Meet Chewy

[bekateen]

Sorry you dealt with that, Shane. Now I wonder if that's what ripped through my tank of L387 and Baryancistrus beggini.

Cheers, Eric

[Shane]

Concur on Epistylis upon further observation and research. You guys are awesome!

Chewy"s pump had died last Friday (1 Sep). I had heard it running in the morning and it was dead at feeding time. I used a smaller air pump as a temporary back up. Flow was much less than normal, but seemed sufficient until the new pump arrived.

As I thought (incorrectly) I was dealing with ich it did not occur to me there could be a link to the reduced filtration/water movement and ailment. Now I know that was almost certainly the cause.

"Epistylis seems to attack loaches, goldfish and bottom dwellers preferentially, especially in tanks with little water circulation and/or poor aeration. This may be due to a higher bacteria concentration near the substrate, especially if there is a bottom mulm present. When loaches get epistylis always look hard at the aeration and water circulation in the aquarium."

https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-2-4-epistylis/

As of today (7 Sep) no additional fish losses. Smaller tetras looking much better. Bleeding hearts still look rough. Chewy looks a bit "dull" but is active. New blower added today (Medo LA 80BN) which is absolute overkill on a 75 gallon. Running two uplift tubes and two airstones at very high power.

-Shane

[AmazonTank]

Hi Shane your post makes my day! Thanks for the update.
I had a pump go out like that and both my gulpers got sick. I treated with stress guard para guard melafix and 1 month later they survived!

[bekateen]

Concur on Epistylis upon further observation and research. You guys are awesome!

Chewy"s pump had died last Friday (1 Sep). I had heard it running in the morning and it was dead at feeding time. I used a smaller air pump as a temporary back up. Flow was much less than normal, but seemed sufficient until the new pump arrived.

As I thought (incorrectly) I was dealing with ich it did not occur to me there could be a link to the reduced filtration/water movement and ailment. Now I know that was almost certainly the cause.

-Shane

It's peculiarly timely that you mention this. In my tank which had the L387/Baryancistrus beggini disaster, the SeaChem HOB filter pump had been running normally when I discovered the sick fish. But when I drained the tank 90% and refilled it as part of a treatment (including Proform C as a generic ectoparasitic treatment), the pump wouldn't restart. I was forced to add an alternate aeration / circulation mechanism. The SeaChem HOB was nonfunctional for the next two days. It didn't matter because all the fish were dead by the end of the second day of treatment. But spontaneously, the SeaChem HOB restarted a few days later (it was still receiving power throughout the time). This made me wonder if maybe the HOB had been starting and stopping erratically (unbeknownst to me) prior to and leading to the disease outbreak.

Sadly, I'll never know.

Better luck for you,
Eric

[Shane]

40% water change to remove final three wild bleeding heart corpses. Bleeding hearts total loss. Everyone else, including Chewy, looks good. 16 total tetras gone but Chewy seems ok.
-Shane

[Jools]

Hi Shane,

It could be a lot worse. You can replace tetras, but

Panaque

are for life.

I found out today that UK aquatic writer / expert Neale Monks has a pet Panaque called Claire who he's had for longer than he's been married. I'm guessing something like 29 years. I hope you manage 29 years with Chewy (!) but happily don't think you will manage the other milestone.

Maybe there are quite a few "pet Panaque" out there.

Cheers,

Jools
PS Apologies for being flippant re the tetras - of course, it's a shame they succumbed.

[Shane]

Really it was only the wild bleeding hearts that left me a bit gutted. But as you point out Panaque for life. Chewy is 100% back to normal. The cloudy eyes (which had me worried) are all cleared up.

She is back to her normal belligerence.. attacking food before I can even let go of it.
-Shane

[emanuel]

Chewy is 100% back to normal. The cloudy eyes (which had me worried) are all cleared up.

She is back to her normal belligerence.. attacking food before I can even let go of it.
-Shane

It's great to read this news

[Shane]

Tried Monstera in Chewy's tank. She is eating the stalks.
-Shane

[Shane]

Chewy says, "Happy New Year." Her odontodes are growing back.

-Shane

[bekateen]

Amazing how fast those odontodes grow to that size!

Cheers,
Eric