Boesmani Rainbowfish care?

[sanny]

Hello guys,

I've been having trouble with keeping rainbowfish alive. I sorta gave up on them, but not quit yet. As an experienced fish keeper, all my fish are perfectly healthy accept when I get the rainbowfish. They die.

Here are a few problems I've having. Although my paremeters are right, my boesmani ( which died ) started to "shed" the slime coat I believe and started breathing heavily. Woke up a morning found it dead.


Another rainbowfish, which was the turquois rainbow, did well the first day, but started dieing the next day. It started heavily gasping for air, and then literally passed out.


My set up: 50 gallons, good aeration, good filteration, excellent water peremeters, planted tank, and no aggressive fish.

I would appreciate it, if someone could help.

[Montrealguy]

If the fish is shedding its slime coat, then something is off in the water, or there is a parasite in the tank. However, the parasite would affect other fish.

How long do you have these rainbows before the disease manifests itself? It may be a pet shop problem.

What are your water parameters in terms of hardness and pH? If your water is soft, there is more of a danger of Oodinium, which could do what you are describing. It is less likely in harder water.

What's the water change routine?

M boesemani and lacustris are both pretty adaptable in terms of water. They'll thrive across a wide range of hardnesses. In my experience, both are very hardy species if they come in from the pet store healthy. Because they grow slowly, they spend more time in the fish farms than a lot of quick growing fish, and sometimes the poor conditions get them. The predictable development in the trade is a search for cheaper and cheaper fish, and the conditions that allow them to be produced cheaply enough to satisfy the market mean we get what the stores pay for. A lot of fish die in that first 2-3 weeks in our tanks. 

[sanny]

Hey Montrealguy,

I had Angelfish and a few tetras with them. The Angels and tetras are doing really well, and I moved them to a 30 gallon a few days ago.

I know it wasn't parasite infecting the boesmani because none of my other fish were infected, and I bought the boesmani as a "trade in" from my local fish store. It was pretty big about 4 inches and Its sad seeing an endangered species dieing.

As to Ottawa water, the Ph is about 8 I believe, and alkaline. Like you mentioned, they can handle all sort of water condition, and I did a 20% water change, to bring the nitrate down a little for these guys, but no luck.

[Montrealguy]

It's weird. I keep and breed boesemanis, and they are tanks. Tough fish.

They should be okay on that water with the usual weekly changes. They need clean water, and they are hierarchical in behavior - they do poorly alone. They are social, and I find they do best with 5-6 individuals.

I've seen the skin thing with newly arrived clown loaches.

It was probably something they brought from the store. A full sized Bow could have been an old one, and more open to stress/disease. That's a guess - I don't know.

[sanny]

Oh ok, maybe they shed and slowly adjust to the water peremeters over time. And maybe he died because he was so use to the water peremeter in the previous tank, and died with me with different water peremeters. It could be many reasons. Thanks Montreal guy.

[Montrealguy]

The slime shedding can only be a reaction to a skin parasite. or a bacterial infection. It's an extreme reaction - not something that would be a water change thing. The slime is the first line of immune defence on a fish, and shedding means its production was in overdrive to try to keep something off. The fish was attacked by something.
What is always going to be the question. If it didn't spread through the tank then it was stress related, and hit one vulnerable individual.

[sanny]

Hey Montrealguy,

That might have happend. Not all fish we buy end up being in top health. Especially when adding a new fish. I might have not had good luck with that Boesmani from the start. They say buy a school of Boesmanis, not only because theyre schooling fish but because buying a school of them will decrease the risk of them dying. Thats not what I did. Big mistake.