Box of Americans from Don Conkels (with pics)

[cchhcc]

sorry if I implied differently, I wasnt doubting your knowledge of the source at all.

I was actually wondering if it was just present in the aquarium from a previous DC order and had affected fish you hadnt purchased from DC, sorry for not being clear with that...or if it was just certain species it always affected. Like I said, festae and managuensis seem to be immune and I was curious if it was because it was in their environment when wild.

BadOscar...ich is usually a cotton-ish looking formation on the fish (to me anyways). Lymph starts as little white glitterish looking dots and becomes a broccoli-ish looking growth.

No worries. I didn't take it that way. I just didn't feel like typing out a long explanation. Haha!

BadOscar: no need for you to worry about Lymph. That's ich.

 

[BadOscar]

No worries. I didn't take it that way. I just didn't feel like typing out a long explanation. Haha!

BadOscar: no need for you to worry about Lymph. That's ich.

Oh good, thanks, you guys had me freakin out a little. I really want to put that one back in the tank. It's the only Godmani I got in the order. He's been in a 10 gallon bucket with the maculacauda that also has ich. I got 2 teaspoons of Jungle Ich guard crystals in there and temp is at 84. I give them 2 or 3 flakes each night and they both come right up to eat so they seem to be doing ok. Do you think keeping them in there 10 days should be enough?

 

[VRWC]

that sounds about right. When I notice ich, I usually treat with salt (1 tbsp per 5 gallons), crank the heat to 82-84 and in about 10-14 days, its gone.

If they were all together at one point, have you thought about treating the whole tank? I dont know if that would be overkill to some, but I have always done that in the past when I see it on one or two fish. Im under the impression that its alive and well if its visible on any of the fish and just a matter of time before it spreads.

Ive never used Jungle Ich guard crystals, so I dont know anything about it.

 

[BadOscar]

I thought about treating the whole tank. I have been watching the others real close for signs and have not seen any more ich on any of the others. I read that the meds could kill the filter so I don't want too if it's not necessary. I don't know if my heater could get the 260 up over 80 degrees or not I think it's a 300 watt heater I have in the heater module.

 

[VRWC]

well if you chose to do the whole tank, you could just use kosher salt. its like 2.99 per 5lb box.

I have a 265 and I use one 10 yr old heater (dont know the wattage) in the sump and it can raise or lower the temp in the tank within 3 hrs...I can almost promise you you have a better heater than what Im using LOL. Do you run a sump? If so, is your heater in it?

 

[BadOscar]

No sump I got 2 Ocean Clear filters like the one below, one with a filter cartrige and one was a poly bead filter. The poly beads sucked so I fill it with cut up straws. The heater is in a heater module. Water returns to the tank over 4 bio-wheels.

 

[VRWC]

Ok. Well I dont know how anything I suggested will affect that, so maybe someone more familiar with it can give you some more accurate info. Sorry.

I dont think salt would hurt it though, and maybe another heater in the tank wouldnt hurt if you chose to treat the whole tank.

Good Luck!

 

[BadOscar]

I think I am going to just keep an eye on them for now. If the ich shows itself i will try salt as you suggest and thow another heater in if I have to.

 

[Mojarraman]

Just to keep the derail short, I'm confident in my assessment of the lymph source.


Incidentally, Don is the only person I've heard talk about collecting fish in the wild covered in lymph. Some people may have seen him speak at an ACA a while back when he referred to that. At the same time, he spoke of treated it with Jungle brand products. That struck me as odd since lymph is a virus and therefore untreatable with antibiotics, etc. Take all of that for what it's worth.

Again, it's not a big deal at the end of the day, and I wouldn't hesitate to get fish from him.

Maybe two clear instances of "half-truths" are in order. That's probably enough. Don Conkel never speaks of treating lymphocystus w/ Jungle Fungus Cure/Eliminator alone. He always describes using Aquarium Pharmacueticals' Clout as well. Just where folks get their info, or the half of it, one normally wouldn't venture to guess. On the other hand, attributing the "source" of lymphocystus to DCT is like blaming Paul Loiselle for ick. If someone wants to maintain that the world's largest importer/exporter/distributor of cichlids is "inventing" the fact that he has seen lymphocystus in the wild, on many hundreds of animals, then maybe he ought to consider collecting a few for him/herself. Especially beings there may be some "hesitancy" from DCT (or just about anybody else w/ credentials?) to provide him any in the future, and/or regrets doing so in the past. I'll ask Don about this tomorrow. Finally, lymphocytus can be eradicated in most cases, if caught early enough and treated properly. Clean water alone will suffice in some cases. I didn't HEAR that or READ that. I KNOW that.

Of the roughly 500 fish that I've acquired from Don I think 3 were eventually infected. None died from it. None arrived that way. All were successfully treated. Of the several hundred animals I've acquired for others from DCT none but one species have ever developed any lymph. Where do you think the overwhelmingly vast majority of Central American cichlids distributed both nationally and internationally come from? Gee, lemme think, uh, DCT? Certainly not out of somebody's garage. Why then don't half of the "injured" animals in tanks world-wide get lymph? Why do so extremely few ever get it? Maybe it's because the animals get stressed from being housed in poor quality water? Think about it. Or maybe certain individuals get shipped only "sick fish" or "potentially sick" fish? Or "hybrids?" That would be weird. Now why would that be? Could it have something to do with bad-mouthing? One can never be too sure. Rumor mills and innuendo, that much doesn't make for happy customers OR distributors. Not good for the hobby, either.

There are two sides to every story. And then there are outright fabrications. No legitimate businessman ever claimed to be perfect all the time. Everybody makes mistakes, including Don, but there is great care and effort to minimize or eliminate them, and correct them to everybody's satisfaction if at all possible. I know that from spending weeks on his farm. I am both his friend and his customer, and to my knowledge he's never even attempted to conceal anything from me. He's given me free reign of the farm. I've spent countless hours in the vats and around the ponds over the last fivel years. Helping with shipping his fish as well. No hybrids anywhere, not that I ever saw, 'cept those advertised as such: carpintisXloisellei comes to mind. Maybe he hid them all behind the rose bushes?

Here are some shots of Don & I (me alone first & last pics obviously):

 

[Mojarraman]

Come to think about it, how about all of the other countless hobbyists and professionals that visit his farm? Does he secret away the hybrids under rocks so they can't peek at them as they casually and openly make the rounds of the greenhouses and ponds? Why has no one SEEN vats or ponds of hybrids in over a decade that GOES to Odessa??? Is it magic? Telekinesis? He keeps them in his bathtub? No, that can't be possible, because I've taken many a shower in it! Maybe they lurk in that 55 gallon drum I saw out by the horses??? No, it must just be little green elves that slip them in the bags right before he ships them...and sprinkle them with "lymphocystus dust."

...No, the actual fact appears to be that once upon a time an incredibly small number of hybrids probably have been sold as "purebreeds" compared to the millions of wild-caught and top quality F1's as someone said, and a very very small percentage of sick/injured fish or POTENTIALLY (DUE TO RANCID HOBBYIST/SHOPKEEPER WATER???) sick fish may have been shipped. But to exaggerate that into something else would strike me as foolish, and to habitually do so, with an axe to grind, would strike me as foolhardy.