New list member with questions...

[Chad Attlesey <davinci@uswest.net>]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this list.  I normally would lurk for a week or two and see how
things work on a list before jumping in.  However, I have at least one
pressing issue that I was hoping to get help on.  I apologize in advance for
any repetitive newbie questions I may ask no or later.  One thing I have
noticed in the short time I have been a subscriber is that if a post is
longer than a paragraph, the author ends by apologizing for the length of
the submission.  Given that, I will also apologize ahead of time for the
length of this and any subsequent posts ;-).  With that out of the way, I
was hoping that I could get some help with a few things.  A quick background
may help first:

While in college in Chicago (starting ~12 years ago) I got hooked in a big
on aquariums and fish breeding.  At my peak, in my tiny dorm room I had 250
gallons in 20+ tanks and 400+ fish (mostly killies and some dwarf cichlids -
Rams where my favorite).  The water conditions there where ideal fish
keeping 7 pH and moderate to low KH and GH - easy to drop the pH when needed
(with Rams).  When I started doing my graduate work, I had to quit cold
turkey because I couldn't bring the goods with me to the East cost.

Anyway, to make a short story long, I am now in Southern Minnesota where the
water comes out of the tap like liquid rock (limestone aquifer), has a pH of
8-8.2 and smells like a pool.  About 3 years ago I was given a 55 gallon
tank (like giving an alcoholic a fifth of gin).  I tried maintaining a South
American tank for awhile with Rams, various Tetras, etc. which worked well -
fish had several clutches, etc.  I got lazy and tired of having to make RO
water runs at the grocery store and decided to convert to African Cichlids
(they love the water here - minus the chlorine).  Well, about 6 months ago
my wife and I were at a local pet store and we saw the most gorgeous Rams I
had ever remembered seeing.  After rolling her eyes and giving me the "OK,
go ahead..."  I now have a dozen Rams - a mix of German and wild caught and
fry coming out my.... anyway....  Now at 8 tanks (I know that is minor
compared to most of you) I also have picked up some very nice Cacatuoides
(nice ones are pricey here) and some Viejita II.

OK, with that background out of the way, here is my first issue:

Now that I have decided to seriously get back into fish breeding, I recently
drove 2 hours North to pick up 6 A. Pandurinis that were flown in from the
East cost.  The shop I got them from had already dropped them into one of
their community tanks the night before I got them.  I had them individually
oxygen bagged and put into a cooler for the trip back.  I had a tank
waiting: 80 degrees F, 6.8-7 pH, very low GH and ~150 KH (I tried to match
the shop's conditions) with added Blackwater Extract, Tropical Science
Nitromax and Stress Coat.  I floated and acclimated the fish using a turkey
baster for almost 2 hours before releasing them.  They looked good until the
next afternoon.  One at a time they showed labored breathing and
occasionally darted frantically.  One after the other they died about 6-8
hours apart.  If I hadn't tested the water myself, I would have sworn that
they died from ammonia poisoning (water tested 0 for ammonia and a trace of
nitrite - caused I believe by a fish that died unnoticed for several hours
overnight).  Upon closer examination, I noticed they all had slight fin
fraying and some stringy mucus on the mouth and gill area.  They didn't have
any fraying when I observed them at the shop and I noticed very little
nipping in the tank at home.  When the first fish died, I considered it bad
luck.  When the second went belly up and a third was looking bad, I started
treating the remaining fish with Mardel Maracyn, Maracyn-Two, Coppersafe and
Maracide.  This is the same cocktail that I have had success with in
cleaning out wild caught Rams with known parasitic and bacterial infections.
I figured at that point I had nothing to lose.  The 3rd - 5th died at about
6 hour intervals.  The last one looked like it was going to pull through but
then also died on the morning of the 3rd day.  This is the first failure I
have had since getting back into the hobby.  I never like losing fish, but
this situation is more than a bit disconcerting.  Is it somehow my fault?
Everything tells me that it was just bad luck; either one of the fish got
infected while in the shop's tank and passed it on to the others or the
stress of transporting them caused gill damage (as in the article on the
Krib web page) which eventually killed them (or both).  Anyway, the reason I
am telling you all is that the supplier has agreed to give me a free
replacement shipment next week.  I want to avoid having this happening
again, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.  At least I would like
the peace of mind that it wasn't my fault.  Further information: I am told
that these Pandurinis are German bread in relatively high pH (7.5+) and high
hardness in hopes of making them more hardy for the general pet industry.
Has anyone heard of this?  Could this have contributed to the problem I had?
Help!

OK, two more quick things before you nod off:

1) Is there a good, reliable way of getting rid of brown algae without
taking out fish in the tank?

2( I have an outbreak of these weird little organisms all over two of my
tanks.  They look like hydra without the arms.  They are whit,
semi-transparent, have filaments that attach to any and all surfaces and end
in a ball or mushroom shape -----@.  They are everywhere.  What are they and
how can get rid of them without nuking my fish?

Well, if you have gotten this far, thank you for bearing with me.  Any help
will be greatly appreciated.  If I do get help on this, I promise that will
try to make post less verbose from now on.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,


Chad (are first names OK?) 


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