# Hmmm... keep loosing my males.. :(



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Hiyas guys..

I picked up two males from Kumars a few ago and introduced them to my half hex type tank. Its plastic, has a 1 1/2 inch sand bottom which i stir up quite often. I have a handful of kuhli loaches in there now plus mts.

The tank has been running for longer than 2 months and has an AC on the back with a pre-filter. 

I lost the male and a female... after a week or two. Honestly cant remeber.
So i gave the tank a break and didnt add anything else till last week where i picked up two cobras from NFB (which i bloody adored.. lol)

I lost the black cobra unfortunatly just yesterday... 
I cant figure out why i can keep the girls just fine, but i loose the boys? 

I did a test last night.. Ph is on the highside.. Around 7.8 and the nitrites sat at around 0.3mg/l 

The ones except for the last male i lost all had dropsy only on 1 half of thier bodies.. Which was really wierd.. 
I'll be picking up a nitrate test soon to figure out whats going on.. Never had tank issues before so i am a bit lost.. 

Thanks for any tips!


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

Dropsy on one half? That seems strange. I know that columnaris is rife in guppy populations - and it can have a lot of symptoms that seem like other diseases. Big white or grey patches, weight loss, paralysis are common symptoms.

How is the temperature in the tank? You didn't mention heaters, but I was at a talk by Stan Shubel a few years ago and he said that in his opinion, people too often kept their fancy guppies too cool. 

I have a feeling that your loaches might not appreciate it, but a handful of salt in the tank might help too.

What are you feeding them?

Dominic


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Actually you nailed all the symptoms.. Lathargic, skinny.. half white and the white side was really pine coned.. 

The temps in the tank usually sat at wround 77.. But with this heat its at 82 now. 

I am feeding them a mix of Bloodworm, and staple flake, mixed in spirulina, and a few other different types of flake. 

Should i treat for columnaris you think?

Thanks for the help btw


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## Westender (Mar 24, 2006)

Well, I've treated for columnaris with mixed success. I thought I'd eliminated it in my planted tank population, only to have it resurface. I chose not to treat this time as I didn't want to a) medicate a mixed species tank and b) spend so much on meds and c) possibly upset the ecosystem that is finally working. 

I think you have a different situation. I'd let the tank be for a few months and then I'd bring in guppies but would quarantine them first and proactively medicate. Use salt, keep the temp up at around 25-26 C (77-78F) and, if any signs of columnaris show up, I'd try a 37% formalin dip along with 2 drops of the formalin solution per gallon for about 3-4 days (this is as per Stan Shubel). You'll need to make sure that the tank is heavily oxygenated.

I wouldn't use the formalin on the loaches.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Awesome.. I'll take your advice  
Everyone looks good so far... So we'll see how it goes..


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

How could you possibly test 0.3 parts per million of Nitrate unless you have an exceptionally high end test kit??

Seriously?

Just playing devil's advocate


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Hmmm... i just read the cards pablo  lol


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