Silver / Tri Colour Sharks, losses (It's a mystery! RMF?)     7/30/09
Hello Crew,
<Hello,>
Having a problem with our Bala Sharks. We have lost two of them in the last three weeks.
<Oh dear!>
Symptoms : Starts with cloudy eyes, this seems to spread backwards and looks almost like a fungus spreading. The fins, particularly the Pectoral and Dorsal start to look as though there is some sort of 'fin
rot'. The fish seems fine but stops eating 'enthusiastically' although it does still eat. After a period of approx 6 weeks the fish is found swimming upside down and dies soon after.
<Hmm... putting aside the obvious -- old age -- if it's the same species of fish getting damaged, infected, and then dying, there's two obvious explanations. One is that there's a species specific virus (or equivalent)
in your tank. This isn't likely though, and the classic cases, like Neon Tetra Disease and Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus are well known and easily recognised. The more likely explanation is that something has changed in the tank, perhaps environmental, perhaps social, that means this particular species of fish no longer "works" in this tank.>
Aquarium : 2000 Litres approx (7ftx3ftx3ft), 3mm Dorset Pea natural gravel
Filtration : 2 Eheim Pro III 2180's
Heating : Hydor under gravel 2 * 300w (supported by integral heaters in filters but filter heaters are rarely required)
Circulation : 2 Hydor Koralia 4's, 1 Seio M2600
Water Stats : Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20, pH 6.5, water is relatively hard, temperature 27 Deg C Min, 28 Deg C Max. water changes are carried out fortnightly and calculated to keep nitrates below 25ppm so it
can vary in amount. Water changes are carried out using Tetra AquaSafe and a 'Python', gravel is vac'd at same time.
<All sounds fine.>
Stock : 18 Clown Loach ranging from 4 to 8 inches in length, 2 Red Tail Tinfoils 8 inches, 1 Sailfin Plec 14 inches, 2 Silver Dollars 6 inches, 4 Black Widow Tetra, none of these are showing any signs of any problem
whatsoever, there are no plants, there is a large amount of 'bog wood' shelter and places to hide type holes. There are now 5 Bala Sharks (were 7) ranging from 6 to 11 inches.
<How old are these fish? They do live for around 10+ years, but if they're substantially older than 10 years, you may simply be seeing normal mortality.>
Feeding : Principle is JBL Novo Bel but once weekly add frozen 'shrimp' and 'bloodworm', additional variation provided by JBL Novo Tab.
Feeding is monitored and if the feeding is less than enthusiastic the next day will be a 'fasting' day.
<I would class Balantiocheilos melanopterus as being a "heavy" feeder, so one factor is whether they're getting sufficient food. Make sure your specimens have nicely rounded bellies, and when viewed from the front, the profile on the flanks is slightly convex rather than concave.>
Things that I have tried
1 : Increase the vitamin uptake of the fish incase it was a dietary deficiency using JBL Atvitol for a 4 week period. - effect none.
2 : Treat individual fish in hospital tank using JBL Ektol at recommended dosage and period. - effect dead within 24 hours.
3 : Treat entire aquarium using JBL Ektol at recommended dosage and period - effect none except dead filters, never again.
<Have never used JBL Ektol so can't comment on its efficacy/safety either way. Will make the usual statement that carbon neutralised such medications and should be removed before use. Can't think why your filters crashed; do review dosing, usage.>
4 : Treat entire aquarium using eSHa 2000 at recommended dosage and frequency - effect another dead Bala shark.
<I do use eSHa 2000, and find it to be very reliable, even with catfish and pufferfish.>
I now have another shark showing the cloudy eye and am out of ideas, I cannot keep throwing chemicals at this, it is damn expensive to treat 2000 litres, no other fish show any signs of problems.
Best regards,
Garfield
<There's no obvious reason from the data here why your Bala Sharks aren't doing well. So would suggest taking another approach: is there anything that might have stressed/be stressing them? They are nervous fish, and when alarmed, sometimes throw themselves into the glass or at the hood. Clown Loaches and Silver Dollars should be fine, but the Red-tail Tinfoil Barb, Barbonymus altus, is a big, boisterous fish that tends to be rather restless. Similarly, Black Widows can be nippy, though this varies, and sometimes they're utterly harmless (but mine never were...). I'd also consider age, how much you're feeding them, and whether there's anything outside the tank, like banging or paint fumes, that might be stressing these fish. Cheers, Neale.>
<<Is mysterious to me as well... What would just affect the Balas... I would default to serial water change-outs, the addition of some hardy, palatable floating plant material (to cut down light, give the fishes something to chew...) and use a goodly amount of activated carbon (bagged, in an area of water flow)... BobF>>

