Need info on WC Banggai Disease

[migston]

I really love the way these fish look and would like to eventually get a couple but I've heard disturbing things about the disease afflicting the Wild Caught Banggai. I've been asking around my LFS whether or not their Banggais are WC or tank bred and they either don't know or claim that noone breeds Banggai.
Can anyone provide any info on this disease or send me a link where I can get more info?
Would QTing them with proper antibiotics increase the chances for survival?

 

[viper_930]

Don't know anything about diseases and WC bangaiis, but if you would like, I have a link to a site that sells CB bangaiis. Email me if you would like the address. jslok@comcast.net

 

[fmarini]

I've not heard about any wide spread disease from WC banggais...do tell.
I have heard that a few batches came in poorly, most likely due to poor handling but i have not read nor heard of any Wc banggai cardinal diseases
frank

 

[viper_930]

Yes, those are the sites I was refering to, but we really aren't supposed to post them here.

 

[bang guy]

Frank,
The Stores around here (Western NY) are complaining about entire shipments of WC Banggai dying in a matter of 2 - 3 weeks. This is all second hand but from 5 stores I do business with. Apparently they come in looking OK. They eat for a few days and then stop eating. They have white stringy bowel movements for a few days and then in 2 or 3 weeks thay perish. Three of the stores I've talked to have experienced 100% death rates and the others and experienced losses high enough to stop ordering them (not a bad thing for me personally on many levels).

 

[migston]

So this is some sort of internal parasite Bang? I was reading a FAQ on Banggai and the writer, D. Frank Mancini wrote about the three most common afflictions in Banggai being lip fungus, dorsal fin rotting and swim bladder problems.
He provided treatment suggestions for all three so I was hoping the disease you were talking about was one of them.
If it is in fact an internal parasite infection, I'm wondering why it would be any different from other internal paraites that fish get? I've read about various treatments for that kind of thing and there have been effective treatments.
Could the lack of a cure possibly be because these reports are coming from LFS who from a financial point of view would rather eat the loss of a dead fish as opposed to shelling out the money and time to treat them?
I guess my question is, provided a little TLC, would a Banggai with this internal disease be treatable or is it some new unknown disease?

 

[fmarini]

Migston-
Thats D frank Marini , not Mancini. Common mistake. The banggais I dealt w/ and wrote about did have those 3 common ailments, but that was over 8 yrs ago. Who knows what the problem is now.
Anyway of course if there is really an known parasite then a treatment could be suggested either prophalatically, or during symptoms. The white stringly feces I have seen before. i just gotta remember what its a symptom of.
I personally have not seen or heard of banggais dropping in the LFS i frequent, but it could be happening and the owners just hide that info. I'm wondering if infact the banggais are becoming ill during holding or shipment. I'll fire off an email to A Vagelli and ask him since he just returned from the banggai island on a banggai census. Maybe he's seen lots of sick fish.
Thanks for the heads up Guy
frank

 

[migston]

Whoah cool! I've never used someone as a source before and then have them respond to me. LOL Sorry about the name goof. Looking forward to hearing what you find out!

 

[bang guy]

Dr. Marini,
Please let us hear back from you even if the response is that there's nothing going on.
If it's just a matter of changing distributers for the stores it would be good if I could suggest that. If it's widespread then I'd like to suggest that they all stop their orders until it's cleared up. There's no reason to import a bunch of fish if they're infected, or going to get infected and croak in a few weeks. Especially a fish that I believe should be on the threatened list.

 

[fmarini]

Guy- No problem. Your right about the threathened or endangered list about these fish. I recall discussin some of the cenus data and it appeared that we really have to be proactive w/ this fish population. Also the "new" populatio of banggais that has magically appears in the lembeh straits is quite small (about 600 individuals) and is more of a dive curiousity than a true start population. So having large populations of these fish drop off due to poor handling is inexcusable.
At their peak of interest, a report from Dr Allen suggested that over 5000 WC banggais were being exported monthly. No way a limited range fish can support 60,000 indivuduals/year
Migston- no worries.
frank

 

[migston]

Good to know. Thanks Dr! :cheer:
So could it have been that the fish that went to the LFS around Bang Guy all came from the same batch and that they got infected?
I realize that'd be a leap in logic, but it's a possibility right?

 

[cincyreefer]

I have been told through distributors that pretty much all Bangaii Cardinals have internal parasites. My experience is pretty much the same as described... stringy poop and they die after a few weeks of seeming to be OK and eating. I treat them all pretty much the same way as WC clownfish upon arrival. I have lost very few since I have started doing this. The Bangaii seem like they have a much harder time overcoming the intestinal parasites on their own compared to clownfish.

 

[migston]

Could you explain what that procedure is cincyreefer? Does it involve pipzine? I've looked around for this medication and it's pretty hard to come by from what I can tell. I found one place but they require some sort of chemical release waiver to get it.
Anyways, my Sixline Wrasse cleared QT a few days ago so I went and got myself a pair of Banggai. I think I do have a male female pair by looking at their jaws but I'm not so sure. They don't hang out with each other and take up opposite corners in the QT. Is this a bad sign?
When feeding time comes, I see one of them nibbling on the food and the other ignoring it. I've been turning out the lights after dropping in the food to encourage them because I heard they were nocturnal feeders. Thus far, the food seems to be disappearing. Am I doing the right thing here? Has anyone else experienced this daylight shyness with Banggai?