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New A Macmasteri Behaviour

rollj1

New Member
Messages
13
Hi all,

I purchased a pair of A Macmasteri to go into a 60l new tank that I have been setting up over the last month or so. It is designed to have an Amazon Biotope feel although it may not be strictly accurate with regards to species. It is a community tank.

The tank has a fine sand substrate, several lumps of twisted Redmoor root and the floor is covered with oak leaves and twigs. Plant wise there are some Amazon Frogbit to diffuse the light.

Tank mates include 2 sterbai corys, 3 otocinclus and a group of 8 ember tetras.

I acclimatised the fish slowly adding water from my tank to a bucket over the course of a couple of hours before releasing them. I believe they are a male and female.

Since adding them they seem to spend a lot of their time in the corners of the tank and nestled under the Frogbit. It's Almost as if they are gasping for air although I'm not convinced they are? They are both eating and at times are seen chasing one another and exploring all the leaf litter and wood?

My filter outlet has been partially blocked with a sponge finger to slow the flow and not stir the tank as I heard they prefer this. I wonder whether there is not enough surface agitation or oxygen getting into the water?

I'm not sure if they are just settling in and finding their feet (or fins) or whether they are unhappy?

Water params are all good and whilst the PH isn't perfect (around 7.1) it is stable and far softer than the water they came out of which was heading towards 9.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Many thanks, John.
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
I'd keep an close eye on them. The rapid breathing could be caused by any number of things, from gill parasites, acclimation problems, poor shipping (gill erosion), etc. This is why I always quarantine fish before I put them in a tank with other fish. I don't want to introduce any possible problems if I can help it.
 

ADC Nederland

Member
Messages
86
Location
Purmerend, The Netherlands
I've had this issue as well, most often in the first week after placing them in the tanks. I've received a small shipment last Friday and had this behavior with some of the Apisto's.

I've seen this happen always after shipping, like Mike said, but acclimation can also be a big contributor to this issue.

Things you can do, but are not a guarantee are:

  • Add an airstone hooked up to an airpump to distrub the surface.
  • Do more water changes, I personally do a water change every 3 days when having these issues.
  • Add Catappa leaves (works great for me atleast.)
Other then that I think you should check your water for No2/No3 levels, maybe they are too high.
 

rollj1

New Member
Messages
13
Thank you both for your replies.

They seem a little more settled today. An air stone is up and running and catappa leaves are on order. I hope to get some more oak leaves tomorrow too.

Mike - you mention parasites etc. is there any medication that you recommend should I need to treat the tank? Is there a general medication that you can add to the tank as a preventative measure? If they do have some bacterial or parasite issue I'd like to get on top of things. I am concerned that these haven't had the best start in life.
 

star_rider

New Member
Messages
7
I'm not sure about others here, I just started keeping apisto's.

I do keep discus, altum , scalare, both species of rams . and quite a few other fishes

I do have some experience keeping and raising 'wild' fish.
I keep several medications on hand, including anti parasitic meds and antibiotics.
however, I only treat wild caught fish with prophylactic treatments for parasite.
using broad spectrum anti parasite meds and medicated foods.(usually one or the other)
I might also point out that rapid breathing can be a sign of stress( often seen with new arrivals)
I've also seen this with fish that were kept too long in transport bags, this was a case with some Wild Scalare Peru I had received. they were kept extra days in customs. which resulted in some ammonia burns to fins as well as losing some to gill damage(this took a few days/weeks) the survivors were treated while in QT with daily water changes with aged , conditioned water.
you may want to test your water before moving forward with any treatment, as mentioned it's a good idea to do water changes with new fish.
but very important to test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
 

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