Banded and Multi-band Pipefish: Early experiences

[small alien]

D. d. still eating well.

D. d. still eating well.

D. d. is still eating and doing well. I haven't hypo'd yet. I'm a little paranoid about it having not done it before. D. d. has a couple ich spots now and then over the past couple of weeks but doesn't seem in immanent danger.

D. d. really goes for the mysis when it hits the water. Zooms over and competes with the cardinal for those first bites. Usually eats 4-5 full shrimp per feeding. Feeding twice a day and weight appears steady.

Definitely out and about more. Less hiding. Very cool fish. I do miss the colors of D. p. Definately an even more striking fish than D. d. Maybe I'll try one again some day.

Cheers.

 

[D3monic_Urges]

Hey alien check out my thread. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1719885

I just noticed that my smaller pipe has a similar white blotch on his tail. I bumped the temp down to 72 and its still on its way down. I dont have anything I could dip it in other than FW or Melafix. I need to get some formalin and what ever SH meds.

 

[small alien]

Something I read in Fenner's Conscientious Marine Aquarist is not to use formalin on broken skin. (Which I did before I'd read that). He says it means certain death.

I was using the formalin for the ich. I had begun a round of erythromycin (anti-biotic) in a small hospital tank for the white patch cum "skin-free" area. We were one day into that routine when D. p. croaked. I don't believe formalin is effective for bacterial infections which is what we presumed was the white patch/tissue loss issue with D. p.

Good luck. I'll check out your thread. Werd.

 

[small alien]

Banded pipe dies

Banded pipe dies

Greetings. D. d. has died today. I'll try to recap what happened for the benefit of other pipe keepers.

After D. p. died, presumably from the whitish patches that went flesh eating which were presumably bacterial infections, D. d. continued to eat well and seem generally well.

Both pipes came in with ich. I was holding off treating that until feeding and the bacterial infection were in hand. After D. p. died, D. d. had the occasional spot of ich. Did not seem to be getting drastically worse. I'll admit it took me some time to decide on a treatment route. I got so much different info.

Some said pipes can handle hypo. Some said stop at .012 like with horses because .010 is fatal, period. Some said formalin dips. Others, formalin hospital tank. Some said ich is always in the tank. Some said no. Copper, malachite green, etc. If it had been a tougher fish, I'd-a just gone for it, but I was worried about the sensitivity of the pipe.

Anyway, I worried too long. D. d. had about 10-12 spots on it day before yesterday morning. I did a 45 minute formalin dip which did cause the spots to fall off. Yesterday evening, D. d. was lying on the bottom of the tank which, as we all know, is rarely a good sign. Nudged it and still alive.

This moring, still alive but sitting.

This afternoon, stuck in the powerhead.

Dang.

I learned a lot about pipes and fish keeping from this series of triumphs and losses. But what would I do differently? I still don't know. I guess that's one of the interesting things about our hobby. Nobody knows all the answers. That's what so great about RC and sharing experiences. We are the scientists.

RIP D. d. May you go to a watery heaven filled with minute crustaceans.