Thai silk/Titanium health tip

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I don't believe anyone is disagreeing with you, TS are indeed known for being an overall weak strain of fish.

I also compare them with EBJD, not all specimens are genetically weak, but many are. If you go back a few yrs to when these fish were first being imported into NA you'll find many posts on this subject, with many MFKers that lost their TS to one thing or another very early on. IMO the strain has not been improved much since then.
 
RD.;5054981; said:
I don't believe anyone is disagreeing with you, TS are indeed known for being an overall weak strain of fish.

I also compare them with EBJD, not all specimens are genetically weak, but many are. If you go back a few yrs to when these fish were first being imported into NA you'll find many posts on this subject, with many MFKers that lost their TS to one thing or another very early on. IMO the strain has not been improved much since then.

I agree. I remember them being like $100+ for one then they went right down to $20 for fry probably because its hit or miss if they're going to live or not. I've had 3 awesome ones that were all healthy at a point and now I have 0 because they all decided to get sick at random points of their lives. Now I am not interested in the strain at all. They still look cool they're just not unique at all to me and not worth the health problems.
 
When these fish first came out 3-4 years ago you couldn't buy a TS with a clean bill of health if your life depended on it. If you bought direct from Thailand it cost $150 + transhipping fees for a 2-3" fish, and the majority of people on MFK that bought them, lost them shortly after to hex/spironucleus etc.

Back then (late 2008/early 2009) the only importer of TS in North America that seemed to have very few health issues with this strain was Charles Lam, from Vancouver BC. His fish came in healthy, and most remained that way. Then again his were all larger specimens (4-5"), and he certainly didn't sell them for $100 a piece. At that time, most vendors on aquabid listed TS at that size in the $300 range.

Today I still see the same health issues as back then, and like Cam I also lost mine to what I could only attribute to weak genetics. It was a small juvie & only cost me $20, but like Cam I too lost interest in keeping a strain of FH that for myself wasn't worth the health problems associated with it. Nice fish, but IMO there are far nicer FH strains that don't have such weak genes.

But hey, to each their own .....
 
Still failing to see your point.

Are you suggesting that other FH strains aren't sensitive to poor water, lower temperature conditions, or digestive issues?

The advice given by the OP (other than the epsom salt portion) is solid advice no matter what strain of FH one keeps. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

My disagreement with adding epsom salt on a constant basis is due to the fact that magnesium sulphate acts as a purgitive, which in some cases could cause the fishes food to move too swiftly through the digestive system not allowing the nutrients to be fully assimilated before being excreted. This too will have an affect on overall growth, and health.
 
I highly recommend the Epsom salt. Its known for curing alot of digestive ailments including bloat. I used them for my colony of Frontosa.
 
I've been using epsom salt before FH were created, but adding it to the water, especially at the rate you suggested, won't cure anything. It will simply act as a mild laxative/purgative, which for the reasons previously stated I do not recommend doing on a constant basis.

If you want to learn how to properly treat conditions such as hexamita/spironucleus (aka bloat) using epsom salt, read the info provided in the following link.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=339362


HTH
 
I never had issues with bloat or anything with my FH. He did great grew to 11" in a year. I never used epsom salt. I think if i wouldnt use it regularly just on a rare occasion. Its like yourself would it be healthy to take a big dose of epsom daily...
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com