Moose-Hunter

[bassman186]

I was just wondering how the plants for the Aqaurium are coming along. I took everyones advice and I now have a 6 inch Northern and a 4 inch Muskie in my 55 gallon aqaurium. If they're ready for me you can contact me at [email protected] or call 952 210-8092.

Thanks; Matt

[Moose-Hunter]

Matt...

I'm afraid I don't have very good news for you. A while back I made the mistake of feeding my walleyes a few minnows out of the bait bucket. BAD MISTAKE!!! My tank has come down with a case of hook worm. These little buggers are what some people call fish lice. They look like a little white leech. A couple of these nasty little things have attached themselves to the smaller of the two walleyes. I had to treat my tank with a anti-parasitic pond chemical called dimiline. I may have caught it in time so my fish may survive. But now, ALL my plants are now on death's door. None of them look as if they will survive the treatments.

I'm setting up my 30 gallon as a holding tank for the eyes as soon as the treatments are complete. Then it's going to be a total take down, cleaning and rebuild of the 55.... Pumps and tank will be cleaned. Gravel, rocks, driftwood, and any plants that do survive, even filters and hoses, are in the dumper.

SPENDY Lesson learned.... Don't use bait store minnows unless you've medicated them for at least 28 days....

I'll be "back in business" in a few weeks. And I'll keep ya posted on the plants....

Sorry pal..... I wish I had better news....

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M-H (aka: Dan)

[bassman186]

hey thats no problem, well except having to do all that work over some minnows. When you say medicate them for 28 days what does that mean??

Thanks again though and keep me posted on the situation

Matt

[Moose-Hunter]

Hey Matt...

Since the minnows that we all get from bait shops originally came from non-aquarium enviroments, they will have parasites and possibly other diseases. Granted, the bait suppliers keep their tanks as clean as possible, but just due to the HUGE numbers of minnows they cycle through these tanks, without constant monitoring and medication, the "dirty" minnows make it out to your local shops and, if you keep natives, possibly your tank.

The time of 28 days is what I have seen as the bare minimum treatment time necessary to kill a minor parasitic infestation. And possibly other diseases such as "ich". Treatment duration sometimes can be longer, sometimes shorter. It all depends on "what you "caught" so to speak. I used to keep a feeder tank (a divided 10 gallon) stocked with bait store minnows. This tank was loaded with a chemical called copper safe. (Fish medicine) I'd cycle the minnows thru this tank in 30 day slots. 30 days in the medicated side, then they were transfered to the holding side, then to Mr. Fishy. Worked out sort of slick, but was rather spendy to keep in operation. I dumped that idea after so long and went back to buying small feeder comets and rosies from Pet Smart. Price wise it was about the same (in the long run) just "easier" to not have so many tanks in operation...

You basically have to treat your tank like a small scale pond. These aren't guppies ya know!!

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M-H (aka: Dan)

[This message has been edited by Moose-Hunter (edited 07-19-2004).]

[bassman186]

Thanks MH. It sounds like alot of work just to feed the fish, I think i'll just try the petsmart idea. Thanks for the help, I'm gonna try to post pictures of my northern and possible muskie, maybe some FM members will be able to tell if its a muskie or northern.

[Moose-Hunter]

Hey Matt...

I think my walleye/plant tank is back on track. After the complete rebuild, everything is going fine. The tank "cycled" in 4 days!!! And, so far, no evidence of parasites!! Fish are doing fine and eat the PET STORE BOUGHT minnows like they're going out of style!! I have a few plants in there right now but don't know how they'll fair in a such a sterile enviroment. I need a bit of fish poop put down to really get them growing.

Things are looking up!! I'll continue to keep you posted.

BTW... I need some Green Foxtail. Anyone know where I could find some?

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M-H (aka: Dan)

[This message has been edited by Moose-Hunter (edited 07-24-2004).]

[bassman186]

MH;

Sounds like all that hard work is going to pay off, and its a good thing. I currently am feeding my Northern and Muskie little comet fish from the pet store, they seem to love them.

Keep me posted!

Matt

[Swamp Scooter]

If the minnows are carrying "bugs and things" would leeches do the same thing?

What other stuff do you think they will eat? Bugs, worms, baby bullheads? Would they be any cleaner? For Summer there are a lot of options but do you also think that the bait store minnows in the winter will be cleaner due to the water cleaning up too?

Sounds like a fun tank to have. Better than guppies and goldfish!

[Moose-Hunter]

Swamp Scooter...

In a word.... YES. Well I should say probably. Unless the leeches or whatever came out of an aquarium type enviroment, all the stuff you mentioned would be suspect to "bugs" and the like.

I actually had a couple baby bullheads in my gamefish tank for a while.... As soon as one fish can fit into the other fishes mouth.... Sooner or later it will!! And that's where my bullheads went. They turned into walleye chow. And these bullie's were over 4" long!!! I actually saw one of the walleyes eatting the last bullhead... TAIL first. Somehow the spines were not a problem.

As far as colder water temps go... I'm not too sure on that one, but my take is that the colder temps would only slow the lil' nasties down for a while. As soon as the "feeder fish" hit your tank, they'd warm up and the bugs would be out and about in a heartbeat.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I know what's been happening in my own tanks. A few good (and $pendy) lessons learned....

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M-H (aka: Dan)