TDS discussion

[jetajockey]

As far as ottos go, I've had some and lost some. I also have some that are a few years old. Neons seem to be the first fish in a tank to get ich. Although their sensitivity could be due to inbreeding, neons are captive bred en masse now. Same with german rams, I'm thoroughly convinced after breeding EBRs that some lines are just so inbred that they are more susceptible to everything. My EBJD is like this, he has a bout with some random illness (like columnaris) every now and then while his tankmates are just fine.

 

[Caliban07]

Those fish mentioned are often wild caught and sometimes done with poison and no matter if not poisoned, the catching and travel and more travel, and more travel through brokers and middlemen cause fish to be stressed and a huge change in natural diet to flakes or pellets in contained environment not all fish are able to make the changes from a wild natural diet before the additional stresses are fixed. Some of the fish have parasites as well which would take advantage of a stressed fish to make their play for control and make the fish even more ill.

This is one benefit, trying to find locally raised fish from fellow hobbyists, fish are used to your water, and will have a bit less travel issues.

I can't even imagine how many wild caught fish die from the attempts to capture them to the time they make it to the hobbyist, and then so many more die because we don't care for them correctly or well. Some people do however and that is all the better for our shared experiences here on AA.

Asking questions is beneficial.

Yes I do understand that this is a major factor in overall fish health. Thanks.

 

[Caliban07]

As far as ottos go, I've had some and lost some. I also have some that are a few years old. Neons seem to be the first fish in a tank to get ich. Although their sensitivity could be due to inbreeding, neons are captive bred en masse now. Same with german rams, I'm thoroughly convinced after breeding EBRs that some lines are just so inbred that they are more susceptible to everything. My EBJD is like this, he has a bout with some random illness (like columnaris) every now and then while his tankmates are just fine.

I remember reading somewhere how many neons are bred in a single day and it was frightening. And that was just in America. It's a shame and inevitable that the most popular and attractive fish are bred this way. You can't win. Either harvest as many wild species as possible to the point of extinction or breed until weak.

 

[Delapool]

As far as ottos go, I've had some and lost some. I also have some that are a few years old. Neons seem to be the first fish in a tank to get ich. Although their sensitivity could be due to inbreeding, neons are captive bred en masse now. Same with german rams, I'm thoroughly convinced after breeding EBRs that some lines are just so inbred that they are more susceptible to everything. My EBJD is like this, he has a bout with some random illness (like columnaris) every now and then while his tankmates are just fine.

I get that with a catfish. He seems to catch something and then a day later is fine. Given up worrying about him now (almost).

I think some acclimatisation is still useful - this is just a gut feeling I've noticed but otherwise I know the store and I are using the same water as mentioned above.

I used to drop fish straight in a tank which didn't get regular water changes ages ago and would lose a few here or there almost straight away. From memory it wasn't enough for me to change the way I did anything. I think that would have been quite different in chemistry.

 

[jetajockey]

With fish that I collect personally from the wild, almost all of them are fine with the 'put the fish in a bucket and add tank water gradually over a few minutes' method. There are a few that don't transition nearly as well, though, leptolucania ommata, pygmy killifish, is one. It doesn't come from a particularly different locale than some of the others, it just seems to transition much worse. Out of a group of 6 I would expect to lose 2 or 3 in transition. Drip acclimation seems to help with this but I've not done it enough times to really guess as to how much of a difference it makes.

 

[Delapool]

Just another thought was that where I used to lose fish was when I (wait for it), cleaned the entire tank and filters out. Basically stripped the tank down to the ugf. The filters had all materials replaced. Gravel was washed. The loss was mainly the next day or so. Stocking levels were ok so I would say either chemistry shock or ammonia build up. I did know enough to use tap water conditioner so I think it would of been those two.