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There is something problem of my agassiizii's side fin.

Goongseu

New Member
Messages
13
Location
Seoul, South Korea
Api agassizii doublered-male- mass.jpg
Hello

2 days ago, A young male Agassizii doublered has seemed sick.
He stayed alone long time in the cave or shelter, and didn't eat.
Today, I found something like a globular nodule on the root of his right side fin.
I don't konw what it is.. fungal infection or bacteria colony?
Please tell me about his disease and management for it?
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
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11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
It's hard to tell from the photo. I suggest that you look up Lymphcystis. It might be this virus, which usually appears when water quality isn't perfect.
 

gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Does his abdomen look bloated to you? - he looks that way to me in the photo. The growth at the fin base might be Lymphocystis virus or a bacterial infection, but Not eating and possible bloating makes me think it's bacterial. Lymphocystis doesn't usully cause them to get bloated or stop eating. Without knowing what it is, any treatment you try is just a "shot in the dark" but Kanamycin or Minocycline might be a good "first shot".
 

gerald

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5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
Sorry he died. Apistos and many other soft-water dwarf cichlids (rams, checkerboards, pelvicachromis) do seem to be more susceptible to bacterial infections than hard-water cichlids or large cichlids are.
 

D0raem0n

New Member
Messages
11
Sorry he died. Apistos and many other soft-water dwarf cichlids (rams, checkerboards, pelvicachromis) do seem to be more susceptible to bacterial infections than hard-water cichlids or large cichlids are.

Given the susceptibility, would you happen to have any best practices to share in terms of water chemistry? say 10-50ppm / UV sterilizer / et al. I just hear the usual clean water quality, wondering if any of you do some pinch of salt to prevent bacterial infections (especially hexamita).
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Bad luck, I had a lovely pair of Dicrossus maculatus that bloated, and it was quite distressing <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/1st-d-maculatus-spawn.12389/>
say 10-50ppm / UV sterilizer /
Personally I don't see any point in a UV steriliser.
wondering if any of you do some pinch of salt to prevent bacterial infections (especially hexamita).
Again I don't think any of us use "therapeutic salt", it doesn't really have any place with soft water fish.
I just hear the usual clean water quality
I think water quality is important, but probably the most important factor is food. I think the best way of reducing the chances of bloating are a good varied diet with lots of live food, particularly shell-on crustaceans like BBS and Mysis shrimp and not too many worms (Red, Tubifex, Grindal, Black, White etc.) <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/i...o-we-think-of-red-wrigglers.15006/#post-79135>.

cheers Darrel
 

MickeM

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
441
Location
STOCKHOLM , SWEDEN
Hi Goongseu + all !

In your picture, you have been adding some kind of leaf into the tank... It seems to have fungus/bacteria on the cut off petiole, and also on the leaf itself...??
I used to get that as well.. in combination with a lot of food(rest products) it creates problem !!

My experience with putting dry leafs in a fish tank, is to make sure they are already "soaked" in aquariumwater 1-2 weeks before entering them. I do that by using a separate bucket beside the tank, and also make sure to have some snails in the bucket..+ a fist of aquarium gravel/sand.
In that way ..my Planorbarius corneus -snails can eat from the layer of protein and other stuff that often appear on dead plants/roots when they are being put in water..

That is one easy way to avoid "bad developement" of the water quality..
I then usually add 1-3 leafs at a time into the aquarium (every 2nd-3d day) to make sure my water is not dissolving them much further and affecting(kills) the gravel bacterias and fishes+others in the tank ...in a speed they can not survive..

By adding tank water + some aquarium sand in the bucket you also get "good aquarium-bacterias" on/around the now dissolving leaf..
It helps out to start the decomposition of the leafs... hopefully without any problems..

Since I started using this method I have never experienced any problem with disease/problems suddenly showing up on my Apistos..

BTW.. Always use nice, proper leafs !! (Oak I like !!)

