Stella

hire-a-clown?

I haven't heard of a 10% rule either, sounds a bit minimal to me. I imagine most well-stocked tanks would wind up with creeping nitrates over the long term with that. I do 30-50% changes weekly. Like with filtration, I think it is better to overdo it than underdo it.

Yeah, that is what they say. I have never used anti-chlorine, and I have friends in palmy who have been into fish for decades and have never used it. I accept that chlorine is not good for them, but I also think a lot of the horror stories where chlorine is blamed, was due to an over-vigorous waterchange. Just my experience anyway.

Seems the water pipe under the fitzherbert bridge broke today: http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standar ... ains-burst Water is cut to 'outlying' areas, and they are switching to bore water temporarily. I am not sure if this pipe is the inflow from the turitea catchment, or quite what. Apparently turitea water only goes to a small part of the city, mainly Hokowhitu. Just posting as it may mean increased chlorine use in some areas. Of course I only see this AFTER doing major waterchanges on three tanks. I have never used anti-chlorine stuff. :roll:

they be ostracods, also known as seed shrimps Think about them like a daphnia enclosed in a mussel shell. Ostracods have a bivalve shell on the outside, and it opens just a crack for their tiny legs to peep out and do the swimming. They come in a multitude of colours and sizes and look just like little seeds swimming around. The name is interesting. The word has the root in 'ostraca' which was Greek for broken pottery or tiles. Once a year they would banish from the Athens the person who was thought to be most dangerous to the security of the State. They did this in a democratic way (of course!), voting by writing the name of their choice on pieces of ostraca. The 'winner' got exiled for 10 years, and their belongings confiscated. Hence the word 'ostracism'! Ostraca can also mean shells, hence ostracods. (man I am too geeky! but hey, you won't forget the name in a hurry. I always have to remember the root to tell if something is an ostracod or copepod)

wow, impressive! Maybe she just isn't into him I wonder if it would be more sensible to move him out instead? Whoever is left in the home tank will be establishing it as their territory, and when the other cray is put back, they will likely attack them as an intruder. With animals the defender usually fights with greater vigour than the attacker. It will likely take a very long time for the claws to fully regrow - multiple moults, and as you have likely noticed, the time between moults lengthens as they get older. She will get little claws after the next moult, but they won't be her usual size.

pond critters are awesome! In your bottom photo (just easiest to describe): Left = female copepod (the ovals are ovaries) Top = male copepod Bottom = daphnia I have a 3ft tank for critters. It has peat and leaf litter in the bottom, nitella (native plant) growing rampant and all sorts of other critters (copepods, ostracods, snails, diving beetles, tubifex etc). It does seem to have got rather low on critters since I added in a whole lot of damselfly larvae though. Backswimmers and boatmen rock too - did you know they chirp?? Fascinating watching what 'food' gets up to when it isn't being eaten by fish

New Zealand has a lot of native aquatic bryophytes (liverworts and mosses). Often found in deep water of lakes, but some are also found in the shallows. If no one here knows what they are, I might be able to point you someone at NIWA who might know. Really pretty photos!

Nope, they are using the same technique. The moisture and poo means good bacterial growth, and the maggots encourage things along, feeding on the nutritious fluids from the bacteria and/or sores developing on the animal's skin. They don't have the mouthparts to gnaw into live flesh.

That is pretty much it. Maggots don't have very exciting mouthparts, they pretty much can only slurp juices, hence needing moist, bacteria-ridden flesh to grow in. If you ever want to be completely grossed out, do a google image search for human botfly. The fly catches a mosquito in flight and lays her egg on it. The mosquito lands or a human or other host and the egg hatch and land on the skin. The maggot then burrows in somehow and feeds on secretions in the wound, holding in position with tiny barbs. However it also secretes its own antibacterial stuff to stop the wound from getting infected, as infection would kill the maggot. Ironically, people really only have pain or infection if the maggot dies in situ! Even so: shudder

Yes they grow back, slowly, with each future moult. It is very difficult keeping two koura together. Can be possible if the ground area is really big and there are lots of hiding places, but no guarantees. Being with others also puts them at much greater risk of being 'nibbled' when shedding. How long have they been together?

Indeed, very nice!

Top one is a mayfly imago (mayflies are weird. They shed from larval to sub-adult form, then again to true-adult form. The sub-adult is called an imago and is identified by the smoky wings, proper adults have clear wings.) Bottom two look like caddisflies.

Columnaris is something that is there anyway, it gets a toe-hold if the fishes' immunity is weakened. It isn't really carried, but it may still be lurking in higher numbers than usual. Try and figure out what weakened the fish to begin with, improve maintenance and get the remaining fish as healthy as possible. Then think about restocking.

