theyd be much bigget now tho...since you caught them at the beginning of the summer
Parasites
- Thread starter simple man
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Not any bigger than the one you had. I caught several different sizes, so there should be some small ones you'll just have to try alittle harder lol
Without knowing specifically what the bug was, it is difficult to point at a treating option. There are certainly many different types of ailments, including bacterial, fungal and parasitic. The majority of the problems encountered in the aquarium are bacterial in nature and a good full spectrum antibiotic will do the trick. In all honesty, I rarely use any medications. A series of water changes and the addition of some aquarium salt nearly always do the trick.
A note on feeders. These fish are mss produced with absolutely no culling involved. They are extremely inbred and are maintained in horrid conditions so it is no surprise that the majority of them have something tagging along with them. This is why, as a rule, feeders should be avoided. If there is an alternative, such as frozen, freeze dried or pelleted foods that your fish will take, these are much preferred. Some fish just won't take dead food though. In this case, a quarantine tank should be used where feeders are housed for several weeks before being fed. This gives the weak ones time to either die or shed whatever may be ailing them. You can treat this tank if you see fit, but heavy water changes as well as the addition of some salt should do the trick of clearing them up.
Should you use Aquarium Salt at the time you do the water changes for a fresh water tank? Or would just your regular run-of-the-mill Morton's work?
I feed 4 Tiger Muskies exclusively live feeders, and have been tempted to do this only every other day (which will not help they grow bigger as they are going into a ranch pond as their permanent home later, but this is obviously a concern in getting them to that point).
I have also thought about getting a 10 gallon tank to put on the side to house feeders for cleaning them out first.
Which of the 2 methods (feeder tank or weekly changes with salt) would work best???
sky I am in the same boat with my fish. I use aquarium slat in the tank anyway, but I am going with a separate feeder tank so I can maintain them for a while and keep an eye on them. I am also no longer going to use any Petco type fish or goldfish derivatives. I will get some shuiner from the local bait shops. That and the baby bluegill I catch will be more than enough to do the job. Throw a few crayfish in for them when they get bigger too. If they are going to be transferred top a pond they should get accustomed to eating as much of the naturally occuring food as they can.
sky I am in the same boat with my fish. I use aquarium slat in the tank anyway, but I am going with a separate feeder tank so I can maintain them for a while and keep an eye on them. I am also no longer going to use any Petco type fish or goldfish derivatives. I will get some shuiner from the local bait shops. That and the baby bluegill I catch will be more than enough to do the job. Throw a few crayfish in for them when they get bigger too. If they are going to be transferred top a pond they should get accustomed to eating as much of the naturally occuring food as they can.
I agree with you 100% (which is why I have started and stayed with live feeders). I've been getting Guppies since they first arrived from my local pet store (non-chain kind). They get their Guppies from FL, and have been a pretty good staple in this initial ramping up period. They have grown about an inch over the last month, and so I have been getting Chub minnows, Shiner minnows and Rosey Red minnows from my local bait shop (along with a few Crayfish/Craw Daddies for them to chow on).
So far so good, but what is the business with the salt? I do not want to go with another tank to clean them up first with (though that would be ideal I would still have to use some directly from a shop while the others clean out, so...). Is the salt thing supposed to be done at every water change? The time I did use it I was told it was a one time application and that was it.
best way to get rid of parasites from natives is Fluke meds. even though the parasites aren't flukes, fluke meds will work most of the time.
