MrEd

Well my mate catches them and Browns in the Manawatu, my brother in the Otaki Forks, Brown Trout in the Ohau .... that's just directly around me! I've actually seen them released in Lakes around Rotorua and of coarse Taupo. If they were so into conservation why aren't they breeding Kokopu and other rare natives for release instead of trout! The rational behind it is simply money and nothing else!

Yes Hypocrites ..... and I don't mean boxes to transport fat animals! :-? ... that wasn't good was it! I just wondered why DOC are so active at preserving our Native Fish species when they'll happily through Rainbow trout into a river with them to compete for food and prey on the native young? It wouldn't be over something simple and special to them like the buck $?

Hey Alan .... I curious how you found the Belfast Pub site .... did you literally stumble upon it??? I'd love to find a wild source and am curious as to the know what to look for? I might be able to spare you some Mr Pleco to get you started but they're a bit scarce at the moment as I collect daily for my breeding Angles (or bleed'n Angels)..... boy do they eat! Worms are a handy food source for them as if food falls too low the Angels won't touch it and rots but the worms just burrow in waiting to be gravel vac'ed and re fed!

Interesting .... so I'm guessing it was the health Dept who banned them? Do you know if they had an "actual" reason, ie someone got sick, or were they just being a Gov't Dept?

I have had a bad case of Dropsy lately, in one tank system for the first time, but I have been feeding tubifex to all my others (9 tanks) so can't say they were the cause. I suspect it was infact 2 fish I bought in that were carrying it as they died first and developed it shortly after their introduction. All said and done I'd have to say no and there those out there who say they are harvested from sewerage outlets so they must carry bacteria and indeed "those" probably do! Carefully cultured tubifex dining on leaves however would contain no more bacteria than an Earth Worm!

Hi Matthew. Yeh I culture them in an old bath tub. You'll obviously need a starter culture and depending on the population will, like fish, depend how much to feed them .... or though they are way more forgiving! You don't want too much food in there as it will go off and pong and may introduce bad bacteria when you feed them to your fish. I add a small amount of dryed cherry tree leaves (tree grows next to the bath) though most leaves will do but I steer clear from the toxic plants, like Rhodo's and oak etc. I have added lettuce to encourage Daphnia and the worms hoe into them also and the odd banana skin goes down a treat. Keep it in a cool place over summer, mine is under the shade of a decidious tree which also gives warmth over winter. I have placed a fine chicken wire screen over the top top prevent too much leaf matter getting in in Autumn. I just leave them to it and only harvest around the rim of the bath being careful not to harvest too much. I have noticed also after heavy rain they rise in mass out of the bottom sludge and cling to the algae on the sides in their thousands and if the water overflows they will go with it so I have a collection container next to the bath also. If the water is a clear peaty brown with no odour unless stired (and then not offensive), or green with infusoria, you are on the right track. My fish love them and it is a good aditional live food source plus I get good breedings using them to fatten up fish ... just don't overdo it! Good luck!

Thanks Ryan and I do intend to visit you and Win.... Cheers! The odd thing I found with Dropsy in my fish is they ate normally, even with bloated bellies and pine cone bodies, and didn't stop until near death! The fish I'm experimenting with I don't think I'd put back even if she seemed to make a full recovery as it isn't worth the risk based on my recent outbreak! Maybe all the fish were under stress so were vulnerable or maybe there are different viruses and bacteria at work that are more contagious than others causing the same outward symptoms but what ever the case I'm going to be more careful with a more stable environment and hopefully it will not rear it's ugly head again!

Hi Amazonian. Wouldn't using hard water on my Appisto's stress them further and make them more vulnerable? I'm not really trying to cure the sick (resolved to their fate) but rather since all the Dropsy infected fish have come from the one tank system, I am trying to prevent a reoccurance! I am experimenting with a female with early signs in a isolation tank with Flucloxacilin & Epsoms but I don't hold hope!

Agreed about advanced dropsy Alan just my female is just starting to puff up and I haven't been fattening her to spawn .... no pinecone look yet! My big male is history! I did use Formaldehyde to steralize plant nursery pots and trays but not at all pleasant to work with and requires a respirator and not many places use it any more. Tri Film is more effective on viruses and user friendly ...... plus I have it! After reading Loopy's article about it being bought on by stress would you still go to the trouble of steralizing?

Just found some Flucloxacillin capsules .... any one know if will be effective and what rate? They are in a 40 litre isolation tank. Also anyone had Cory's get it? It sounds like now that the heat and drought has gone I might get some stress free healthy fishies again! Cheers

Thanks for the replies. As far as food goes they were getting mostly live, mozzies, daphnia, fruitfly maggots and tubifex with occasional bloodworms. Been meaning to visit you Ryan and bring up some fish but not a good idea at the moment! Thanks for that info Loopy as the bacteria remaining active for months ties in! Fish are at risk only when starved, stressed, cold, have a poor diet or unsanitary conditions. As for a stress trigger none of those really apply though it could be the water temperature as the tank is the highest in the room and some days got up to 29 C. I'm fairly fussy with the water quality but as I say I went fortnightly instead of weekly (always gravel vac so very little sediment) so maybe this and the temp is what triggered it? I wondered how long the virus/bacteria lives in the fish before it shows outward symptoms? All the sick fish have come from the same tank and I have 9 tanks!

