I've got a couple of issues with my flowerhorn that's puzzling me.
First of all, I purchased this guy from a business that imported him from a reliable breeder in Thailand and placed him alone in my 90 gallon tank 13 months ago. He's always been a healthy, active, and interactive little guy but in the past 13 months he's only grown from 4" to 5".
Then about a little over a week ago he started showing the dreaded swim bladder issues. I dosed with epsom salts (1 table spoon per gallon) and have been dosing with Melafix for the past week. He's still active, happy to see you, and always ready to eat but other than that he's still resting on the bottom.
Some details:
* I do a 90% water change every 2 weeks. Never miss it.
* I feed NLS every two days.
* Water parameters have always been acceptable. I was even concerned about my well water causing the growth issue so I had my water tested. They claim there are no issues. I specifically asked about nitrates and they claim there were none in my sample.
* I've got many years experience at fish keeping. I've even had a 300 gallon tank running in my man cave for the past 7 years and currently running very stable with 11 Centrals.
* This 90 gallon tank has been running for 11 years. I started out with Africans and kept those for 5 years then decided to switch to Centrals in all my tanks with the goal to keep larger fish but this tank has always given me trouble after that. I next purchased a juvenile flowerhorn and he lasted for 2 years. Then I purchased a full grown Trimac and he only lasted for two years. Getting kind of discouraged I thought what the heck, I'll try some cheap Petsmart Oscars (even though I have hard water). I went through 5 Oscars in a about a year and a half. They didn't even begin to grow until dying.
I'd sure appreciate any imput.
Thanks!
First of all, I purchased this guy from a business that imported him from a reliable breeder in Thailand and placed him alone in my 90 gallon tank 13 months ago. He's always been a healthy, active, and interactive little guy but in the past 13 months he's only grown from 4" to 5".
Then about a little over a week ago he started showing the dreaded swim bladder issues. I dosed with epsom salts (1 table spoon per gallon) and have been dosing with Melafix for the past week. He's still active, happy to see you, and always ready to eat but other than that he's still resting on the bottom.
Some details:
* I do a 90% water change every 2 weeks. Never miss it.
* I feed NLS every two days.
* Water parameters have always been acceptable. I was even concerned about my well water causing the growth issue so I had my water tested. They claim there are no issues. I specifically asked about nitrates and they claim there were none in my sample.
* I've got many years experience at fish keeping. I've even had a 300 gallon tank running in my man cave for the past 7 years and currently running very stable with 11 Centrals.
* This 90 gallon tank has been running for 11 years. I started out with Africans and kept those for 5 years then decided to switch to Centrals in all my tanks with the goal to keep larger fish but this tank has always given me trouble after that. I next purchased a juvenile flowerhorn and he lasted for 2 years. Then I purchased a full grown Trimac and he only lasted for two years. Getting kind of discouraged I thought what the heck, I'll try some cheap Petsmart Oscars (even though I have hard water). I went through 5 Oscars in a about a year and a half. They didn't even begin to grow until dying.
I'd sure appreciate any imput.
Thanks!
