PlanetCatfish.com

Here's the link to the pics:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?t=11433

It's been since Sunday and it is still alive in the quarantine tank. He/she seems to be feasting on the driftwood I've placed in the tank(it was pre-cleaned by boiling). He/she was buried under a sponge filter and 2" of mulm. I paid $7. The owner of the LFS didn't think he/she was very colorful. I broke every rule I set for myself by getting this little one.

I have the qt tank set up with driftwood, a water pump and a BioWheel filter. The substrate is soft. I'll be doing (2) water changes per week for the first week. I've noticed the dorsal fins are ragged from being nipped at by the tankmates at the LFS. Do I need to treat this? I haven't given any medicines as yet, since the owner of the LFS hinted that he heavily medicates all of his fish.

Parameters:
QT tank:
pH 6.8
hardness: 4
nitrates: 10
nitrites: trace
salt: none

LFS:
pH:over 7
hardness: 12
nitrates: +40
nitrites: +3
salt:added daily

I made sure to do a slow transition into the qt tank.

If the fish is eating and healthy, there is no real need to treat the nipped fins. They will heal by themselves in time.

I hope your plec pulls through. But looking at the water conditions at your lfs I personally wouldn't buy any fish from there. I realise lfs have high stocking etc etc but nitrite and the addition of salt is a VERY BAD sign! Your plec will be recovering from its stay in the lfs.

Bronzefry,

Best of luck to you and your new one. I would agree with the others that medication for nipped fins is unneeded unless signs of bacterial/fungal infection start to show up. With the drastic change in conditions, you may see amazing results. Until I found information on the internet (here), I didn't know the first three cories I bought were supposed to have barbels! - They started to grow back after being in good conditions and I thought there was something wrong!

You didn't mention if the QT was cycled, and whether it was kept cycled at the same temperature. I had a cycled QT that I seemed to lose a lot of biofiltration capacity when I dropped the temp to add cooler water fish... It makes sense now that I think about it, but at the time, getting nitrite readings off the scale, I almost had a heart attack. Anyhow, you seem to have plenty of knowledge and experience, but I thought I'd mention it just in case...

Again, very, very best of luck!!

Jen

Jen,
I was using the quarantine tank to grow plant cuttings for the past month. In the back of my mind, I was hoping to find an addition for the 29 gallon tank I want to redo. (I know this species may get too big for a 29, but the 75 would be okay, with the Chaetostoma in the 29.) He/she still peeked out at me this morning, gnawing away on the driftwood. Last night, under the nightlights, I fed some frozen Daphnia. That seemed to go down well. Patience will be a virtue on this one. If it takes weeks to come out of hiding, then it will. I won't force it or try to take anymore pics until he/she voluntarily comes out of hiding. Water changes should be interesting.

I know I'm not going back to that LFS. The guy took great care of his saltwater tanks. They were in a lavish backroom, well lit. All the corals in new individual tanks with individual filtration. You could see all the fish, everything was stunning. The freshwater set-up was from the dark ages and he was almost embarassed the more he talked to me. I brought a picture of the Chaetostoma. (He was singing their praises on his website's chatroom.) When I got there, he said they all died a while ago. There were a lot of dead fish there. A lot of Pl*cos with sunken bellies in tanks with C*****ds. He tried to get me to buy one. I almost bought some S.Barbatus(labeled as Corydoras)for $16 ea.-they were in separate tanks. I asked the guarentee: none. That's when we found this loner, after a few tries with the net. All he got was mulm the first try.

Unfortunately, this is very typical of LFSs in my area. There are the stores described above, then PetSmart and Petco. The internet it is, again.

This L147 will be in the quarantine tank for at least 4 weeks. I hope he/she makes it, too.

He/she ate some algae wafer overnight. I think we're making some progress. I tried some cucumber, but that didn't go over too well. Maybe I didn't prepare it correctly. I'm going to try zucchini next. I'm not sure I've been preparing that correctly either. I'm wondering if a food preparation sticky note would be in order. It seems to be an often-asked question.

Bronzefry wrote:He/she ate some algae wafer overnight. I think we're making some progress. I tried some cucumber, but that didn't go over too well. Maybe I didn't prepare it correctly. I'm going to try zucchini next. I'm not sure I've been preparing that correctly either. I'm wondering if a food preparation sticky note would be in order. It seems to be an often-asked question.

I've just been talking to Jools about an article on feeding Loricaridae. I think something will come out of it, but it's a bit early to say exactly what form and when...

In short, cucumber should be just a question of making it sink (or otherwise position within reach from the bottom) using some suitable weight. I use a teaspoon, other people use plant weights or stones, or food clips.

Zucchini should be either raw (for bigger fish) or just quickly cooked (blanched) so that it becomes just that little bit softer (particularly for fish under, say 1.5").

Also have some patience when trying new foods. The fish may not recognise the item as food until it's been around for a couple of days (not leaving it in there more than 24 hrs, but replace as necessary, until it figures out that it can be eaten).

--
Mats

I just saw some little worms in the tank. I shouldn't be surprised, given where this poor thing came from. I have a sneaking suspicion they are the variety that need treatment. The only problem is, everytime I try to get to see the fish better, he/she freaks out and cowers. The poo is very long and has worms, too. That's about the only thing I can see-the poo. The tank parameters are the same as above. I think I saw a posting here about the same subject.

I found a new treatment here:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW ... mdy00.aspx
I have a food with anti-parasite treatment in it, but it doesn't do any good for bottom feeders since it's a floating food. I think it's more of a preventative. I put a little in the tank anyway.

Hi there,

How's things going with this little guy? The treatment you found contains several common parasite treatments. I don't know what you have in your area as far as stores, but Jungle has a product called "Parasite Clear" that has many of the same active ingredients and may be available without ordering online and waiting for shipping (I got mine at WalMart).

However, I do think that if you can get the fish to eat, treating the food is the most effective solution for intestinal worms. I have some of the floating medicated food - and as you may have discovered, it will never sink, which I find both amazing and maddening. I've heard Florida Guppies Plus mentioned as a source for medicated food, and see that they do offer a de-worm flake. I've not used it, so I can't say whether it would sink - others may have better input.

I've also heard that you can get liquid de-wormer with the same active ingredients and soak the sinking food in it. I've luckily thus far not had to try this, so I can't offer you specifics.

Anyhow, I hope that things are going OK...

Jen

Jen, here are some pictures I've taken over the past few days. Please pardon the poor quality, but this one is very shy.
This was taken this morning:

The following (2) were taken when I was cleaning the tank:



I fed zucchini last night, which seemed to go over well. About half of it is gone and there's some normal poo in the tank. I'm still guarded. This is just one week into a four week quarantine period.

Any clues as to how large an L147 will get?

Wow, the fish is looking a lot better! Your baby should only get around 11cm or 4 inches. Good luck with the fish, it's very pretty and probably appreciates being rescued.

Thanks. I'm waiting for the new dewormie treatment. I saw it on another web site. It says it's "safe and effective with sensitive species such as catfish." I'll believe it when I see it. I switched to a Rio 400 pump today from a tiny little pump. Get some water movement.

The L-147 made the move into the 75 gallon tank today. I see what folks mean by allowing a 12" by 12" space per Peckoltia. As soon as it was released into the tank, he/she was immediately staking out territory.


He/she eats during the day, attacking a combo of veggies and shrimp during the day.

Yupp, that matches my L15's, very active during the day, and I haven't notices that they stop when lights go out, so I suppose they are awake most hours...

--
Mats

Is there a word for that, Mats? I know there's nocturnal for night. Diurnal for day. What about no-sleep? Insomniac?

Omniurnal? I don't know, I'm just making it up from generic greek/latin terms that I've heard somewhere...

--
Mats