I get that algea is common , but this was bubble ,caulerpa, ect. I did add the fish that ate supposed to eat it. Had 5 professional maintenance company's in. 3 wouldn't even take a stab at it another gave up after 3 months. Last one thought we were getting back on track tank was clearing then went hey wire again.
I am very familiar with QT! , I want to say around 2012 was my last freshwater tank!
Can you elaborate on today's fish aren't like the old days please ? Are you talking captive vs wild caught? Or are you just talking about the disease and parasites ect?
Here's the thing about algae, algae is the end product of light and nutrients. If you don't have them both, you don't get incontrollable algae. Caulerpa and bubble macro algae are shallow water plants that need bright white light in order to do well. Had you changed your lighting, you may have been able to keep it better controlled. Actinic blue lights might have been the answer as well as reduced hours of pure white light or red lights. If you look at how light penetrates water, you'll see that white and red bands penetrate to about 30 feet ( 10 meters) then there is the blue light. Caulerpa is found in under 30 ft. This helps explain light penetration: "Within the first 10 m, water absorbs more than 50 percent of the visible light energy. Even in clear tropical water only about 1 percent of visible light—mostly in the blue range—penetrates to 100 m. Light
attenuation is the gradual decrease in light intensity as it travels through matter. " So this is just some FYI in case you want to go back to saltwater. You just need to be careful not to add any of those macro algaes on any rock or corals you might add.
As for today's fish, if you had fish back in 2012, you should know about the iridovirus that causes Dwarf Gourami disease, Angelfish AIDS and Cichlid disease. The particular iridovirus that causes Dwraf Gourami disease has been found to effect over 30 species of non anabantid species so it's a nasty disease that to date, has no cure. Sadly, you don't know what fish has the disease unless it's active. A study done on Asian farms in I believe Singapore back in the 1990s(?), showed that 30% of the Dwarf Gouramis and their color variants on these farms had the virus. Today, that could be as high as 50% of all Dwarf Gourami color variants. There is some debate on which types of Gouramis carry the virus but practically speaking, stay away from Gouramis.
The explosion in popularity of Balloon type fish ( a genetic defect) has not made the fish a healthier fish. That disfigurement of the body has caused the internal workings of Balloon fish can lead to digestive issues, reproductive issues and other metabolic issues that can cause conditions like Dropsy, constipation. etc. Fish TB is common on certain farmed rainbowfish species. Being that many of the fish species on the market are farmed, their overall health is questionable once they leave the farm's medicated waters. This is why you no longer medicate a new arrival but instead, observe the fish in QT to see if any medicating is even necessary. Lastly, there are new parasites in the hobby. " Super ick", Epistylis, Camallanus worms ( common in Guppies) and flukes have become more common due the increase in live plants in aquariums. Live plants are a good transporter for snail eggs, hydra and worms so even plants need to be dipped or QT'd to prevent spread in the main tank.
Now, with all of that said, it's not that every fish or every plant or snail will bring "nasties" into your tank but they all have the potential to. This is why quarantining is so important these days.
Back in the day, the worst thing I can remember wild caught fish coming in with was internal worms. That was a simple fix compared to today's complexities of finding good meds.
So that's what I was talking about.
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