# garra rufa import pobs and disease



## Efishency (Nov 29, 2010)

hello 

my last import of garra rufa fishes (i set up fish spas) was not the most successful. i might say. On arrival from asia, i opened up their bags and FOLLOWING that, fish in all bags started going belly up while floating in the new tank. by that time i had added 15% by volume tank water to their arrival bags, with pH difference of 0.3 between the two, and GH maybe 3-4 points Temperature was the same. the water in their bags was yellowish and had small solid bits floating around (could even be poo). I was unsire of what was going on, at the time the best thing i though of was to introduce them into the tank with better aerated water. A large number recovered but ended up losing around 300 from the 4000 fish. I still cant explain this.

its been 2 weeks and in some of the tanks i have been noticing that a fwe fish developed really bulging abdominal areas while others in the same tank have fin rot, with what looks like bloodied edges. it is usually the tail. I pick out around 10 fish a day. 

needless to say, im changing supplier. I have checked my waters, all acceptable nh3/no2/no3/pH/hardness, cant see the environmental cause. not all tanks have problems, although all have same water.


im leaning to internal parasites or bacterial infection. not sure about the fins, its usually 1-2 fish in 150 that have it.

could greatly use some help here.

Thanks


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

What can you do if they are already showing up heavily stressed? I would drip acclimate them, as I believe has been recommended to you a number of times.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Not only the drip acclimation,but get fewer fish at a time.


----------



## Efishency (Nov 29, 2010)

Thanks for replies. I cant see how drip acclimation would have avoided their immediate 'belly-up' with the slight differences in pH and hardness. We are talking about a matter of 1-2 minutes after opening their bags. Something else must be going on. Also a number of those fish recovered once quickly put in the holding tanks. 

also any clues on disease symptoms and best action?

Thanks guys


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Just sounds like stress if they were dead that fast or it was something they had before you got them. It is easy to make an assumption that drip acclimation would not help for minor differences. Easier to do it anyway. The assumption is that it has to be big differences, but not necessarily so.


----------



## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Did you use dechlorinator?

Fish get get very stressed in transport, with that many fish you can expect some losses although 300 is getting a bit high, even more worrying are the continued problems.

How big is your tank? No matter what your supplier tells you about how many fish you can keep in a tank you are going to need a really huge tank for all those fish, something more like a swimming pool.

It also seems like your tank may not have been cycled. In an overcrowded, or uncycled tank ammonia quickly builds up causing fish deaths and illnesses. What you have described is fairly typical of this.


----------



## Efishency (Nov 29, 2010)

tank volumes were a total of 3000L, all cycled (constantly checked). I know this is little, but sadly this is the practical volumes for the spa industry, having kept fish in them before like this without issues. whatever the cause , unfortunately now imdealing with bloated fish that end up dying (bacterial i assum), really skinny fish that eat normally (internal parasites), and fin rot (bacterial i assume). im planning on trying to separate the sick fish and treat with esha 2000 and esha exit for bacteria and preis coly for what i think are internal parasites. please comment.

what are the chancxes of transmitting the diseases through moving filter media from one tank to the other?

appreciate the help guys


----------



## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Are you testing Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates? I think it would be a very good investment for you to buy a test kit (get the type with test tubes, not strips). It will help you to know what to do and we can give you much better advice.


----------

