Yet Another Death ...

[lgarvey]

Hi Guys,

My favourite blue fish (African Malawi peacock) died yesterday after a long protraction period of deterioration and me trying everything to fix him.

Now it looks like another fish may be ill -- swolen tummy, listless and hovering in the corner of the tank.

I have tried ... treatment for internal worms and heximata and internal and external parasites (wormer plus), treatment for bacterial infections (interpret #9) and initially I tried a treatment for gill flukes (waterlife sterazin).

It doesn't seem to have helped too much, which means there's another problem. The guy at the LFS said that it seems to be an entrenched & resistant bacterial infection and that I need to take a sick fish to the vet, get some powerful anti biotics and treat the fish separately in a quarantine tank, whilst treating the main tank with tetracycline general green stuff (?? a substance that won't knock out the biological filter, but will kill bacteria?)

As always water params are prett much perfect, so I wanted to just bring up some other stuff about teh tank set up and my daily routine that may be causing these problems and get your feedback.

1. 3d polystyrene background. I fitted a background to the tank which looked great for about a month. Then it became covered in algae, and the fish started knawing on it. They'd only be able to take off the top layer of the polystyrene as they're only small fish, but I'm wondering if they were able to ingest some of this stuff and cause problems.

Last night, in frustation, I tore out all the polystyrene but now there's a load of unsightly black silicone that the fish seem to want to try to gnaw on. Again I'm worried about them ingesting this, but it's quite firly in place. I'm spending time when I can trying to scrape it off wth a blade, but it's extremely well fixed to teh glass. (ps. I will never use an internal background again ... period)

The other thing, as I removed the background there was an enormous mass of gunk that came out of the tank. Lots of s**t appears to have acrued behind it, even though I've only had the tank for a short period of time. There are channels in the backgroudn to feed through air tubing and so on and I wonder if this could have been a source fo disease.

2. My water change process. I have a combi boiler, and I was refiling the tank with water from a mixer tap that had teh temperature matched, so it will pulling in some warm water. I use standard garden hose pipe that was bought only to transfer water from the tap to the tank. I looked at some of the hot water the other day from the tap as I filled a jug with it to prepare some medicadtion for the tank, and I noticed it had some sediment in it. Even though I normally run the wate fo ra few minutes before refiling the tank, I think I decided at thsi point that i'm not going to use the hot water tap at all. Then I went and investigated the boiler and noticed that the pipework underneath appears to be copper. Apparently as long as the boiler itself isn't copper this shouldn't be a problem, as long as teh water is run for a short while before use.

What I'd like to know.... is, reading through the above, do any of your more experienced fish keepers see stuff that is potentially the cause of the mysterious fish deaths?

I've removed the background, and I'll have an RO unit and a water tank in place in the new day or so, so I'm dealing with these two aspects in case they are related to my sick fish.

L

 

[rocknurworld2006]

Hi Guys,

My favourite blue fish (African Malawi peacock) died yesterday after a long protraction period of deterioration and me trying everything to fix him.

Now it looks like another fish may be ill -- swolen tummy, listless and hovering in the corner of the tank.

I have tried ... treatment for internal worms and heximata and internal and external parasites (wormer plus), treatment for bacterial infections (interpret #9) and initially I tried a treatment for gill flukes (waterlife sterazin).

It doesn't seem to have helped too much, which means there's another problem. The guy at the LFS said that it seems to be an entrenched & resistant bacterial infection and that I need to take a sick fish to the vet, get some powerful anti biotics and treat the fish separately in a quarantine tank, whilst treating the main tank with tetracycline general green stuff (?? a substance that won't knock out the biological filter, but will kill bacteria?)

As always water params are prett much perfect, so I wanted to just bring up some other stuff about teh tank set up and my daily routine that may be causing these problems and get your feedback.

1. 3d polystyrene background. I fitted a background to the tank which looked great for about a month. Then it became covered in algae, and the fish started knawing on it. They'd only be able to take off the top layer of the polystyrene as they're only small fish, but I'm wondering if they were able to ingest some of this stuff and cause problems.

