Posts Tagged ‘fish’

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Fancy That!

Monday, August 20th, 2007

I’ve just been talking to a local fishkeeper recently new to the internet and the world of computing and he recommended I visit the following website:-

This was the comment he made about it:-

An excellent diary of fishkeeping events from andys fish house somewhere in Yorkshire, he breeds Angelfish and Catfish, currently breeding Sturisoma Aureum, also has live webcams from the fish house, and live temperature gauge of internal and external temperatures. Lots of hints and tips from a real fishkeeper. I liked reading his daily ups and downs in the fish house. It’s good to read success and failures, real experiences in the fish house, from a fishkeeper.

Umm. Sound familiar!

I didn’t reveal my identity to him, but I’m sure he’ll be reading this, and the penny will drop!

Okay, back to things, I’ve been busy completing the installation of the latest six tanks, these are now all complete, fitted and filled, filtration is performed by Algarde dual Bio-Foam 200, and heating is provided by Visitherm 200 and 300 watt heaters. It’s taken me a while to tidy-up all the wiring.

I’ve also been very busy, collecting fish from around Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. I’ll take some pictures of all these new fish and list the contents of the fish house shortly. I’m away on a course over the next week, so it will be in a few days. I’ve also got the results of my food trial, which I’ll also be publishing.

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Summer’s Here

Thursday, August 9th, 2007

We’ve just started to let the kittens out in the house during the day with Esther.

Growing and up to more mischief. I think we were lucky to get Angus back from the cattery the other week, because the owner loved him so much!

Angus and Tilly on bed
It’s all quiet as Angus and Tilly are asleep!

Latest Angus and Matilda photos

Not really done much with DIY, I’ve been adding more fish tanks in the fish house, and generally tidying up the fish house.

We’ve found some wall lights for the lounge, so the lounge decoration is almost finished, and then there is the curtain rails to fix!

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Ulcer Problems …

Monday, August 6th, 2007

This was the suggestion my Vet gave about my Ulcer problems on the Silver Angelfish.

“When they have an ulcer it is a good idea to cover the ulcer to limit the osmotic loss. We usually use orobase, and then give antibiotics in a jelly. The other thing you can do is add salt to the water to help drop the osmotic potential difference.”

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Tahitian Moon Sand!

Monday, August 6th, 2007

If anyone mentions Tahitian Moon Sand!, I’m going to swear at them!

All of the fish tanks in the fish house do not have any substrate. It makes for easier maintenance and cleaning, no gravel or sand for the bacteria to live in, that needs regular use of a gravel cleaner. I do believe fish do colour-up better on a substrate bottom, and we could debate amongst fishkeepers, about breeding as well. The only tank that has gravel as a substrate, is the tank the Green Terror is in, and that’s because he’s emptied the gravel from within the pond plant baskets, to create his only substrate bottom, so I think he prefers to have gravel on the base of the aquarium.

I was given 25l of Tahitian Moon Sand! from a fellow fishkeeper, and I thought it would be a good idea to include it in two of my new breeding tanks! Maybe it was because I didn’t wash it, but the tanks were a right mess, so I decide to empty the two tanks this evening, empty the Tahitian Moon Sand! clean the tanks, and refill with just water!

TIP Always was your substrate very well before adding to the tank. Otherwise you’l’ have a disaster.

I’ll keep the Tahitian Moon Sand! until I create my Dennerle display tank! Coming soon….!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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