There is a blanket of blue-green algae over many of the rocks and on the back panel of the tank that grew back almost immediately after I spent a whole afternoon cleaning it out a few days ago.
One day probably a month and a half ago now my sons and I went to a small pond near our house. I wanted to add some new fish to the tank, to see what would happen. We netted what we thought were tiny minnows or fry of some sort, and didn't notice until we put them in the tank that they were pollywogs! Some of the large Dace went right for them. I did notice one escape to the bottom, but figured soon enough my Dace would remember their hunting instinct and eat it. Weeks later I was counting the Dace as I often do, and there were eleven out of a possible ten. I reached in and moved the rock the eleventh was behind, and it shot out halfway across the tank and then I could see the tadpole tail and bulbous body. Either the Dace don't like wog, or this guy is a true survivor. Later my son reported to me that there were TWO pollywogs. One is a bit smaller than the first. Maybe they are a tree frog and a green frog, or a toad. We'll see what they turn into. They will have to be released into the appropriate environment when the time comes. I believe they eat algae, and they hide a lot.
But what about fish?
The river has been running very low all summer, and through snorkeling, we know there has been no stocking of trout. Though the fishing is not good, netting small Dace is made easier by the drought. I was able to catch fourteen fish one day recently, including a new fish just like the deceased Giorgio, a bottom skulking fish with a very camouflaged body. In fact I thought the original Giorgio was an accidental catch, but there one was in about five inches of water, and I was quick enough to net it. I think the original Giorgio starved to death, not being able to find suitable food in the artificial environment, but this new one didn't last long enough to confirm the theory. The new Giorgio died just two days after entering the tank. Possibly he was injured in the capture. I think I will leave this species alone from now on.
A couple of the new fish are not Dace. They look similar in that they have a stripe down their side, but it is less prominent and their coloration is more silvery and they have more visible scales. Their head is more blunt and they have a downward-angled mouth. They are about an inch long and seem at home with the Dace. They tend to swim in longer straight lines than the Dace, who swim around all willy-nilly. I think they may possibly be fry of a larger fish that I have seen while snorkeling in the river. If so they could grow to about six inches. If they survive we will see. So far they seem to be doing okay despite the debacle I am about to relate.
After adding the new fish it became impossible to count them as they swirled around in the tank, but the ensuing die-off is making it much easier to count them now. About two weeks ago I found one of the smaller, new-batch Dace sunk to the bottom, then I noticed another dead, stuck to the pump intake. This was cause for some concern, because it was one of the big, farm-raised "Henchmen"! This was a healthy strong fish that had lived in the tank for almost a year, so it wasn't just death due to capture and new environment. No, something is killing them off.
I figured I'd better get rid of that blue-green algae bloom and change the water in case it was ammonia build-up. The stuff can be scooped up easily with a net, so I got as much as I could out, then changed out two-thirds of the water and cleaned the pump. I looked forward to happier, healthier fish, but they kept on dying. They begin to float at the surface and gulp air, and they sometimes have kind of a gooey look to them and then they're dead. One henchman gone, the crooked Dace, Hercules, most of the new batch except the two odd-species ones, all dead. Last time I checked, there were eight fish, but that was yesterday, so no deaths today.
Hey, why don't you Google "Ich"?
Okay, so maybe what I said about the tank mimicking my life was not far off. The fish live in their own Pediddleville. Off to the pet store to get some ich treatment.
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