Originally Posted by Funky_Fish14 (Post 404555)

Im very sorry to hear about your loss :( Its difficult to lose any animal or certainly 'friend'.



I have to interject with this statement - Cyanide is actually an inhibitor that attaches almost permanently to trigger sites in biological structures. It can bond anywhere in the body of an organism, and in any amount, it simply depends on where it is carried. The cyanide that does not attach to any bonding sites will leave the body quickly, yes, but the cyanide that does not, simply sticks and stays. It can exist in any amount on any organ or body part - and can inhibit the correct function of that system - affecting the animal's function and lifespan accordingly. It can take a long time before you see any results due to the problem. Heart problems loom for months, maybe even years, before they jump out (see high blood pressure for example - high blood pressure is a problem, but you CAN live your whole life with it not affecting you much - or you can die from a heart attack triggered by high blood pressure). It essentially affects you after whatever amount of body imbalance has been inflicted by the cyanide.

Anyways - I doubt cyanide is the case in these situations. It would likely cause gradual deterioration over time as the fish were allowed to live so long seemingly unnafected, and yet pass so suddenly and dramatically. It sounds like another problem is the major player, and I doubt that cyanide problems like this would be so copperband specific.

Sorry, dont mean to spark any debates, just had to add a bit about the nature of cyanide.

Again, sorry to hear about your loss.

Chris

Originally Posted by my2rotties (Post 404600)

Fine sit there and play the victim all you want...

You are the first to attack others for making mistakes or having poor judgement. Now you want a metal because you lost a fish and admitted to it. Was it not too long ago you had made a posyt about another copperband and said never again... Practice what you preach.

If anyone is going to lose it, that will be myself and many other that have held their tongues.

If the tests for cyanide are ridiculous then why did you ever make mention of them a long time ago. Are they ridiculous because they might prove otherwise? I know many people whom have kept these fish for a long time. They just keepo their mouths shut since they do not want the ridicule and to be called down for buying them in the first place.

I can tell you one thing for certain...

Stores will never stop stocking these fish, and people will never stop buying them...

Perhaps it is up to the hobbyists to find out exactly why they are dying so they can do something about it.Not much we can do about cyanide poisoning, but bacterial infections can and are treated. I think even stores don't really know if they have fish that have been cyanide caught, they tell me they would NEVER buy if they knew... so if my CBB dies, I will have her tested and if it is cyanide I will tell that store. At least I would be doing something proactive in this hobby to either get banned from the store, or damned well try to have changes made.

Fish do not just up and die for no reason... it is our responsibility as hobbyist to know why they just up and die "for no reason". Sitting there and trying a species repeatedly with no answer. You tried five, and have learned nothing more then from the very first one... Now you tell other not to try anymore.

Sorry but although you didn't want to hear about it, you are going to. You have never held back on anyone else when they didn't want to hear about it either.

Any one else that knows of a lab or knows people that work in a lab that can possibly test fish for cyanide or take necropsy please PM me. Its about time something proactive gets done about these types of deaths. Hobbyists need to know what is indeed happening. At least I would want to know. As much as GSP didn't want this thread to go this way, it had to go this way.

Although I am well aware about cyanide use, and after discovering it happened, I didn't even want to be in this hobby. I got beat up in the beginning due to my feelings about this very thing.

GSP I am sorry you did not want thing to go into the direction they now have went. However for you to say you tried five CBBs now (one just died two months ago on you), it is very highly hypocritical to tell others not to do so, just because they did not work for you. I have been to many reefers homes and these fish are alive and well for months to years in their tanks. Why you don't hear about them, is people with the bad luck coming forward and saying that they always die. The ones that have success with these fish just don't come forward in fear of being bashed for owning a red or yellow list fish...

Originally Posted by Phanman (Post 404610)

have you tried contacting the UofC or SAIT for your testing?