More tank pics, updated

[FINWIN]

Do you have access to maracyn (I forget 1 or 2) - that could be more effective on popeye.
Sorry to hear about Corn.

Thanks...he never had a chance which is frustrating. I've found some fish are just more resilient and tough when they get ill. The ones that stress easily are always at high risk. I realize that now that I've researched some on existing pathogens in aquariums. I don't doubt Corn had septicima which has a high mortality rate so I wasn't kidding myself. He might even have died quickly from head trauma because he rammed the glass so hard trying to get away from the net. Just panicked.

The only Maracyn I've been finding is just the regular, not the -2. I've got Kana-Cura on the way which is a variation of Kanaplex and is supposed to be for popeye. Should be arriving tomorrow. I'll do another 'clean' for Rocky and start with this. I don't even see Seachem Sulfaplex available anymore either.

 

[FINWIN]

Positive news on Rocky the acara! His eyes continue to improve. The original bulging eye is now partially clear. The second 'puffy' eye is stabilized and appears to show signs of healing. He's starting to act like himself. Not interested in food yet. I put a bit more sand at the bottom for him. He immediately went to it and sat on the corner pile with an airstone next to his gills (3 airstones total).

He got a full refresh this evening (clean water, salt) and his 1st dose of Kana-cura. The scoop was missing so I borrowed the scoop from some Metro I have. 24 or 48 hour daily treatment depending on severity. 1 level scoop = 10 gallons. I use 1/2 scoop...he's in a 7 gallon tub filled to 5 gallons. Maximum treatment time 14 days. Will take a pic tomorrow.

It now appears my female acara Jazz may have some permanent damage from her flip into the garbage disposal. I can see a horizontal 'dent' on one side when the light is right. She swims good and is no longer floaty but tends to turn her tail up moving about. Still can't get her to eat anything but the spirulina blackworms so she gets SMALL portions soaked and held under water. She flies up to grab as always. The male hrps seem to like her perfume and shape and skirmishes break out at times. Her 'boyfriend' Salt the red rainbow holds his own defending her. Jazz herself whacked three of the ones who gave her grief when she was floaty. I'm hoping the removal of some of those males will allow her to relax a bit more and maybe completely heal if it isn't a permanent injury. To be honest I have no idea. If she were human I'd say she has a bad foot. She still headstands off and on, so I'm convinced that's behavioral.

 

[FINWIN]

I HATE FISHKEEPING RIGHT NOW. I've just lost my male acara Rocky, and it makes no damn sense. He was improving, his eyes were getting better and he was more responsive.

7 inches 134 grams. I will only take a pic of his eyes...they were totally clearing. Other than being dead he looks great. **** this. Time to take a break from posting.

His eyes. This is the original swollen eye. Compare with the earlier pic that looked like a white cap. The second pic is the other eye that puffed later but stabilized.

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

I HATE FISHKEEPING RIGHT NOW. I've just lost my male acara Rocky, and it makes no damn sense. He was improving, his eyes were getting better and he was more responsive.

7 inches 134 grams. I will only take a pic of his eyes...they were totally clearing. Other than being dead he looks great. **** this. Time to take a break from posting.

His eyes. This is the original swollen eye. Compare with the earlier pic that looked like a white cap. The second pic is the other eye that puffed later but stabilized.

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Sorry about your loss

On a brighter note, I've been following your updates for 2 years now, and you are by far one of the most successful fish keepers in keeping your fish healthy, happy, and entertained.

 

[FINWIN]

Sorry about your loss

On a brighter note, I've been following your updates for 2 years now, and you are by far one of the most successful fish keepers in keeping your fish healthy, happy, and entertained.

Thank you so much. It's just a bit crazy to lose two key fish in a week's span. Corn probably was done but Rocky is the one that I'm completely baffled about. I've never had a fish show signs of improvement and recovery and then just roll over.

But I am most happy to report that my female acara Jazz appears to be mostly healed (normal) from her floaty/swim bladder/gas/infection whatever and is back to her sassy self. The other fish are fine. I'll be taking pictures of the hrp donations before they go and then regroup a bit. Currently I have 4 tanks with Hrps...that's too much of a good thing. Multiple sizes, siblings and cousins. I've got hrp burnout.

 

[FINWIN]

News and updates.

Had planned to unload some of the hrps this weekend but relatives came to hang out, so...tbd. I would be willing to leave the 125 as is but the bioload has become a true nuisance. So some of 'em are going. Some are going in the growout tank too.

Harlequin, one of the quad color sons out of Slade/Blaze is absolutely gorgeous. The red is spreading down his body and his fins are turning electric blue. And the tail is now getting red.

One of Harlequin's sisters Mica is also a quad color is sharing Tango's (bp) tank. She has a new nest of wigglers. Mello is separated and moved back to the growout with some other siblings. Mica's markings are paler than Harlequin but I'm noticing the pinks take longer to show their true colors. I've also found sexing can be difficult because some of the males can reproduce before the tail color comes in.

