Crenicichla Compressiceps With Whitespot

[Andrew C]

Two weeks ago i got six comprssiceps from a shop which was keeping them in water with a ph of 7.5, kh & gh around 8.
When they were delivered to me, i drip acclimatised them in a bucket for an hour with my water, which reads; ph 7, kh & gh 1.
Lost one compressicep on the first night, but the rest looked fine, though one was pretty aggressive with the others.
I had them in a 3ft tank, but because of the aggressive one, i moved them to a 6ft tank that i was intending for water storage, which seems to have calmed down the aggressive one a bit.

After a couple of days, they then got a mild case of white spot, so i raised the temperature from 28 to 31 to see if that would clear it, but it got a bit worse.
So i started treating the tank with Waterlifes Protozin for ich, and it looks like i will need to retreat the tank as the ich has got worse again.
At least they are eating well on most frozen food and dry foods, which is always a good sign.

I am a bit worried i might lose them all to ich, because as time goes on the whitespot seems to getting worse rather than receding with the treatment.
I have provided plenty of caves, and a couple of bits of wood, plus have ordered some more wood, and have some onion bulbs in the tank (only 1ft strands so far), but is helping to break up the tanks sightline.
If the whitespot is due to stress from aggression, apart from put five dividers in the tank to keep them all seperate, i can't think of anything else to stop the whitespot getting worse again, apart from changing the whitespot remedy to something else ?

Are compressiceps sensitive fish, as they remind me some of clown loach i got before, where i battled white spot with them from the beginning, until i eventually lost them all ?

My compressiceps are around 4".
From what i read about sexing them, males have black lines in their caudal fin, whereas females don't, or the lines on a females caudal fin are broken, which means i have five males.
Is that the only way to determine sex ?

Once i sort out the white spot, and if i did get some new compressiceps for the tank to make sure i have a female.
What is the best way to introduce new ones to a tank already stocked with compressiceps, as they can be pretty aggressive with each other ?

Are compressiceps sold in the trade all wild caught, or are they farmed in another country ?

 

[tjudy]

Mean fish. Regardless of the number you add to the tank, if you nd up with a pair you will eventually have two in there.

I cannot saythat they are more sensitive than most fish, but the way most wholesalers and and stores house them they are usually very stressed. They do not like each other, so several fish in a small space leads to stressful aggression, which will lead to more outbreaks of diseases like ich.

I just got some C. compressiceps also. I started with four is a 40Br, but am now down to two... a male and female that hand out together, so I am hopeful that they are a pair. They also contracted ich a few days after being in the tank, but not a bad case of it. I treated with heat, salt and methylene blue. I also do 25% water changes each day and remedicate. Seems to be helping.

Males have the darl black lines in the tail, females have feint lines.

 

[Andrew C]

I treated with heat, salt and methylene blue. I also do 25% water changes each day and remedicate. Seems to be helping.

Thanks Ted
I've read often enough about using aquarium salt (not marine salt) dosing at one level teaspoon per gallon, but never tried it.

I do have some aquarium salt and the tank they are in holds; 340L / 75G, how much salt would you add to this tank each day ?
How much Methylene Blue do you add daily with the salt, as Waterlife's Protozin says to use on Days 1,2,3, & 6 ?

Pity they are so aggressive with each other, as they are lovely fish and not shy.
Last night when i went to feed them before lights out, it was the first time i found none of them out in the open, two were at one end of the tank under a bit of wood, and two were at the other end under a bit of wood, while the fifth one was in hiding under plant roots, he is the smallest one and seems to have the worse ich.
But as soon as i fed them they were all out eating, so at least there is signs i have opposite sexes in there.

Do you know if Compressiceps in shops are Wild Caught ?

 

[aquaticclarity]

Yes, they are almost always wild caught. The fact that you seldom if ever see really young/small fish helps to confirm this. Can you imagine the tank space you would need to grow up a batch of fry to the 2 1/2"-3 1/2" size that the fish are commonly offered at in stores and wholesalers? I can't!

It is a very cool and fun fish. I've kept and killed them several times over the years. I've managed to get as far as two spawns with wigglers before the pair became a widower. And now I'm back at them again.

I've also learned that the fish are VERY susceptible to stress induced ick and now always "pretreat" with an OTC ick remedy like Quick Cure. The joy of the ick I seem to contract with the compressiceps is it's the new "jumbo ick" that doesn't respond very well/quickly to standard drugs. I'm not a big fan of using drugs before an outbreak, or of drug treatments in general, but this is one fish that seems to benefit greatly by a little preventive medication.

Good luck with a fun and challenging fish!

Jeff

 

[Andrew C]

Thanks Jeff
I am going to keep dosing the tank with Protozin just as it states on the bottle for my tank and also use salt, will dissolve 75 teaspoons of salt into a beaker and add a third of it every couple of hours, until i have added it all today.

There is pros for and cons against salt, especially with them being a soft water fish, which is why i think of chemical treatments first, but needs are a must.

I need to treat the ick more aggressively as it is defineatly getting worse, and the first time i used the protozin, i didn't dose at full strength, as i wasn't sure how the compressiceps would handle it, but now, feel if i had done so, i would have got rid of the ick by now.

 

[tjudy]

I do not add salt by volume, instead I use a TDS meter and bring the TDS up to 500 mS/cm with aquarium salt. That way I am consistant after water changes. I use Kordon's methylene blue that calls fro 1 tsp per 10 gallons, but that is too much in my opinion. It makes the water so blue you cann see through it! I add 1 drop per five gallons and leave it at that. I get the temperature up over 80 to speed up the life cycle of the parasite.

 

[Andrew C]

Thanks Ted
Already added the salt and the fish seem alright.
The temperature is around 30/32 degrees, and will check the TDS of the tank tomorrow before i do a water change, and then add more salt to get it back to what it was before the water change, and keep using Protozin, as it is all i have.

If you get fry from your pair, what size of tank were you thinking of growing them on in, if the juveniles turn out to be as aggressive as the adults are with each other ?

 

[tjudy]

I do not have much choice other than to grow them out in a 40 breeder; however, if they are like other pikes teh young will be gregarious until they start to mature. I will probably separate 20 or so from the brood adn raise them in a ten untilthey show aggression, then move them into a 40 with lots og other fish large enough to not get eaten.