I've had baby bowfin in the past and lost them in a matter of weeks both times i kept them. recently i ordered 3 more all 2.5-3". they were doing great for 3 weeks and then 1 by 1 they all died. i started out feeding them small pieces of tilapia.and small rosey reds. treated the tank with prazipro. for the 1st week. did a water change, put carbon back in the filter and the next day 1 was dead.so i removed the carbon and retreated with prazipro.2 weekslater , carbon, waterchange , both remaining stopped eating , 1 died the following day and a day later the other died? what was i doing wrong?....pH was 7.4-7.6 temp 78F, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, +- 20ppm nitrate.oh, and if it matters , when i pulled each one from the tank they were REALLY slimey. i mean EXCESS mucous.am i missing something?
Baby bowfin dying! what gives??
- Thread starter leviathon13
- Start date
leviathon13;849481; said:
I'd bet the prazipro killed both groups of fish. You really shouldn't medicate unless you actually see a problem and even then Bowfin are a funny fish. I'd stick to salt (1-2 TBS per 5 gallons) and stay away from any meds with this ancient fish.
Sorry to hear about your loss.
teleost;849509; said:
ok, i didn't use prazipro on the 1st 2 sets of bowfin (it hadn't beed invented yet) (this was probably 10 yrs ago when i had my 1st 2 groups of fish) and if you read the article on the "young of the year" bowfin at nanfa.org you'll see that a bunch that were collected died around the 2 week mark, mouths agape, with their stomach contents expelled along with large quantities of TAPEWORMS! and from all i've been reading on bowfin lately, they harbor lg. qty's of these parasites, some of which are specific only to Amia calva.Hence my use of prazipro. Prazipro is probably the safest anti parasite med you can use. I've used it on Piranha's w/out any problem and people use it on rays w/out trouble.
sabotage;849551; said:
I must go with them again. I love these fish. next best thing to snakeheads. I will master them, but i may need a little help.
leviathon13;850053; said:
I did read the article and I still stand by what I said previously. Rays and P's are not even close to Amia and would not compare med usage among these fishes. You didn't use any meds on the first two sets of fish? Were the tanks cycled in the first two sets? I ask since bowfin are tough as nails period. FYI I'm a big fan of praziquantel but I never use this as a blanket treatment for healthy fish.
good luck