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:

The trick with pumice it to weight it down like you would driftwood and let it saturate. Good luck with your tank.

Thanks so much for the compliment. That would be mine. I can't wait until the babies grow up a bit and are fully colored up. My husband and son liked the sunken ships, so they got them in spades. There are three in it already, and I'm on the look out for more. The idea is to get lots and lots of real estate in there and break up line of sight as much as possible while leaving free space to swim. Thanks for posting these, I'm truly in talented company, everyones' tanks are amazing!

Hi, It was great seeing everyone, even if it was for a short while. I was a little bit of a deer in headlights with so many people at once, lol. Thank you all so much for your kind comments and support. It really means a lot. Hope the rest of the meeting went well. Maybe next crawl I'll be able to tag along, little man woke up cranky after his nap and there was no way we'd have held it together during the meeting. Post some pics up here! I want to see everyone else's stuff. -Jenn

I had the worst run with neons a while back, I second the notion that there's been a bad strain here lately. It was awful, nothing was working. I stopped keeping neons and I stopped having problems.

Yeah, I'd say that there was a major stocking problem. Those discus are far too large for that small tank, particularly with large angel fish. I imagine that no one told you that at the store, though. If you don't want to buy a test kit, you can take a water sample in to most fish stores and they'll run tests. Some places charge a dollar, but its worth it. When you do that, post your results and someone will discuss them with you. For now, I definitely second doing a large water change, and hold off on buying new fish.

Yup, I have quite a few large bowls set up with zero technology. Do a search for low tech and no tech aquariums, as well as the work of Diana Walstad, who wrote Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist. Great book, I have it on my shelf and highly recommend it.

There's a really great place down just south of Cambridge that I've gotten all my stone from. Basically head straight through town, over the bridge, then head like you're going to Te Awamutu. Its at a curve on your right, at the base of a hill. Can't remember its name off the top of my head, but they do all manner of landscaping supplies, including some wonderful rocks. PM me if you want better directions, lol.

You can help things along by trapping the little dudes. Dangle a piece of zuccini, cucumber, lettuce or other yummy vegetable treat in the tank overnight. In the morning remove it and dozens of snails. Rinse and repeat. Loaches are fabulous for snails and they're adorable little clowns!

OMG Luke, FINALLY someone as anal as I am about grammar, spelling and diction. You rock!

*Gorgeous* Great find.