Scary. You did the right thing. I think that shows great strength. 'Wimpy'? How pathetic. Macho idiocy never got anyone anywhere good. Good suggestions to take notes and go higher up the chain of command.

Aw man, that is bad Very serious. The spots don't look uniform enough to me for it to be whitespot, but that that it is on the fins like that looks like it is. Confusing. If it is whitespot, I would expect you need to be medicating for a good four weeks or so. Damned long lifecycle in cold water Unfortunately the salt is not as fast as the other medications, but that length of time (plus their degradation) makes it so hard to safely and effectively use them in cold. You need to continue to treat for at least one week AFTER the last spot has dissappeared, though in such a severe case, I would go for two weeks.

No idea about axies. The must have been getting medicated before anyway, probably not good for anyone to be medicated without cause. Just to make things manageable you are best using a hospital tank anyway. Or bucket, or tub. Adding a filter to a hospital tank may be pointless - the salt will probably really affect the cycling. Just do it easy: daily 30% water changes (or similar), and be religious with the salt. Measure or weigh it out. If you are worried about temperature in a smaller tank, put a fan on the top for evaporative cooling, just remember to top up with freshwater before doing the waterchange, or the salt will get concentrated. Furan is expensive, but buying capsules off other people is only sensible if you can get a full course of them - antibiotics are not something to play around with partial courses, that is a big part of why we now have superbugs.

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that brown 'algae' is an accumulation of dead silica shells of diatoms (a type of funky microorganism). Thus algae eaters will ingest it while they are sucking on rocks etc, but it doesn't really mean food for them, just a whole lot of silica (a mineral, the basis of glass). So if you do use algae eaters to clean up this new-tank symptom, just remember there isn't real food-value in it, and they will need proper supplementary food. I agree with others, just deal with it until the tank establishes properly.

oh yes, I forget about Furan! Thanks Joefish! Since this has been going on a while and she is not looking very happy, this could be a really good solution. Since it is an antibiotic, it is probably best to use it in a hospital tank. Especially given the amount you would need given your whole set-up.

Columnaris is in all water anyway, it just gets in opportunistically. Whitespot is a parasite that will only be there if it was brought in on a fish (likely in wild-caught fish) Sounds like a good setup, and the temperature is great. Egg production can put the females in poor condition. Who knows? :-? Salt dips can be useful in addition. Around 5tsp per litre, dissolved before adding the fish, is good for a salt dip. I use a small container and just one litre of tank water. Keeping the fish in the net the whole time makes it faster. I count in my head as I do it, and take the fish out at one minute, earlier if it is too stressed or loses equilibrium.

Hmm, could be columnaris, that can look 'spotty' on the scaled fish. The 'spots' look slightly irregular compared to normal whitespot. You probably have a more chronic condition here, rather than the ones that kill in 24 hours. Good! What I recommend for this is salt at 1tsp (6g) per litre. Keep doing lots of waterchanges and replace the salt removed each time. It may take a while to clear up (expect a couple of weeks). If it isn't columnaris, this rate is twice what will kill whitespot, so you have that covered too. I researched the various 'cures' and malachite/formalin/etc medications with regards to native fish. In the end I couldn't find a COLD WATER protocol that I felt comfortable putting in the book. Everything is aimed at tropical temperatures where the lifecycles are faster and the fish don't have to be in these rather nasty chemicals for so long. Also the salt STAYS PUT, unlike those meds which degrade in light etc. Next: why did she get this? Usually it is a sign of things being chronically not right, temperature and/or water quality. This is common in summer, can be a handy indicator.

Nuclear is way too risky. Not quite about power generation, but indicative of the massive problem of storing left over nuclear waste, more endangered fish: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 172256.htm I think decentralisation of power is the way to go. Mini-turbines on every roof, solar electricity and hot water. We have the technology, why is the govt not subsidising this?

Craziness :evil: :evil: :evil:

Yes, I would say redfin female (the males have the red fins, females are brown and less dramatically marked). Bullies change colour easily, males more intensely. Sometimes it is about being dominant or territorial (feeding or spawning times) other times it is about blending in. Dark gravel and dull lighting leads to darker, more intensely coloured fish.

LOL 'accidentally' got a torrentfish! I can so relate... Very nice looking tank there, interesting with the sand. I am not sure what the bullies are. There are diagonal stripes there, but they look a bit odd. Going by face-shape commons can probably be eliminated. Uplands aren't in your area, and definitely not bluegills, so it is probably down to Cran's or redfins. Likely redfins. Do you have a closer photo? Nice 'pregnant' shrimp, and the mayfly larva photo is cute. Those critters are neat to watch in a tank. Welcome to the hobby :bounce: