robert

hi the sit www.dph.nl has a section on a planted tank useing sank and gravel substrate,lots of photos and advice and you can contact him if you need to.

Hole in the head is caused by both poor diet andd poor water conditions eg not enough smaller water changes instead of one large change try four small changes a week.Discus with hole in the head can be feed worms to bring them back to health,www.dph.nl has a lot of information on keeping discus, i strongly advise any body keeping discus to go to this site and read it from back to front. Hope your discus get better, robert

I have five tanks with discus in them,all tanks have a small amount of peat in the filter in a bag.You do not need a lot,just a good hand full is all i use,change it about every three weeks.The peat is very benifical for most fish and i have very healhty fish that never need any medicen or chemicals to treat them.

hi roxston, i have not heard of that product can you tell me about who makes it and what are the ingridenets and what is it suppost to treat.in the mean time i always tell people to go to ww.dph/nl.the site has heaps of info on discus,i reccomend you take a look robert

very interesting,i will try a couple of the ideas on there, thanks

Sounds like the fish has a blockage some where, adose of emposn salts should help cant remeber the dose, go to the www.dph.nl for more info in the articals page.

The otocinclis will eat the very small brown algae but do not control the green algae,i have brisle nose fish for this and they do a great job.

try melafix, i have had excellent results useing it.

I have always had good service at animates in papanui,talk to katie who has sea horses and many tropical tanks or kim who has 8-9 tanks and breeds a lot of fish ,both of these ladies know what they are talking about and are very nice to deal with and are not pushy at all.

richard there are two fluvel 403 in the trade me site that you may want to take a look at.

richard i have a spare 203 that is not doing anything at the moment,if you need it for the time being call me tonight in chch 3861555

hi richard would this be the filter on the trade me site that you are taking about,i have bid on this filter myself but i see he has put it back on the acution again.i have both fluvels and ehim filters,the ehims are streets ahead of fluvel.$300 for the filter does not sound to bad,but i saw a 304 yesterday at animates at papanui for $365,they have ehim classics 2113 and 2115 for $179 and $260,i paid $275 for my 2115 about 4 years ago so they are good value as you never really know what you will get with a second hand filter.

I wait untill the roots and leaves start to develop then i cut them off with siccors,you can let them float around in the tank and they will grown bigger and them plant them or sell them off.My large plant in my discus tank has producted appox 55 60 babies in the past 18 months.

Discus should be kept in groups 3 to 4 at least,the site www.dph.nl has many articels on diseses and meds for them,they are well worth reading.

The last place i saw them was down ferry rd,but that was a while a go,will keep my eye out.The only problem i have had with them is that no one has any spare parts and know one wants to get them in for you.I dont think there is an importer for them any more.

they are availble in chch i use them on my discus tank. the odd time i have had them of the discus have not liked.so they work for me and are not that hard to use or mix in to your fitler system.

can i ask what the price is please

My 304 had the same problem, i took it back to nimates who would not replace it but in the end southen pets the importer did if you see the thread on fluvels you will see what happened next.Yours may be this type of filter so please check. My argument is that the impeller must be fit for the purpoise it was made for and must last a resnamable time as in the consumer garantee act.

For two years i have had a newer fluvel 304.I have complained about its poor preformance to a lot of people,on wens last i complained to the importer here in chch when i saw him in a pet shop.It seems that the model i have has been recalled because of problems with it.this was to do with the fitting-housing that the in and out hoses went into.Mine has a rubber fitting inside it,the water is pumped through the small holes in this(appox 6-8 mm wide).The pump could not get enough water to run properly or at full capacity.Some impellers have melted to the plastic housing well because of this.If you find that you have one of these filters take it back.Southen Pets re placed mine with out any hisation.How ever as i have said before with the stainless steel heaters why does it take so long to tell people about these problems and what about the damage done in the mean time.

i would be happy to help you can ring me on 03 386 1555 after 8pm at night or on the weekends.i have appox 40 snake skin babies left from the last batch that are about the size of a 50 cent peice.

I brought two s/s heaters from kritter kingdom and one from animates here in chch.the first heater broke down after 3 mounths and cooked one lot of discus i had,back to critter kingdom stanmore rd.the young man that runs the shop replaced straight away and of home i went.the second ss heater from animates then decided not to go,back to ainmates and an imeadate replacement.both of these heaters broke down and killed more of my discus babies.this time i went back to aanimates and brought to jager heaters to re place one ss.the other went back to stanmore rd,this time i meet up with the owners son who flattly refused to do any thing about a replacement.after much arument he said he would send it up to the importer and see if he could get someting done .this took 9 weeks and a lot of threats to the son and then the mother before i got a replacment.but that was not the end of it .the second replacment ss heater from stanmore rd died killing more discus,back to the shop,this time the son had a lot of heaters in and know the the batch was fualty.my heater was replaced in three days.but wait theres more.another ss heater from stanmore rd died doing no harm this time,back to stanmore rd,tim the young man in charge got me another with no hesitation. so now i have a 300w and a150 won my lrage show tank,these are working fine and keep a very constant temp.my blow out tank has 333w that is also humming along nicely. it has cost me a wild discus that cost $175 and nine meduiem size disccus that i could have sold for say $450.I did ask about some compensatrion but under nz consumer law all they have to do is replace the heater.however the importer was awere of the prolems and told no one and when the word did get out the shops did not take them of the shelves. am i pissed of YES I AM

timers are cheap to buy on special and are the way to go.

be patient .thats all

the price has gone up it cost me $15 for 3 large sack fulls to day i wont have to buy gravel for the rest of my life

what was the name of the place you brought your gravel from please