150 Gallon Currently Malawi Tank

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

Tim said in his posts that the Ectodus had white stringy poop.  As far as the eye growth is concerned I'm not sure what that is I never seen anything like that.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the fish went thru a lot of stress to get here.  I am in no way saying that this is a NLS issue with Tropheus.  That is a completely different matter.  What I am talking about is the Ectodus.

Tim has Ectodus with Benthos, and I have Ectodus with PEtros, and he feeds the exact same food I feed, and I am only guessing that he keeps up the same water regime and chemistry as I do since we are in the same realative area.  The only think I might do idfferent than he, is that I bufffer to about 8.2-8.4 using Tanganyikan Salts from Seachem.  I have always done that.  

He also got the exact same fish batch as I did.  We have a lot in common that there could be found a common link or issue.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

I guess there will be no discussion about it then.....NLS is the culprit of everyones ill fate with bloat.


ETA....the reply was posted before you edited your post Geoff....


... With the water parameter thing I think you and Tim live quite a ways from each other... and even if you lived closer there still could be variations in it all. I have been to Tims place and I think the area was settled quite a while back so the plumbing there could be different. I know when Charles had problems with NitrItes showing up in the tap water at FishRanchII/1800SeaMonkeys or whatever I went and tested the waters at my workplace which is almost across the street and there was no detectable signs of Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate.

Now comparing my water to some friends that live close by....probably less then 8mi....the parameters were also different...pH, GH and KH IMO were to the point were I would consider drip acclimating. Since I got this new little nifty TDS meter I have been playing with that as well, TDS has been on opposite scales of the chart where you would least expect it to be.

[imagirlgeek]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

I don't think that's what anyone is saying...except maybe Mike  

I think everyone is just looking at any commonalities between cases.  Lots of factors have been discussed in lots of threads.  I don't feed NLS and I've not had a case of Bloat (knock on wood), but I feel certain that one day I will have to deal with it, and I will be sure to post all the information about my feeding, water, tankmates, etc., and I'm sure there will be other theories at that time.  Bloat still remains a mystery to me, and I think it's interesting to find out what common threads there are when people do have those problems.  But that's just me.  :)

[eklikewhoa]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

girlgeek....I agree that finding what's common between the case will better help singling out the cause but from both threads which NLS was to blame the only thing that was mentioned was the fact that NLS was part of the diet, they were Ectodus and there is stringy poop.

Now if there was a breakdown of specific parameters, temps, filtration, circulation, maintenance regime, lighting intensity, lighting photo-period, feeding frequencies, water source used, additives, conditioners, buffering substrates, tankmates, tank layout, amount of food fed, hands being cleaned, scented stuff in the air, etc....and have them all different other then the fact that both Geoff and Tim feed NLS and they are both only having their Ectodus effected by it then we could boil it down to either Ectodus or NLS.

I feel you on the whole bloat thing....who really knows what causes it and all we can do is process of elimination. I don't wish it on anyone cause it sucks to lose such personable fish.

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

Tim,

If possible can you post your tank water conditions, tap source condition, and filtration equipment on this 150 gallon aquarium?

Quoc,

Sometimes, the same people that are NLS haters can be grouped into the same people that are NLS fanatic supporters.  I am neither, I do use NLS as a pellet staple in all my fishes diets along with 5 to 1 mix of Aqurian Tropical Flake food and pure spirulina flake.

Geoff

[eklikewhoa]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

To tell you the truth......I mix my NLS with Dianichi.  3/5 NLs 1/5Dianichi veggie deluxe 1/5 veggie fx.

I am not a fanatic supporter just find it misleading in lack of better term when someone blames it on anything in particular without proper or any info on conditions in which the problem has occured.

[armthehomeless]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

I'm not one to frequent test parameters, but...

Tank Conditions

pH: 8.0-8.2
Nitrite: 0ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: <10ppm
Chlorine: 0 ppm
Hardness: 300ppm (divide by 17.9 if you want dH)

Water Changes: 30-50% weekly
Filtration: Wet/Dry with dual returns and Rena XP2 packed with ceramic media, biomax, carbon, zeolite, and sponges
Lighting: single 48" 40 watt bulb
Temperature: 78 degrees F

[imagirlgeek]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

How's the eye looking, Tim?  Better? Worse?  Same?

[Tiapan]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

i too am curious as to what happened with fish.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

How long was the tank set up before the fish went in?

[armthehomeless]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

Tiapan and imagirlgeek,

The Ectodus looks about the same... perhaps a little bit worse. It seemes as though the growth is slowly creeping around his eye.

Quoc,

Ummm....I'll assume you mean to say how long was the tank set up before the Ectodus went in. Assuming that is what you meant to say, then at least five months. The Benthochromis had been in the 150 since the end of the summer.

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

Tim,

This is my opinion.  In my experience in keeping Tropheus, Petros, and just now in keeping other Tangs, I would say your water condition is as near perfect of an aquarium enviroment as possible.

Your running a mid-range pH for them, that is also well buffered and hard.  You have a wetdry and plenty of other filtration to make the water highly oxygenated.  Your decoration looks great, plenty of rocks, low-light areas, and a sand substrate.  You also have a excellent water change regime, that is as much as 95% of all other tang keepers.  I dont see anything wrong in what your doing, tank wise.

The eye issue, could be the start of pop-eye or it could just end up being a tumor that just may remain a mystery.  The white stringy poop though, is something that I can tell you is bloat.  I had this very same issue with white stingy poop, and lost 3-Ectodus over it.

I used CLOUT to cure it, and only feed flake food until it was cured.  Now, I am back to feeding pellets again, but at a much more cautious rate.  I think the pellets may be too much for the Ectodus in the quanity that I am used to feeding Trophs and Petros.  I would suggest to you, that you consider reducing the amount of NLS you feed daily.  I am just not certain, that it could be anything else.

I am hoping that Rob, might read this and tell us if he has had any issues with his Ectodus.  He had 16 of them.  I am now down to 9 and I am hoping that your 12 recovery well, and all gets back to normal ASAP.

Best of luck man..

Geoff

[Zulaab]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

Tim -- Did you get some Binox in case you needed to work with that ?  I mean if its not a bloat problem I just wanted to make sure that you can get the cured... I would feel bad if I heard you had more problems.

[armthehomeless]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

I got Clout and am using that. Honestly at this point, I am not using anything. My wife is treating the tank as I am out of town on business until Sunday evening.

[armthehomeless]

Re: 150 Gallon Tanganyikan Tank

I lost a couple of Ectodus and Benthochromis due to bloat, but all fish are looking better and eating well again. The one fishwith the growth has not changed... I am thinking of pulling him out into a 30g tank and treating it an antifungal although I still don't know exactly what it is.