Believe it or not, people operated aquariums far before the advent of the WWW. I can't say it was better in the old days, but the source of information was usually the public library or the LFS. Most of us that lived out of town were stuck with the library and the trick was to look at the author and date the book was published. I remember a book titled something close to "Modern Home Aquariums" from the library. It was dated in the 1950's Lol
Nowadays, the WWW has made information instantaneous. It's really quite amazing. We can look up or submit an article in the blink of an eye.
Yesterday I spotted Ich on one of my angels that I picked up at one the local stores and started a salt regimen. Probably one of oldest tricks in the book and I have had some great success with it in the past.
I decided to look around the web for new and improved ideas and after about an hour of two I realized that curing Ich was absolutely impossible without killing every fish I had.
Rubbish! Anyone who's been in the hobby awhile will tell you that is outlandish. Even in the days when we were running nothing more than floss and charcoal, Ich was manageable for most fish using aquarium salt and elevated heat. The only other product back then, I think was Nox-Ich and with the salt and heat regimen I never needed it.
Point is that we forget that the author of any post can be anyone from a primary school student to the local butcher who thought they found a home-brew cure for a disease (that was in reality a scrape on the skin of a bottom dweller...) or more commonly, someone who used a well known product and was dissatisfied because they lost a favorite fish that was too badly infected or infested to make it. (In business they say one dissatisfied customer "turns off" ten people. Very true, but can mislead many in our hobby. I've seen good products kabashed for no good reason.)
I can say I that have bounced around this website (even before I was a member) and found most of Aquariacentral's information pretty sound. I've even learned a bit and am updating as well. This site seems to be a quite a good source of information when we have a rainy day in our little aquariums.
Something to understand is that we can do everything right and on schedule and still lose a few fish here and there along the way. It does happen, but having a good source of information like this website is a great thing to keep loss at a minimum. Also, it's very important is to be observant (to be treating the right thing) and to have patience in treating illness.
I'm still waiting for the box of Acme Instant Cure-all and when it does appear on the shelf it will take a long time to convince me
Be optimistic and good luck!
Mr Ford
Nowadays, the WWW has made information instantaneous. It's really quite amazing. We can look up or submit an article in the blink of an eye.
Yesterday I spotted Ich on one of my angels that I picked up at one the local stores and started a salt regimen. Probably one of oldest tricks in the book and I have had some great success with it in the past.
I decided to look around the web for new and improved ideas and after about an hour of two I realized that curing Ich was absolutely impossible without killing every fish I had.
Rubbish! Anyone who's been in the hobby awhile will tell you that is outlandish. Even in the days when we were running nothing more than floss and charcoal, Ich was manageable for most fish using aquarium salt and elevated heat. The only other product back then, I think was Nox-Ich and with the salt and heat regimen I never needed it.
Point is that we forget that the author of any post can be anyone from a primary school student to the local butcher who thought they found a home-brew cure for a disease (that was in reality a scrape on the skin of a bottom dweller...) or more commonly, someone who used a well known product and was dissatisfied because they lost a favorite fish that was too badly infected or infested to make it. (In business they say one dissatisfied customer "turns off" ten people. Very true, but can mislead many in our hobby. I've seen good products kabashed for no good reason.)
I can say I that have bounced around this website (even before I was a member) and found most of Aquariacentral's information pretty sound. I've even learned a bit and am updating as well. This site seems to be a quite a good source of information when we have a rainy day in our little aquariums.
Something to understand is that we can do everything right and on schedule and still lose a few fish here and there along the way. It does happen, but having a good source of information like this website is a great thing to keep loss at a minimum. Also, it's very important is to be observant (to be treating the right thing) and to have patience in treating illness.
I'm still waiting for the box of Acme Instant Cure-all and when it does appear on the shelf it will take a long time to convince me
Be optimistic and good luck!
Mr Ford
