May have to put my acara Jazz down. Opinions.

[duanes]

Its a bit surprising that you have no nitrates as even tap water has a bit…is your test kit old or expired?

With all the water changes, its not surprising to me, there is little to no nitrate.
I have "not" had detectable nitrate readings on my tanks, in the 5 years since they have been set up here in Panama.


When I lived in Milwaukee, I would get 2 ppm readings , directly after a water changes, but that was because at the Water Works, Chloramine was used as a disinfectant but my planted sumps (as they do here) would usually eat that amount of nitrate up, in 24 hours or so.


I test natural waters here in Panama wherever I collect fish, and have yet to get a detectable reading, in the clearest, to
even in the muddiest of natural waters..

One other thing to consider is normal life span.
Natural Andinoacara pulcher, lifespan is @ 5 - 7 years.
But there is no-telling what "line breeding", with no regard for anything but the fishes "color", sacrifices in the health of man-induced process.

In nature, the gauntlet of "survival of the fittest" weeds out the weak, but in the captive bred quest for fancy colors, no such checks or balances are employed.

I must admit, I would have euthanized that fish, a long time ago.

 

[FINWIN]

Guess you have a point there...Jazz is around 3. Just bizarre how a fish can seem to be fine, recover, then BAM. Although as I mentioned her circus flop into the garbage disposal is probably why she can't seem to recover anymore. The next update will be the one I don't want to make. It's always tougher when you raise them versus buying as an adult. I very nearly became a vet, I had that much interest in high school but art won out.

I'm also starting to question the effectiveness of some of these meds. Having lost key fish over the last year or so I've had mixed results at best. The next acara I get will be the regular blue one...I've had enough of this. I've had four of the EBAs and only one of them never developed some kind of issue. I only lost Felix because she jumped one time too many.

 

[FINWIN]

This was the most difficult decision I've ever had to make as a fishkeeper and I hope I never have to do it again. I had to let Jazz go, just too much suffering and she was clearly beyond my ability to help. It took me fifteen minutes to talk myself into euthanizing her (never did this before), but after seeing her in full lighting there was no other choice. Despite her sickness she still responded to me, which made it worse. Still alert but her body had pretty much quit. If she were just laying there like a lump it would have been different. I included these last pictures before sending her to the freezer. Any input on what you see is appreciated. We use cute words like euthanize to make ourselves feel better but it's still killing your fish. It was the right decision and I still feel like crap. An ugly year of losses all around.

You see the two red areas and the hollow belly in this first shot. Some of this is exaggerated by the curvature of her 'bad' side. Lower body scales are almost white instead of silver. Fins have a lot of black pigment and orange piping turned black weeks ago.

 

[FINWIN]

Closeup here of the red mass behind the fin. Fins extremely tatty and decayed between the rays. Redness around mouth area returned a second time. You see the abrupt curve of her side here. It was very hard.

 

[FINWIN]

This angle shows the body curve distortion. Her mouth movements didn't match her breathing....gills were rapid but mouth was slow. Very bizarre. Am interested in any input as I said. I don't want to think about this too much right now.

 

[jjohnwm]

I won't even try to analyze those pics point by point; I'll simply state that you did the correct thing by ending it. If I were to find fault it would simply be to state that IMHO it has sounded for awhile as though the time for this move came some while ago, and seeing those pics confirms that in my mind. I know it's much easier for an outsider to see this than for someone who is personally involved in the situation to do so.

This is the tough part of keeping animals; anyone who doesn't find that to be the case has no business keeping them, and it's obvious that does not apply to you. Take comfort from the knowledge that you did an amazing job of trying to save that fish, accept the fact that sometimes no amount of effort is sufficient, and try to move one.

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

I'm really sorry for your loss, FINWIN@. Putting down an animal, especially one that has been with you for a few years is a very tough decision, but you did the right thing. There was no good reason for her to suffer any longer.

 

[FINWIN]

I won't even try to analyze those pics point by point; I'll simply state that you did the correct thing by ending it. If I were to find fault it would simply be to state that IMHO it has sounded for awhile as though the time for this move came some while ago, and seeing those pics confirms that in my mind. I know it's much easier for an outsider to see this than for someone who is personally involved in the situation to do so.

This is the tough part of keeping animals; anyone who doesn't find that to be the case has no business keeping them, and it's obvious that does not apply to you. Take comfort from the knowledge that you did an amazing job of trying to save that fish, accept the fact that sometimes no amount of effort is sufficient, and try to move one.

Thank you for your honesty. In truth I was hoping she'd go on her own without me having to decide but it didn't happen. I guess I'm such a believer in life its hard to let go at times. Also because I lost Corn (severum), then Rocky (acara) I was kinda hesitant to pull the trigger. All in a pretty quick time frame and all in frustrating way. All of Jazz recoveries were deceptive. She struggled with swim bladder bouyancy, then got better, then got worse, then went into the garbage disposal. Swim bladder came back, then she got popeye. Recovered from popeye, the developed other problems and went downhill for good.

As I said in another post I think I'll look at the standard blue acara and avoid the electrics. Out of 4 I've had 3 of them develop various health issues that appeared quickly, became chronic, then killed. I will have more positive things to post fairly soon.

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

As I said in another post, I think I'll look at the standard blue acara and avoid the electrics.

I know you probably don't want to talk about EBAs right now, but what is the difference between EBAS and BAs? I thought those were the same thing?

 

[FINWIN]

I know you probably don't want to talk about EBAs right now, but what is the difference between EBAS and BAs? I thought those were the same thing?

The regular blues are darker with spangling resembling a Dempsey or Gt. I actually didn't know until recently the EBAs are a hybrid crossed with blue rams. I just thought they were line bred for color. From doing a bit of research the regular blues used to be common in LFS but are hard to find now. BA's can get up to 8 inches. My biggest EBA was Rocky at 7 inches and still young.

the blue acara


the electric blue acara



blue ram cichlid



some information I verified at other sites and consistent with my experience.



Talking about this helps some. For people wanting an EBA I'll only say they're energetic, personable and intelligent fish. Not a dud personality anywhere. But know what you're getting into long term and be prepared. They are champion jumpers and will escape closed lids often hurling themselves several feet away. Hollow bellies and infections can appear suddenly after adulthood and you'll be on a merry-go-round of improvement and decline. I've had 4, and 3 of them went through this cycle (lost one to multiple jumping).

I can't even say the EBA look 'better' than the BA, they're stunning fish. I don't get it. But as much as I love the EBA I'm not putting myself through this anymore. Once is a fluke, three a pattern.