RE: NANFA-- Some eye candy and stuff...

Nick Zarlinga (njz_at_clevelandmetroparks.com)
Mon, 29 Dec 2003 08:30:35 -0500

When you get stuck,
><)> it is ever so helpful to have to defend your
><)> situation with someone with a
><)> slightly open mind and get a good helping of
><)> devil's advocate :)

Hey now, what do you mean by "slightly" open mind!

Nick Zarlinga
Aquarium Biologist
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
216.661.6500 ext 4485

><)> -----Original Message-----
><)> From: owner-nanfa_at_aquaria.net
><)> On Behalf
><)> Of Todd Crail
><)> Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2003 1:26 AM
><)> To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
><)> Subject: NANFA-- Some eye candy and stuff...
><)>
><)>
><)> Greetings NANFAns,
><)>
><)> Got some shots tonight of the natives in my care.
><)> Guess I'm starting to
><)> settle into my winter habits :) Hope you enjoy.
><)> I didn't take the time to
><)> really format beyond what Photoshop did... Sorry
><)> that the formatting is
><)> below my usual standards and I hope you don't mind
><)> scrolling a little bit if
><)> you're at lower resolution.
><)>
><)> http://www.farmertodd.com/freshwater/natives/122703
/index.htm
><)>
><)> Things of note:
><)>
><)> - The RainbowDarter_Ottawa is the more blue
><)> genotype from the Maumee
><)> watershed (Great Lakes), compared to the others
><)> which are Scioto watershed
><)> (Missississippi). The pictures are totally
><)> untelling of the amount of extra
><)> blue these fish have... Guess you'll just have to
><)> see them in person ;)
><)>
><)> - The megalotis_x_humilis is what I believe the
><)> hybridization is on this
><)> fish. It will be interesting to see this one grow
><)> up. I brought it home as
><)> a "longear" and got a real suprise when I got a
><)> peek at him in the tank.
><)>
><)> - The stoneroller is the guy I ranted and raved
><)> about last year... He's
><)> all <sniff> grown up now and <sniff> getting his tubercles.
><)>
><)> - The longear is believed to be of the northern
><)> subspecies... 'cepting
><)> this one has the southern color (if that wasn't
><)> obvious ;) He doesn't seem
><)> to be getting any bigger... Just gets brighter and
><)> brighter. This guy is
><)> only about 3.75"! I wonder if there isn't some
><)> hybridization with
><)> pumpkinseeds going on the further north you get?
><)> Or more likely, the less
><)> intense coloration is the selective advantage in
><)> the clearer streams headed
><)> north...? These guys come from fairly turbid
><)> water. Nick, you have that
><)> shot of the Grand River genotype? I can post that
><)> up here to compare...
><)> Anyone else with northern pics, shoot 'em my way.
><)> This is pretty cool :)
><)>
><)> Let's see... I had a few things I wanted to talk about...
><)>
><)> Redside dace, yes... I brought a mess of them
><)> home a few weeks ago
><)> (featured in my little ditty). I'd heard that
><)> they were prone to all sorts
><)> of infection and what not. I didn't have a
><)> problem with any of them, I
><)> didn't treat them with anything, I really did
><)> nothing. I acclimated them
><)> over 24 hours, with 3 "drip" applications using
><)> airline hose tied in a knot
><)> to slowly drip the aquarium water to warm them up
><)> (if you wanna be high
><)> tech, you can get an adjustable valve ;). That
><)> was about it.
><)>
><)> I think the cooler/colder weather is the time to
><)> bring them home. It almost
><)> seems to me that they're at some stress threshold
><)> in the summer, at least in
><)> Ohio... And that coupled with capture and
><)> transport is enough to diminish
><)> the rest of their immune system and let the
><)> infections begin. Guess it's
><)> just something to consider... I still haven't lost
><)> a fish during acclimation
><)> that I took from water below 60 degrees :)
><)>
><)> Sandbeds, sandbeds, saaaaandbeds! I recently
><)> worked through a bug, with a
><)> great amount of discussion and help from Nick
><)> Zarlinga. When you get stuck,
><)> it is ever so helpful to have to defend your
><)> situation with someone with a
><)> slightly open mind and get a good helping of
><)> devil's advocate :)
><)>
><)> I was having some "ichy" issues in my rainbowfish
><)> aquarium again... Nothing
><)> bad like Tank Nuke 1.0 (tm) from back in July...