/MickeM
 
Last edited:

D0raem0n

New Member
Messages
11
Hi all,
Bad luck, I had a lovely pair of Dicrossus maculatus that bloated, and it was quite distressing <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/1st-d-maculatus-spawn.12389/>
Personally I don't see any point in a UV steriliser. Again I don't think any of us use "therapeutic salt", it doesn't really have any place with soft water fish. I think water quality is important, but probably the most important factor is food. I think the best way of reducing the chances of bloating are a good varied diet with lots of live food, particularly shell-on crustaceans like BBS and Mysis shrimp and not too many worms (Red, Tubifex, Grindal, Black, White etc.) <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/i...o-we-think-of-red-wrigglers.15006/#post-79135>.

cheers Darrel
Thanks Darrel.. i don't use any salts nor do i have UVs, so i guess i'm still on-track.
Regarding food, if I can only provide live food occasionally & pellets/wafers most of the time, would you guys recommend I stop Apisto's & settle for a different specie?

Another follow-up, i'm on a fully planted tank (w/ DW-rocks-sand) where a few/some dead leaves can still rot unnoticed, will it be a cause of detriment for my apisto's? Even at full efforts on taking out dead leaves regularly i know I'd still have practically a few in the tank from time to time.
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Regarding food, if I can only provide live food occasionally & pellets/wafers most of the time, would you guys recommend I stop Apisto's & settle for a different specie?
I've always fed mine live food, but that is partially because it works out a lot cheaper long term. I'm pretty sure that some members have kept Apistogramma spp. successfully feeding them mainly frozen and/or pellet based food.
i'm on a fully planted tank (w/ DW-rocks-sand) where a few/some dead leaves can still rot unnoticed, will it be a cause of detriment for my apisto's? Even at full efforts on taking out dead leaves regularly i know I'd still have practically a few in the tank from time to time.
Not really, there aren't enough sugars, or proteins, in dead leaves for them to have a major detrimental effect on water quality.

cheers Darrel
 

regani

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
429
Location
Brisbane, Australia
I feed all my apistos on a staple of flake and micro pellets and supplement with live foods mainly to condition for breeding or when there is fry. It works well for me and I have kept and bred more than 15 apisto species this way.
 

gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
That's why we pick them up after they have shed naturally from the tree. The tree draws most of the leaf's sugars back into the branches as the leaf dies, leaving just the cellulose structure and some tannins, lignins, and other slow-decaying organic compounds. Decaying tree leaves (naturally shed) do not cause a big bacterial spike or O2 depletion the way fresh green leaves, mowed grass clippings, or animal waste does. Unless of course you rake or blow all the leaves in your yard into the 2-meter wide creek behind your house, like many people here do.

Not really, there aren't enough sugars, or proteins, in dead leaves for them to have a major detrimental effect on water quality. cheers Darrel
 

D0raem0n

New Member
Messages
11
Hi all, I've always fed mine live food, but that is partially because it works out a lot cheaper long term. I'm pretty sure that some members have kept Apistogramma spp. successfully feeding them mainly frozen and/or pellet based food. Not really, there aren't enough sugars, or proteins, in dead leaves for them to have a major detrimental effect on water quality.

cheers Darrel
so i guess keeping apisto's in a full planted tank is still ok. I do see them very happy swooping around crypto/anubias leaves and inquisitively hunting red cherry shrimps in moss & dwarf sags. I'll still continue my regular clean up on falling off leaves & glad left overs aren't much detriment to their water. Thanks Darrel! ^_^
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
so i guess keeping apisto's in a full planted tank is still ok.
Yes very much so, some Apistogramma come from heavily vegetated water (species from the Pantanal etc), but even those that come from the "black water" streams, where submerged aquatic plants are absent, live in the leaf litter, or floating plant, layer.

Have a look at TomC's web site <http://apisto.sites.no/> for some actual biotopes from his visits to Peru: <http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?PageId=37> & <http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?PageId=61>. I'd also recommend Bob Wiltshire's site <http://www.dwarfcichlid.com/Good_habitat.php> for tank set-ups etc.

I do see them very happy swooping around crypto/anubias leaves ........ I'll still continue my regular clean up on falling off leaves & glad left overs aren't much detriment to their water.
You honestly can't have too many plants, or too much structure. This is the tank at the back of the lab., but all of the tanks are "jungles".

tank_backoflab.jpg

and inquisitively hunting red cherry shrimps in moss & dwarf sags.
They will eat all your Cherry Shrimps <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/breeding-apistogramma-cacatuoides.12567/>.

cheers Darrel
 

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