Hi there,i desperately need advice from an experienced undecimradiatus keeper, and possibly one in the U.K.
I am an experienced fish keeper (15 years+), and tend to keep oddball stuff. My tank currently has discus, histryx stingray, Ornate pim, megalodoras irwini, Black ghost knife fish, and Leopard bushfish, and dats.
i set up the aquarium specifically for the dats. it is 450 litre, filter is Fluval FX5 with spraybar and one usual outflow. Subdued lighting, sand substrate. Lots of branches with plants attached. Water temp is 28C. I use Ro water, and do 50% water change each week (substrate is vacuumed each time). A pond pump is fitted to aerate water but only as required (see below). RO water has marine salt added for fish health and to put back minerals (salt is at 1 tablespoon per 30L). All fish are feeding/growing very well indeed.
Now the problem. The dats have been a nightmare from very early on. They have an illness i can't get rid of with following symptoms;
Pink lumps appear under scales, commonly around head, which start small then swell up until they protrude from the skin as a white lump (3mm max) This takes a few weeks for lumps to protrude and go white - presumably these are puss balls? Eventually these are either rubbed off or they burst - leaving a white column of tissue 1mm diameter protruding from the skin. This either falls off or is rubbed of. They clearly irritate the fish as they can be seen 'flicking' occasionally. The lumps either appear singly, or several can appear at once. if the fish get really bad part of the lateral line can erupt into small white clusters of lumps. Again ,this takes a few weeks. Eventually - after a few months this illness settles down and the lateral lines and lumps disappear. Any lesions left by protruding lumps heal over and the fish appear to be 100% healthy. The pectoral fins of all of my Dats have narrow red fin bases. During really bad bouts of the illness the fish struggle to breathe, pumping their gills harder than normal (hence pond pump). In really bad cases the gills are so badly affected that the fish asphyxiates - through lack of oxygen. The illness waxes and wanes constantly. Sometimes it won't appear for months at a time, other times it will get really bad and be around for some months. i have tried every readily available fish treatment in the U.K. none have cured the fish. I have spoken with lots of experts, and no one can identify this illness. Richard at wharf aquatics said that he won't keep these dats because he has seen this before and doesn't know what it is or how to cure it. He also said that these dats are the hardest to keep because they are fussy feeders and over-shy, etc. Sparsholt college also haven't seen this before (I have just sent them the body of the latest casualty for P.M.). i await any results. The problems are these;
No one in the U.K. seems to know enough about dats to give good advice
None of the experts i have spoken with/know have ever seen this illness before.
Illness is resistant to all commercially available treatments.
The only thing i haven't tried yet is antibiotics.
i have been told by lots of people that my dats are the best they have seen for the species. I have got 2" fish to 8.5" in two years. They are feeding on live worms, defrost prawns, defrost cockles, bloodworm, and very occasionally the odd catfish pellet.
If anyone could help me with this it would be great. I have lost 5 dats to this mystery illness so far.
Note, things like hole in the head and lymphocystis have been investigated and it isn't that.
Finally, this illness hasn't jumped species, other than one angel fish, which died very quickly. The body was examined by an Icthyologist using a microscope. He couldn't find any signs of parasites, bacteria, virus, etc. What he did say is that he has never seen a set of gills so badly damaged - apparently the tissues had turned to pink jelly.
Finally, Richard at wharf also said that i have done better than anyone he has ever heard of with keeping this species, as everyone he has known that has tried has lost them relatively quickly to various problems.
I am sorry to post such a long message, but it is important to get all of the facts down.
If anyone can help i will be really grateful. i love these fish, and it is agony watching them struggle so much at times.
P.S. The illness has to get very very bad before the dats start behaving abnormally.
Cheers,
Mike
