I really don't know.
I feel it is the abundance of pathogens in my tank but it could be the pictures of Supermodels I have on the walls.
Notice the date on that picture 1986. Thats how long I have that picture. I am not a Perv. I like to look at pretty girls, nice looking fish, insects, buildings, paintings etc and I will never apologize for it.
Glad your surgery went well
You didnt quote what I said that 'wasnt true'. So Im not sure to what your referring. Of course organisms (fish.mammals, etc)only become immune after being exposed to he pathogen. However. Feeding a fish xxxxx. does not make it immune to yyyy. Feeding a fish parasite xxxx does not make it immune to bacteria yyyy - and vice versa. Again - there is a difference between a pathogen - and a bacteria - you seem to use the terms interchangeable. Same for 'parasite' and 'bacteria'. They are different.MnFish. that is not true. We have gone over this many times. Fish and everything else acquire immunity after being infected by it.
The suggestion that I have not added Ich, velvet etc to my tank is 47 years is ludicrous. I have always stated that a home freezer is not cold enough to kill pathogens. Commercial food is frozen much colder. I think LRS foods freeze at 27 degrees below zero. I also feed fresh clams but they don't last long so I freeze them.
In the summer I dump in 5 gallon buckets of mud, amphipods, snails and anything I find on a muddy tide pool. Would you or could you do that in your tank?
So why do you think Paul appears to have success that few seem able to replicate? as adding the mud etc and feed the gut of clams etc seems to be the main thing he does different, don’t most reefers feed good quality food including both frozen shrimp and good quality pellets? That appears to be a flaw in your argument..
I really don't know.
I feel it is the abundance of pathogens in my tank but it could be the pictures of Supermodels I have on the walls.
Notice the date on that picture 1986. Thats how long I have that picture. I am not a Perv. I like to look at pretty girls, nice looking fish, insects, buildings, paintings etc and I will never apologize for it.
I go out collecting quite a bit in the summer, and have been known to dump a bucket or two of various wildlife directly into my display tank or fuge, and so far after many decades of aquarium care never had a problem from such dumping's. Most of the times my fish and coral seem to enjoy it, and as for fish, all my wild caught fish go directly into my display tank, straight from the ocean , no quarantining, no nothing, same with the live sand and other bottom substrate I collect for my display and fuge, and also all the saltwater I use for my system is collected by boat directly from the Gulfstream off the Florida Keys, and in all these decades I have never lost a tank of fish to Ich, or any other disease. It's not that I have never lost a fish, some of the fish I buy wont eat any type of food and die, and some have jumped out of my tank and died before I could rescue them, so I must be really lucky or doing something right. Maybe adding live rock from the Gulf of Mexico, live sand from the outer reefs, NSW from the Gulfstream all have something to do with this. My biggest thing going for me I also believe is I waited months , almost a year before I added fish to my tank, except for the ones that came with the live rock I purchased, and then slowly added a few fish every so often after that. Aquarist like Paul and others, who have been doing this for a while, have acquired the ability to select the wild life that will survive in our systems, and are feed a very high quality diet, with a well maintained environment, as stress free as possible.
I agree it’s good to debate, but I do disagree with you on so many points, 1,2,3 aren’t most reefers? 4 where are they? Paul has asked for people to come forward with long term quarantined tanks, and very few have come forward. 5 some do some don’t, but most don’t over time as the majority don’t last in the hobby long term. 6. Doesn’t everyone now? No magic in an under gravel filter and occasional use of DE filter. 7. I tend to agree (or maybe he just likes that kind of fish). To your “second” point is the food we generally buy from the LFS that good quality? It certainly feeds the fish and gives them the required nutrients, but the point I was making it differs so much from the foods Paul feeds, and is this making more of the difference than you seem to believe it does.
its good to disagree. Based on what I read here - No - 1, 2, 3 are not most reefers. In fact there are presentations at MACNA about 'lazy reefer syndrome' or something like that - I cant remember the exact acronym. BTW - I have no clue what 'most reefers do'. Nor does anyone else. Thats also a problem. 
I personally feel the stress free natural environonment in his tank is a big contributor (but again no proof) to the success and the fishes ability to shrug off illness/ parasites/ pathogens but unfortunately i see so many unnatural, minimalistic, sterile and overstocked tanks that seem to make up most of the posts with issues and poor fish health and a lot of these do utilise quarantine and still have problems... but as you said how many people can actually quarantine effectively and consistently and then as soon as a speck of dust enters there sterile tanks lol hell breaks loose... it just my opinion..
About 4 - there are hundreds of people who QT on this forum - including most of the moderators. Part of the problem is defining terms - does QT mean separating fish for a month before putting in tank - does it mean separating and treating, etc.
What you say about # 5 is probably true - but it also doesn't mean someone that does remain in the hobby for a long time is more successful because he feeds fish guts either. There are many reasons people take tanks down for 6 months then restart - or quit entirely. The fact that not many people have had tanks does not mean they 'failed' becuase they didnt use @PaulB s methods. Very few people keep up any hobby for 40+ years.
As to # 6 - not everyone uses Ozone. Not everyone uses UV not everyone uses diatom filters. All of which will decrease CI in the water column depending on the size amount used. Do you use these methods? I dont
I never said someone should not feed live food or put mud in their tanks. I did say that I didnt think it made any difference with regards to parasitic infection/immunity - which is the topic of this thread. Its not about Pauls success as a reefer. I also dismissed nothing Paul has said except for his rationale about fish immunity. I said Live mud shouldn't hurt nor would feeding live foods. What I did say - is that saying that these things induce immunity to specific pathogens that are not likely contained in those things is not correct.
Lastly - my proposal as to why he is successful is that CI and other protozoans are inhibited by the high nitrate he allows. (Im kidding - but its also another difference between his tank and other aquarists tanks) - so IMHO - its just as likely as feeding fish guts.
Agreed - its possible - My only point is thanks I don't see how it relates to feeding live foods vs frozen, pellets, flake. Again - I mean if you're talking about the success with CI.
I think the question is what is long term success? And I actually don’t see many coming forward with tanks more than even 6 yers old let alone 30!! But then again who measures succcess and how, we all have different expectations...
Im not specifically talking about CI, but unfortunately it’s all most people on this thread talk about, I think about the total health of our tanks, all diseases, parsites, bacteria, pathogens everything and that’s why I’m so interested in what Paul and atoll and a Few others are doing, getting away from sterile SPS boxes and looking at things from a different perspective
