Need some advice

[Bluemarlin]

Well nothing helped I have lost all of them.
The ones that hurt the most was the pair of RSG adults. ton of money down the tubs*sigh*
I am now bleaching everything.
well when I can afford more fish I will be back.......

Thanks for all the help.

Doug

[aquagal]

Doug--

I am sorry for your loss. Seems like I've been reading a lot on this forum lately about fish loss. Why are these fish so susceptible to disease? It's can really be demoralizing sometimes...

Sherry

[MostlyDiscus]

Matt, how long is your dip into salt and at what ratio of tbsp to gals?

[Graham]

Doug--

I am sorry for your loss. Seems like I've been reading a lot on this forum lately about fish loss. Why are these fish so susceptible to disease? It's can really be demoralizing sometimes...

Sherry

Sherry, fairly sensitive fish to start with, but IMO they've been so inbred at this point to achieve all the Smarties colours and patterns that they basically have very little immune system left. So when they do have a problem or don't have water that suits them they get ''something'' and it becomes an up hill battle.

Then if the hobbyist doesn't really know what they're fighting and is guessing, that just compounds the problem.

Graham

[aquagal]

Graham--

I agree with you totally! It's really too bad that they are not more hardy. Are wilds more hardy because they have immune systems that are used to fighting off bugs?

I also wonder why is it that discus require cleaner water than other types of fish? Do they require cleaner water because [domestics] are raised that way. If the fish were raised from the start with a less rigorous WC schedule, would they just adapt...I wonder?

Sorry for hyjacking the thread...it just seems like a lot of people have been reporting losses lately. I also am struggling with sick fish who are not responding well to treatment.

Thanks!

Sherry

[Graham]

I would think that wilds have a good strong immune system, but they also do not get expoused to a lot pf parasites. The water is so acidic that not much can live in it, from what I can see. They would also have just an overall healthy metabolism, considering the abuse they take getting to us they would need it..

On the other hand you've got inbred domestics, that are pamperd with pristine water, being expoused to no levels of pathogentic bactaria or ambient parasite populations, so they can't build up a strong immune system.

That are then shipped off to LFS or hobbyists tanks that may have all of the above and somewhat poorer water, who are probably not QT'd and then we wonder why they get sick.

G

[Bluemarlin]

I tend to agree with you Graham.
IMO we need to cross the domestics back with wilds to improve the immune system and overall health of the fish, this has been done extensively with Angels.
I think we need to take a lesson from them as they were the same way 13 years ago, very frail and fell to illness at the drop of a hat.

[aquagal]

yup. We see a lot of pics posted of juvenilles, I wonder how many actually make it to adulthood....

I have done everything right w/ my latest batch [of imports] -- QT, daily WCs using aged water, good clean food, etc. -- and I'm still dealing with sick fish.

[ShinShin]

Mostly,

I use a 5gal bucket and about 4-5 tbs salt. I add an airstone and dip 15-20 minutes.

mat