Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
Very strange behaviour
- ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
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I was wondering if anyone could give me a reason as to why my macros are acting so weird.
They are darting around the tank and hanging near the top not eating at all.
They do seem to be eating the few last guppies i could not catch.All the water checks are good and temp so i am a bit lost as to what is going on now.They seemed to be doing great but i am getting a bit worried now.
Anyone with some info for me would be great.I am going to do a good water change today and make sure the tank is nice and clean and see if it helps at all.
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- ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
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- JohnH (John)
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A couple of questions, have they become 'drained' of colouration and when you have fed them are they eating as greedily as they had been previously?
The fact that they are still feeding is definitely positive though. What might be good to look out for is - since food is going in one end are you seeing any faeces from the other?
The state of this might be able to give some idea of anything wrong, you'll like as not know this already, but if they're pretty cotton-like (thin, white and stringy) it could signify some internal malady (worms, bacteria or parasites) this can make fish a bit lethargic - like your description.
Temperature - you could try a gradual increase to no more than 80degrees to see if this improves their activity levels - I'm wondering if - just possibly - this is a reaction to the heater issue of last week.
This is going to sound a bit basic, but have you checked for any signs of white spot? Sometimes, on larger fish it isn't quite as noticeable, particularly when the fish often spend a good while 'hidden'.
If you can get hold of Octozin it might be worth trying a course of that if there's no whitespot - working on the theory that it won't do harm, even if it doesn't prove to be something internal that is wrong.
Can anyone suggest any other possible problems with ceech's fish?
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
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I have treated with octozin today after water change.No sign of white spot on the fish i seen both there a while ago.But they are tucked into the corner of the tank its not looking good.They only ate a little i took the rest out there.They seem a bit darty around the tank also :-(fingers crossed they recover or it may be the end of the fish for me
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- JohnH (John)
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I really don't like to ask you this, but are you certain the ammonia level is OK?
Some symptoms sound suspiciously like high ammonia - especially now you've mentioned them darting around. I suppose your tap water is OK? - I ask because I vividly recall once something similar to this and it turned out the water company had done some work on the pipes and whatever they had used to flush them through wasn't altogether suitable for fish.
I know it's 'straw-clutching', but everything has to be considered.
I do sincerely hope you can get to the bottom of this in time, it's beginning to sound more 'environmental' than anything.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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Firstly, I hate to say this (but don't give up yet), but they do look very sad indeed.
I would not be happy if they were up at the top.....that is not where they should be if healthy.
There looks likes some form of emaciation. That could be an internal problem or it could be water that is the root.
The fish may also have gone into accelerated aging. This can happen with these.
There are few minimums to be do though, and JohnH has already given some hints.
Temp to 80 F and dose with Octozin........BUTTTTT.....hold off on the octozin until you treat the water.
Get some ammonia adsorbing zeolite or Polyfilter....and place it in. If you only have ammonia adsorbing zeolite, then get some JBLNitratEx to remove nitrates (these are very susceptible to nitrate damage).
Do that for a day. Then remove the adsorbing agents before adding Octozin.
The pH should be low....but if it isnt, then you can't simply drop it suddenly.
Add some peat gradually will help more than hinder.
Use a good quality water conditioner such as Tetra AquaSafe.....it is also a medication.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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- ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
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My friend is coming over in the morning to meand we are gonna come up with a plan.
I will do another good water change tomorrow and keep this up daily for a week or 2.
They do look in a sad state from how great they have been before.'I wont give up on them and will do everything i can to save them
They need to give me fry before they even think about popping there cogs.
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- ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
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Bit more active and there tails are spread a little more but still lurking around the top most of the time.
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