Aaahhh!

[hensonc4098]

Ok Claire, deep breaths before we start. In... and out.

Right.

This is the lowdown;

~We have 2 tanks: a 100L hexagonal and a 35L rectangular.
~We have just returned from a 3 week holiday.
~Good news - the 100L is fine apart from a bit of algea on the glass which was quickly wiped off with a sweep of my glass cleaner.
The bad news - the 35L is far from fine

I walked into my bedroom and nearly broke down in tears. The tank had housed a batch of about 100 kribensis fry. At a first glance I could see 3. The feeding block which I had left them had hardly been touched by the kribs but was now covered in snails, as was every other surface of the tank. There must have been about 40 in that little tank The HC Cuba which I had left floating around the tank in a breeding trap thinking that it would be fine with lots of light and unlimited CO2 - I was wrong. It had turned into a Nitratey mush. The cabomba which I had in the tank had been stripped bare in some places presumably by snails as well as a blooming of green spot and brown algea that would have made Mother Nature proud.

At once, I whipped out the 1/4 eaten food block, the mushy HC and the snail infested cabomba and binned them pronto. I was too scared to test the water and see how bad it actually was. Then I went on a manic, possesed snail hunt, taking out the adults and crushing the babies to the delight of the remaining Kribs. After removing rocks and filter, I turned the sand over to a non-brown bit, cleaned out the filter and did a 1/2-1/3 water change. Then I added 2ml of easycarbo to try and kill the algea off, bacteria suppliment to try to boost what bacteria could have remained through such an onslaught and a little fertiliser to try and revive my Pheonix moss which has went a bit dodgy looking. I'm loathed to take it out though after what it cost me

So now everything is up and running again. I have upped the airiation a bit to help circulate the tank until it gets back on its feet and also I was very pleased to find when I put the light on the tank with its little rock cave and 2 rocks with moss that there was not just 3 kribs left, there is actually (I think kindof hard to count when they're zomming about all over the place) 7!! I know, no big deal but it's better than 3

I'm quite depressed though It still looks really horrible and bare although the kribs seem happier now they have food they like. I don't know why they didn't eat the food block as when I left, they were keenly taking flake. I guess they just didn't like it and decided to eat each other instead

Sorry about such a long post. I just needed to get it off my chest to people who actually care.

 

[mixmaster jay]

now breath lol

sounds like you have sorted it now though

 

[hensonc4098]

I hope so lol

I have just discovered a funny but very pleasant thing though. My adult kribs had 2 spawns - their first in the 100L which all the babies got eaten presumably and then their second is the one that I have 7 remaining now which they spwaned in the 35L. However, gazing into the 100L what do I see but a young kribensis! It's practically impossible that he/she has survived from the first spawn as since then we emptied out the whole tank to re-vamp it with new gravel etc. The only way we think it could have ended up there is if dad had it in his mouth when he got moved back into the big tank when the fry were a month or two old. It's weird but the little thing is a survivor alright.

 

[vinylman]

Which type of feeding block did you put in there?.

 

[Sari]

Sorry to hear of your troubles!

Mostly the feeding blocks are unfortunately useless. In addition to variably mediocre food substances they contain all sorts of bindings like ash which can spoil water very quickly and explode snail and algae growth. Understandably you couldn't leave such small babies without food so that was a difficult one. I tend to leave my fish without feedng when I go on hols, they are fine for weeks without food. Otherwise I dose food in mni pots for house sitters to feed and that is usually fine. If you can, avoid holiday food blocks in the future.

I suspect your cuba died because of no flow in the breeding trap. The water may have been too still for the plant to survive. Also if you rely on easy carbo for carbon supplement, it runs out fast from the water column hence the daily addition. of course this easily results in algae boom especially in three weeks. 35 litre tank is also that little bit smaller so all changes will happen quicker too. But that is it for doom and gloom, I'm sure you'll get everything on track with a little bit of Tlc!

good luck!!

 

[hensonc4098]

Which type of feeding block did you put in there?.

It was the TetraMin Holiday block - it looked like the filling out of a pork pie

The tank is looking better this morning - the water has cleared after my frantic water changes etc last night and although it is very bare at least it is now clean

Also, I found another baby so there is actually 8 in the 35L and then the mysterious 1 in the other tank. Still no idea how it got there though.

I'm considering moving the fry into the bigger tank - the fry in that tank that must have been from the same batch (I very much doubt it would have survived the tank being emptied, hosed out and re-filled while the fish we knew of were in the bin lol) is a fair bit bigger than them and seems to be doing fine. Although we have bigger fish in the tank, they don't bother it and the male krib is kind enough to share his cave with it - something he definately doesn't do with the other fish. And then I can do something else with the little tank

Any suggestions? I would like to breed something. I like the idea of CRS but if I was breeding them seriously then I wouldn't be able to have any fish as they might eat them and I think that defeats the purpose of having a fish tank

Thanks guys (and gals )

C x

 

[vinylman]

Which type of feeding block did you put in there?.

