Slow Growth Rate for Fahaka

[Terrance]

I've seen reading some stuff off of MFK about Fahakas from certain regions of the world being smaller at max size. I'm not sure if my guy is from that region or not.

In December 2011, my puff was 2". Today he measures slightly longer than 4". Its been five months, but he has only grown 2 inches. I treated for IPs twice (each lasting about a week). During treatment, he didn't really eat too much of the medicated food (take one bite of the medicated food) and had stringy poop.

Currently, his poop is no longer stringy (none that I've seen so far), but solids. I feed worms, snails, and raw shrimp (vitachem). I feed until the tummy is slightly rounded once per day, 6 days per week. Before each meal, I see his body being slender, but not really sunken. Recently after a day of fasting, his tummy did look slightly sunken. I notice if he eats too much, there would be areas on his tummy that bulges out.

Is this normal for a 4" Fahaka? Here is a video of me showing you what happens when I overfeed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZvePRWg ... ature=plcp

[bertie 83]

Ip's. Medicated food soaked in garlic will get munched. I will not go on that site. They should grow 1" a month

[Terrance]

Dang I was hoping the IPs were gone after seeing solid poop.

[puffykid]

I agree with the above, its always a good idea to treat for a longer period of time to be safe rather than sorry. Especially since if you don't kill all the parasites in 1 sitting they could become drug resistant.

[Terrance]

Its been 1 weeks since I started treatment. Raw shrimp is best for soaking up Prazipro, so it was the only food source I fed so far. For the past week, he been taking 2 bites off the shrimp every night. I've also dosed the water to help the process. I'm going to do keep medicating for another week. I want this to be the last time I ever medicate him.

[Pufferpunk]

You're really wasting meds & $$$ dosing the water, as FW fish don't drink water.

[Arny]

You're really wasting meds & $$$ dosing the water, as FW fish don't drink water.

Would they not absorb the meds through their skin?

[Pufferpunk]

Nope, unless the parasites are on the skin.

[Terrance]

You're really wasting meds & $$$ dosing the water, as FW fish don't drink water.

Does that apply to all FW species? I have read on other forums about people dosing water and found worms coming out of the fish's body the following day.

[LilGreenPuffer]

I personally think that dosing the water helps, since there are parasites in the water that you've got to kill too. And I did successfully deworm a couple fish by dosing water when I couldn't get the meds into them. I prefer treating both food and water.

[bertie 83]

I think the gills would pick up a little medication, just probably not enough to effectively get fully into the fishes system, internal parasites feed on whatever is in the fishes gut so that's the best way to rid your fish of them. Have you tried injecting any food with medication? Garlic added to the food durin thawing would also help massively

[RTR]

Intestinal parasites are in the gut, not in the body. The gut is topographically not in the body. Food take in by the mouth must be digested and absorded through the gut walls to be used by the fish. IPs are not living in the water, they are in waste or in the guts of the fish. To be transmitted either the fish housing them must be eaten or the waste containing the young parasites must be eaten (common in tanks).

PP is correct, FW fish do not drink water. They must constantly excrete excess water absorbed through the skin and gills. Marcomolecules in the water and intestinal parasites are not absorbed or infected into the gut via the skin - that would be impossible. They can only get in through the mouth (or rarely the anus). It is a major difference between FW and SW fish.

FW fish rarely drink at all due their constant absorption of water. SW fish must drink a lot to compensate for water they lose through their skin to the salt water surrounding them. It sounds paradoxical, but it is sound science. The blood and body fluids of FW fish are hypertonic to the surrounding FW. So the absorb water passively via the skin. SW fish are hypotonic to the surrounding water, so they lose body water to the surrounding SW constantly. Their kidneys are highly effective at retaining needed minerals and excreting excess water and unneeded minerals.

Fish skins are water repellent, not waterproof. There is a huge difference in those two meanings.

HTH

[Arny]

Intestinal parasites are in the gut, not in the body. The gut is topographically not in the body. Food take in by the mouth must be digested and absorded through the gut walls to be used by the fish. IPs are not living in the water, they are in waste or in the guts of the fish. To be transmitted either the fish housing them must be eaten or the waste containing the young parasites must be eaten (common in tanks).

PP is correct, FW fish do not drink water. They must constantly excrete excess water absorbed through the skin and gills. Marcomolecules in the water and intestinal parasites are not absorbed or infected into the gut via the skin - that would be impossible. They can only get in through the mouth (or rarely the anus). It is a major difference between FW and SW fish.

FW fish rarely drink at all due their constant absorption of water. SW fish must drink a lot to compensate for water they lose through their skin to the salt water surrounding them. It sounds paradoxical, but it is sound science. The blood and body fluids of FW fish are hypertonic to the surrounding FW. So the absorb water passively via the skim. SW fish are hypotonic to the surrounding water, so they lose body water to the surrounding SW constantly. Their kidneys are highly effective at retaining needed minerals and excreting excess water and unneeded minerals.

Fish skins are water repellent, not waterproof. There is a huge difference in those two meanings.

HTH

Thanks for the info RTR

[LilGreenPuffer]

IPs are not living in the water, they are in waste or in the guts of the fish.

But then how do IPs spread through water?

[Pufferpunk]

The waste.