Damiana

If it won't clear out, just snip the silly thing off at the blockage. There's usually a bit of slack. If its not long enough, just get some more tubing at the LFS. Its cheap.

PetCity is ok, too. Got all my Africans from them.

Just rinse it really well first to get the loose stuff off.

Bleach water has a half life of like 12 hours. Only reason I know this is I had to according to the Texas State Department of Health. Worked in a daycare and we bleach watered *everything*. Had to make it up fresh every day. After 12 hours it turns into various other things (salts, etc) but doesn't have any germ killing (or other killing) properties.

Wow, I really am behind. Darn statistics melt your brain... Wheee, I never win anything.

What time was it again? I may or may not make it, going down to Gisborne to look at a horse this weekend...

My only suggestion would be to put some dark colored backing on your tank. It'll make everything else pop and the fish tend to be a bit happier. Keep up the good work!

Throw them out. Seriously. Right now. That stuff is a disaster in a bottle. A couple of drops too many and you'll yank your ph around hardcore. Not to mention that whenever you do water changes you'll have to fiddle with it again, leaving more opportunity for things to get mucked up. What I suggest doing (and do myself) is put shells in the filter like Joandwilly mentioned earlier. Buffers the water nicely, is no muss no fuss, and will raise your ph. Fresh water from a change cycles through the shell and is automatically taken care of without having to worry about dosing. My ph sits around 7.8 and they seem fairly happy with it.

Sounds like a hydra to me. Were the bubbas in a barebottom tank? Clean the heck out of it and your problem should be solved.

Aren't cockatoos short lived in any case? Could this just be him at the end of a short life? (Sorry, not trying to be morbid, just brainstorming.) How old is he?

PetCity has just reworked their fish section and is pretty good these days. (Gotta speak up for Rachel and the crew over there!) Its worth a look-see, even if they're not exclusively fish.

Fluval is a good alternative to the more expensive Eheim. I'm originally from the U.S. and I haven't heard of that one, either.

Wow!

I found one in my tank once. Cleaned the heck out of it and I've not seen any since. Totally aside, but in my high school biology class we did an experiment with them. (Something I wouldn't do now, as I'm considerably more conscientious these days..) Basically what you said is true. You can chop a planaria into tiny bits and it'll make new ones from the bits. My lab partner and I sliced our worm's head in half so that it had two heads. (I feel awful about it now. ) But they are really, really resilient creatures, and they're pretty amazing. There are some other experiments that psychologists have done with them. They've conditioned them to associate light with an electric shock, then chopped them in half. The *tail* half automatically knows to avoid the light to avoid the electric shock! What the heck?? Stuff like this raises huge questions about the nature of memory and the mind, all from a lowly worm.... Anyhoo, good luck with the battle at hand.

:lol: