They have been extremely active and there has been a lot of fighting around since this morning. The tank temperature has dropped to 24 C and they are getting Tubifex twice a day now.
Ps :I am unable to get my camera to focus in video mode properly.
Balaji
Major: Now what's this... stone, stone, stone, (looks down at his hand) and scissors. Now. Scissors cut everything, don't they?
Sergeant: Not stone, sir.
Major: They're very good scissors!!
Fish don't really get obese, so it's not fat. It could be that it's full of food, or some disease, but I'd say it's very good bet it's gravid. Consider simulating rainy season to trigger a spawn.
-- Disclaimer: All I write is strictly my personal and frequently uninformed opinion, I do not speak for the Swedish Museum of Natural History or FishBase! --
I've heard/read here people use this word often to describe "out-of-shape" fish. In light of your statement, I'm looking forward to more replies.
So you are saying it is not the thick fat deposits that make fish look obese but the amount of food slowly passing through their digestive system? For some reason, I vividly recall really, really fat carp that people catch worldwide trying to claim the world record catch (see YouTube, for instance). Also, there is a photo here of RickE with his huge 54 lbs carp (see "what do you look like?" thread, page 5) - just an example http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 4&start=80.
I cut open some of my dead goldfish and saw yellow fat under their skin but, of course, I have not done it enough to know if it ever builds up to thicker layers.
Mike_Noren wrote:Fish don't really get obese, so it's not fat. It could be that it's full of food, or some disease, but I'd say it's very good bet it's gravid. Consider simulating rainy season to trigger a spawn.
I was just exaggerating the obese part . Its either food or eggs. While do I hope it is gravid, I somehow think its just an extremely well fed specimen. I can see something inside but not able to get a clear shot as it keeps hopping around all the time.
This species is extremely funny when active. Just random hopping all over the tank. In summer when the temperatures go up, they just sit still and wait for food.
Balaji
Major: Now what's this... stone, stone, stone, (looks down at his hand) and scissors. Now. Scissors cut everything, don't they?
Sergeant: Not stone, sir.
Major: They're very good scissors!!
Hey Mike, you were right about the possibility of a disease. Found this guy floating around in the morning. Just finished a water change for the tank and took some pics.
I haven't encountered anything other than Ich once. So I am not sure what I am dealing with here. Medications are a no no as the other fish in the tank are extremely fragile. Water changes are 70-80% a week. The tank dimensions are 30*12*18, filtration is via 2 * 800 lph Ocean Free HOB's and there is 1500 lph pump for circulation. I place it right at the top so there is no disturbance at the bottom levels. Food is Blood Worms,Tubifex or FBS (rarely) twice day. The tank temperature stands at 23.4C now.I don't have water parameters at the moment and won't be able to get them until next week unfortunately.
I think it could be :
a) Tubifex that I use. Although I have never faced any Tubifex/disease related death before.
b) Could it be age??? I have had this fish since October 2008. The swollen belly indicates otherwise I think.
What do you think????
Balaji
Major: Now what's this... stone, stone, stone, (looks down at his hand) and scissors. Now. Scissors cut everything, don't they?
Sergeant: Not stone, sir.
Major: They're very good scissors!!
A friend's Hara horai died a few weeks ago and it too had this bloated appearance a few weeks before it died. He has had the fish for a few years now and its diet has not changed. Nothing else has been affected.
Oh ok. Could be the same cause then. Didn't expect him to die as he was very active lately. I attributed this to the temperature but clearly, I was wrong. I will keep a lookout on the other specimens.
Balaji
Major: Now what's this... stone, stone, stone, (looks down at his hand) and scissors. Now. Scissors cut everything, don't they?
Sergeant: Not stone, sir.
Major: They're very good scissors!!
In my experience bloat is caused by ingestion of spoiled food.
Take this for what it's worth, I'm very much in the minority on this, but I never feed bloodworms (chironomid larvae) to my fish any more.
I found that I could reliably induce bloat (internal bacterial infection) in my fish by feeding them thawed frozen chironomid larvae of the leading brand here in Sweden. This didn't make sense to me as chironomid larvae are the main food of many bottom-dwelling fish, and parasites should be killed by freezing, but after some investigating I concluded that the reason was the way larvae were handled: the bloodworms were dead and had begun to rot before being frozen (plus they were thawed and re-frozen during packaging). Rotten food is a sure-fire way to kill fish.
To make matters worse, chironomid larvae are also allergenic and roughly 5% of the population are predisposed to becoming allergic to them. If your hands itch after feeding with bloodworms, or when you put your hands in the tank after feeding with bloodworms, you are probably susceptible.
All in all I don't feel bloodworms are worth the risks.
EDIT: You could try opening your Erethistes and having a look inside to verify that the fish isn't full of eggs and died of unrelated causes. I suspect you'll find that the body cavity is full of a reddish liquid, and that there are ulcers on the intestines.
-- Disclaimer: All I write is strictly my personal and frequently uninformed opinion, I do not speak for the Swedish Museum of Natural History or FishBase! --
Makes perfect sense actually. While I freeze the blood worms after a good wash, I keep the tubifex alive by performing multiple water changes everyday. This is mainly because we are still facing regular power cuts and spoilt tubifex, well you would have to smell it believe it. A couple if years back after a day with no power,I had a freezer full of of dead worms. The maid refused to clean the freezer. I don't blame her though. I did it finally after severe threats from the home front.I swear the previous days food was all line up for regurgitation. Never tried to freeze tubifex since then.
Unfortunately, I can't avoid blood worms/tubifex either as the other fish in the tank (primarily sisorid catfish) will not take processed at food at all. FBS doesn't help too much as I have seen fish lose weight drastically over continued use. Live worms are a necessary evil at this point of time. I am expecting a batch of meal worms and super worms soon. Once I get a good culture going, I will try to skip these altogether.
Coincidentally, my fingers started itching for the first time ever after I came in contact with tubifex. I am going with your diagnosis. Spoilt worms. The inside of the fish is red and gooey too.
Balaji
Major: Now what's this... stone, stone, stone, (looks down at his hand) and scissors. Now. Scissors cut everything, don't they?
Sergeant: Not stone, sir.
Major: They're very good scissors!!
. Its either food or eggs. While do I hope it is gravid, I somehow think its just an extremely well fed specimen. I can see something inside but not able to get a clear shot as it keeps hopping around all the time.