It was the TetraMin Holiday block - it looked like the filling out of a pork pie


C x

Is that the one that has granules in an edible gel?. If so, they're SO much better than the old type white blocks. Those are actually held together with plaster of paris. You can safely leave most fish for up to two weeks if you're going on holiday.

 

[doktor doris]

Sorry to hear of your troubles!

Mostly the feeding blocks are unfortunately useless. In addition to variably mediocre food substances they contain all sorts of bindings like ash

No animal food contains ash.

The reason it always says ash on the contents, is because petfood analysis is conducted by burining.

The protein and all the good stuff is recognised by the testing equipment, but all the solid matter that remains is labelled as ash.

Just thought Id tell you, it always used to intrigue me that animal food has 'ash' in it.

doris

 

[cookiemistress]

Sorry to hear of your troubles!

Mostly the feeding blocks are unfortunately useless. In addition to variably mediocre food substances they contain all sorts of bindings like ash

No animal food contains ash.

The reason it always says ash on the contents, is because petfood analysis is conducted by burining.

The protein and all the good stuff is recognised by the testing equipment, but all the solid matter that remains is labelled as ash.

Just thought Id tell you, it always used to intrigue me that animal food has 'ash' in it.

doris

Not completely true, dog food contains ash in which is burnt matter, exactly what it says ash. University lecture on nutrition for about 6 months.

 

[doktor doris]

Sorry to hear of your troubles!

Mostly the feeding blocks are unfortunately useless. In addition to variably mediocre food substances they contain all sorts of bindings like ash

No animal food contains ash.

The reason it always says ash on the contents, is because petfood analysis is conducted by burining.

The protein and all the good stuff is recognised by the testing equipment, but all the solid matter that remains is labelled as ash.

Just thought Id tell you, it always used to intrigue me that animal food has 'ash' in it.

doris

Not completely true, dog food contains ash in which is burnt matter, exactly what it says ash. University lecture on nutrition for about 6 months.

Nope, you are wrong Iam afraid. Look -


Almost all dog food contains ash as an ingredient. Sometimes it makes up as much as 14 per cent by weight. I have always thought of ash as being toxic waste, containing all sorts of noxious elements, so why is it added to dog food and what type of ash is it?

• You will be relieved to hear that ash is not added to pet foods. It is a way of describing the mineral content of pet food. The ash you see listed is part of the guaranteed nutrient analysis: legally the pack must state how much of the food is protein, fat, fibre, water and ash.

Ash is measured by heating the pet food to temperatures of around 550 °C, and burning off all the organic components to leave just the inorganic residue. If the mineral content of pet food sounds high, it is important to remember that our domestic carnivores were designed to eat carcasses that are full of bones containing minerals, and a well-designed pet food will reflect this in its composition.

Kim Russell, Registered pet nutritionist, North Molton, Devon, UK

• This is a misreading of the label on the product. Ash is usually given under "typical analysis" or a similar heading not under the ingredients list.

Foods are often described in terms of their nutritional content by carrying out a proximate analysis. This is done because it is much quicker and cheaper than carrying out a detailed analysis of the nutrients.

The protein content is determined by analysing the nitrogen content, using a technique called the Kjeldahl method, and multiplying by a conversion factor to obtain a crude protein figure.

The fat content is derived by gravimetric extraction using a suitable non-polar solvent (usually petroleum ether), while the water content is obtained by drying, and the mineral content is found by burning off all the organic material in a muffle furnace to obtain the ash. The carbohydrate content is often estimated by subtracting the former components from the total weight.

So ash is not added as an ingredient but is instead an indicator of mineral content. These minerals will be chiefly potassium and phosphorus with smaller amounts of calcium, iron, magnesium, sodium and zinc, and trace amounts of many others. Historically, manufacturers often boosted the mineral content of dog food with bone meal to raise calcium levels but, because of concerns about BSE, they now tend to use fish meal instead.
Ash is not added as an ingredient but is instead an indicator of mineral content. These minerals are chiefly potassium and phosphorous

You might see ash levels of 14 per cent in a dry meal for dogs, but tinned products often have around half this level. The composition of the food will affect the ash content, but the elements are likely to be beneficial or neutral to the dog's health and not noxious or toxic at the concentrations in the product. It is worth pointing out that dogs should always have access to fresh water to ensure they can urinate away any excess potassium or sodium.

Brian Ratcliffe, Professor of human nutrition, The Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, UK


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