Welcome to the FishHouse Blog!

Wild Male Angel Dies!

Sunday, August 5th, 2007

When you keep and breed many fish, sometimes you become immune to loss. This time its a little different because many people tried their best to help with sugestions to cure this infection. Thanks to you all! You know who you are.

Maybe Furan-2 would have done the job if available in the UK, but we cannot even cure MRSA in Hospitals in the UK with antibiotics and people die as a result. The problem with bacterial infections, you need the correct treatment to treat Gram-negative or gram-postive bacteria infections, and only possibly swabbing the ucler, and culturing the bacteria would have provide the answer.

There is so much we still don’t understand!

and now we have a Foot and Mouth Outbreak in the UK, Again! from a Government Establishment!

More Tanks…

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

I’ve also been busy, installing a new electrical spur in the fish house, for new electrical sockets to add another rack of three tanks tomorrow.

I also got another rack of three tanks to add in the fish house before the winter arrives.

I’ve also been collecting more fish all week. I’ll post an entry in the blog of current fish in the fish house in the next few days.

Drugs fail …

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

I thought the MYXAZIN broad spectrum bactericide was working and the ulcer was receding. But on the fifth day of treatment I noticed another small hole had appeared on the upper dorsal fin. I finished treatment on Friday 3 August, and completed a 50 percent water change, all the MYXAZIN seems to have done, is stained the silicon in the tank blue!

I asked a friend if he could ask Dr Peter Burgess to contact me. Peter was at Plymouth University the same time I was, and was also a member of the Plymouth & District Aquarists & Pondkeepers Society, with members including John Rundle, Dr Stan MacMahon.

Dr Peter Burgess BSc MSc Mphil PhD, is a fish health scientist, with more than 25 years’ experience as an aquarist. An author of numerous articles and scientific papers on fishkeeping, he is editor of the international journal Aquarium Sciences and Conservation. A visiting lecturer in aquarium sciences, he is also an international consultant to the aquarium fish industry.

Dr Peter Burgess suggested I try Pimafix, as I had already tried Melafix, which although marketed primarily as an anti-fungal, is also quite good at tackling some bacterial infections.

So I’m currently on a double dose of Melafix and Pimafix.

Furan-2 is not available in the UK, because it contains two antibiotics, and these are only availble with a prescription in the UK.

I’m not keen in treating with antibiotics, because it wipes out the bacteria in the filter, and it’s very difficult to get the right antibiotics for the correct becterial infection, unless a swab is taken from the infected area.

I noticed this evening, the angel fish behaviour has changed for the worse, the fish is no longer eating, it’s stomach appears distended, gasping for breath and the ulcer has grown in a matter of hours, the area has got larger. There is also a small hole visible in the caudal tail region.

I have emailed my Vet Matt Brash asking for a prescription of antibiotics.

MYXAZIN broad spectrum bactericide

Saturday, July 28th, 2007

After consultantion with friends I’ve started to treat the tank with Waterlife’s MYXAZIN broad spectrum bactericide to prevent any secondary bacterial infection. This is a five day course, I’m not sure but I think the area of ulcer is receding.

I’ve like to try Furan-2, but it’s not available in the UK!

I’ve just finished painting another three 30x15x12 fish tanks and they have been test filled in the sun (yes, unbelievably it’s not raining yet!), to check they don’t leak.

Wild Male Angel Treatment

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

I’ve been treating with API Melafix, but I think I’m going to have to change to something stronger. The ulcer is both sides of the body in the same position.

Any ideas, email me

Here is a picture of the fish. Please click the image to obtain a high resolution version.

Wild Male Angel fish
Wild Male Angel fish with Ulcer on upper shoulder, under top dorsal fin.

July Update

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

The computer is working again… the motherboard died!

The new tanks added reached a temperature of 22 degrees C, without any heating, so I had to add internal Visitherm 200 watt heaters to each tanks, to get the temperature to 26 degrees C, I also had three spare 18 watt lighting units and tubes, so I’ve also added these.

To mature the tanks, I’ve added Hagen Cycle and also removed a single mature Bio Foam from other tanks in the fish house, and added them to each fish tank.

I’ve since added two Serpae tetras Hyphessobrycon eques, two Zebra Danios Danio rerio to two of the tanks to help mature them.

The remaining tanks is currently being used as a quarantine tank for my Wild Male Silver Angel fish Pterophyllum scalare which could be a Peruvian Pterophyllum scalare which has developed a nasty ulcer on the shoulder near the dorsal fin, I noticed it in the display tank, and thought at first it was an injury from another fish, but has got larger, I’ve been treating with Melafix for over 7 days, but I don’t think it’s getting any better. The fish is still alert, eating well, and doesn’t seem to be in any distress, there’s no swelling, blood or fungus, it’s very odd.

More Fish Tanks!

