growth and breeding

[rothschildianum]

Hello everyone,

I've been raising freshwater fish for years now and i've never had this problem before. I moved to a new place about a year ago that is on well water. The water has been tested and is supposed to be potable. I never drink from it because the smell is awful (too much sulfur). I was a bit afraid to put my fish in it at first, but they seem to be fine, as far as not dying.

However, I have noticed that my fish do not grow at all (angelfish and discus). No matter how much I feed them, they just seem to remain the same size. . . They're on a diet of flakes, hikari frozen blood worms and live blackworms fed three times a day.

When I first moved into the house, they were breeding the first few months but now all breeding activity has completely halted.

The entire fishroom is on a drip system for 6 hours a day, which gets about 2 gallons per hour into each tank. While on the drip, the water comes straight from the well with a hardness of about 150ppm. In addition to the drip system, the fish also get a 40-60% water change with r/o water every other day.

Any ideas why they may not be growing? I tried deworming them recently but I highly doubt that was the problem. Someone told me that a daily drip system is harmful to the fish, though i don't possibily see how that could be a growth inhibitor (i've had great success with such a system before I moved here).

Any helps or suggestions would be great!

Thanks
Yohan.

[pcsb23]

Yohan,

Welcome on board :)

There are many variables which affect growth, being on a drip system is highly unlikely to be one of them! :)

It is difficult to say for sure, there could be something in the water that is inhibiting growth, you say you wormed them, was this just as a precaution? or was there any evidence?

[William Palumbo]

Should grow well on a drip system and Blackworms. I would add a good BH mix as well. Maybe the problem is the quality of your stock. Where did your stock come from?...and at what size?...Bill

[Moon]

Yohan
Welcome to SD
I too have a well and also have a drip system set up in my discus fishroom. My well water is rock hard at 300ppm. I use this water for grow outs. I use RO just for the breeders. My discus including WC greens and Heckels are doing well growing and spawning in this water.
Like Paul mentioned your well water will not restrict growth. It must be some other factor.
BTW are you dripping cold water or heated water? My drip comes out at 84.
You might consider adding an inline carbon filter to remove the Sulphur.
HTH
Joe

[mmorris]

If they were breeding at first then the bulk of their growth has probably already been achieved and they are unlikely to grow much more.

[rothschildianum]

Hi Joe,

The drip comes out at 84. I'm adding an inline carbon filter this coming weekend. Will see if it does anything.

I've gone through several scientific journals and have found links to sulfates inhibiting insulin-growth factor...




Yohan
Welcome to SD
I too have a well and also have a drip system set up in my discus fishroom. My well water is rock hard at 300ppm. I use this water for grow outs. I use RO just for the breeders. My discus including WC greens and Heckels are doing well growing and spawning in this water.
Like Paul mentioned your well water will not restrict growth. It must be some other factor.
BTW are you dripping cold water or heated water? My drip comes out at 84.
You might consider adding an inline carbon filter to remove the Sulphur.
HTH
Joe

[rothschildianum]

If they were breeding at first then the bulk of their growth has probably already been achieved and they are unlikely to grow much more.

I have both breeding pairs as well as juveniles of various ages.

[rothschildianum]

Should grow well on a drip system and Blackworms. I would add a good BH mix as well. Maybe the problem is the quality of your stock. Where did your stock come from?...and at what size?...Bill

Most of my discus came from Kenny's Discus.

[mmorris]

Can you post pics?

[rothschildianum]

Should grow well on a drip system and Blackworms. I would add a good BH mix as well. Maybe the problem is the quality of your stock. Where did your stock come from?...and at what size?...Bill

Forgot, the discus do also get San Francisco Bay Brand Beefheart Plus.

And actually, it's not just the discus and angels that do not grow. It's ALL my fish. I've got a fishroom of 175 tanks (not including the 15,000 gallon marine fish system). The only ones that grow are the marine fish as they get 100% RO water.

In addition to discus and angels, I also raise pupfish and various killies...which have also ceased to grow or breed. Like the angels and discus, the first few months after the move, they were breeding but have since stopped. The fish that were produced in the first 3 most have barely grown any in the last 9 mos (have been at this house now 12 months).

[William Palumbo]

You must have one HUGE fishroom!...If you are having problems with your freshwater fish, and it sounds like you have a problem with ALL of them, I would suggest having your water checked by a lab of some sorts, because it seems to me now, that is the source of your problem...Bill

[kaceyo]

Well water can have all kinds of polutents and chemicals that come from surrounding farming, agriculture and buisnesses. Anything that's sprayed or spilled will end up in the ground water. I'd suggest a very good three stage carbon block pre-filter to start and see if that makes a difference.

Kacey