Re: apisto V1 #455

["Alysoun McLaughlin" <alysoun@patriot.net>]

> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 14:35:46 +0500
> From: "Scott McLaughlin" <relli@aye.net>
> Subject: Re: Failure keeping cichlids in the long term
>
> It probably isnt so much that the fish are not adaptable to the
conditions. It
> is a change in their normal water. For example, the fish that are in there
already
> have passed the test of time and become acustomed to the water in your
tank.
> The new fish however, are used to water that may be substantially
different
> and the switch causes them to suffer an immune deficiency.

No... I'm not losing new fish.  I'm losing them several months later.  It's
not even happening when I add new fish (I haven't added any new fish to this
tank in probably two months).

> This results in a
> situation where your other fish have healthy immune systems and can
survive
> whatever is there while the new additions are not very successful as they
have
> no chance to gain resistance. I would suggest some large water changes.

I'm changing about 15% of the water each week, only rarely less often than
every two weeks.  It's convenient; the tank's in the living room, right next
to the kitchen, and the Python is stored right underneath the tank.

> I had
> a tank where this was happening to me and I did three changes of about 50%
or
> more and the tank is home to a new family (just saw the fry last night and
they
> are almost a half incch long!) of Julidichromis dickfeldi. Water testing
is
> definitely called for. Another possibility is that you are adding too much
CO2
> or that maybe the difference in the CO2 is caused by there being too many
plants.
> At night yur plants are releasing CO2 and causing those levels to raise
(you
> mentioned gasping), come morning the plants are chugging out a bunch of O2
and
> then everything swings back that way. With wild swings like that only the
heartiest
> fish will survive. Of course, its sort of a natural selection thing and
might
> be good in the long run for keeping healthy blood-lines ;-)

I'm not adding CO2.  Besides, I would think that wild swings would have
their greatest impact on the cardinal tetras, wouldn't they?

Sigh.  I think it's probably time for me to stop being so lazy, break out
the test kits, and start keeping a log.  But as I mentioned in my earlier
post, I'm completely stumped that whatever the problem is doesn't appear to
affect rasboras or tetras.



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