In Lazarus' tank, his hrp cousins are doing well. I think Lazarus has gotten bigger but he spends most of his time in a log (they all do). The fry out of Flash and Squiggy are putting on size. Squiggy watches me through his log when I'm working near the tank. A few fry are 3-4x the size of the others.

In Kong's tank (bp) she's currently laying eggs and the back half of her body has turned white. That's a new one. Hrp Speck is her tankmate. Speck has developed a long trailer up top.

I've accepted the fact my acara Jazz has some sort of permanent damage from her 'flop' into the garbage disposal. She looks normal but gets floaty after every meal and still goes nose down at times. Then she comes out of it. Still swims and is responsive. It's almost like eating puts pressure on her swim bladder and she gets wonky.

In the 225, the goons are doing well. My Syno catfish Spot is now bald as all whiskers have been neatly trimmed / ripped from his face. Currently he is sporting 1 inch stumps. Guilty party or parties unknown.

So I'm doing a water change today on the 225. My oscar Brick gets pissy because in order to clean I gotta move stuff around. So he hits his buddy, blood parrot Boss for whatever reason. As tank enforcer Boss doesn't take junk from any fish in the tank, including Brick. So despite being completely outclassed in size and power my palm sized parrot uses his tactic that stops Brick cold. HEAD BUTT.

Boss looped around and cracked Brick right between the eyes like a bowling ball. It takes stones to whack a 15 inch oscar across the skull but Boss is absolutely capable. Brick HATES it. Things calmed down after that and they were good.

 

[jjohnwm]

FINWIN , I couldn't help but notice you laughing on my thread about setting up a goldfish tank; in that thread I explained how I like calm tanks with little or no aggression. When I saw your reaction I remember thinking to myself "Hmmm...that figures..." because I immediately thought of this thread and the tank it chronicles.

And, sure enough, another update appears; I clicked on it and the first words my eyes fell on were "tank enforcer", followed by "goons", "whiskers ripped from his face", "head butt", "cracked right between the eyes" and...my personal favourite...the passing reference to an attempt at taming an unruly Acara by running it briefly through the garbage disposal...

I don't know how you do it. Just reading about that ongoing free-for-all is too much stress for me; I think your username elicits a spike in my blood pressure, driven by fear of hearing the latest about who has assaulted whom and who is sporting battle injuries. I couldn't sit down and relax in front of a tank like that.

You need some goldfish!

 

[FINWIN]

FINWIN , I couldn't help but notice you laughing on my thread about setting up a goldfish tank; in that thread I explained how I like calm tanks with little or no aggression. When I saw your reaction I remember thinking to myself "Hmmm...that figures..." because I immediately thought of this thread and the tank it chronicles.

And, sure enough, another update appears; I clicked on it and the first words my eyes fell on were "tank enforcer", followed by "goons", "whiskers ripped from his face", "head butt", "cracked right between the eyes" and...my personal favourite...the passing reference to an attempt at taming an unruly Acara by running it briefly through the garbage disposal...

I don't know how you do it. Just reading about that ongoing free-for-all is too much stress for me; I think your username elicits a spike in my blood pressure, driven by fear of hearing the latest about who has assaulted whom and who is sporting battle injuries. I couldn't sit down and relax in front of a tank like that.

You need some goldfish!

Would love to have some non drama goldfish! But I'd need another tank, so...actually I used to have Moors, some Koi, Ryukin, a fantail and oranda. My very first fish was a white Oranda with a red cap named Silver! And I love those chubby Ranchu but never had one. Sometimes I do feel like I need a break from nutty cichlids and their antics. I also started with guppies, platies, and swordtails. It's hard to get full size livebearers at the LFS anymore.

So your mention of goldfish brought a smile to my face. I even wanted to get a plain goldfish and raise it to be huge like Otto in the Dr.Seuss book.

 

[FINWIN]

I should add for the most part the 225 is relatively peaceful (for cichlids anyway). It's really rare that the Oscar and Parrot have a tiff. It's the adult hrp males that scuffle with each other which is why they're getting thinned out. I'll probably keep the 3 biggest hrp males Hulk, Tank, and Bubba. and their smaller but very colorful brother Bumper. Hive queen Pip ain't going anywhere.

The 125 is more chaotic with the various sized hrps...the two dominant males (aka the 'bad' brothers) Mongo and Slade run the tank. Mongo the north side and Slade the south side. They chase their big sons and grand fry around. Nobody seems to get stressed though because its hard to chase a hundred or so wigglers and fifty or so large fry. So there's wild activity all day but they settle down in the evening and everyone disappears into their hiding places.

 

[FINWIN]

It's pic time, starting with the 125. These shots are all evening mode, 6pm - 9pm.

Mob shots of the hrp juvie fry. This is Slade's most recent crew with Speck. Speck is currently housed with bp Kong.