My male apisto has been hiding for 2 days

[sherry]

and refusing to eat.

since the females died 2 weeks ago a little pale and a little bloated, but with no outward signs of any parasites, I am maknig a guess and treating the tank with bifuren antibiotic.

Should I also treat for parasites at the same time. After one day of treatment, male still hiding ;(

he chose the closest cave to the front of the tank, so at least I can monitor him.

he actually doesn't look bad, maybe a little pale maybe a little puffy, hard to tell from the cave.. but not all that abnormal. if he weren't hiding and avoiding food, I wouldn't know.

 

[fishgeek]

water quality
and then internal parasitism maybe, what are his stool like? have you seen any
any other signs of wasting or do you mean bloated in the belly?

intestinal obstruction though i havent experienced this with any of my fish , prehaps randal or ted may have a comment on the use of epsom salts as a purgative

andrew

 

[sherry]

bloated in the belly

water quality is always pristine. I do 50% changes weekly

I noticed one stringy stool, but it wasn't pale, before all this started. I did lose two females 2 weeks ago.

bloated, hiding then dead.

 

[fishgeek]

more than one fish with similar symptoms would make me more suspicious of enviroment or contaigion

prehaps a broad spectrum internal parasite treatment maybe of benefit
usually bloating is not assocated with intestinal worms
prehaps bacterial problems that are causing gas
or prehaps just internal abdomenal conditions that are not intestinal, all the way through to tb

if you think you have bloating to the point of ascites/dropsy then i find treatment most unrewarding, probably because we d not know whether the distension of the abdomenal cavity is due to inflammatory fluids= peritonitis, sterile fluids= ascites nor if these are due to a specific organ system ie ascites with either kidney or heart origin

abdomenal bloating is often suggested to be treated with natbacterial
i believe you had mentioned something that i think contains nitrfurazone

it would seem an appropriate guess to me

sorry i cnat be of more help
ted? randal? blue? what do you guys think

 

[sherry]

I'm on ted's dose of Bifuron now.... but I began treating before I had these latest symptoms... more reacting to a sick fish after 2 deaths.

I have emailed him the symptoms as well.. hoping for his take .


oh and the new baby females I"m trying to protect are from ted!! amazing and beautiful fish he sent my way.. I need to post that somewhere.. breeding? general apistos... they are so well worth fighting to keep healthy even if I lose the male!

so far.. the male is still alive.. he's switched caves and came out (stayed in plants) for a little while tonight. Still bloated. . but still swimming.

 

[MikeNYC]

Sherry,

Looks like we are both having health related Apisto issues. I recently lost 2 Eliza that I bought from a wholesaler.

Where did you get your Apistos from?

 

[sherry]

the females that died I got back in december from az gardens and they had been totally gorgeous...until two weeks ago.. I lost their male to a hypoxic episode when I didn't yet realize I needed a bubble stone going at night to counteract all of the plant respiration


the male I got a couple of months ago from Mark at annubias designs and he too has been just beautiful

somewhere along the line the tank caught something... maybe from plants I added from friends...

I now have three gorgeous females that Ted Judy sent and I still think I'm going to lose my male.. hoping the bifuran will leave the tank apisto ready, tho some of the plants will definately be worse for the wear. Ted warned me.. but funny thing is that the really melty plants did great. It is my umbrosium and glandulosa and rennicki that took the hit

btw.. where in nyc are you? we're in Hell's Kitchen

 

[MikeNYC]

new world aquarium usually has apistos, mostly cacs. they usually look very good. also, they always have a nice variety of geos.

i have gotten into the eliza, maybe for their rarity. but, i needed to import them from oliver lucanus, belowwater.com, and it was a major pain. unfortunately, i have lost about half of my tetra that i also got through him, all wild caught.

i live in chelsea btw.

 

[sherry]

I'd stick to this board for apistos..

as for everything else, join the yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anubiasdesign/

mark imports amazing and wonderful characins and overnight shipping from him in pa to NYC is only $10

also Mark and Lowcoaster (aquabid) for plants.. lowcoaster is $5 2 day shipping to NYC.

how big is your tank.. I obsess over a 35 gallon cube.. the biggest I could manage in a tiny apartment with 2 young sons.

 

[MikeNYC]

mark also imports apistos? who are your preferred apisto importers?

i know many like apisto dave who can be found around this forum. it seems he specializes in cacs.

did you have a bad experience with new world aquarium? i purchased a single wild eliza there about a year ago, and she is of very high quality to this day. she's been through a few tank changes and some of my learning experiences....soon to be in my new 40 gallon breeder with my new pair of wild eliza from oliver lucanus. although a terribly expensive ordeal, oliver's eliza were very nice when they came in.

unfortunately, i lost a pair of them after about 2-2.5 months, but i believe at least 1 was due to aggression, and the other (a jeuvenile) to a bacterial infection that i missed the signs of.

have you been to aquarium adventure in carle place, long island? that place is huge!

 

[sherry]

I've never been there but it sounds like fun

no bad experiences with new world fish (aside from ich once)....I just think the people here are amazing and just so knowledgeable.. also I have gotten the most incredible female cacas from TJudy here.


How do you get to the LI place? do you have a car or is it worth a trek on teh train?

Mark does import apistos.. he has a great selection of fish and they are always really healthy!... and I've also gotten a beautiful male from azgardens but for dwarfs, they only carry cacatoides apistos and rams

 

[MikeNYC]

Sherry, you would need a car to visit Aquarium Adventure, probably about 45 minutes from the city.

I was just a New World, and they have some nice new cacs and rams in.

Just curious, how do you treat your water? Do you use RO or DI?

 

[sherry]

we have pillow soft water.. absolutely no need for RO when keeping cacatoides..

in fact, since my natural kh is 1.5 and gh is 1.5 I add a little baking soda to bring kh to 3 (I inject co2) and a touch of calcium/magnesium to bring gh to 2... for plant health.

ph with injected co2 stays at 6.1 but I could bring it lower.

without injected co2, and without adding cal/mag/bakingsoda, my natural kh/gh of 1.5 bring me a ph of 6.5

NO car alas.. but I'll have to stop by new world soon!!!!.. have been replanting with cuttings from friends to make up for all of the melted plants... (what a mess!!!)... www.azgardens.com sent me a gift of a new male cacatoides and a ton of replacement olive nerite snails... which means I once again can live without any kind of glass scrubber... Peter, the owner over there is my hero and a truly sweet man!!!!

how big is your tank?