Monday, July 16th, 2007

You can never have enough fish tanks…

I’ve finally added a rack of three 30x15x12 additional fish tanks to the fish house. These will help with the fish breeding program. These should have been added months ago, but I’ve been trying to paint them outside, and the weather has been foul – it’s not been easy touching up the paint job, when it’s been raining, and also busy with new Kittens, DIY etc etc

I’ve filled them with water, and added Algarde Bio Foam 200 twin foam filters.

I’ve not added any heating or lighting at present. I’m checking to see if there’s enough heat present in the fish house, to heat them spatially.

I’d add a picture if my computer hadn’t overheated and died!

Aequidens rivulatus aka Green Terror/Gold Saum

Sunday, July 8th, 2007

“Does exactly what it says on the tin” to repeat that well known UK phrase.

The female Green Terror has killed my Rusty Pleco (L077). I’ve had this pleco for about four years, when purchased it had blue eyes, in the last three years has taken on the more rusty colouration.

I purchased a pair of Green Terrors Aequidens rivulatus, from a local fishkeeper, which had difficulties with the male and female, male almost killing the female, and this resulted in a very shy female, unlike the male, which “charges” the tank everytime you go near it. I’ve had them seperated for four months, and the female has slowly been happier, not as shy, sharing the tank, was a Rusty pleco, which I thought was Indestructible (a bit like Captain Scarlet!), she’s proved me wrong! I don’t know why she flipped!

Male Terror
Male Green Terrors Aequidens rivulatus
Female Green Terror
Female Green Terrors Aequidens rivulatus

I’m hoping to breed them in the future, If I can get them together.

I like the Aequidens group of South/Central American Cichlids, and many years ago had some Aequidens Pulcher Blue Acaras (I think the latin name has changed since!), which is similiar to the Green Terror, but maybe not a killer!

Under Pressure!

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

I’ve been using two Hailea piston based, ACO-308 and ACO-208 air-pumps to provide air in the fish house, using a 22mm ring main “air-reservoir”. I purchased the first ACO-208 in September 2005, and when my generic 40lpm “Hi-Blow” failed when I moved just under tweleve months ago, purchased another larger ACO-308 to add to the “air-reservoir”. I’ve never really been happy with the amount of air, especially in the deeper tanks (> 2 foot). I switched to Hailea because they were cheaper to run, but I’ve since found, they cannot deliver the pressure and are noisy, my master bedroom is above the fish house, and I can hear the pumps through the floor!

So I’ve recently purchased a Japanese Secoh SLL-50, but I still wasn’t getting the required pressure required. After consultation with a DIY expert, we will call him SimonL at work, he mentioned that I needed to use 15mm and 22mm inserts in the Speedfit piping, and also cut the pipe using a poly pipe cutter, not a hacksaw (I knew this bit, but I didn’t think it would really matter!). I borrowed SimonL’s poly pipe cutter to re-cut all lengths of pipe, and disappeared to ScrewFix to purchase some pipe inserts (well I didn’t know, it didn’t say it on the pack!), re-assembled the ring main “air-reservoir” and like magic plenty of pressure!

Re-visited the fish house, 30 minutes later to find no air! I thought the ring main had failed, it wasn’t the ring main but the back-pressure on the diaphragms in the Secoh SLL-50, that had failed! I’d forgotten to open the bleed valve on the ring main, which usually feeds into a large volume of water, that I use to change in the tanks. So I purchased a Service Kit from KoiKit by JustKoi. Fantastic service, the service kit arrived promptly, Secoh pump serviced, diaphragms replaced, and to prevent this happening again I purchased Pressure Relief Valve and Pressure Guage Assembley from partsandpumps.co.uk, again Fantastic Customer Service, tell David I sent you!

This pressure relief valve is a pump protection device against over pressurisation. The valve will safely vent off any pressure over 0.2 Bar, and it’s been doing that!

I think I’ve got too much air now! But the leaks in the “air-reservoir” are fixed – Thanks SimonL

Secoh SLL-50
Secoh SLL-50 “Hi-Blow” Pump, with pressure relief valve and pressure guage assembley inline and connected to “air-reservoir”

Rescued Firework/Galaxy Rasbora or Celestichthys Margaritatus

Monday, June 4th, 2007

Sorry, I’ve been pre-occupied with DIY on the house, but I’ve also spent some time on water experiments for the fish house. I need to store more water for water changes, and the RO unit, which will go live in several months time, so I’ve been plumbing two water containers together.

Whilst on my travels locally, I found a local tropical fish shop, which had a approx 20 Galaxy Rasbora in pretty poor shape, colourless, very thin – considering the current status of this fish, believed to be endangered in the wild, I would not normally have purchased them, but due to recent success of breeding Microrasbora erythromicron and the terrible state these fish were in, I thought they stood a better chance in my fish house, than left in this tropical fish shop. I would have purchased all 20, but parted with only five, if all five survive, I’ll return for more.

They’ve currently gone into a planted quarantine tank, and have started to colour-up instantly, and are feeding well. I’m going to start feeding them newly hatched brine-shrimp from tomorrow.

Ruto Logo
Ruto Frozen Fishfood

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