Re: Problems with wild A. cacatuoides. Ph to low?

[swaldron@slip.net (Steven J. Waldron)]

Ed wrote:
>One wholesaler who was also an avid hobbyist had told me that he
>believes that sometimes apistos that are shipped in bulk, and that are
>at some point exposed to higher than 7 ph, may have had their gills
>damaged by ammonia.  The ammonia takes on a more deadly form when in
>higher ph water.  The fish start dying off in the next couple of days
>and nothing seems to be able to save them.  I've purchased 30+ fish at a
>time and watched them die off one by one.

 I've seen this time and time again. I do not know about the correlation
between high ammonia levels and high pH. Apistos oten get over packed when
exported out of S.A. They often come in with extensive gill damamge from
high ammonia levels.  At the wholesale level, I've had good success with
acclimating the fish over with well-oxygenated, demineralized water, follow
up with anti-parasitic meds. There are some powder remedies available that
liberate alot of oxygen rapidly that seem to help, though I haven't used
these in years. Most wholesalers try to get the fish to adapt to their
centralized, alkaline, doped up system water with little success, very few
know how to handle apistos properly. The problem is transport stress and by
the time the fish have been tanked they are stressed beyond their capacity
to fight off any sort of pathogen. I must say though, shipments have
improved over the years.
- - Steve