Re: [RML] goyder rivers

Gary Lange (gwlange at stlnet.com)
Tue, 22 Apr 1997 21:07:14 -0500

In my opinion Goyder tris can be some of the most difficult fish to
keep going year after year, especially in softer waters or more
importantly water with low KH values. Those that keep these in
fairly hard and alkaline water (above 200 ppm GH, pH usually above
7.2) don't seem to have a lot of troubles. Cooler waters seem to
help (below 76 F). This is what I hear when I travel all over the US
speaking to groups that sometimes have very different water than I
do. I feel that a lot of the problems with TB ulcers is probably
more related to pH and proper buffer though than just plain GH
hardness. It's just that those people also usually have a fairly
good KH too, which tends to keep their pH higher and less prone to
crashing. Since I have switched to adding a tablespoon (15 cc) of
sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) per 55 gallon barrel I have very few
outbreaks. Of course one still has to keep up with the water
changes. That increase moves my KH some 3 degrees effectively
doubling my KH. Your results may vary according to your particular
water conditions.
I know some years ago Ron Bowman had suggested that everyone ought to
not feed their rainbows for at least a day to help clean them out. I
have also been following that procedure more or less. Maybe it helps
the fish to go on a fast too. I know that a lot of people feed the
spirulina algae, or at least flake food that has some of it in it.
For some of these brands I wonder how much is just stuffer. Someone
mentioned to me a while back that they feed a dried Japanese seaweed
called ?Nori? It supposedly is very high in iodine content and might
be a source of a little different kind of green. Anyone out there
every use this with any success?

Gary Lange
gwlange at STLNET.com
Rainbowfish Study Group of North America
http://home.stlnet.com/~gwlange/rainbowfish.index.html

----------
From: Adrian R. Tappin <atappin at ecn.net.au>
To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au
Subject: [RML] Re: feeding (was M Lakamora)
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 1997 3:44 PM

>He was very interested to hear what the Goyder River environment was
like.
>Bruce may have to back me up on some of this but the River was stone
and
>gravel substrate, wide, with little aquatic vegetation apart from
algae.
>The hardness was moderately high and the pH was alkaline. Steve
started
>wondering about water chemistry having an effect //...
(the above left in message just to piss off sweet meats :-) and so we
won't forget the train of thot)

Just to clue in other list members - the fish in question are Goyder
River
Tris and the problem I have been having mainly affects Goyder R.
Rainbowfish
and has been an on-going problem for some time. Usually only 1 or 2
fish
were ever affected, but this past summer I lost quite a lot of
specimens
which were about 18 months to 2 years old. I think maybe the hot
summer was
a contributing factor?. Also of interest was of the 3 specimens
examined 1
showed gross signs of fish TB while the other 2 were completely
clear. Also
the TB infected fish didn't show any external signs of the disease.
These
fish have also shared the same aquarium together for all their life.
I think
we still have a long way to go before we fully understand our fishes
and
their keeping.

Adrian.
........................................
Adrian R. Tappin
Home of the Rainbowfish
http://www.ecn.net.au/~atappin/home.htm
........................................