PETEYPLECO

Hi Ya, I spent alot of time pricing an odd sized large tank to be made specialy and the cheapest price, best delivery and service was the Hollywood fish farm on the north shore. They made it exactly how I wanted it from the glass thickness to black silicone joins, even supplied the polystyrine for the base of the tank. By all means shop around but be sure to give these guys a go.

PH still stable at 7.0 - great way of raising and stabilising it.

Furan 2 treatment is now over, added carbon and removed the greeness from the meds. I've left this carbon in for a few days then tossed it away. I am now on the fith day of 20mls per day (in a 160ltr tank) of Melafix. All fish are fine bar one which was the most affected of the two, it still has small amount of whitish damage to its tailfin and seems a bit unhappy as its hiding a lot and its fins are clamped. I will continue the Melafix for another two days then do a water change and see how things go. Feel free to comment?

I do weekly 25% water changes adding water ager and stress coat every time. I only have a PH kit unfortunatly so PH is 7.1, temp is 25. Tank is well established but I added some oyster shell to the external filter 2 weeks ago to raise PH from 6.6 to 7.0. I did this as the average prefered ph for all my species of fish turns out to be 7.0 and the bogwood I have for my pleco was naturally keeping the ph at 6.6. Ph has slowly come up over the last 2 weeks so I dont think it was a sudden PH shock? I will check ph again to night and let you know. These clown loaches do not look like they are covered in salt, it is just the very ends of their tailfin has white edges. You say fin rot - will FURAN2 cure this? I will do half dose for the loaches. If not what is the cure? Thanks.

My 3 Clown Loaches in my comunity tank are unwell = white edges on tail fin and dorsal fin, fins clamped and they ocasionaly scratch their sides on a rock? Is this White Spot (no spots anywhere else apart from edges of fins), Skin Flukes or Epistylis? Ive just gone out and bought Furan-2 for a dose tonight but I would like some feedback before I go in the deep end. Temp 25, PH 7.1, tank is planted and I dont have a hospital tank (just a bucket).

Thanks Catbrat, I might just do that tonite!

. . . . OH SORRY Any chance on babies if the breeding is succesfull? Thanks

WHOA DUDE - WAY COOL ! Ive wanted to get my A into G and get down to tropical blues for a while now. What did they cost, if you dont mind? What other Plecs where there? How was the ride home to Auckland - can you explain how they were transported? MORE - MUST HAVE MORE . . . . . . .

YAAAAHOOOO Tested my PH lastnight and its 7.0 at last. So that has taken about two week to go from 6.6 to 7.0 with the addition of the oyster shell. All fish look happy and the water is no longer cloudy which happened shortly after the addition of the shell. I will keep an eye on the ph to see where it goes from here. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ADVISE ALL !

Cheers for the advise, the carbon has been out for at least 3 to 4 weeks now, the oyster shell has been in for a week - how long will the shell take to raise the ph?

Its been well over a week now and still no change in PH - now 6.6. I even tried adding a smallish dose of bi carb soda to give things a boost. The only thing that happened is my water is now nice and cloudy because of the shell! Must be the dambed wood in my tank keeping PH low? I think Ill just give up and surrender to have it at 6.6.

Hi doch, I have a similar problem in that I think the wood in my tank for my pleco is lowering the PH. My tap water is also PH 7.5+ and the tank is usually PH 6.6 and my aim is to have it at 7.0. Went to my LFS yesterday and bought some oyster shell and a media bag for my Fluval external filter but the PH has not gone up yet in 24 hours? See my topic posted about my PH and the comments made by others.

Aside from doing a test, anyone know the water conditions ideal to keep kokopu and bullies, PH, Temp etc?

Hey tanksman, I went out to my LFS yesterday and got me some oyster shell and a media bag and placed it in the top media basket in my external filter. It has been at least 24 hours and no PH change? How long does it take to be noticable?

I really really want one of these. If I buy one thats say 4" or 100mm for my community tank would it eat my neons? If it wont at this size when it gets larger will it have learnt not to eat my neons or will its instincts take over and I would have a feeding frenzy on my hands?

Hi Zev, I have the same taste in plecos. All the smaller species are the flashy expensive ones and are quite pricey. The cheaper ones (redspot etc) soon grow way to big for most common tanks. But they are the best fish !

How long does this substrate last in a tank?

Hi tanksman, I have a piece of wood for my pleco. I was told birdgrit for raising ph but I am unsure of where to put it and for how long - permanant or just to get ph up and does it just keep raising the ph through the roof? Silly question but where do you get oyster shells from? I have an airstone which I turned way down last week but had to increase it due to long power cut and I was hoping I could get some extra air into my filter as many bacteria had died - I will turn down again tonight.

Just as an additional point I checked my tap water's PH lastnight while doing a water change and it was PH 7.6. After topping up my tank the tank ph is still way low (6.2 due to power cut for 7 1/2 hours and water quality has dropped) go figure? I drained 30 ltrs from 160 +/- refilled tank with tap water with water ager added and tested ph in tank straight away = ph 6.2. What makes the ph change so much imediatly after refilling the tank? I thought it would increase the ph by topping up the tank up with water with a ph of 7.6? :-?

Hi Modern Angl, you have a nice collection there. Where all these purchased from your area? I dont see many of these in our LFS's in Auckland apart from the odd Goldspot and also not much in the $50 to $100 range its mainly over $120. So it will take a we while for me to get a few nice ones for my collection on my budget.

Theres not much to say other than "SPECTACULAR" or maybe "WOW". Those are wonderfull tanks there - well done ! ONE DAY MAYBE

Yep sure enough, one dead shark. The other fish look and are acting okay though. Did a substantial water change (30ltrs out of 160 odd) incase of "mini cycle" happening and a big gravel vac. I dont have a ammonia or nitrate/nitrite kit yet (on my list of things to buy) so I cant tell what is going on there but PH is down to 6.4. Ive added some white spot treatment to perhaps kill of any nasties.

Just had a call from home to say 1 silver shark is upside down at the bottom of the tank hardly breathing, dying I guess this a because of the power cut and resulting effects! You do your dambdest to get all conditions right to have it ruined ! ! :evil:

Hey phyrestaata, Im in Glenfield and also love those PLECOS, keep us posted if you find any up for sale anywhere?

Are there any steps us FISHO's can take when the power eventually comes back on - maybe do a 10 - 15 % water change? ( as the water would be quite stale with fish waste ) What about the filter bacteria - would it be better to tip filter water out and refill with tank water? When my power came back on all manner of goop came out of the filter and into the tank (possibly dead bacteria?). Will my tank now go "out of cycle"? And why would I have to be on the look out for white spot? WHY :-? WHY :-? WHY :-?