RE: RE: Re: oh no!

[Tom Mroz <tmroz@art-inc.com>]

<snip>Tom--What type of water were you using when you were seeing this 
problem
more frequently.

I don't test much, unfortunately (I know, I know, I really should).  I have 
the equipment, but not the time.  Poor excuse.  Anyways, my incoming water 
tends to be around 160 ppm.  When I did RO, I mixed about 2/3 RO with 1/3 
tap (partly for chemistry, more for temperature - used hot tap to get the 
overall temperature up).  The chemistry of the RO was about 30-40 ppm as I 
recall, not great, but better than tap.  So what's that average, about 80? 
 Sounds high - I had spawns from T. candidi and other soft water fish in 
this water.  I did some work with different pH's, using phosphoric acid to 
treat.  This did not seem to make much of a difference relative to the 
above problem, and was a pain.  I'd like to think that if I did more water 
chemistry control, I would have better luck, but I've seen enough 
unexplained things (one pair, one tank, no good - another pair, tank next 
door, same conditions - no problem) to wonder if there might be something 
else to all of this.

<snip>In one of the major tropical fish magazines, there was an article in
their regular Betta column which mentions dropsy in Bettas.  The author
has been in the hobby a long time and from what I recall of the article,
may have been one of the people originating the practice of putting salt
into water when raising bettas.

I certainly remember seeing various reports, particularly on nijsseni, 
advocating the use of salt in the soft, low pH base water.  This surprised 
me, but I have seen it several times.  I have seen sick pandurini and even 
nijsseni perk up with a salt hit, but again, by that time they may be well 
on their way, so it does not have a lasting effect.  I have not gone to 
salt 100% of the time, but it may be interesting to try.

I more frequently have another problem with pandurini.  I had it twice with 
batches of wild fish, and thought it was limited to just them. 
 Unfortunately, I just witnessed it in a batch of near-mature F1's, which 
scares me.  They all look fine one day.  The next day, some are listless, 
but NO OTHER outward signs of problems.  The next day, they are dead, and 
more are listless.  The dead still have not signs of problems - wounds, 
bloat, nothing.  This disease runs through the entire tank without sparing 
a fish, and appears quite virulent.  I really need to save some of the 
afflicted buggers and send them to a disease specialist.  Of course, I hope 
not to have the chance again!

Tom