Re: Dead Iniridae

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>]

Doug Brown wrote:

> I added pencilfish to my iniridae tank and all of the iniridae (4) died 2
> days later overnight. I'd like to get advice on preventing this in the
> future. Here are details.
>
> The iniridae had been in the tank for 2 months and were doing very well.
>
> I quarantined the pencilfish for 1 week. This isn't all that long but has
> worked fine for me in the past. The pencilfish were apparently perfectly
> healthy, and are still doing well to this day. When I went back to the
> store to see what I could find out they told me the pencilfish had just
> finished being treated with an antibiotic for a bacterial infection. Again,
> the water at the store was clear and the ones still there all looked
> perfectly healthy.
>
> I waited 2 weeks and the pencilfish were still doing fine so I moved my sp.
> "Emeralds" in with them and all of these fish have been doing well for 2
> weeks now.
>
> This just seems a little odd to me. Are iniridae more prone to disease than
> other apistos?

Doug

My experience with A. iniridae is nearly 20 years old, but I never lost any to
diseases. Mine were kept in acid, moderately soft water all the time and given
regular water changes every week (Boy, was I a fanatic back then!). But then, I
hardly ever had disease problems with my apistos.

> Can apistos die from an unapparent bacterial infection that
> quickly?

I strongly doubt that this is possible.  Were these apistos acting OK before
adding the pencilfish? If so, I'd suspect some sort of poisoning.

> How long do the rest of you quarantine fish for?

I try to avoid medications as much as possible. I prefer to keep new fish
(especially wild caught ones) in a dimly lighted, bare-bottom tank with just a
sponge filter and a few tubes to hide in (to avoid stress). I try to get the
water conditions as close to natural as possible for wild caught fish. At first,
I keep them in this system for a minimum of 4 weeks. Over this period, I bring
the water values to my tap water conditions (slightly acid and soft) with regular
weekly water changes. I feed sparingly if they are not in a starved condition and
add as much air as possible. After 4 weeks, if the fish are OK and acting
normally, then I feel comfortable about adding them to other tanks. If they still
aren't "up to snuff" but show not diseases, I keep them quarantined for another
month. If diseases do occur I'm lucky enough to have two veterinarian/fish
hobbyist friends who have experience treating fish. Either Dr. Ken Reeves (of
discus fame) or Dr. Vicki Mills will help me when I run into something I'm not
familiar with.

> What do you look
> for while they are in quarantine?

After the first week I look for normal apisto behavior - hunting for food,
displaying to each other, erect fins. If they are not displaying normal behavior,
then I check for other signs of disease.

Mike Wise

> And other advice gladly accepted!
>
> -Doug Brown
> debrown@kodak.com
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@majordomo.pobox.com.
> For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
> email apisto-request@majordomo.pobox.com.
> Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!






-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@majordomo.pobox.com.
For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
email apisto-request@majordomo.pobox.com.
Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!