Tapajos pockmarks?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thanks guys!
However, I was under the impression that the river Tapajos was a clearwater river. It was part of the reason I went with this species.

I was talking to the people at my LFS and they suspect that its a water quality issue instead of a parasitic issue. Does anyone have any experience with this?
 
Add more water changes to your schedule and things should slowly improve. I found it to be curable with super clean water over many months of time. Gl
 
Here is an except from some info on the Tapajaros

The Tapajós is one of three major clearwater rivers in the Amazon Basin (the others are Xingu and Tocantins; the latter arguably outside the Amazon).[3][4] Clearwater rivers share the low conductivity and relatively low levels of dissolved solids with blackwater rivers, but differ from these in having water that at most only is somewhat acidic (typical pH ~6.5)[3] and very clear with a greenish colour.[4] About 325 fish species are known from the Tapajós River basin, including 65 endemics.[5] Many of these have only been discovered within the last decade, and a conservative estimate suggests more than 500 fish species eventually will be recognized in the river basin.[5] Some of these may be threatened by the many dams
 
Yes, the Tapajos is indeed classified as clearwater, but it is also a very long river. (2,700 km long) The area where the OH variants of this species is collected, according to Weidner and others, is blackwater and typically will have a pH of 6.2-6.8. Even the main channel of the Tapajos is slightly acidic, to neutral in pH.

While water quality can be a stress trigger, water quality doesn't cause the necrosis of tissue, as seen in your fish. Read the info in the links provided previously, and again linked to below. It's all spelled out pretty clearly.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/hith-revisited.650466/


Water changes alone can SOMETIMES reduce, or even reverse the necrosis, but dirty water isn't what eats away at the tissue. Nor is dirty water (organics/nitrates) the only cause of this ailment.
 
To the OP ..... just keep in mind that once those protozoa travel beyond the intestine, into the blood stream, and/or various organs, (such as they have in yours) Epsom infused food may or may not be effective at totally eradicating the parasite.
 
RD. said:
Water changes alone can SOMETIMES reduce, or even reverse the necrosis, but dirty water isn't what eats away at the tissue. Nor is dirty water (organics/nitrates) the only cause of this ailment.
Click to expand...
+1.

As far as type of water, they're reasonably adaptable. I've kept (and bred) them for several years (6 probably, but don't remember exactly), no problems at all with ph in mid to upper 7s and moderate hardness. And, in fact, had one tank go a little haywire a couple of years ago and get much higher ph/KH than I realized and the orange heads were fine at the same time I started losing some guianacara (which is what led to me investigating and figuring out the ph/hardness issue).

But, while they're reasonably robust in good conditions, they can be susceptible to stress, low oxygen, or poor water quality. If you've only had them a few months, it's possible they came to you in stressed or poor condition and that you're seeing the results of that.
 
Thanks everyone. Crazy Canuck specifically, I appreciate your help with this. I've been reading up on how to combat hexamita, I'm going to combat this disease with medication and a temperature increase (my basement is cold, so my tanks generally tend to be on the cooler end of the acceptable spectrum) in order to kill any free swimming parasites and to treat them internally. Apparently protozoa start having problems with their organelles at higher water temperatures, so if it doesn't kill them it should at least slow the progression of the disease.

All of the wounds appear to be healed, so I'm not overly concerned with a bacterial infection taking over when I crank the heat up. I'll be watchful though.
 
Just curious how things played out with your fish?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom