Might have a problem - L168
- Thread starter CharlieV
- Start date
Hi Y'all
Few things - He/She was in a 100g - I must have forgotton a 0 along the way! so no worries on space.
Belly was seriously hollow looking, compared to my snowball who is always perfectly flat if not a little convex, L168's corpse had concave.
I use RO water in changes and Remineralise to 3 Degs hardness.
Weekly schedule of 25%, Dual filtered
Did another test series (all sweet even checked choleated iron - 0) and water change this weekend 25% remineralised RO @ 3 deg's hardness PH7.2 in keeping with the tank. Water matched to temp of tank whitch is currently 81F. I'm baffled, I have a fair few catfish books (I'm a little obsessed!) and form what i read I had no compatibility issues, no stress inducers, no toxins in the water, Plenty of wood (there's around 50Kg of Top Grade Mopani wood in there) loads of hiding spots. I tried loads of foods form sticky in this forum but don't think i really saw him eating - maybe just chilling with his nose on the food????
Only concern was the rest of my stock picking up parasite if that's what it is. Have been watching carefully and everyone seems unaffected so far.....
Might just be my imagination but my snowball seems a bit more subdued and not as active since the other one died - eating like a horse though and producing equally as much waste!
PS sorry for length of post and thanks for all advice and help
Chaz
Few things - He/She was in a 100g - I must have forgotton a 0 along the way! so no worries on space.
Belly was seriously hollow looking, compared to my snowball who is always perfectly flat if not a little convex, L168's corpse had concave.
I use RO water in changes and Remineralise to 3 Degs hardness.
Weekly schedule of 25%, Dual filtered
Did another test series (all sweet even checked choleated iron - 0) and water change this weekend 25% remineralised RO @ 3 deg's hardness PH7.2 in keeping with the tank. Water matched to temp of tank whitch is currently 81F. I'm baffled, I have a fair few catfish books (I'm a little obsessed!) and form what i read I had no compatibility issues, no stress inducers, no toxins in the water, Plenty of wood (there's around 50Kg of Top Grade Mopani wood in there) loads of hiding spots. I tried loads of foods form sticky in this forum but don't think i really saw him eating - maybe just chilling with his nose on the food????
Only concern was the rest of my stock picking up parasite if that's what it is. Have been watching carefully and everyone seems unaffected so far.....
Might just be my imagination but my snowball seems a bit more subdued and not as active since the other one died - eating like a horse though and producing equally as much waste!
PS sorry for length of post and thanks for all advice and help
Chaz
Last edited:
Did you put in any vegetables that still had the skin on? Did you wash the skin first, in case there were any pesticides or other chemicals on them?
Just to be clear, we're talking about a Pannaque Maccus, right?
If the fish had hollowbelly, then in all likelyhood, it was allready too late when you purchased the fish. Parasites might be a good candidate with any new fish, but the Panaque family has special needs. Wood is an essential part of their diet, and while it provides little in the way of nuitrients, it does provide essential trace vitamines for the whole P. family.
Wood is broken down in the gut of panaques by a symbiotic bacteria. Unfortunately, when the fish does'nt get wood for extended periods, the bacteria dies. Unless you can "reseed" the gut with these bacteria, no amount of food will provide all the needed traces for the fish's continued health. Reseeding the gut is extrememly difficult, and involves having other panaques with healthy gut colonies on hand.
If your fish did'nt have acess to wood during it's time of shipment, or time in the fish store, it's quite possible it was far too late by the time he got into your well wooded tank. The earliest sign of this kind of malnutrition is hollow belly. Means the fish has ceased to eat, because no matter how much he does, he still feels malnourished.
I'm really sorry for your loss. They are great fish to keep, and I hope you don't give up on the species entirely!
If the fish had hollowbelly, then in all likelyhood, it was allready too late when you purchased the fish. Parasites might be a good candidate with any new fish, but the Panaque family has special needs. Wood is an essential part of their diet, and while it provides little in the way of nuitrients, it does provide essential trace vitamines for the whole P. family.
Wood is broken down in the gut of panaques by a symbiotic bacteria. Unfortunately, when the fish does'nt get wood for extended periods, the bacteria dies. Unless you can "reseed" the gut with these bacteria, no amount of food will provide all the needed traces for the fish's continued health. Reseeding the gut is extrememly difficult, and involves having other panaques with healthy gut colonies on hand.
If your fish did'nt have acess to wood during it's time of shipment, or time in the fish store, it's quite possible it was far too late by the time he got into your well wooded tank. The earliest sign of this kind of malnutrition is hollow belly. Means the fish has ceased to eat, because no matter how much he does, he still feels malnourished.
I'm really sorry for your loss. They are great fish to keep, and I hope you don't give up on the species entirely!
Halo said:
No Dekeyseria brachyura
Check PC link: http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loricari/dekeyser/706_F.PHP
There's loads of wood in the tank funny thing is his/her belly was fne at purchase.
As for putting me off catfish / L numbers - never!!! quality little fishies!
Now to fill the space the L168 has left!!!!
Thanks for all advice and comments they are greatly appreciated
The fish is 11 years old and never had wood. I had read that they needed drift wood and went to several pet stores but could not find any. Since he is as old as he is, I guess the absence of wood in his diet has not been harmful to him. Thanks for the advice though.Halo said:
I worried myself about the tank being too small however I bought the tank fish and all. The fish had lived his entire life (11 YEARS) in it so I guess it is suitable for him. Anyway I do think I may find a small gourami to go with him. Do to the size of the tank, I only want 1 other fish but it just looks so empty without one that will stay in the open. Thanks for the advice. Oh I was lois@cyberback but for some reason I could never get logged in on that so I changed to my other email..mysis said:
