Adventures in Fishkeeping or A Fish Tale

[TwoTankAmin]

The Altums arrived this morning. I found out they would be coming a 1:30 a.m. this morning. I got up on about 3 hours sleep and had to do a major water change and maint. on the tank before adding the fish.

The fish are lovely and very healthy. My lone surviving adult altum had been moping for some time. the new fish perked it up. However the adults is larger than the 8 new kids combined. The kids are a bit nervous around the big guy, but I expect this will pas with a bit of time.

I got a bit slowed on the summer tanks as I needed to use one as an H tank to treat a large clown loach with wasting disease. Tomorrow will end the first round of Flubendazole treatment. i will then monitor the patient and hope it eats and poops so I can return it to the 150 with its buddies.

The filters in the bio-farm are close to ready and I need to make a plan for stocking the terrace tanks with fish for sale.

 

[fishorama]

Congrats on the altums! After they settle in a while we'd love to see them in your tank.

Good luck with your clown. Is it 1 of your newer loaches? I used to worm my new botias in QT. Levamisole didn't work with a clown I got in a group. I called it the veggie loach & nothing helped it, poor thing. It ate only romaine, zucchini & sometimes shelled peas that I ever saw. & it guarded any anubias flowers that no other clowns even noticed. I tried different antibiotics & wormers in QT, very sad. My clown loaches were the only loach species that really loved veggies 2 or 3 x week. If I didn't offer them they attacked their plants, even java fern & anubias sometimes, lol. Otherwise they were plant safe. They were very spoiled foodwise & would try almost anything; broccoli & banana were way too messy. Sniff, I miss my clowns & all botias, it's been a long while...Do you offer veggie treats to your clowns?

Man, summer's almost half over...you may need a fall/winter back up plan...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I am treating it with flubendazole. This clown was one of two I bought larger sized a couple of years ago. I lost the other one to wasting but this one took a long time for it to show up. None of the other fish in the tank seem to have any issues.

My clowns love the Repashy Igapo Explorer (formerly Fruut-Luups) formulated by Dr. Tanner of Swiss Tropicals. The clowns shred the stuff.

INGREDIENTS: Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal, Krill Meal, Banana Powder, Squid Meal, Mango Powder, Pea Flour, Mulberry Fruit Powder, Dandelion Powder, Seaweed Flour, Almond Flour, Coconut Flour, Ground Flax Seed, Alfalfa Meal, Locust Bean Gum, Citric Acid, Lecithin, Stinging Nettle, Garlic, Ginger, Cinnamon, Phaffia Yeast, Dried Watermelon, Rosehips, Hibiscus Flower, Marigold Flower, Calendula Flower, Paprika, Turmeric, Dried Kelp, Calcium Propionate and Potassium Sorbate (as preservatives), Magnesium Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Methionine Hydroxy Analogue Chelate, Manganese Methionine Hydroxy Analogue Chelate, Copper Methionine Hydroxy Analogue Chelate. Vitamins: (Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Beta Carotene, Pantothenic Acid, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex).

I am getting ready to move fish onto the terrace. i will start selling soon after. The bio-farm is clearing about 4 ppm of ammonia in under 6 hours. i cannot feed it fast enough.

I will try for some pics. it is not easy in that room as there are tanks on 3 walls and window on the 4th. I get lots of reflections shooting there. I just checked on the about 20 minutes ago and their color, body shape and fins are all excellent. the best part is they are tank bred fish, almost a miracle in itself, and appear to be very hardy. This makes them much easier to keep alive and healthy in tanks.

 

[fishorama]

I didn't try Repashy foods until I got hillstream loaches 9-10 years ago in CA. They & some stiphodon gobies were all used to Soilent Green. I think I tried Repashy shrimp food too but gave it away eventually. I bet my veggie loach & other clowns would have loved Fruut Luups, it looks very nice, but I don't think it would have saved him, sigh. Nothing did...

I know there are many very good Repashy formulas I just haven't tried them (yet). I don't have any "special food needs" fish beyond my sewellia loaches. They will eat flake sometimes but Repashy is their usual. I sometimes give it to my BN youngsters & piggy corys, they'll both eat anything.

Good luck with your wasting clown, I wish I had good other suggestions beyond flubenazole. Like I said other wormers (prazi & metro) & antibiotics (I don't remember which now, gram + & -). After all this time, well, I'm skeptical as to what may help, it's been a long time coming on...I'm sorry.

 

[jake72]

My clown loaches love repashy soilent green. i put a cube in their tank now and then for the pleco but the clowns always gobble it down before the pleco can get to it.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I lost the fish. It had sad eyes in the end. I should have tried to treat it sooner. So I am to blame in part.

Disposing of large dead clown loach is not so easy. You cannot flush it. I have it in a fish shipping bag for now. Plus I have to sterilize the tank, the sand in it etc. The only problem will be the hunk of wood I put in. This may be a lost cause due to how wood absorbs water and things in it.

My normal practice is to use only fake plants in an H tank and maybe a few rocks. These can all be bleached. So can a hang on filters. I am not sure how well Poret foam withstands bleach. However, this flown was way to big for my standard set-up. I even bought a couple of larger fake plants for this situation. This is why a broke my normal rule of no wood in an H tank. I needed to give the fish some cover.

 

[fishorama]

I'm so sorry TTA, I know you tried your best. Sometimes nothing fixes our fish's problems.

I used to dig a shallow hole in the yard for bigger animals. Near a favorite plant if possible...a tribute to the lost fish & ferts for the plant...

As for HT/QT sterilizing goes, I bleach or dry out anything I think I can save & toss the rest. I usually use live plants these days & compost the failed QT survivors, no point in taking chances whatever the issue may have been.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

TY ma'am.

I hit the supermarket early this evening and grabbed an extras 2902 oz. of plain old bleach. They only had one gal. jug of the store brand so I took a 1/2 gal of Clorox. The tank is a 40b. It holds about 33 gals or so leaving room for 2 gals of bleach. That will be about a 17:1 water:nleach mix

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Ugh- long post killed by taking too long to edit. I cannot redo it :-(.

I will bleach it all , dry it all out before reuse. Only the tank will be reused right away, new filters, sand, wood and rock will be used.

Good night....

 

[fishorama]

I hate getting timed out while trying to edit. I'm a slow typer & often distracted by cooking etc.

I'm doubtful Poret foam will be bleach happy unless quite dilute...maybe not enough to kill whatever. It "may" be ok with drying out but I'm not sure I'd risk it...Maybe Excel is a better choice? I don't know...just a thought