I bought in a couple of female Apisto's which both developed dropsy .... hadn't seen it till then and thought it may have been caused by overeating as I was trying to fatten them up to breed! I went fishing and tryed Epsom Salts on them with not even a slight improvement and were euthanised when they stopped eating. The water from that tank is shared with another and my huge male bitaeniata and 2 months later he now has it also and the female is showing early signs also. I unfortunately restocked the other tank after a couple of 1/2 water changes and gravel vacs and am now worried about them. A friend who was into fish just told me he read where it was caused by a virus and then secondary infections developed from that causing the swelling. He also said fish can occasionally recover with antibiotics but never totally get rid of it which I guess would stand up to Dropsy being viral. I'm going to play safe and remove the other fish in the same system and clean everything out and steralize with something .... any ideas on possible virus killers? I do have TriFilm which is an anti-viral steralizer used in hospitals and plant nurseries but will have to be flushed out well as it is highly toxic to fish and will be a last resort! I hope it goes no further as the bitaeniata pair had fry which are in another tank! I had been doing weekly waterchanges but got short on water over summer and resorted to two, 2 weekly changes and don't know if that contributed to the outbreak but other greater stocked tanks were fine .... mind you didn't have infected fish in them?

I hope you let the Pet Shop you got the guppies off know of your plight as I would expect they would at least give you the parasite killer (or at the very least at cost) considering the problem they have sold you. Of coarse they in turn can let the breeder know!

I recently lost a couple of young Appisto females which I was trying to fatten up for breeding and I suspect over did it! The interesting thing was they were in a tank with other varieties of Appisto and only the one variety was affected which also happened to be my favourite! I isolated the pair imediately and placed each into its own quaranteen to be safe. I read where overfeeding can cause a strain on body organs and lead to kidney failure resulting in a build up of body fluid, the visual symptom of dropsy! I don't know how true it is but it sadly fits the bill in my case.

Your heater ain't stuffed .... just not accurate! Keep in mind also I have 4 thermometers and all read slightly different (1.5 deg), 3 digital and one mercury .... I go by the mercury one!

More central than South I believe MrsFrog but a truely excellent looking fish!

My Altums bred at 26. Must have been a worry in the quake Aquagold .... I know I'd be scarpering mighty smartly if a quake struck my fish room. Interesting to know how many people strap their tanks for such an event?

I always remove other appisto males (haven't bred Pandoro though) as it seems to create less stress and the female is much more relaxed and less incline to eat her young. Also feed her up well on live food (tubifex) with the theory being she won't look at her fry as stir fry!

Didn't you also have a Norbert pair Stu?

As you can see (if you can see .... bad shots!) there is some fungus developing on the old eggs. I tryed to remove it but some fry are stuck to it and won't shake off but it doesn't seem to be causing a problem .... yet! They are not free swimming but I think they will be tomorrow as the odd one is moving about. Some seem stuck to the side of the glasstank by their backs and others look stuck together still and to other objects. I assume this will sort itself out hopefully without too many deaths? I started feeding live BS this morning and the odd one appeared to be feeding but figure tomorrow while I'm eating turkey they'll be dinning on shrimps!

I have Neons and young Black Neons in with my adult Altums and they don't get bothered. I was told as a rule of thumb if the fish will fit through the eye of another it will be eaten. .... I always thought it was fit in their mouths! :lol:

OscarBoy I have some pics, not too flash, but need a home page to show them! Can I send them to you to list pleae .... or someone? Cheers

Will be selling/swapping them but I'm not counting my chickens even though they have hatched! I imagine they'll take a wee while to get up to saleable size. From what I've read live BS are best to put the size on, not the encapsulated .... any one confirm this as I've found it works well with Appisto's? Will try some pics.

Just hatched :bounce: and are blobbed out on the heater .... I think it best I move them before the thermostat kicks in! About 20 turned white and none fungused out! Now the hard bit raising them but all fun and interesting!

I have moved the eggs into another tank on their own but would have prefered to have left the mum in with them. For some reason I seem to have a better survival rate that way ..... with my Appisto's anyway??? I swapped the bubble tube for another to reduce stress on the adults and the mum is still guarding it like the eggs are still there. I might have to swap them into a tank on their own. Was going to treat the water with Methylene Blue but don't have any, wondered about Blue Circles "White Spot Cure" as it is blue but no mention of the ingredients. I'm loathed to use Melachite Green as a preventative as it is quite toxic so gave the tank a good clean and did a 50% water change. .... probably an ideal time to use a UV steralizer? I'm in Levin.