Tinwini Disaster

[Jdogtrainer]

I'm looking for some help with my new D. Tinwini juvinile. Here's my story.

Two weeks ago I received my very first mail delivered fish. 12 danio tinwini - I've wanted this species for a long time. Only one online vendor had them in stock for the past 5 months so I got them from that source.

My fish arrived (only 11 though) live and in good condition over all. I drip acclimated them to my established quarantine tank and they seemed good - except after 3 days they would not eat anything. I tried krill flakes, frozen brine, frozen community blend, bug bites...etc, etc.

They seemed to smell the food and looked for it but didn't recognize the food as edible. I began suspecting that 1) these fish had only had live foods, and/or 2) they were babies who had only eaten live foods. They are pretty small at .5 inch or smaller.

I sought help from a trusted source, who also identified them as Tinwini for me as I had my doubts. He helped me find a local who gave me a vinegar eel culture.

My fish seemed to eat some but not as enthusiastically as I expected. By this time they were 5 days in my care and most had a varying degree of sunken belly and swollen gills.

Between day 5 and 8 three of the fish died, so I added salt and the next day added Prazipro at the correct dosage for the 10 gallon tank.

I tried frozen BBS and they seemed to take to those best. I also added live microworms to their diet with some success. 

Trying to make this a bit shorter: I have 4 viable fish of my original 11. Two of them look normal, two have sunken tummy but are eating. 

What else can I do for the? What should I have done differently?

Water parameters: temp 77, ph 7.6, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 5 to 0, I have quite hard water but not sure the numbers.

[Alison]

Is there any chance they could have some kind of internal parasite? Did you treat them for anything? I see that you did put them into your quarantine tank but it's not clear if you added any kind of treatment.
 

[Jdogtrainer]

1 minute ago, Alison said:

Is there any chance they could have some kind of internal parasite? Did you treat them for anything? I see that you did put them into your quarantine tank but it's not clear if you added any kind of treatment.
 

Hi Alison,

Thanks for the reply! Yes I added both salt and Prazipro doses. I thought parasite as well!

[Alison]

3 minutes ago, Jdogtrainer said:

Hi Alison,

Thanks for the reply! Yes I added both salt and Prazipro doses. I thought parasite as well!

😞 super bummer in general but especially when it's something you have wanted for awhile and were really looking forward to. 

[Jdogtrainer]

2 minutes ago, Alison said:

😞 super bummer in general but especially when it's something you have wanted for awhile and were really looking forward to. 

Thanks so much for understanding. Yep it's been a crappy situation and hard on my bank account lol. I am in love with the tinwini and plan to get more to fill out my school (if these 4 live). I'm on the hunt for another source now.

[Alison]

1 minute ago, Jdogtrainer said:

Thanks so much for understanding. Yep it's been a crappy situation and hard on my bank account lol. I am in love with the tinwini and plan to get more to fill out my school (if these 4 live). I'm on the hunt for another source now.

Do you have a lfs that will/can add special orders to their wholesale orders? I know my lfs will do that if you want something different or out of the ordinary that they might not normally sell or carry. If that is the case, they may have access to more suppliers than just Joe hobbyist would. I haven't had to take advantage of that personally yet, but I do know people in my city that have had them order stuff. Sometimes it will take a bit to get in depending on when they place their next supply order but it's worth looking into.  

[Jdogtrainer]

My LFS orders from two sources and those places don't have any in the 6th months I've been asking. 💁💁

[Alison]

poo. Sourcing things has been really hard this year. I've had to do a lot of planning and a lot of make do. I'm slowly starting to plan for a rainbowfish tank. I'm making lists of things that I'd need and then to see if I can reasonable source most of it. It was a good/bad year to get back into the hobby. Good because I have lots of time to plan things and research. Not so good because getting things I want has been difficult.