Maybe the one Rainbowfish to avoid.

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Stan510

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The Red,Glossolepis incisus. I'm on my last one and he's going the way of all others like him...start out fine,grow to near full grown.Then they stop eating. Oh,you can treat them..but nothing antibiotic works,salts. Not much left to try. M.boesemani are very hardy,-- buy all you want. After that you drop to M.lacustris not quite as hardy as the M.boesemani. Others I have tried seem to be more or less the same.
But G.incisus have never lasted more than a year. They remind me of Discus. The whole thrive- then dive.
I've never read anybody telling you this...but its now sunk in to me the old aquarist, that G. incisus is a cat of its own kind. Might need acidic water?..hence the Discus comparison.
 
I had a group of Melanotaenia praecox which i loved at first but after not too long started having trouble with them not eating and bloating up etc. Lost them one by one over a 9mth period. Tired everything i could to cure them.

Dont think ill do Rainbows again.
 
I know I see them large in some vids..but for me where my water is very,very, soft- 1 they as adults are like brackish fish kept in freshwater. Thrive,then dive. Most other Rainbows aren't picky. Dwarfs? Yep..picky!.. I forgot that long ago I had them..for not long.
M.boesemani are really dream fish. Very hardy,eat anything,grow large but not too large.
I saw the super orange variety of the New Guinea and almost splurged for it. The not so good record I have with the plain made me pass them up. If I ever see those deep blue and red Boeses? I would jump on them..my advice to anybody if they see those.
 
Post pictures of your fish.

All rainbowfish evolved from marine ancestors about 10,000 years ago and do best in water with a pH above 7.0 and a GH above 200ppm. The only exception to this is wild caught Iriatherina werneri and Rhadinocentrus ornatus that can be found in soft acid waterways.

Glossolepis incisus and Melanotaenia boesemani come from hard water with a high pH.

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The most common problems with rainbowfish is internal (microsporidian) and external protozoan infections (Costia, Chilodonella & Trichodina) caused by dirty tanks, and Fish Tuberculosis (TB).

Microsporidian and External protozoan infections can be prevented by doing big regular water changes, gravel cleaning the substrate and regular filter cleaning. If the tank gets dirty, rainbowfish will be the first to have issues.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank because rainbowfish are sensitive to chemicals and die quickly if exposed to chlorine or chloramine.

Clean the filter at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better. Wash filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn/ garden.

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Fish TB can't be cured but if you buy fish from a clean source, you shouldn't have any problems.

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All rainbowfish need plant matter in their diet and about half their food should be plant based. This can include aquarium plants (Duckweed, Ambulia, etc) and freshwater algae growing in the tank, marine algae (available from health food shops, pet shops, and most Asian and some normal supermarkets), and various green leafy vegetables (spinach, etc). However, fish don't digest terrestrial plants very well and you should blend up any terrestrial plants and mix then with other food.

You can also use vege flakes/ pellets for rainbowfish and goldfish foods are usually more plant based than tropical foods. However, check the ingredients and avoid any food that has grains (wheat, corn, soy, barley, etc) in. Fish can't digest grains.

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Avoid feeding rainbowfish on frozen or live bloodworms (Chironomid midge larvae). There are regular reports of rainbowfish having problems when fed these foods all the time. It is more to do with particular brands of frozen bloodworms, which are not clean or irradiated before packing. This allows bad bacteria to grow in and on the bloodworms and they can make the fish sick. If you find a brand that has been irradiated (it says so on the pack), they should be fine to use but don't use them more than 3 times a week and make sure the fish have lots of plant matter in their diet.
 
But the conditions in the aquarium are better than ever. It doesn't seem to matter what aquarium i've kept them in,G.incistrus eventually fade. Sensitive- too sensitive to whatever I do. Other rainbowfish are fine and my first ones added almost two years ago are big and fat and healthy.
 
It's either water quality, diet or poor quality fish. But Glossolepis incisus is no different to any other rainbowfish to keep. The big males can get a little more agro than other species but general health and care is the same as any other rainbowfish.
 
This is something that going to take time to simmer. I'm sure that they are fish prone to die early much more than others and its that same way...grow fine,then stop eating,lose weight.
A picture right now shows its normal..but this started a couple of weeks ago.
Its always THEM...I have M. parva,M.lacustris,Some kind of hybrid BIG Goyder river type..and in numbers. Down to one G.incistrus.
I wouldn't blame the breeders because its a good looking fish. I hope it recovers spontaeneously.
 
Its not food. I feed them freshly cooked shrimp...Tetra color flakes and granules. sinking shrimp pellets and they chomp down on the stargrass and other bunch plants all the time.
Its the proverbial darndest thing.
 
What's the GH, KH and pH of the water?
I had a lot less problems keeping rainbowfish in hard water (GH above 250ppm) compared to soft water.

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Add more plant matter to their diet and add some salt to the tank. If rainbowfish get sick, clean the tank up and add salt. It fixes most problems with them.

If the fish stop eating, do a stringy white poop, lose weight and die after a week or two, they have an internal protozoan infection.
What does their poop look like?

If they stop eating, balloon up overnight, gasp heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, and die within 24-48 hours of showing those symptoms, they have an internal bacterial infection like TB.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
 

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