Bill's Wild Greens!

[brewmaster15]

Re: Bill's Wild Greens!

A little sad news this morning as the L201 Snowball pleco that came in with the discus succumbed overnight after I dosed with PraziPro.

I thought I had plenty of surface agitation for aeration but I suppose that could have been an issue for him. Only other thing I can think of is that he got a slightly higher initial dose when I added it to the tank in front of the filter overflow... I was pretty careful about calculating tank volume and if anything I went a little light with the dosage.

The other conclusion I can make is that some fish are sensitive to it even though it is supposed to be safe and relatively gentle for everyone. The discus are fine.

Bummer, though. I had never kept one of these and was looking forward to having him for a long time.

Bill thats a bummer. Prazi pro is known to deplete oxygen from what I have read elsewhere. I never use because it has so little prazi in it for what you pay. Ive Always used pure prazi.

Hard to say the cause I am afraid.. glad the discus are ok though.

Al

[Tshethar]

Re: Bill's Wild Greens!

Thanks, Al. Yeah, there's no telling what happened but my best guess is the oxygen depletion. Hate when stuff like this happens but it's part of the hobby, unfortunately.

And you're right that it's good the discus are okay. I actually expected them to lose their appetite today and to darken, etc., as I seem to remember seeing that before with the meds but they actually seemed quite relaxed and were hungrier than I expected. I think they actually liked the treatment. And no tapeworms, so that's good.

[Second Hand Pat]

Re: Bill's Wild Greens!

Hi Bill, how is it going with your wilds?
Pat

[Tshethar]

Closing the loop on this thread as I abandoned it after I started having troubles (of course!). It's been two years but my recollection is that I lost about half of them after the first few weeks, which was really disappointing. I think there were a few in succession that quickly passed unexpectedly with no visible signs of illness. I can't remember if I had finished the QT protocols or not, but it seemed like it was around then that something went wrong. No idea what it was--no symptoms or weird behavior at all. Ended up with four that I had for a year or so, then three.

Around the time I stopped posting, we also had a pretty serious family medical issue arise, which meant there wasn't extra time for attending carefully to the fish. To their credit, those who made it hung in there until recently despite the fact that I felt a bit defeated and their location in the house made maintenance harder so they were neglected more. I don't have pics but they did develop really nice red spots over the next year or two and I enjoyed them, even if they didn't get the water changes and feeding that would have allowed them to grow larger and look better. We moved a little less than two months ago and unfortunately the two I had remaining passed away a few weeks after making it over here. A little mysterious as they were in pretty good shape with no visible signs, but again, there was no time to work on them and I actually felt like the last one let go after his friend passed.

On the bright side: I was able to bide my time and get a new group of fish. And while I love the look of wilds, my budget is still limited and my luck/husbandry is questionable, so I went with a nice group of domestics from Lynda at Golden State.

Don't know about a thread as I might want to make sure I don't kill them first, but it's really fun to have a new start. And in our new house, the sink and the drain are a lot closer!!! All the best to the old timers on here... hope you all keep getting fish! :-)

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Bill and nice to see you back. It is amazing how tough discus can be. I stepped away from discus when I become caregiver for my husband who allows his health to collapse. He close to ignore what was happening and he finally listened to our daughter. I took him to the nearest ER and he had several hospital stays over the next year. His health finally stabilized and I got back into discus. So working with a nice set of wilds and I will post pics soon. Hope to see pics from you once you are comfortable with them.
Pat

[AquaticNerd]

That deal from Lynda for August is almost too hard to pass up! I think both Pat and I can sympathize on the medical front as we've both had to step back from keeping discus to take care of family medical stuff. Pat's gotten back in but I'm still without. We all understand that life happens. Glad to see you back, Bill, and looking forward to when you feel comfortable posting images of the new group.

[Second Hand Pat]

That deal from Lynda for August is almost too hard to pass up! I think both Pat and I can sympathize on the medical front as we've both had to step back from keeping discus to take care of family medical stuff. Pat's gotten back in but I'm still without. We all understand that life happens. Glad to see you back, Bill, and looking forward to when you feel comfortable posting images of the new group.

Jake, hope you can get back into discus should the desire surface and things settle down.
Pat

[Tshethar]

Thanks to you both for the well-wishes and for the real-life updates. Pat, I remember kind of doing a role-reversal health intervention with my dad more than 25 years ago when he and my mom were retired in Florida. He hadn't let go of the rope in terms of self-care but his idea of moderation wasn't cutting it given his genetics and long-term issues with heart disease, which were alarming. I was able to get him to do things that no one else could (I literally cooked and got him to eat fat-free vegetarian food for weeks), and I look back on that time fondly.

I am glad to see folks on here continuing to share their experience even when they are without fish for all the reasons one might or should be. And its nice when those of us who have had to scale back or take a break can have another go. (Happy to say that everything is good health-wise in the family now. And look forward to seeing your wilds, Pat, when it's time.)

Still busy with all the usual things, but the kid in me will always be happy about having fish. My birthday is coming up and the box of fish is about the only thing I can imagine that creates the excitement and wonder we all associate with those days when birthdays really mattered. And you're right about the August deal, Jake!

Now I think the challenge will be not having 7 tanks or the like going over the next 6 months! (But I will try not to get ahead of myself and keep the fish alive first... :-)