How often to test: informational.
I admit I'm compulsive.

But first of all, I want a test that doesn't go 'green' or 'sorta green yellow.' I want numbers. I want exact numbers.

I recommend a logbook, especially for beginners. In this you write down the date and every test result. This becomes a valuable record over time. You can look back over a year and see changes. You can hand the book to a tanksitter you've taught to test, and say: run these tests---if the...

Does QT stress a fish? Informational.
Putting a fish into a tank with sand and rock---vs putting them into a bare glass qt.

Does it bother them?

Not as much as you'd think. What are a fish's priorities?
1. a place to hide that's not *owned* by someone who's going to kill him.
2. a place that's fairly dimly lit.
3. being able to breathe for a while without being chased
4. a place generally free of politics and bigger fish...remember...

DETECTIVE WORK: chain reactions you'd never believe...
1. case one: fish turns up with red mark on side. Disease suspected.
A: possibly so, but in one case of this, the red mark was from a pistol shrimp. How detected? The wounded fish dens in burrows and low in the rocks at night. More than one fish turned up like this. Fatally so. Removing the pistol shrimp prevented further cases.

2. case two: another red mark, but no pistol present.
A: The offender turned out...

Garlic must assuredly be a proven method of disease treatment. Why else would so many reputable manufacturers make and market a cure if it had not been scientifically proven?

Taking these points in order, first garlic has never been conclusively proven to cure Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans), ever. Some hobbyists have used it and reported that their fish got better, but these are not controlled studies and none of these hobbyists know for certain if their fish's own natural immunity...

I recommend you avoid garlic, I stopped using it....

OK I'm a no garlic for marine fish person.
Why?
Well firstly let me give you a little background on where I’m coming from, I’m a fish disease research scientist and I specialize in fish vaccination and ectoparasite infections in fish. I don't work for, sell or am I in anyway assciated with commerical fish food production. My research laboratory has carried out many trials for fish feed manufactures on garlic, both...