rjv23

again, tks for your reply.yes, it is a hard ailment to understand. it might be some kind of genetic quirk that shows up in a few fish. but I line and inteer cross my breeding program to try and prevent the lines from getting too concentrated. I posed here curious if some other breeders might have come across similar afflictions. anyway, 99%+ of my mish seem fine and not affected. it is disappointing when you lose one that is special. tks for your responses.

hi, tks, yes thought of this and it is possible. there is some lead and other polutants in the water here. my systems run of muncipal treated water but that doesnt garanteed total safety.I use seachm conditioner during water canges and age water when possible.it is strange how it affects only odd fish, most are strong, healthy and vibrant. i may have to go to resin filters for heavy metals and dioxins. thank you for your reply.

depending on the number of tanks you have, you might want to consider a potassium permanganate treatment. you need to be careful, it dangerous and will kill if overdosed. but it is very very effective for many external problems. it is also a good treatment for general sterilization in large systems and ponds. there are several sources for use on the web. whattley discus has a video to show their process and there are several pond treatments available. but use with care. this will take care of hole in the head and many many other parasitic and bacterial ailments. sometimes fungal also but that can be hit and miss.

thank you for your reply.ph is between 6.8 and 7. EC is about 200. the water is filtered through a large carbon canister before the going into the ponds. I have raised fish in the same water for years and the symptoms did not start after a water change. the ponds were stable and without change for a week. temp is hot here lately, around 34d C, but this has also happened in cooler seasons. sorry, I dont test hardness, I have floating plants to handle amonia and nitrites with media canisters in the tanks for bacteria.. I would suspect ammonia if it werent for the body spasms.these are anabantoids si pretty hardy when it comes to DO and water parameters. fish were about 8~9 months old, just hitting maturity and breeding age. one died from this during the first setup with a female. disappointing because he was quite special, solid turquoise. sad to lose him before I got off spring.

I breed paradise fish. I usually have a few thousand fish in various stages of development. over the past few months I have lost a couple adult breeder fish to a strange affliction. both had similar symptoms. but were separated by a few months. the fish were kept in a pond container in about 70L of water with other fish. the other fish seem not affected. generally the fish looks normal and healthy - no bloating or any outward skin symptoms. no rubbing or any real signs of stress. eats normally up until the symptoms start. the fish develops body tremors like uncontrolled spasms. between the spasms the fish hangs at the surface and has some labored breathing. I lost one a few days ago that that I had separated in a hospital tank. it was hanging at the surface and just not acting right. some panting and body tremors. I checked for velvet but no color loss, clamping or sheen on the body. I suspected flukes so gave it a potassium permanganate treatment bath which it seemed to handle without a problem (I have a stock solution that I regularly treat my ponds with every month or so and the fish seem to handle it no problem). a few hours later, it spasmed and had a seizure, then sank to the bottom upside down like it died - frozen like a stone. when I came back a few hours later it was looking normal again but still occasionally hanging at the surface and breathing harder than usual. it was swimming fairly normal with some body shakes but still better than the spasmed sinking rock that it showed before. the next day it was dead on the surface. there was some salt I added to the hospital tank water to help it along, but nothing else. all my other fish are in several tubs but all in the same water. this fish expired in a day after I notice it hanging at the surface. the other fish in the tub are fine. the body tremors are pretty violent and its like the fish is hooked up to an electric prod. the other fish that have expired like this had similar tremors, even one in a breeding tank - yet the female with him was fine and had no symptoms. I am thinking it might be something genetic, but it is pretty rare considering the number of fish I keep and the age of the fish affected. if anyone has any suggestions it would be much appreciated.

I also cannot get flubendazole, fenbendazole or levamizole. I can get mebendazole so did some searching for use in aquariums. here are a couple links to some info, take with a grain of salt: https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/experience-with-mebendazole-for-hydra-eradication.147692/ I have done a treatment for camallanus with mebendazole and seemed to work well, fish is eating well and active again.

try a breeding cone. then buy some plastic garden mesh, make a circle a little bigger than the cone then use zip ties to stitch it together in the circle. this can fit over the cone when the eggs are laid and then the fry can get out when they hatch. there is also a vid by LRB aquatics where he visits a fishroom. the owner had a plexi holder that fit over the edge of the tank and the slate attached to this. easy to remove and replace so the parents dont freak. I made a couple of these and they work much better than slate. I also made a version with split tiles and ran aeration up the center to fan the eggs after laying. this works well for angels and discus, again, shape a mesh to slide over the angled slate after laid. benefits are that it is off of the tank floor and can be removed very easily. my fish always used this, even pairs that would lay on pumps and strange places changed to this after I started using it.

