Been on holiday this week, so Noel was looking after the fish for a few days.
Got back home on Thursday to find free swimming Bangui fry, which was good, and the dried body of one of my male Jack Dempseys under the 4' rack, which was bad. Really gutted about that actually. Guess he must've jumped out unnoticed. Oh well, at least I still have Mojo (my other male).
Also discovered that somehow my Firemouth pair both have Lymphocystis, of all things. I imagine the wild male con I got off Simon P. was carrying it (he's had fish die from it recently) and passed it on to the Firemouths. They've been isolated, but they don't look good. The female JD, female con and female Rainbow all look like they have it too. Apparently under good water conditions it heals itself, so I guess I have some water changes to do tomorrow morning! I'm just grateful that the HRP males are fine. They both look awesome.
All the fry are doing well. Did a water change on the jag tank today as I noticed that a few fry have started to die off (although there are still hundreds left). I was really worried I'd suck some fry into the pump, but luckily the parents did a grand job of herding them out of harm's way.
To be honest I think it's going to be a while yet before all my tanks have settled down and I stop getting sick fish. Sometimes I think it would be easier to cull any stock showing signs of illness in order to wipe the slate clean (a method recommended in the fish diseases book I have!). Sadly I'm a bit too attached to some of the fish to give up on them just yet.
Saturday 26 July 2008
Saturday 12 July 2008
Better Days
Wahey! Only lost one fish this week: one of the two remaining sajicas. The other is back to full health.
The antibiotics certainly haven't worked a miracle, but at the same time things in the two 4' tanks are getting better. The Chocolate cichlids have regained their zest for life (or at least food!) and two of the Festae look like they might pull through. I suspect that the male Festae might be on borrowed time though. Very sad.
Simon P. came to take another cube tank today. As predicted his only major objection to the fish was that it was too small and didn't have enough tanks crammed into it!
To summarise some points: the jags still have their wrigglers (thousands of them); the cutteri young are growing well; I counted sixteen baby bristlenoses - the pair have spawned for a second time this week; and the Goldeneyes appear to be getting ready to breed.
It's all looking hopeful for having a decent amount of fish ready in time for the BCA auction on the 12th October. Might finally get to go to an cution and cover my costs with fish sales!
The antibiotics certainly haven't worked a miracle, but at the same time things in the two 4' tanks are getting better. The Chocolate cichlids have regained their zest for life (or at least food!) and two of the Festae look like they might pull through. I suspect that the male Festae might be on borrowed time though. Very sad.
Simon P. came to take another cube tank today. As predicted his only major objection to the fish was that it was too small and didn't have enough tanks crammed into it!
To summarise some points: the jags still have their wrigglers (thousands of them); the cutteri young are growing well; I counted sixteen baby bristlenoses - the pair have spawned for a second time this week; and the Goldeneyes appear to be getting ready to breed.
It's all looking hopeful for having a decent amount of fish ready in time for the BCA auction on the 12th October. Might finally get to go to an cution and cover my costs with fish sales!
Sunday 6 July 2008
I have a cunning plan...
Went out to Amwell Aquatics and bought shed loads of these antibiotic tablets produced by an Asian company called 'AZOO'. I plan to treat both 4' tanks this week. If this can't fix the fish then nothing will. The main ingredient is chloramphenicol.
While I was there I saw some stunning marble long-fin Ancistrus, but luckily managed to stop myself buying any. Went for an amazing Dragon plakat male fighter instead, as their male fighters were reduced to £9.90. Hopefully he will make a perfect mate for my yellow half-giant plakat female.
Fingers crossed for healthy fish by next weekend!
While I was there I saw some stunning marble long-fin Ancistrus, but luckily managed to stop myself buying any. Went for an amazing Dragon plakat male fighter instead, as their male fighters were reduced to £9.90. Hopefully he will make a perfect mate for my yellow half-giant plakat female.
Fingers crossed for healthy fish by next weekend!
More bad news...
Aaaargh! This is killing me! Lost the female HRP yesterday. Spent most of the day doing large water changes and medicating tanks. Unfortunately, the remaining Festaes and Chocolates look thoroughly miserable. I think they have a fungal infection, but could easily be bacterial. If anything treatment with Myxazin has made everything worse, so I've hit a brick wall in terms of progress. Also looks like I'm going to lose the female Nigerian Red krib, but she has been a bit ropey since I got her.
This is not fun.
This is not fun.
