Think Fish Keepers Daily News. [2016-2019]

Yes, it's daphnia for constipation.

Was it daphnia not bloodworm that's good for constipation?

Bloodworm is/was advocated for relieving constipation in goldfish, which is possibly where you and I have that in mind. I don't think I'd heard of daphnia in my goldfish-keeping days. Checking out a 'bona fide' website, I see that both it and daphnia are now suggested for goldfish.

I would imagine that might account for why they're (still) advocated for goldfish but aren't advocated for tropicals (or at least fish smaller than goldfish). From recollection, there's also an issue with bloodworm being quite fattening and less nutritious than daphnia... but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Ah, good idea @jaypeecee I might try putting one of the smaller pieces of spotty wood in my brackish tank with the mudskippers and see what happens.

Exciting times - the cardinals have eventually shown an interest in eating chopped pea! It's as though they had a meeting about it earlier in the week, the chief female (whose lead the others follow) reported that she'd noticed the benefit to the others' digestive systems (i.e. no sign of constipation after eating it) and then gave them all permission to tuck in. Ordinarily, I put it in, and the cardinals completely ignore it, yet, in contrast to a few days ago, they've now all immediately tucked into it. 

They do seem to have eyes bigger than their bellies... don't know when to stop!!

We used to have much more frequent and lwngtht power cuts when I was a kid. We seemed particularly prone to them where I grew up in rural Devon. They were just part of life though then, you got a torch and carried on. Now I have a more electronically based life it seems with gadgets, Wi-Fi etc which means that a power cut is a huge inconvenience... that said i do seem to recall a time when my mum lost a big chest freezer full of home cooked meals due to an extended power cut which was gutting.

I had not heard about not connecting new homes to the gas network... it seems strange when the electricity network is at such stress in peak times that we are encouraging electric cars and stopping people using gas. I've no idea which is more environmentally damaging, gas or electric... some googling to follow...

Don't get me wrong... any effort to reduce greenhouse emission is an absolute must, every time I think about the world I am bringing my son into I am deeply concerned... but not connecting people to gas sound to me like one of those sounds good things that reality means is more complex. Look at whats happened with diesel vs petrol recently... and that was seemingly unexpected by many... anyway I'm off to do some googling!...

There's loads of other factors... just heat the room with electric, not the pipes in the walls, better for cooking too as heat transfered to the pan more efficiently... I won't go on for fear of boring you...

The answer is less complex when you consider... electric can be vastly less impactfull IF a renewable source is used.  This seems to be the principle. Gas cant be renewable in the future in the way electric can.

In fact I have switched to green electricity myself recently (and was quite proud to have done so - especially when I found I saved money overall on my old tariff) but didn't even think about the gas.

To add to this... I wonder how many people out there think that a condensing boiler just emits steam and not co2... this brings up another line of thought around our behaviours around energy, misinformation etc etc... I did a masters on a similar topic so I will definately stop ranting now and leave you all in peace...

We just need to have 100% renewable electricity in the UK (so sunny and windy weather then we run out if water.....)  this time I'm really stopping....

Great news, Matt. Having frequently treated fantail goldfish in the past for this, (2) definitely made a difference. As for (1), did you use Interpet's treatment? I have used it before and also found that an anti-bacterial infection medication was helpful too - my vague recollection was that the ingredients were similar but the latter's ingredients stronger... may be completely incorrect, though.

Two of my harlies are definitely becoming increasingly S-shaped; I can't see them reaching their 5th birthdays in 5 months' time. Also, the x-ray with the bent/curving-up tail is unlikely to reach his 5.5th birthday in 4 months' time.  At least they've had a good life even if looking very elderly now.

Key piece of equipment for a fishkeeper, in the event of potential illness in a small fish and needing a better view of the extent of the situation, is a magnifying glass. I know Sue uses one but I have learned today just how crucial and helpful that would be. I thought I had one but can't find it anywhere.