ryanjury

Basically the fish gets stressed or run down by various things and becomes infected with whatever bug is responsible for causing bloat, only certain fish will get stressed in the way so only they should be affected most of the time the fish is healthy enough to keep the infection at bay. Some sites say it is caused by hex others don't either way treat with metro. I am sorry that I put you wrong by saying it was caused by stress, the exact cause is unknown form the research I have done, but it does seem to occur in tanks where there is high stress they are fed the incorrect diet etc. I would have no doubt your male ice blue is contributing to the stress I have kept these on a number of occasions and found them to be exceptionally aggressive. IF he isn't now then he will be soon, my one dominated half a 5 x 2 x 2 and others I have seen have dominated half 6ft tanks so I hope you have a big tank http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php is a good article, although it suggests alot less metro than I have ever found, maybe Jen can clarify this dosage rate furhter.. And I haven't found clout in NZ.. Jaxxna africans are exceptionally easy to keep very hardy and only need the very basic gear (most of my tanks have simple air powered box or sponge filters in them), if you aren't given some simple advice on feeding and you are sold incorrect fish for your tank size then they can become more difficult.

Yep used to deal with Ian all the time I am pretty sure his forum name is Mooloo but haven't seen him post for ages so unsure if he is still around..

lol Guess you were water changing and browsing the forums by yourself at 2am this morning Awesome fish, I used to have long finned gold rams and they were awesome but didn't manage to raise any fry from them.. Good luck with your ones and good work on the EBs looks like you have it sorted

Yep they are pretty handy little tanks to have actually great for fry or hospital tanks and makes drugs go alot further.. If it is bloat then it is a bit misunderstood, it seems to be caused mainly by stress - can be environmental like fish beating them up inappropriate water conditions, wrong food, dirty tank etc.. But usually has to be a few factors before they get it, because it takes a few factors usually a few fish in the tank are affected but as far as I have seen it is not infectious and as long as you find out what is causing it and treat the affected fish they are usually fine. I am currently treating a female blue dolphin for it, after I moved her she went off her food for about 3 days and sits around spitting but looking at food.

Yep as per the other thread when you asked I would say hex/bloat either way treat with metro.. I treat in a 10L tank and use quarter of a 400mg tablet..

They are looking awesome, good luck

I have yet to receive or send any fish with oxygen and haven't had any massive losses.. It would be a little bit extra insurance in case the fish gets held up or anything like that kinda like the 40 hour heatpads.. But my guess would be if it came down to a waiting game the fish would die of ammonia poisoning before it used up all the oxygen even in the plain old air we have.

Nice work It is good to see someone with the intention of breeding them got some.. Good luck! Any chance of posting some pics?

Internal filters are just as capable as externals at building up a good colony of bacteria and converting ammonia.. The major advantage of an external is it has a hard amount of media and can pump lots of water through it.

lol was that the blind retarded one that Carl used to own?

Yeah they are amazing, the worst part is I bred a few batches but only managed to raise 1 pair so I had 2 pairs in 2 separate tanks so thought they were safe so I would concentrate on other dwarfs I didn't have 2 pairs of.. Sure enough I lost the male from one pair then the female from the other while I was away for a month.. Then lost the remaining male soon after. Hopefully I can source the other male and get them breeding because they aren't very common over here

Yeah they are nice fish, I lost most of mine and their fry in a series of unfortunate events recently, I have a female and know someone with a male so hopefully will get one and get them breeding

Just to save the confusion Bilbo has none sorry

I would say they are slightly skinny too.. But still looking healthy swimming around and actively looking for food. Alot of fish come through the wholesalers etc quite skinny because food costs money, and also the waste (and therefore maintenance) increases when you feed more food..

Melafix is not a general cure all it is for bacterial infections and is only effective against certain types. If he isn't showing signs of infections I would add salt to promote slime production and aid healing and keep him in a nice clean tank lots of water changes good food etc and let him heal. You can drop meth blue or tonic directly onto the damaged fins and body parts etc to prevent any fungal infection setting in. Africans do get the bash quite often and most usually recover so he should be ok I like Smidey have had a "bob" recover fully.

I agree with all the above there should be no refund especially for something like a ram, if they fish were healthy and happy when they left your place then it is fine.. I like Smidey have replaced fry that have died a short time after I have sold them, I know they were healthy when I sold them and it was very likely the person buying did something wrong but I have fry to give and as a hobbyiest I hate loosing fish so know what the person would be going through. But nothing to do in this case except for say you are sorry to hear they died but they were healthy when they left your place Really sorry to hear that a pair of those amazing fish has died without any offspring

It depends how bad it is, I have plenty of tanks with the dodgiest silicone on them going fine for ages but they are in the fishroom in the garage so not too concerned about leaks I would think twice (or even 3 times) about filling them inside the house. I would re seal it, it is quite easy, goto a glassier and get a stiff backed razor and scrape the old silicone off, I would just remove one side at a time to replace all the silicone around the join, clean the glass up with some solvents (meths or something will do) then stick a good bead of silicone down spit on your finger (or use detergent in water) and spread it all out. You can get really keen and mask it before you put the silicone on. Meths will take off any slip ups you make and if you really hash it up then just let it dry and cut it out again It is well worth giving a go.. Failing that I am sure you will find a willing/able volunteer down there or someone you can pay to do the job but I would just give it a go at the end of the day you are only going to waste a little bit of silicone if you mess it up and you might be really good at it

lol no I was actually referring to Hans and his trip to the shop and lack of chocolate fish!

It doesn't sound too good Has he lost his balance and started gasping?

lol Yes if hans did get caught out for not having the fish then it would be a good reason not to trust him, especially if it had happened multiple times to multiple people. Plus the fact I can get the same chocolate fish (non melted) from my local dairy for $5ea and know he paid the same why the price hike? Hans you seem to leave or at least get a large part of the way to the shops this time each year it seems to be some sort of cycle for you..

I should also add that other importers have brought in "tripple reds" and I know hollywoods did recently (although I haven't seen photos or even heard what these are like) so it is possible we have others around just most of them look like they originated from Levin ways.

Tripple red cockatoos have red on dorsal anal and tail fin, most of the cockatoos that are around at the moment are the result of a guy in Levin who bred tanks of them they were tripple red (male) crossed with a wild type female (from Phill Collis) so not hybrids just 2 colour forms bred together. Some were very red/orange, some very plain it was just the nature of the cross, but it seemed the cross made them very hardy and prolific which is why they have survived so well. I have seen fry from 3 different pairs locally that have produced completely different fish mostly a dull orange colour on finage and not many with colour on all 3 fins so photos of parents probably wont happen. In a true tripple red the red colour on the fins would be obvious right from when they were sexable so should be shining out in the photos of the fish for sale.

I would isolate them and see if you can tempt them to eat other foods first. Then you have to determine what you think may be affecting them, my first guess would be treatment with metro if they are completely off their food but could also be parasites so you might need to try levamisole or prazi as well.. Are there any other symptoms apart from them being off their food?

In all of my cichlid tanks I just use some sort of bio media and filter sponges.. Generally I don't use carbon unless I am trying to achieve something with it (ie remove meds) as I find it doesn't do anything for me if I use it every day. I have never used the eheim media it is supposed to be very good but I have had no problems using the standard bio balls or even pumice and it is an awful lot cheaper than the eheim stuff, each to their own I guess What media came with the filter?

So is anyone making the trip anytime soon