Last night, in frustation, I tore out all the polystyrene but now there's a load of unsightly black silicone that the fish seem to want to try to gnaw on. Again I'm worried about them ingesting this, but it's quite firly in place. I'm spending time when I can trying to scrape it off wth a blade, but it's extremely well fixed to teh glass. (ps. I will never use an internal background again ... period)

The other thing, as I removed the background there was an enormous mass of gunk that came out of the tank. Lots of s**t appears to have acrued behind it, even though I've only had the tank for a short period of time. There are channels in the backgroudn to feed through air tubing and so on and I wonder if this could have been a source fo disease.

2. My water change process. I have a combi boiler, and I was refiling the tank with water from a mixer tap that had teh temperature matched, so it will pulling in some warm water. I use standard garden hose pipe that was bought only to transfer water from the tap to the tank. I looked at some of the hot water the other day from the tap as I filled a jug with it to prepare some medicadtion for the tank, and I noticed it had some sediment in it. Even though I normally run the wate fo ra few minutes before refiling the tank, I think I decided at thsi point that i'm not going to use the hot water tap at all. Then I went and investigated the boiler and noticed that the pipework underneath appears to be copper. Apparently as long as the boiler itself isn't copper this shouldn't be a problem, as long as teh water is run for a short while before use.

What I'd like to know.... is, reading through the above, do any of your more experienced fish keepers see stuff that is potentially the cause of the mysterious fish deaths?

I've removed the background, and I'll have an RO unit and a water tank in place in the new day or so, so I'm dealing with these two aspects in case they are related to my sick fish.

L

do u use dechlorinator?

 

[Hawkins]

Polystyrene could be a problem.

 

[lgarvey]

Hey,

Yes I use dechlorinator, all boxes checked. I do a 30% water change a week. There water params are near perfect. pH and temp are just right. I feed a variety of foods with a high percentage of vegetable and spirulina based food to keep them healthy.

But ... every now and again a fish will start to deteriorate. It'll start breathing fast, not eating sitting listeslly on the sand, or hovering in the side of the tank and looking quite miserable. It'll get to the stage where it's lay on the substrate panting heavily 'till it eventually dies. This is a slow process. The blue fish took about 4-5 weeks to die.

It perked up slightly when I used the interpte #9, and given the fact that I introduced a fish inot teh tank initially that was already ill, then went and got a replacement from the same tank (I have learnt my lesson) the LFS guy suspected some kind o bacterial infection.

Another guy has suggested perhaps they're eating the polystyrene and literally getting blocked up.

Man, sometimes I wish I just bought a cat! For all the trouble and expensve I have been through I could have bought a 2k Sphynx cat. I love the fish though, and hope this problem can be solved somehow!

L

 

[kenny fish fanatic]

i think its the polystyene,they cant pass it.i dont think youl have anymore bother now you taken it out,thats the trouble with that backgroud stuff it looks good but if the fish start picking at it its not good for them,and all the crap builds up behind it if theres any gaps,hope you sorted now,,kenny

 

[rocknurworld2006]

Hey,

Yes I use dechlorinator, all boxes checked. I do a 30% water change a week. There water params are near perfect. pH and temp are just right. I feed a variety of foods with a high percentage of vegetable and spirulina based food to keep them healthy.

But ... every now and again a fish will start to deteriorate. It'll start breathing fast, not eating sitting listeslly on the sand, or hovering in the side of the tank and looking quite miserable. It'll get to the stage where it's lay on the substrate panting heavily 'till it eventually dies. This is a slow process. The blue fish took about 4-5 weeks to die.

It perked up slightly when I used the interpte #9, and given the fact that I introduced a fish inot teh tank initially that was already ill, then went and got a replacement from the same tank (I have learnt my lesson) the LFS guy suspected some kind o bacterial infection.

Another guy has suggested perhaps they're eating the polystyrene and literally getting blocked up.

