ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & Petro

[Jolley]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

Hmmm.....Geoff, those heaters can be callibrated. I never had one do that to me before. I have heard horror stories, however. It probably got all out of whack some how. You don't know that since you never use heaters. LOL! Dude, you went from blaming it on the diet 100% again to listing more possible factors yourself. LOL! That was very contradicting. :) Anyways, I need to get that 2215 that I loaned you back. I talked a friend into getting a tank and he wants to buy that filter. So let's hook up sometime soon. Glad you got everything under control. :)

[eklikewhoa]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

Would it be a Jagger heater?

Those have been really hit and miss with me regardless of the stupid adjustable calibrating thing.

[Jolley]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

Yeah, that is what it is. I never had to calibrate one before. But they do have that option. Also, I always used two of those heaters in a 300 gallon tank. How many gallons is a 250 watt heater rated for? I can't remember. But I know it isn't near 300 gallons. It's too bad there isn't no sure way of keeping a heater from "sticking" on. That's why I check the temp on my tanks everyday. I have the same heaters in all of my tanks. I've used that brand for years and I really like them.

[ddaquaria]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

Also, remember I got the same Petros that you have.  Half the group was eating NLS by the second day, and all of the group was eating within a week.

[Delock]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

I have not used a heater on my tank since day one!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

With the heaters you can go as simple as using a Rancho temp controller which is like a second cut off switch.....or you could go as far as getting a controller which will monitor all parameters,time lighting,wave maker, temp controller, pH controller, and best of all.....you can control everything plugged up to it and monitor via internet!


I am getting the later for my new reef tank and will be linking it to most of my other tanks as well.



As for the NLS thing.....some hate it some love it......then its beat to death.

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

WOAAHHhhh...people...

First off, I never said it was a NLS problem.  I feed NLS and Aquarian to all my fish, I have been feeding NLS since 2005 as part of their diet.  I never had a problem with NLS until now.  AND... I only think it was a problem because it was Petrochromis, right after a move, on a new tank, and they were acclimated to eating a soft pellet and flake food.  NOT because it is NLS.

I think NLS is best pellet food in the market with no doubt. I do not think it is the only food that you should feed them.

This is my third colony of Petrochromis and the other two colonies were 1- was eating NLS from the time they were born, and the other I had them eating flakes for months first then transitioned them onto NLS mixed in without an issue.

I do believe it is better to stabilize your temperature, but this fn tank only goes up or down a degree over a 2 day period.  I have elminated that as being any kind of factor because if they can't handle a 0.5 degree change then, they deserve to be sick.  Bunch of pansies...  The heaters are JAGER 250W that came with the tank.  Somehow something is wrong with them both.  I never used this heater before, but the tank temp is 84F and the thermostat is set to 79, and I put the heaters in uplugged for atleast 30 mintues to 12 hours before plugging them in.  AS soon as I plug them in the freaking light comes on and the heaters are heating the tank up.  WHY??????????????????? because they are broke, out of calibration, or both.  I dont care I am not using them.  I got Visitherm Stealth heaters that I can use.  Like Derek, I never used heaters ever.  I only started using heaters in the last year because so many people complained about it.

Second as far as the eating of feces is concerned, if the feces is infected with pathogens, when a healthy fish eats or mouths the feces, it has a very high chance of getting infected too.  Personally I believe they will get sick, but you cannot rule out the probability.  The comment I made was not to imply they or you or I would get sick at the thought of eating ****, just to be eating it.

Honestly there may not be an answer for this.  But this is a fact...
Over the weekend slowly more and more fish quit eating, and 2-ectodus died.  I started treatment last Wednesday just as posted and I still have couple Ectodus with white stringy poop, but they are all eating.  The Trophs are fine none bloated and all are eating.  The Petros only about half are eating, the other half are touching anything.

So, I am going to contiue a clout treatment for 3 more days.  Then I am going to start a Bacteria Treatment using FURAN-2 for dropsy and wasting away.

So we shall see...

gEoff

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

I believe Tropheus are a lot tougher than people give them credit for.  Once you got them bulletproof, you can do anything to them and they can handle it.

Petros are not that way.  Alex lost his Huge Bulu point male when someone shot out his store front window.  All he did was transfer the fish into another tank, he got bloat and died.  Petros are just different.

[Delock]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

"Alex lost his Huge Bulu point male when someone shot out his store front window."


When did this happen?

[J-WS6]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

happened twice actually a few years back...2005

[Delock]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

At the new store?

Who Alex's piss off?

[J-WS6]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

Yes at the new store. First one happened a few months after he moved in, then the second like 3 weeks later. Never found out who it was.

[imagirlgeek]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

So I've been reading a lot the past few days about Bloat.  I'm very curious about it because:

1.  Anyone can get it.
2.  No one really knows exactly what causes it.
3.  It can knock out a lot of your fish in a short period of time.

I've been watching this thread and each time a new theory or opinion comes up about what happened with Geoff's tank, I think back to things that have happened to my tanks and wondered why I haven't had to deal with Bloat (knock on wood).  I'm sure my time will come, but I find it odd that it's so random.

Heater - A couple of weeks ago, we had a heater malfunction on the Nkonde tank.  It shot up to 96 degrees in under 24 hours.  We unplugged the heaters, opened the lids and waited it out hoping that everything would be fine.  Since we keep the house so cold, the tank cooled back down to the low 80's in under 12 hours or so.  Nobody got sick.  Nobody died.

Food - We feed Cichlid Excel primarily.  I soak the pellets and smash the air out of them (so they sink a little).  If the Trophs had teeth, I would have lost some fingers by now.  They LOVE it.  I supplement with Spirulina flakes, and the Nkonde get some frozen Mysis shrimp a couple times a week.  Well, it's not frozen when they get it, but you know what I mean.  The Dubs and Kachese don't really care for the Mysis.  We also feed a couple times a week, a frozen mixture that guygeek made.  It's a mixture of algae and veggies.  We have some HBH Supersoft Spirulina, but most (not all) of the Trophs spit that out.  I still try and mix it in every few days, but only drop in about 5 pellets to make sure someone eats it.

Stress/Aggression - Who has cichlids and doesn't have aggression, right? :)

So, my point is, who really knows what happened at Geoff's?  I'm just glad he posted this thread because Bloat is so weird, and it's interesting to track his progress and read everyone else's opinions and experiences.

[Jolley]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

At this point, I am convinved that the change in Diet was the highly probably cause, and the Temperature was of no effect to the cause of the Bloat issue.  
Geoff

I based what I said off of this comment. I guess I could have read it wrong. LOL
You should probably clean up the thread a little. Some posts are off topic. :)

Call me, Geoff.

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: ARgh! I got Bloat - 300 Gallon - Trophs, Ectodus & P

Traci,

I have had the same experiences with temperature, except that the fishes got cloudy eye because the temperature went up to 92F and then down to 80 overnight.  About half the fish got cloudy eye because of that. I know these fish can handle temperature swings thats not uncommon.

I am 100% confident that bloat is transfered fish to fish when they mouth/eat the feces of an infected fish or are exposed to the same stresses and their body reacts in the same way that got that infected fish sick to begin with.