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Re: [Killietalk] L. tanganicanus need of males and females
Another US$0.02 on this thread.
Some rift lakes, and I think L. Tanganica is one, have an abnormally
high magnesium content, as compared to the calcium. I believe some
chicklet types add some Epsom salts to their tanks to keep the Mg
content up. Might be worth checking into. [I didn't check, because my
local water is too soft for ordinary fish, much less the denizens of
alkali lakes. No way I'm up to keeping *tanganicus*.]
Wright
Barry Cooper wrote:
At 11:04 AM 1/21/2004 -0500, you wrote:
Lake Tanganyika water is a super-saturated with Calcium salts. I have
read reports of Calcium deposits continually depositing on rocks near
the shore where evaporation forces excess minerals to precipitate
out. The bent spines, etc... sounds like a Calcium deficiency. Since
Calcium is also required for nervous system development, that may have
been a big part of your problem.
Calcium is required by every living cell, but in minute amounts. Bones,
of course, require a lot during growth, but I doubt that calcium would
be limiting in this way unless you had a situation where it is almost
absent from the food and water, or where there was a phosphate/Ca
imbalance or a deficiency of vit. D. I simply don't know to what degree
fish use calcium from the water vs calcium from dietary sources, and I
am assuming that they require vit. D, like other animals. What I really
want to say is that one very important cause of bent spines in fish is
vit. C deficiency. Fish require dietary vit. C, just as humans do, and
the vitamin in turn is required for collagen synthesis, a major
structural protein that is enriched in bone and other connective
tissues. You'll notice that all good dry foods are supplemented with
stabilized ascorbate (vit. C). This is the reason I like to feed my
grindal works with good kitten food. It is also supplemented with
stabilized vit C, as well as many other things. The fish get it via the
gut content of the worms.
Barry
_____________________________________________________________
Barry J. Cooper, Prof. Emeritus, Dept. Biomedical Sciences, Cornell
University
Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University
Home address: 27505 Riggs Hill Rd., Sweet Home, OR 97386
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Wright Huntley -- 760 872-3995 -- Rt. 001 Box K36, Bishop CA 93514
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