really depends on what you are feeding and the size of the tank. if small fry in a confined tank, definitely strain and rinse. I used the dump in everything method in the past, everything is fine until suddenly fry are gasping and dying. so for these confined areas with small fry, I take precautions and strain and into a container of fresh water for feeding. In larger tanks to juveniles and even young adults, the salt water and waste from the hatching water wont hurt them. but again, depends on the size of the tank and the amount of water changes you do.

there is genopro for tracking genealogy if your breeding program requires that, can also log details of the spawn: https://genopro.com/

(macropodus, bettas); I cull often and hard. for the first culls, 5~8mm, I have 4 ctenopoma that take care of it, larger culls I have an arrangement with a LFS that feeds to arowana and datnioides. I believe making sure the strongest and best shaped fish make it to grow out is the best way to keep the hobby healthy. because I cull very hard, my lines usually produce good shaped, healthy fish. so even if a fish does not 'fit ' my breeding program, if it is strong with good form I will grow it out enough to move to a LFS for sale.

nice setup, a few suggestions if you are willing; 1. i use a clean tank with plastic pipe or flower pots for hiding places, floating and sinking pipes are both used. everything else is removed. this makes it much easier to pull the female, then the male when the time is right. if there is alot of stuff in the tank, it is hard to do without disturbing everything. 2. use a floating piece of yellow translucent plastic for the nest. I use yellow PP lids from yogurt containers. color resembles a leaf and will stay floating. sometimes the leaf will sink before job is done and may have some bacteria. a lid yellow lid that lets the light through will let the male check the eggs and tend the nest. 3. your breeding chimney is good, but I use one that is a mesh type so the two can not contact but the hormones can flow back and forth and the pair can really sense each other. 4. sometimes i prepare a tray type tank and then pull the fry as soon as they get tails. they will hatch fine on their own. depends on the males tending skills. 5. I use vinegar eels with first bites starting about 2~3 days after tails. the eels will stay in the water column and be ready for the fry to eat when they are hungry.

very dependent on what type of fry. I breed paradise fish, bettas and other labyrinths. it is hard keeping a balance between keeping the food constantly iin front of the fry for good growth and having wasted food sitting on the bottom causing problems. I have managed to find a few solutions. I keep alot of japanese trapdoor snails and bladder snails in my newborn fry tanks. also a few almond leaves to give the fry something to pick at and a surface where the food can land so they can eat later. for larger fry i have rigged feeders that float at around middle level with a float feeding ring at the top so most food sinks onto a floating mid-column surface. I also use aquaculture probiotics to help digest waste and stabilize the water. I also make a rapashy type food with black soldier fly, egg and other ingredients bound with a agar so I can feed this to larger fry and they an pick all day. I rarely vacuum tanks, but do water changes 30% couple times a week to keep get rid of stunting hormones and keep them growing. if the tank is cycled and balanced, fry will do much better in what looks to be a dirty tank (within reason).

Another thing I forgot to mention. One of the early females that I use had very plain color. kinda of gray. Her caudal was also a shaped a little strange; a lyre shape but very pointed and the tips were elongated but very fine and pinched, (not usual shape for opercularis) . I suspected she was a hybrid cross to ocellatus ( I have heard some reports on facebook groups that ocellatus + opercularis crosses are very gray looking and rather dull and ugly. But this is the canvas I was looking for. the opercularis male I had was well colored and I thought would pass the color traits well. Anyway, they were very prolific and had 2 spawns with several hundred fry each. Again, I am not positive of he true origin of the female, but she was some kind of hybrid and was very fertile. They threw very nice colored fish, I lost her later but would like to find another to breed back in again. Finally, I am working more blue into my line for the painted tail and fin colors. I have a pair isolated in a basin that have been together for a few weeks now. the female is from my stock, the male is blue with slight slight red stripes and no black. Looked like not much action there and I was about to give up. It has been about H 18dC to L 12d C in Taipei this week, quite cool all week. Today I found fry in the basin. Probably about 3 days old. So not only was the blue male fertile, he managed to get it done in pretty cool temps. Looks like about 100 fry.

Hydrogen peroxide in my water conditioning tank 30% .25ml/L aerated 24 hrs before adding to tank. I also add 3% - 0.5ml/L if I have some bacteria out break in the tank or for a bath for new fish. I don't sterilize a tank unless there is something really wrong in it - then 30% 1ml/L. I keep snails in all my tanks, MTS in planted tanks, Jap. trapdoor snails and nerite snails in fry and grow out tanks, apple snails in adult breeder holding tanks. you can quarantine snails and deworm them before you bring then into the system to get rid of any parasites. For me, the benefit they provide out weighs the little bit of trouble you have to introduce them. Once they are stable, there is no problem. I deworm my fish regularly anyway along with the snails. Feeding some live foods or frozen foods is a more likely source of parasites in my opinion. Bleach is good on rocks and wood that you want to change color on, then soak in water a couple days before putting back in the tank. Actually, I have found that making a snail trap is a pretty easy way to get populations under control if you are worried about it.