Re: Rainbowfish death
GWLANG at ccmail.monsanto.com
Thu, 19 Sep 1996 09:09:02 -0500
restricted to mainly fish in the 4 to 6 cm bracket. The
adults that were in the same tanks were unaffected. There was one
Australian Rainbowfish with the condition, Pygmae. All the others were NG
rainbowfish.
> could be food, could also be the absence of not enough calcium in the water/
food. We have several members that are just fish watchers though and flake food
is what they mainly feed, although several varieties. I think if you had to you
could keep them going fairly nicely on flake food. (that would be pretty boring
for the fish and not a good way to produce any eggs though). What was the pH of
the tanks? We have seen this happen in acidic tanks with fry & juves. - it will
eventually cause problems with the adults too.
> What is your definition of understocked? 6 adult rainbows/20 gallons (76
liters) ? or 6/55 gallons (208 liters)?
>regular 10% water changes - 10% a day (good) 10% a week/month not a good idea.
Depending on the hardness/KH of his water it could be very acidic.
> although I raise young fish at 80-85 degrees F fish over 3-4 cm don't need the
high temperatures and actually do better at cooler temperatures, over the long
haul of 4-9 years.
Mark's tanks were all very understocked and regular 10 percent
water changes were being performed. One thought though was that his tanks
run considerably cooller in the winter months - at about 22 - 24 as oposed
to 26 - 28 in summer. Is it possible that the lower tamperatures, plus a
predominantly artificial diet (Nutrafin flakes) could cause young rainbows
to develop a curved spine and die? There was definately no sign of Calamanus.
Gary Lange
Rainbowfish Study Group