Pollys gone

[Oddball]

As some of u may know ive kept an ornate poltypterus for some time now, and yesterday i found her upside down on the surface of the water. The colour had drained from her body, but remained in her fins and snout. The muscles in her body seemed to have tensed up, and the polypterus could not seem to move at all, except for feebly flapping her fins.
Knowing that they require atmospheric oxygen (and not knowing how long overnight she had been like this {from 12:00am-8:00am}) i rolled her over and lifted her snout out of the water, she responded well by taking a gulp of oxygen, but she could not move any better. I immediately took a water test:
pH7.5, nitrite 0, nitrate less than 5ppm soft water.
i decided to let nature take its course, returning to it every ten minutes to allow her a breath of air. Now i could not seperate her as the there was no other tank in which to place some water of the same reading in, and i decided against medicating as i had no idea about what was wrong with it......
Eventually i decided that i should put her down, as the two african cichlids were beginning to get closer and she was getting harrassed by plecos, also she couldn't keep afloat anymore.
The reason i im posting is because i really do want to know what was wrong with it, and whether i did anything wrong as i would like to keep another birchir......
Y is that its always our fave fish that pops it

 

[beblondie]

What you saw was the death roll>lost a delhezi last month the exact same way
was fine literally one minute , upside down the next.You did nothing wrong.We have been discussing this in another forum and it seems its not uncommon for this to happen -Anne

 

[BichirKeeper]

How old were these two Bichirs when this happened? I've never heard of any Bichir dying this way... When or if you find out what caused this to happen, please post it here. If there is any way to prevent this from happening, I want to know so I (and others) can take necessary percautions.

I've never lost a Bichir, and I'd be devastated to lose even one young or old. I'm sorry about both your losses

 

[beblondie]

My del was just under a year old, No outward signs, was fine one minute rolled over the next,tried eveything I could think of to save him -Anne

Don't think they are any precautions

It was my second lose my first one was an eggbound senegal her side actually ruptured

 

[Oddball]

My birchir was approx 14 months she was fit and healthy and outgrew my senegauls and had bags of personality compared to them so when i had to move some out for the tank space, polly won. mmmm wonder what would a happened to the senegauls if they had stayed?
Ah well, odd and irrelevant fact but P.Ornatapinnis can be roughly aged as it grows a black/yellow band on its anal fin every three months.......
But the question remains, do u think i should attempt another polypterid?

 

[beblondie]

prolly nothing my del was with 2 pollis and they are fine. Should you get another poly well yes of course lol-Anne

 

[Oddball]

Okay so blondie u have a lot of birchir experience by the look of ur sig Can u recommend one to live in an alkaline environment with african cichlids (prefer to get a small to medium birchir as i have no room for a large one such as Polypterus Palmas Palmas!!!) Thanks in advance

 

[CFC]

I believe Polypterus ornatipinnis is found in both Lake malaiwi and Lake Tanganykia so in a large enough tank one should be able to co habbit with larger African Cichlids, dont hold out any hopes for succesful breeding though.

 

[beblondie]

P. ornatipinnis and P. endilcheri endilcheri both come from lake Tanganykia. However even smaller bichirs are tolerant of a large range of water conditions
That said even the smallest species reach 10-12 '' -Anne