Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Josh, extremely nice thread! I am new to the site having for some reason never run across it and am going through the various forum topics. Your thread is extremely enjoyable. I have been keeping fish since the late 1960s and have certainly had your disease experience when feeding blackworms. I admit that I do still use them from time to time for killifish, which dont seem to mind the infestations I assume they get, but discus and angels always get slammed at some point so I havent used live blackworms for the past 25 years or so with them. I even buy frozen black worms and keep them frozen for several additional months since the cysts of some of the common contaminants can last at least 4 months frozen and some longer.
Thanks again,
Ron
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Fundulopanchax
Josh, extremely nice thread! I am new to the site having for some reason never run across it and am going through the various forum topics. Your thread is extremely enjoyable. I have been keeping fish since the late 1960s and have certainly had your disease experience when feeding blackworms. I admit that I do still use them from time to time for killifish, which dont seem to mind the infestations I assume they get, but discus and angels always get slammed at some point so I havent used live blackworms for the past 25 years or so with them. I even buy frozen black worms and keep them frozen for several additional months since the cysts of some of the common contaminants can last at least 4 months frozen and some longer.
Thanks again,
Ron
Ron,
Thank you for weighing in on the blackworm feeding. It has been something I have suspected from the get go, but just wasn't sure. It was one of those things I wanted to see for myself. What I would really like to do is keep two tanks from the same spawn, and feed both tanks the same, except include live worms in one tanks regiment.
The one reason I have suspected live blackworms as the differentiator, is that I did not lose any fish from the spawn, until I started the live worms. Although, the fish I lost were always from a larger group of fish, and the 8 contest fish are all still alive and active. Hard to say without a control group. Also, I am curious about what is causing the parasite infestation from feeding the blackworms live. Are the worms themselves the problem, or is it the water the worms are housed in? Why are the adult discus I feed not affected when they receive a portion of live worms daily?
I'm sure these question have been asked elsewhere on this forum. Maybe a search will give us more info. I would like to see a well documented case for or against the correlation we are theorizing, I have only read arguments for both sides and never seen anything conclusive.
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Quote:
Originally Posted by
joshvito
Ron,
Thank you for weighing in on the blackworm feeding. It has been something I have suspected from the get go, but just wasn't sure. It was one of those things I wanted to see for myself. What I would really like to do is keep two tanks from the same spawn, and feed both tanks the same, except include live worms in one tanks regiment.
The one reason I have suspected live blackworms as the differentiator, is that I did not lose any fish from the spawn, until I started the live worms. Although, the fish I lost were always from a larger group of fish, and the 8 contest fish are all still alive and active. Hard to say without a control group. Also, I am curious about what is causing the parasite infestation from feeding the blackworms live. Are the worms themselves the problem, or is it the water the worms are housed in? Why are the adult discus I feed not affected when they receive a portion of live worms daily?
I'm sure these question have been asked elsewhere on this forum. Maybe a search will give us more info. I would like to see a well documented case for or against the correlation we are theorizing, I have only read arguments for both sides and never seen anything conclusive.
I think it's a combination of things, both parasitic and bacteria. Finding exactly what causes the outbreak can be difficult.
Journal - First Pair with fry
I've cut the live blackworms from the feeding schedule for the past 4 days. I'm going to feed other foods for a few weeks and see if I notice any changes.
I also have been keeping a 1tbs per 5 gallon salt level in the tank, which I will slowly eliminate after 7 days.
TFCEC Member
Join a local fish club.
www.tropical-fish-club-of-erie-county.com
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Finally installed a laundry tub sink in my fishroom today. It was quite the project, but now I can perform larger water changes.
Tested the sink today, by doing a 90% WC.
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
I wouldn't add water directly from the faucet even if it's de-chlorinated because of the additional harm of PH shock.
let the water sit 24 hours and match the temp if at all possible, been there and done that!
J
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Ill check the pH of the tap versus the tank tonight. Where does the difference come from?
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Quote:
Originally Posted by
joshvito
Ill check the pH of the tap versus the tank tonight. Where does the difference come from?
@MGKelly,
You have me worried that I am causing pH shock by adding tap water straight to the tank. So I checked my pH of the tank tonight before the water change, and I checked my source water (lukewarm tap) .
Tank water
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/15/nereqeze.jpg
Tap water
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/15/umuzubaq.jpg
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Looks OK 7.5 for both, just making you aware, I once went from 6.8 to 7.6 and the discus looked exactly as mentioned = shocked
and i unknowingly did it several time. discus acted like "The Swimming Dead"
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Mgkelly,
Thank you for the heads up. I will keep a close eye on 'em.
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Been working on setting up a drip system to keep the water changes in my fishroom a bit less maintenance.
More to come ...
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
PH - 7.5-8
NH3/NH4 - 0
Nitrite/nitrat test strp - 0
NO3- - 0-5ppm
Deg gKH - 3-4
ppm GH/KH - 53.7-71.6
TDS - 132ppm
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/28/era8e9yb.jpg
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Fish are not happy today. Not sure what the deal is ...
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/28/byhuhuqe.jpg
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
pH - 7.5
Nh3/nh4 - 0
Nitrate - 0-5 ppm
Haven't done a WC since last post.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/02/hyta2e3y.jpg
Re: Journal - First Pair with fry
Tank has been on the drip overflow system for about 1 week. Dripping 2gph into 55g tank.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/11/emu6u7ev.jpg
Fish look dark. They are eating as expected. Not sure if/what ales them.
PH - 8
Nitrate - 0-5ppm