Feeding Question...

[Faunya]

I recently lost a pair of taeniatus "wouri" and a pair of albino pulchers for reasons I am still unsure of.

After purchasing my taeniatus pair, they were brought home and placed in their own 20gallon tank (quarantine). At the time, the female was very fat, and I expected that she was ready to spawn. Unfortunately, she must not have taken well to the move, for she refused to eat, and subsequently died about 3 weeks later. There were absolutely no physical signs of distress, though. After losing the female, I thought it was best to leave the male in quarantine for an additional few weeks, even though he ate heartily and showed no physical signs of distress. His behavior seemed appropriate as well. Finally, after being in quarantine for a total of 6 weeks, he was moved to the 55 gallon tank.

Three weeks after moving him into the tank, I found him dead (without any prior warning). Of course, I checked water parameters and found no change in PH or hardness, and no signs of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate.
All other fish looked fine.

One week later, I lost both of my albino pulchers, again, without reason.

I went back to my lfs and asked the owner if he had any ideas, and he suggested that live foods may be to blame. He told me that west african cichlids should never be given live worms (tubifex or black), even as a treat, for they are toxic for these types of fish.

I understand that these types of live foods can carry parasites and some chance of disease, but I had never had any problems before, and I have kept a pair of pulchers for nearly a year on suppliments of live foods (it's particularly necessary in my case since I also have a pair of discus in this tank).

Has anyone else heard of live worms being toxic to all types of kribs, or is this just an old wive's tale?

 

[Orchid]

Faunya,

I have been told this about westies when I purchased a pair of P. taeniatus. I really respect the fish store I got them from so I took this advice to heart and put the fish into another tank rather than my tubifex fed discus tank like I had originally planned. There is some live foods that cause abdominal bloat and death to discus, so I figured that it is plausible that westies can't handle tubifex.

 

[Richgrenfell]

you know...this seems a little familiar to me!
The only Pelvicachromis species i have done well with were albino kribs, and at that time i wasn't using live food at all. Since then, i have not had any luck at all with them, and it is always the female I lose. During the time i had them (aside from the kribs), I was raising discus, so I had lots of black worms. I had always hear that you shouldn't give "africans" black worms, but i hadn't heard anything about westies.

Another thing I thought was odd was your supposedly "healthy" female. I have been working with Apistogramma diplotaenia for a while. I have enough fry, so I lent the breeders to a friend so he could get some fry too. i had been getting her all juiced up for him so she'd spawn quickly. she was all ready to go and had a belly full of eggs when I gave her to him. He found her the next day after I gave him the pair. she was in the cave still full of eggs with a few attached to the ceiling! you said your female fish was carrying eggs as well? perhaps moving them when they are in that condition is a bad move?

Rich

 

[Neil]

Faunya,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Pelvicachromis species seem particularly susceptible to internal disorders (bloat, parasitic infection, etc). Any foods that are a possible carrier of "bugs" should be carefully used. Tubiflex, especially can be fairly safe when cleaned properly but are usually a bad choice for fish like this.

you said your female fish was carrying eggs as well? perhaps moving them when they are in that condition is a bad move?

However, food may or may not be to blame here. The act of transporting a fish is stressful. All aspects of reproduction are stressful. The combination of these 2 stresses may well be enough to cause problems.

There were absolutely no physical signs of distress, though.

In addition, the above statement is similar to what I have experienced as well. There may be a precursor to the death of the fish. Even though the conditions in your tank were good, it is possible that the problem started before then and just inevitably played out (by the stress of that final move) in your care. What were the conditions they were kept in at your LFS and how long were they there before coming home with you?
Neil