Ick in a nano tank any different to treating it anywhere else? Do corals in nano tanks have different requirements in terms of allelopathy or water chemistry? When is a nano tank just a small aquarium into which too much livestock has been dumped? But I suspect there would be a fair number of people who would prefer the Nano Reefs section being left separate from the others.

Yes, there are problems with over-splitting forums. When is a healthcare issue actually one about water quality? When does an oddball fish become a predator? Is treating finrot on an angelfish a neotropical cichlid issue or a healthcare issue? There are some sections that make obvious sense as standalone sections, for example brackish water fish, because they're almost hobbies in themselves. But beyond such obvious examples, distinctions between forums and subforums inevitably end up being arbitrary, and as such, confusing to anyone who doesn't know the layout of TFF more generally.

Cheers, Neale

sounds good neale, ill have to see if i can get a mod to take it to the mods board

 

[n3ont3tra]

If this were me, I'd divide up the Marine section into just four sections:

• Saltwater/Reef Chit Chat - Make this the area for genera discussion about starting out in the hobby, recommendations of books and shops, discussions about food, breeding reports, and so on.
• Saltwater Emergencies and Health - Here's where people would post problems.
• Saltwater Fish and Invertebrates - Discussions about the needs of specific fish, compatibility with other species; focused on the needs of fish and invertebrate species, rather than maintenance, which overlaps with hardware, chit-chat and healthcare topics.
• Saltwater Hardware - Discussions on filters, lights, and so on.

That sounds good to me, too.

 

[bronzecat]

Actually, that is a well thought out layout nmonks

 

[OohFeeshy]

Nanos is a fairly popular section, perhaps Chit Chat could be divided in two (like the Livebearer section) to still accomodate it?

 

[Truck]

take a look at some of the forums that have gone down the 'lets subdivide until the end of the universe' road. It's appalling. Messy, really hard to use, a lot of the time you haven't got a hope of getting replies because there are so many possible places for your post to be.