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Transporting E. okeefenokee

Started by Guest_trygon_* , May 28 2008 01:53 PM

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14 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_trygon_*

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Posted 28 May 2008 - 01:53 PM

I caught six E. okefenokee over the weekend and lost three to a fungus attack during transport home, the other three have also been attacked and are in quarentine being treated with meth. blue. I transported them in a small cooler, about two gallons, with a bunch of hornwort. Is their slime coat extremely sensitve? Are they easily injured? Should they be transported in individual bags? Any insight would be appreciated.

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#2 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 28 May 2008 - 02:50 PM

I caught six E. okefenokee over the weekend and lost three to a fungus attack during transport home, the other three have also been attacked and are in quarentine being treated with meth. blue. I transported them in a small cooler, about two gallons, with a bunch of hornwort. Is their slime coat extremely sensitve? Are they easily injured? Should they be transported in individual bags? Any insight would be appreciated.

I'd recommend a small bit of aquarium salt and a dose of stress coat or prime when transporting freshly caught specimens. It usually helps lower mortality by a bunch.

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#3 Guest_keepnatives_*

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Posted 28 May 2008 - 04:59 PM

I've found packing in breather bags individually helps and bring fresh water with you, often the water they are found in isn't the cleanest. Keep them in a cooler to keep temps stable. Or just carry a couple gallon plastic container with a sponge filter and some mop yarns hanging from the sides, a battery operated pump to gently filter the water and you're good to go.

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#4 Guest_dsmith73_*

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Posted 28 May 2008 - 06:51 PM

We've found that most "swampy" fish don't do well after being collected, especially in the summer time. Kanus and Keeps both bring up good points that will go a long way towards eliminating this issue. First, either bring fresh water with you or salt the water from the site with approx a Tbsp per gallon of kosher salt. Aquarium salt works well also but costs more for essentially the same thing. Avoid the marine salt since it contains buffers that may raise the pH and hardness to unacceptable levels. Also, keep the containers cool. We have found that tucking 1 container into another with the bottom container having some ice in it works very nicely for long summer trips. Be careful not to cause too much fluctuation in temps, but it is better to be on the cooler side. One thing I do know for certain is that once the fish get this bacterial infection, it is next to impossible to reverse it, so some preventive measures go a long way.

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#5 Guest_trygon_*

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Posted 28 May 2008 - 08:48 PM

Thanks for the advice. I did use a battery pump and filter, but I made the mistake of using water from the collection site. Next time I'll have clean, aged water for transport. On the bright side though, the three remaining fish are responding to treatment and are eating daphnia. Hi Casper, how was your trip?

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#6 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 29 May 2008 - 11:42 AM

I add a dash of peroxide to the water before transporting. Hopefully reducing bacteria. Not sure if it does any good, but so far it doesn't seem to hurt.

I have found that Maracyn Plus is effective at reversing the infection your fish have.

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#7 Guest_critterguy_*

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Posted 08 June 2008 - 09:53 PM

Melafix kept an E. evergladei female that came down with this alive long enough to spawn and start off my E. evergladei colony(no longer keeping them, but they are awesome fish!).

is this caused by oppurtunistic fungus attacking stressed fish?

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#8 Guest_Elassoman_*

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Posted 16 July 2008 - 09:39 PM

The fish in the photos is Elassoma evergladei.

I have heard of the fungus problem many times, but I've never observed it personally. Did you transport the fish in water from the collection site?

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#9 Guest_trygon_*

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Posted 17 July 2008 - 01:44 PM

The fish in the photos is Elassoma evergladei.

I have heard of the fungus problem many times, but I've never observed it personally. Did you transport the fish in water from the collection site?

Unfortunately yes, but that won't happen again. The photograph was taken approximately 4 hours post capture. After that they went into clean fresh water, but it was too little too late. They were eating daphnia and being treated with ParaGuard. The fungus appeared to retreat, but the last one died three weeks later. Perhaps a stronger fungicide would have helped.

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#10 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 17 July 2008 - 10:57 PM

Wow, that's some serious net trauma. Keep in mind that you are dealing with bacteria rather than actual fungus. That's why the Maracyn product works. Methylene blue is an old school treatment for fungus - doesn't do so well with bacteria.

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#11 Guest_trygon_*

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Posted 18 July 2008 - 06:28 AM

Wow, that's some serious net trauma. Keep in mind that you are dealing with bacteria rather than actual fungus. That's why the Maracyn product works. Methylene blue is an old school treatment for fungus - doesn't do so well with bacteria.

I am old school. ParaGuard, meth blue on steroids, did knock out the bacteria/injury, it just didn't handle the fungus.

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#12 Guest_MAZUREL_*

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Posted 18 June 2009 - 09:13 AM

I caught six E. okefenokee over the weekend and lost three to a fungus attack during transport home, the other three have also been attacked and are in quarentine being treated with meth. blue. I transported them in a small cooler, about two gallons, with a bunch of hornwort. Is their slime coat extremely sensitve? Are they easily injured? Should they be transported in individual bags? Any insight would be appreciated.

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#13 Guest_MAZUREL_*

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Posted 18 June 2009 - 09:22 AM

Hello,

I am sorry I can say just a little about the fungi problem. What I know from this subject is when fishes are kept in optimal conditions sometimes they survive somthing like fungi problem, optimal conditions like enough oxygen , so a slow drop in temperature including medication and a little watermovement& good live food like musquito larvae, should heel them.

Something else; I am from the Netherlands and looking for over a year to find these little gems and it seems until now impossible to obtain these fishes in the Netherlands.
Can anybody advise me how to find or to order them?

Kind regards, Casper Mazurel

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#14 Guest_PhilipKukulski_*

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Posted 18 June 2009 - 03:29 PM

Good thread.

The same problems occur with Leptolucania ommata. Like Dustin said, the cure is almost impossible; sometimes when treated well, the fish will take 10 days to die.

I will have to try
using my own water
or
adding salt and chemicals
during transport.

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#15 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 26 June 2009 - 01:36 PM

Clean water and salt (or stress coat) should be in your collecting bucket/cooler from the beginning. DONT wait until you're ready to leave the site and head home - that may already be too late. Frightened fish can lose much of their salt ions quickly especially in low-conductivity swamp water. This loss of ions apparently depresses the immune system and invites fungi and Flavobacterium/Flexibacter (aka Columnaris) to take hold. If using water from a swampy collecting site, get your water BEFORE you start collecting, not after you've swirled up all the muck and H2S bubbles. If the water is thermally stratified (usually the case in swamps in warm weather), DONT fill your bucket from the warm surface layer. Instead bring a plastic jug to get cool water from deeper down, using your hand to find the cool layer. If using ice to keep the bucket or cooler cool in the field, put the ice inside another sealed plastic container so it can't melt too fast and cause temp shock.