Cirrus
Arowana blogger
I just got back from out of town to find that a couple NTT's I had inadvertently left in a 150 gallon tank for the month without food or lights are doing okay (although a little emaciated). I am now feeding them feeders and they look set to recover.
As for the rest of the 160 NTT's I imported and sold to various people across Canada, I have heard mixed news. Quite a few people have told me they have lost some or even all of the fish they bought. I have heard before (and experienced first hand) that NTT's are prone to some kind of unexplained "sudden death syndrome". Could this be the cause of the high mortality? I wonder what this "sudden death syndrome" is?
My personal theory is that NTT's are extremely sensitive to changes in water parameters. When I received the shipment, it was accompanied by a water test bag. It is common practise for fish farms or dealers from Asia to send along a sample of the water for testing purposes which is the same water used in the fish bags. In my case, I usually make sure that my tank water matches the test water as closely as possible before I go through the acclimatization process of adding tank water to the fish bags. Using this process I had very good luck with the NTT's when I put them in my tank and very low mortality. I know that when the fish were sold the Ph of my tank was well below neutral, around 6.4-6.5. Could it be that they went to tanks that had higher Ph and thus did not adjust well? I also know that the fish had been quarantined using a standard anti-parasite medication prior to their sale and that they all seemed to respond well to the treatment. Could some parasites somehow have made it through the treatment?
I am left with quite a few questions. The biggest question of all is, in future, what can I do differently to improve the long term chances of success for the fish?
As for the rest of the 160 NTT's I imported and sold to various people across Canada, I have heard mixed news. Quite a few people have told me they have lost some or even all of the fish they bought. I have heard before (and experienced first hand) that NTT's are prone to some kind of unexplained "sudden death syndrome". Could this be the cause of the high mortality? I wonder what this "sudden death syndrome" is?
My personal theory is that NTT's are extremely sensitive to changes in water parameters. When I received the shipment, it was accompanied by a water test bag. It is common practise for fish farms or dealers from Asia to send along a sample of the water for testing purposes which is the same water used in the fish bags. In my case, I usually make sure that my tank water matches the test water as closely as possible before I go through the acclimatization process of adding tank water to the fish bags. Using this process I had very good luck with the NTT's when I put them in my tank and very low mortality. I know that when the fish were sold the Ph of my tank was well below neutral, around 6.4-6.5. Could it be that they went to tanks that had higher Ph and thus did not adjust well? I also know that the fish had been quarantined using a standard anti-parasite medication prior to their sale and that they all seemed to respond well to the treatment. Could some parasites somehow have made it through the treatment?
I am left with quite a few questions. The biggest question of all is, in future, what can I do differently to improve the long term chances of success for the fish?
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