Re: Silver / Tri Colour Sharks (It's a mystery! RMF?) – 07/30/09
Would not argue with this at all. In fact if you're anywhere near Berkhamsted, you're free to come pick up a couple clumps of Ceratopteris from me! I seem to be throwing out bucketfuls ever couple of weeks. But seriously, Bob's point is sound. Many of my fish eat the stuff, and it certainly makes nervous fish -- hujeta gar, red-tail pufferfish -- much less skittish, and much more settled than otherwise. Really, I'd class Ceratopteris as almost as useful as heaters and filters!
Cheers, Neale
<Yowzah! I swear Neale and I are two individuals! Perhaps characters would have a better, more accurate connotation. Cheers! BobF>

Re: Silver / Tri Colour Sharks (It's a mystery! RMF?) – 07/30/09
Funny boy! Yes, I'm a recent convert to Ceratopteris. Not sure how I'd live without the stuff now. I think pet shops should give a leaf or two away with every fish! I started off with a few fragments, and now I have tonnes in every tank, and even some in the pond.
<C. thalictroides is one of my all time... olde... faves>
My Ameca splendens seem to eat nothing else. They refuse flake food entirely when they have the stuff.
Cheers, Neale
<And you, BobF>

Water Sprites, and planted tank algae control  4/16/09
I have a question about water sprites. I currently have a 46 gallon bowfront with discus. They are doing great and have amazing coloration, but I'm having some brown algae problems. I'm assuming it's diatom algae.
<Very likely, if the stuff is a slippery or greasy brown-yellow film on the inside of the glass.>
Feedings usually consist of flakes, pellets, or frozen foods that are fed twice a day and they eat all the food they are given. I use deionization to filter the source water which comes from a well, and use Kent Discus
Essential to replace minerals. The tank pH is around 6.4 with ammonia 0 ppm, nitrite 0 ppm, and nitrates about 20 - 30 ppm, and phosphate is 0 ppm.
I do about 20 gallon water change every week. I've read that water sprites take in nutrients with their leaves due to poor root systems.
<May well be true. Can't imagine it matters either way.>
Is this true and will a heavy water sprite populations help with my algae and nitrates?
<Floating plants generally can help, provided they're growing rapidly.
Personally, I find Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigata) much, much better in this regard; it grows at an astonishing rate even under moderate lighting. It has long roots that produce a wonderfully shady habitat that
fish enjoy. It's also very pretty, and it's low-lying leaves don't get scalded by the lights in most hoods. By contrast, I've never found Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) either easy to establish or particularly fast growing. I have tanks containing both species, and the Amazon Frogbit grows at least ten times faster! I can remove clumps of the stuff weekly, and yes, my tanks are essentially algae-free. I wipe the glass down maybe once every 2-3 months.>
I read that water sprites make for a good floating plant. I was planning on using them for a floating plant with 96 watts of 6700K CF lighting. I know discus do not like bright lighting. So I was hoping the floating water
sprites would give shading to my discus as well as help starve the algae of nutrients and help with nitrates. Thank you for your time and great advise I always receive from your crew.
<Hope this helps, Neale.>