Who owns a Pulcher in the UK?

[marvinbaker]

I had a smaller one to that i lost, to what seemed like growths or ulcers appearing on its head

Through work with alan I have been able to isolate this. All widebars, and almost only widebars above all other datnioides suffer from these when there is a drop in ph and water quality. When I first got my widebar off andy it used to get them regularly. They never seemed to affect him and he always still acted normal and continued eating but they would ooze pus and then once I'd do some water changes they would clear up. But they would come back after a few days. This happened for a good year. Not all the time but on at least a dozen occasions. Because they never affected his behaviour I literally just thought I had a teenager with acne for a fish!

In speaking to alan he suggested pretty much it was my fault and I needed to keep the fish in far better water quality, reduce the stocking heavily and up my changes. At first I didn't take it too seriously. I had 2 fx5's, a tetratec 1200, and 2 fluval 4 internals on a 7x2x2. I did a big change every weekend. I'd seen others with more stocking in similar size tanks. But the spots kept happening and alan kept on at me so I decided to test my ph daily to see the fluctuation. During a week my ph would go from 7.4 post water change to 6.4 exactly a week later. That was enough. Others have protested about "dat disease" but the simple fact is ph fluctuation imo. I cut my stocking by a good 2/3's as I couldn't manage extra water changes (I do 35-40% weekly) or a bigger home than the 7x2x2 he was in. I haven't had any sign of an abrasion for the last 18mths. The fish has never looked better. During a week my ph can now fluctuate from 7.2 post change down to 6.9 a week later. I'm firmly of the belief that thinbar sudden death syndrome is caused by the same. As these tigers grow imo they are more and more sensitive to water quality.

As alan always says to me, some will listen, some just don't want to listen, but what that guy doesn't know about water isn't worth knowing.

 

[wayne the pain]

Thats very interesting and sounds like what my little tiger had, but never on the larger one? Who is Alan anyway?

Such a shame to loose these fish, whats even sadder i no longer even keep fish but one day i will get back into it

 

[jakethesnake]

I know of 5 odd, richards, martins, nishs, alans then there is the one that looked more indo that david carr was selling. Also what happened to the **** one mark from harlow had, didnt that go on to giles and tomas holdsworth? Dixon still got any?

Gutted my old one pegged it a few months ago, that was a stunner.

Alan is good friend of ours wayne, he had my old one and now nishs in his pond a year ago.

Pulchers are like the local bikes in the UK hobby, everyone gets a go with them lol.

Sadly hardly any left, just hope george (alans one) pulls through but we're be suprised.

Still think there are 10-15 in uk as must be few hiden away somewhere

 

[jakethesnake]

Oh and didnt Andy lose 4? Only george and my old one pulling through?

 

[wayne the pain]

Is there none in any public aquariums? Know Blue Planet had some microlepis in there brackish tank.

 

[wayne the pain]

Still no one cracked the breeding of this sp then?

 

[jakethesnake]

Doubt a public aquarium will have such a fish. And no one will even breed them in a tank

 

[wayne the pain]

When i said breeding was thinking more of the larger fish farms and concerned goverments agencies

 

[T1KARMANN]

Thailand has the best chance of breeding them but if they do it will never benefit us as i don't think they will ever export them again

i don't think the ulcers was down to Ph drop or over stocked tanks

i had 7 x ST 1 x cambelli 1 x NTT 1 x tigrunis 1 x 25inch aro 3 x p14 in my tank at one point and no ulcers and when i was in hospital my Ph would drop from 7.2 down as low as 5.8 my nitrates were always sky high in that tank like 150ppm +

my old NGT that has also done the rounds me Alan Justin nish jake also came out with it when i gave it to Alan but they went when it came back to me and it never got it again

 

[wayne the pain]

Would like to see someone somewhere breed them and them not be available to fishkeepers than to loose them forever