Man, sometimes I wish I just bought a cat! For all the trouble and expensve I have been through I could have bought a 2k Sphynx cat. I love the fish though, and hope this problem can be solved somehow!

L

wat are ur water parameters??

 

[Breedon]

I don’t want to hijack this thread but reading this has made me think, I to use a 3D background the juwel one, and my Malawi’s was eating the algae of it but has taken the top layer off making the white Polystyrene underneath visible I’ve had 2 deaths s far.

So it looks like I’ll be ripping out the back ground that hides all my pipe work.

 

[lgarvey]

I don’t want to hijack this thread but reading this has made me think, I to use a 3D background the juwel one, and my Malawi’s was eating the algae of it but has taken the top layer off making the white Polystyrene underneath visible I’ve had 2 deaths s far.

So it looks like I’ll be ripping out the back ground that hides all my pipe work.

Nah, that's seriously interesting information. My fish has done exactly the same. They took the top layer off so there's a load of white "pits." Problem is, you remove the background you're stuck with a load of extremely difficult to remove silicone. Some of which the fish may be eating. I'm pickign tihe silicone off bit by bit, but it's incredibly time consuming and my tank is so deep that I struggle to reach into it. Three fish are looking unhappy right now with slightly swollen bellies, they might be eating stray bits of silicone. =(

L


PS. Params are near damned perfect. Ammonia 0, NitrIte always 0, nitrAte never more than 20ppm. pH 8 (perfect for malawis), temp 25 degres. Lights on for about 10 hours a day - I work from home and like to watch them. They get fed lots of varieties of food about 80% vegetable based.

I need Sherlock Holmes... or Moulder and Skully!

L

 

[Hawkins]

I must add that the fish are far better looking than a Sphinx cat. They are fugly!

 

[ahodge84]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. From what I read, the folks that are pointing to the polystyrene background are probably right. The plastic tank backgrounds that I tape to the back of the tank aren't exactly fulfilling, but they are better than plain wall and I know they won't harm my fish.

 

[lgarvey]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. From what I read, the folks that are pointing to the polystyrene background are probably right. The plastic tank backgrounds that I tape to the back of the tank aren't exactly fulfilling, but they are better than plain wall and I know they won't harm my fish.

haha - re's the sphyx cat, I suppose I was getting at the high price - they're about 2k each. I actually really like them though. I'd sit with it on my knee pretending I am James Bond's arch nemesis.

Yes, I'm trying to lock down all potential issues hence removing the background and starting to us re-mineralised RO water. I also have a UV sterliser on order. I'll do what I can to ensure my fishes get healthy.

L

 

[Breedon]

get some stanley blades from B&Q that silcone will come off in no time my tank is 2.5ft high so i know what you mean.

Going to remove rocks and fish tomorrow night pain in the #### as i got my rocks in the right place first time.

 

[stang1]

Could it be Malawi bloat?

Malawi Bloat

Only reason I ask is because I have 3D background on my Malawi tank and my tropical tank. Although the fish pick at the algae, I've not suffered any losses.

 

[lgarvey]

Could it be Malawi bloat?

Malawi Bloat

Only reason I ask is because I have 3D background on my Malawi tank and my tropical tank. Although the fish pick at the algae, I've not suffered any losses.

Hmm, could be bloat. The other fish didn't have noticeable swollen bellies, or maybe I just wasn't observing it. Having said that, when I took the fish that recently died to the LFS, a guy who isn't experineced in Malawis thought it was pregnant. Many of the fish seem to have moderately swollen bellies, but are still healthy and strong. Some fish seem to be bigger and fatter, whilst other fish are skinny. I am surprised that they haven't all grown at a similar rate, perhaps it's down to genetic size differences and agressiveness in terms of pursuing food.

They have many of the symptoms of malawi bloat - bloating, loss of appetite, listlessness, etc. Is there a typical treatment for MB?

L

 

[stang1]

I can't help much there, I'm afraid.
It might be worth posting on the African/Old World Cichlid forum and seeing if someone there can help.