Saturday 5 July 2008
A Wave of Disaster
The last fortnight has been nothing short of a nightmare in the fishroom. Over the last two weeks I lost:
- All ten Congo tetras
- The four small Tinfoil barbs
- All four Fundulopanchax gardneri
- The male Rainbow cichlid
- One Festae
- One '24ct Gold' T-bar cichlid
- One Blockhead
- One Golden-eye cichlid
The Congos were dispatched by my pair of cutteri and the rest went to either illness, lack of oxygen or the middle 4' tank overheating (this week I stupidly put a heater into the tank which stays permanently on). All in all a very sorry state of affairs. Needless to say I feel terrible, particularly about the male Rainbow cichlid.
It's not as if my problems are finished with either, as I now have a female Festae, female HRP and the remaining two T-bar's to treat as they are all sick with an illness I can't identify.
Last week both 4' tanks were treated with Protozin. This week I am treating with salt. Big water changes all round today.
Thankfully I moved on some stock before all the bad news came along. Rick took the remaining two female cutteri, a guy called Darren took the four Boucourti and Simon P. took the pair of T-bars (who have since spawned for him and fallen out after he accidentaly syphoned off their fry!)
It's not all terrible news. The cutteri fry are doing very well, as are the bristlenose and hybrid HRP/Convict fry. The jags spawned again this week, which is awesome news (although now I fear for the lives of the Tinfoils in with them).
Yesterday evening I went to Simon P.'s place to swap four 18" cube tanks plus pipes and sump for a few bits and pieces. Came away with a male wild Convict (very odd looking fish!), a male HRP, three bags of fry of various sizes (G. brasiliensis, A. portalegrense and Amphilophus sp. 'Red Isletas'). Plus I got a few more peices of fake (resin) Tufa rock. Not bad considering I really wanted to shift those tanks out of the garden. Those fry will all be great once their grown on. For the moment they have been unceremoniously emptied in with half the hybrid HRP/Convict fry in a 20" tank. We'll see what I'm left with in the end!
Spent last night redecorating the 4' tank in the dining room to make it look more like a show tank (and provide more hidign spaces). This tank now contains:
- female Convict
- male wild Convict
- male HRP x 2 (one large, one small)
- female Rainbow
- female Jack Dempsey (much happier fish now she has lots of company)
- pair of Firemouths
Admittedly a rather unholy mix of fish, but I'll be watching carefully over the next couple of days for any extreme violence.
- All ten Congo tetras
- The four small Tinfoil barbs
- All four Fundulopanchax gardneri
- The male Rainbow cichlid
- One Festae
- One '24ct Gold' T-bar cichlid
- One Blockhead
- One Golden-eye cichlid
The Congos were dispatched by my pair of cutteri and the rest went to either illness, lack of oxygen or the middle 4' tank overheating (this week I stupidly put a heater into the tank which stays permanently on). All in all a very sorry state of affairs. Needless to say I feel terrible, particularly about the male Rainbow cichlid.
It's not as if my problems are finished with either, as I now have a female Festae, female HRP and the remaining two T-bar's to treat as they are all sick with an illness I can't identify.
Last week both 4' tanks were treated with Protozin. This week I am treating with salt. Big water changes all round today.
Thankfully I moved on some stock before all the bad news came along. Rick took the remaining two female cutteri, a guy called Darren took the four Boucourti and Simon P. took the pair of T-bars (who have since spawned for him and fallen out after he accidentaly syphoned off their fry!)
It's not all terrible news. The cutteri fry are doing very well, as are the bristlenose and hybrid HRP/Convict fry. The jags spawned again this week, which is awesome news (although now I fear for the lives of the Tinfoils in with them).
Yesterday evening I went to Simon P.'s place to swap four 18" cube tanks plus pipes and sump for a few bits and pieces. Came away with a male wild Convict (very odd looking fish!), a male HRP, three bags of fry of various sizes (G. brasiliensis, A. portalegrense and Amphilophus sp. 'Red Isletas'). Plus I got a few more peices of fake (resin) Tufa rock. Not bad considering I really wanted to shift those tanks out of the garden. Those fry will all be great once their grown on. For the moment they have been unceremoniously emptied in with half the hybrid HRP/Convict fry in a 20" tank. We'll see what I'm left with in the end!
Spent last night redecorating the 4' tank in the dining room to make it look more like a show tank (and provide more hidign spaces). This tank now contains:
- female Convict
- male wild Convict
- male HRP x 2 (one large, one small)
- female Rainbow
- female Jack Dempsey (much happier fish now she has lots of company)
- pair of Firemouths
Admittedly a rather unholy mix of fish, but I'll be watching carefully over the next couple of days for any extreme violence.
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