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RE: Sheepshead Minnow question
Hello again,
someone suggested I furnish more info.
> You need to let us know a little bit about your tank conditions, and
> the size of aquarium you are keeping them in. Do you have any salt in
> the water? What is the pH, filtration etc.
- Tank is a heavily-planted 15g freshwater set-up.
- There are 8 sheepshead minnows, 7 banded killifish, and one Siamese
Flying Fox (for algae control). Except for the one spotted fish and another
sheep that looks a bit skinny, all others appear active and healthy. (I
plan to isolate the two sick fish this weekend to a 10g.)
- Nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia are low, and pH around 6.5-7.
- No salt added--it's strictly freshwater.
- Has an Aquaclear 150 with only the foam insert for biological filtration.
- Water temperature used to be ~73F. Increased it last night to 75F to
speed up the ick protozoan cycle. May increase it by a degree or two
tonight depending on how the fish appear to be behaving.
I'll be moving the sheeps and b. killis (along with a mummichog currently
in another tank) to a 30g tank soon--the 15g seems to be too small for them
all.
Should I have maintained the sheeps in a brackish environment? According to
some of the books I read, sheeps can be found in freshwater. Since I like to
grow aquatic plants (that like freshwater), I decided that the fish would do
fine in freshwater, and most seemed to be thriving since I got them around
October. THe spots on that one fish only started appearing last week. I've
not introduced anything new to the tank that could have caused it. (If it
is ick, that protozoan is generally present in all tanks, and may be affecting
this particular fish because oft it's weak immune system?)
Any advice on how to deal with this is appreciated.
cheers,
Shireen Gonzaga
Baltimore