27 replies to this topic

[fishking123]

Please fill out as much as possible below and give us a description of what is wrong with your fish.

Type of fish:frontosa
Symptoms:dead
Other tank mates:pleco
Tank size / capacity:450l
Type of Food fed:nls/bloodworm
Feeding frequency/amount:2x day
Substrate:play sand
Type of filtration:eheime 2217
Frequency of filter cleans:1x 7-10 weeks
Frequency and % volume of water changes:40% week
Last water change:2 days ago
PH:8
KH:
GH:
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:7
Ammonia:0
Phosphate:
Water temp:24-27
Medications used recently to date:prime on water change
Any recent changes..new fish/filters/power outages etc etc:new food:bloodworm

hi. i have had a thew fish die in the past 2 weeks! i have had 2 frontosa at 4cm and 1 pleco and 4 brichardi and 1 bn
i was feeding my fish nls and when i went to my lfs to get more food he said to get some bloodworm for your fish so i got some... i was told by a thew friends to not feed them that so i stoped... but my fish are dead i stoped feeding 2 weeks ago and my last death was today... why dose bloodworm kill fish????

Edited by fishking123, 29 June 2012 - 06:07 PM.

[FrontyKwal]

thats crazy ! we have almost the same setup. in my 300 litre tank with a eheim 2217 i have 5 frontosa fry, 7 brichardi fry and 2 albino bristlenose and sold my plecos about a month ago. i dont care what people have to say about this but i feed them bloodworms everyday since i had gotten this new tank (4 months ago) and nls and everything is fine i havnt had 1 death. strange how you lost so many fish the same as me with a very similar set up

[fishking123]

yeah i was very sad! i lost lots of fish

[FrontyKwal]

is it really ? everytime i look on various forums its always a 50-50 response either people saying they always feed their fronties bloodworms to keep up with high protein diet or people say they never do at all :S

[FrontyKwal]

i think i will go by what you do with your fronties in the future when i get some fry off you, you seem to have the best fronties around so whatever your doing must work a treat haha

[Westie]

I treat bloodworm for fish like chocolate for humans, good as a treat but not good as a regular thing.
I've been feeding my fish one or two small blocks of bloodworm once a week. no probs as far as i know, but maybe i should stop after reading this?

[bigjohnnofish]

dont buy crap quality bloodworms..... steer well clear of the cheap and nasty stuff....

bloodworms have a hook on them - so smaller fish can sometimes choke on this if it gets caught in their throat... solution - dice it up before feeding....

i suspect more of a water quality issue is the cause of your problems.... i bet you didnt even test the water and thought you'd just quote a few numbers to assure yourself that you werent the cause of the deaths... and it is something more sinister.... over 90% of all fish related problems/deaths is caused by ammonia.... i'd even say very close to 100% water quality issue is the root of your problems....

[SamJohns]

They definately don't.

I've been throwing 3 cubes in a 120L grow out every day and one in my sump for some P Bass fry. Weekly water changes. No deaths. Doing something else wrong I think...

[Buccal]

When fish are effected by the excessive consumption of bloodworm, it only really tends to be tangs and Malawi. Bloodworm is quite rich.
I keep Burundi, and have bred and sold well over 1000 individuals. At the beginning I did lose some numbers due to over feeding, but treating them like all other fry. Just a slight reduction in food consumption sorted it out. So, the bloodworm being quite rich must be kept at a absolute minimum. I see it a little like plants, a fast growing variety of plant can take a lot of fertilizer. But a slow growing variety will die with to much fertilizer, and smaller amounts must be given. Frontosa are slow growing and take almost three years to breeding maturity. Most other tang, Malawi take 5-12months !. After all this I to think its a water quality thing, keep food to a lower frequency to reduce water fouling.

[fishking123]

dont buy crap quality bloodworms..... steer well clear of the cheap and nasty stuff....

bloodworms have a hook on them - so smaller fish can sometimes choke on this if it gets caught in their throat... solution - dice it up before feeding....

i suspect more of a water quality issue is the cause of your problems.... i bet you didnt even test the water and thought you'd just quote a few numbers to assure yourself that you werent the cause of the deaths... and it is something more sinister.... over 90% of all fish related problems/deaths is caused by ammonia.... i'd even say very close to 100% water quality issue is the root of your problems....

jeez if you dont trust me i will take a pic of the test!

[fishking123]

see

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[Bowdy]

Your not shaking your nitrate solution properly mate, your not getting a reading. You need to really shake the bottle a lot before adding it.

[Jeff]

I know if fish are acclimatised to different pH levels then pH isn't usually an issue. Having said this your pH looks to be up at 8.6-8.8. Appears quite high to me?? Could this be a reason?

I also only feed bloodworms sparingly. Once a week and no problems. Even to my JD fry.

[Buccal]

Don't start spinning out at all the things that could be wrong. Start again, buy more. One feed a day, no bloodworms, NLS only, NLS has all your fish diet requirements, make sure their bellies are not round after feeding. Bellies should be flat or very slightly bulging. Together with water changes there is no reason for any problems. You could even throw away your test kits if you do the right things.

[fishking123]

Your not shaking your nitrate solution properly mate, your not getting a reading. You need to really shake the bottle a lot before adding it.

i am.... it is low all the time is that good or bad? i shake it realy good but it dose not change it

maby its the flash? i turn it off

Edited by fishking123, 30 June 2012 - 01:26 PM.

[Fox]

Most African species are more plant/fish eaters, eating high protein foods once in a blue moon.
Their intestinal tracks are just not built for it.

Bloodworms should only ever be fed as rare treat!!!
Yea some of you will get away with feeding them all the one now, but wait until the fish ages and see what changes. Bloodworms, beefheart etc have been linked to HTH and many other problems.
Why feed it if you have a quality dry food?

A test for you that like to feed your fish high protein diets, start cooking yourself every night for one month:
Steak, eggs, bacon & black pudding.

See how much weight you gain & how crook you feel.
You will become unhealthy REAL quick.

Brine shrimp are good but don't have much nutritional value.

IMO pH for Frontosa should be around 9.0 & GH around 300ppm
Temp 24c
Nice deep tank with plenty of open swimming space.

IMO the best thing for young Fronts is small regular feelings throughout the day (auto feeder)
Hope that helps. All info is from my own experiences.



From memory, the nitrate bottle should be shaken for 30secs and then once added to the vial, the vial should be shaken for 1min.
Wait for a couple mins for proper reading

[fishking123]

i did give them bloodworm so it is like 'real' food... but i feed them nls 2x day..