Anything special to know about S. Wui?

[mikev]

I'm acclimating right now some Beaufortia contaminants which are likely young S.Wui's.

Chances of them making it are not stellar (came from a bad source, were in the store for a week, tank contained dead bodies, some beafortias had abrasions and some what may be Jim's patchy disease, and the fish is very small too).. still I want to try to do what I can.

Any species-specific suggestions are very welcome at this point.

[Jim Powers]

Wui are very shy, so determining that they are ill may not be as easy as it would be with a more outgoing species such as chenis and gastros.
Just keep an eye on them.

[mikev]

Thanks Jim,

Strangely, they do not seem shy. I've seen a couple of fights already... (Maybe because they are in a tank of their own? Or young?).

OK, they are getting Maracyn2 (I think your disease is quite likely involved) and frozen brine shrimp -- I'm assuming they are like Gastros in this way.

[Jim Powers]

Mine eat bloodworms almost exclusively, although they have shown some interest in brine shrimp. I think Les has seen his eat brine shrimp too.
They may be engaging in territorial battles. While they are shy, they will definately get into territorial disputes. I have two in different tanks. One is slightly smaller than the largest Sewellia male and the large beaufortia and yields to them, but not so much the slightly smaller female Sewellia.
In the other tank, the wui is the largest suckerbelly hillstream and will push around the smaller gastros and will get into tussles with the H. yunnanensis.
The Maracyn 2 sounds like a good idea. I hope it works.

[mikev]

A-ha.

They ignored both shrimp and bloodworms, but seem to be interested in the brown algae, the fighting is over the part of the glass that has a lot of it. (Of the species I know only Gastros eat it.). I think I see these guys eating it a bit too.

Will see tomorrow if they can actually clean this tank a bit.

They are <1" TL and all the Beaufortia's in the tank these came from were no larger.

[Jim Powers]

I have never seen mine graze at all, so that will be interesting to see if they do eat the algae.
I have never seen any that small. I bet they are cute. Mine are about 2.25".

[mikev]

I think they do eat it. I just saw one plecorating, and unless they metabolize food for more than five hours or less than an hour (imho unlikely), it has to be the algae being processed. Anyway, this one clearly eats something.

It may be that the interest in diadems is age-related. Younger BN plecos like brown algae too, but after about 2-2.5" they don't seem to care.

They are kind of cute, but not really attractive comparing to any other hillstream I've seen... And you are right about shy: now they move very little and try not to be noticeable.

-----

BTW, on the subj of hillstream interaction: I had to move Vannies to the Sewellia tank to quarantine these (Vannies had their 3 mo of quarantine finally). Sewellia's do not care about them at all, but Beaufortia went nuts and is chasing them around.... is it some kind of genetic memory from the wild?

[LES..]

Hi Mikev,

S. Wui are lovely fish, when you see them. Ours are surprisingly visible in the tank and do seem to graze around on the stones while hunting for other bits of food. That said they do tend to keep to the shaded areas of the tank and only venture out in the open when food is around. Out of the five we have they are all very distinctly patterned allowing for easy identification of different individuals, personally i think this sets them out from some of the other hillies.

In terms of feeding, our first Wui has been happy to take sinking pellets, and freeze dried brine shrimp. I believe the new Wui are also eating the sinking pellets but have yet to directly observe this. We have been feeding the tank with a mix of flake, sinking pellets, frozen blood worm/brine shrimp and small fry food. The fry food gets everyone on excited and looking for food which is great to see :-)

Hope your Wui make it.

[Jim Powers]

Very interesting, Les. I have had both my wui for about 5 years and have never seen them eat pellets. I agree about the patterns on the fish. They are so distinctive and will change some over time. One of mine is medium brown and was a somewhat dull fish when I got it. Over time the pattern and color has gotten richer and its quite an attractive fish. The other was a very dark brown, almost black when I got it with light highlights between the dorsal saddles. Its remained the same color, just grown in size.

[mikev]

Thanks, LES.

Well, they did make it till morning,...all were in highest-flow areas on the glass when I switched on light...probably a good sign. The patterns are indeed quite distinct, but the fish is too small to readily see it. I left them an algae wafer, just in case they want it.

Still not optimistic. A couple have red spots/strikes in the underside...either irritation or septicimia. They are smaller today, probably Maracyn2 is working, but still visible.

We'll see.

[LES..]

Very interesting, Les. I have had both my wui for about 5 years and have never seen them eat pellets.

I was quite surprised to see our Wui go for the pellet the first time, especially after hearing about your experiences with them. Blood worm has not really excited my loaches all that much, certainly in their old tank the Cheni showed very little interest in it and i have had to remove much of the left overs the following day. This has always made me a little nervous about feeding blood worm, not wanting it to rot in the tank so have been quite sparse in feeding it. It might have been the lack of a good blood worm supply that drove our Wui to the pellet. Alternatively Mark's wonder food might have been the trigger to get this loach to try processed food.

I agree about the patterns on the fish. They are so distinctive and will change some over time. One of mine is medium brown and was a somewhat dull fish when I got it. Over time the pattern and color has gotten richer and its quite an attractive fish. The other was a very dark brown, almost black when I got it with light highlights between the dorsal saddles. Its remained the same color, just grown in size.

Our first Wui is a dark olive colour, very dark and it is only really the stripes over the back that stand out. The two largest of the new guys are a much paler, almost milky coffee colour, one has large spots on his fins the other small dots, a lovely variation :-) The smaller two are similar in markings although one has what almost looks like a crown just above the eyes.

Well, they did make it till morning,...all were in highest-flow areas on the glass when I switched on light...probably a good sign.

Let's hope so :-) I'm sure with your experience now i should think they are in some of the best care available.

May the signs stay good,
LES..

[mikev]

Let's hope so I'm sure with your experience now i should think they are in some of the best care available.

May the signs stay good,
LES..

Thanks LES, but you are overestimating me. Just because I probably saw more hillstream diseases than anyone here does not mean I can treat them well. With typical lack of symptoms I tend to figure out the nature of the disease only after most of the fish is dead.

Anyway, the Wui's are getting an extended quarantine even if they do good. They should not mind the tank too much, it is a 10g with a powerhead designed for a 30g, and by now they all figured out which wall gets the best ventilation. They are actually playing with the current a bit

Either they are really sick, or they are more current-intense then other suckers...all other types I've had would have avoided really strong current, but the smallest Wui has been hanging upside down 1" away from the powerhead outtake for most of the day today. Sewellia's, for example, simply run away from currents like this, and I cannot imagine other suckers enjoying it either.

Lets hope...

[mikev]

And the end of the story: a total failure.

I lost four within the first week, the last one managed to survive another ten days. It went to the big pond a couple of days ago.

The exact causes are not entirely clear: the fish had two identifiable fatal diseases, but both were beaten within the first week...the first two deaths were clearly caused by them. There seemed to be something else, or perhaps the last fish did not fully recover from the two problems it had. My suspicion is that the third disease was the same sucker-loach specific infection I've seen a year ago, and while I've beaten it in the previous round (and treated for it too this time), the only fish that managed full recovery even with treatment were large Beaufortia's.

Probably the fact that the fish were in pretty bad environment at the store for a while and not treated did not help either.

[Jim Powers]

[chris1932]

I am sorry they did not make it. I just saw this post today for the first time. I used metranidazole to save mine. Same red streaks, patchy color, and fin damage. I also jacked up the temp, and ran RO/DI water to the tank. Some of the bacteria require calcium for reproduction and fail to thrive in pure water. Mine will openly forage for BBS.