><)> Just it was present on the
><)> rainbows, loaches and some rasboras. No problems
><)> in the labyrinth fishes or
><)> siamenisis algae eaters. And nothing analogous in
><)> the native systems.
><)> Hmmm.... Sounds like cooler water or the ability
><)> to suck air offers an
><)> advantage? DO2 anyone?
><)>
><)> This time, I had the advantage and very little had
><)> changed, as opposed to
><)> the first time I ran into this and _everyting_ had
><)> changed. Most notably,
><)> the stocking of the rainbowfish system had
><)> recently jumped when my wife sent
><)> me off to the LFS with a blank check after the
><)> dam-n-kid incident. It was
><)> as if some threshold had been crossed and the
><)> system was offering a small
><)> amount of stress. Nick and I kicked this around,
><)> he got me straightened out
><)> with how DO2 and CO2 work, and we came up with a
><)> test solution to put on an
><)> air pump and greatly increase the surface aggitation.
><)>
><)> Bingo! The ich went away within 4 days without
><)> treatment... The system was
><)> "breathing" too much and taking the DO2 into the
><)> basement outside the
><)> photoperiod. I checked downstairs before work the
><)> morning after I put on
><)> the airpump... All fish were all hanging out at
><)> the surface aggitating the
><)> water with their mouths. Within two days, the
><)> behavior stopped. They all
><)> pop up from the plants when I kick on the lights
><)> now. Well, except the
><)> gouramis... They still like to splat at the
><)> surface just 'cause ;)
><)>
><)> So everything was fine and dandy, the flaw
><)> removed, and I'm still not having
><)> to change water like I used to (Which I think
><)> nitrate is a serious "flaw"
><)> ;) Well, fine and dandy except for the plants.
><)> Algal alleopathy
><)> (chemical inhibition of other competing organisms)
><)> dumped like a bad habit.
><)> Apparently, I was blowing off too much CO2 and
><)> this was causing some
><)> physiological problems for the plants... With the
><)> animals back in good
><)> health, it was time to experiment again. I put
><)> the air pump on a timer so
><)> that it countered the photoperiod, as it seems the
><)> plants produce enough
><)> oxygen during the photoperiod to take care of
><)> things. It's been a week
><)> now... The alleopathy has begun again, most plants
><)> are beginning to push off
><)> the accumulations of algae on old growth... New
><)> growth is just fine.
><)>
><)> I've also added this trick to my native fish
><)> systems too... It doesn't seem
><)> to be a problem for them now because the water is
><)> 60 degrees... But it will
><)> be interesting to see how it affects the systems
><)> in the summer. I did loose
><)> a mess of spotfin shiners last year in the summer,
><)> along with some SRBD when
><)> tank temps were up at 78. This little tidbit of
><)> information certainly isn't
><)> going to hurt anything...
><)>
><)> This whole situation also lends credibility to my
><)> hypothesis that the
><)> "breathing" of the system produces enough CO2 for
><)> healthy plant growth in
><)> more intense lighting. I have no external CO2
><)> devices... The inhibition of
><)> alleopathy was a pretty clear case point since the
><)> only thing that changed
><)> during this period was more CO2 was getting blown
><)> off than before with the
><)> increased aggitation. Neat stuff. Now to just
><)> get some danged equipment so
><)> it becomes much less of an anecdote :)
><)>
><)> I also feel that this was the same situation that
><)> began Tank Nuke 1.0 (tm)
><)> in July... I was responding to the ich light by
><)> feeding more food while
><)> trying to uncover what the problem was... Which
><)> the food was also spoiled
><)> and took a bad situation straight into morbid.
><)> Live and learn I guess...
><)> And never change too many things at once ;)
><)>
><)> Okay... Our last Christmas celebration is
><)> tomorrow. I prolly should get
><)> going to sleep so I can be full of cheer one last
><)> time (and hopefully score
><)> that GPS I asked for ;)
><)>
><)> Todd
><)> It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
><)> http://www.farmertodd.com
><)> ---------------------------
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><)> American Native Fishes
><)> / Association"
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