peety

Welcome Christine.... Don't get too wrapped up in those feisty angels .... (had some, they got attitude and had to be passed to others who had more forgiving natures). I have outdoor, tropical, and tropical marine going and am amazed that you got to 31 tanks without divorce, suicide or worse (worse??). I'm at 7 tanks and its been insane at times .... all respect to you..... I have discus, so given the close ties between the good(thats discus) , and the bad and ugly(thats angels) , I will call on you if I may for help.... (lol) peety

Yeah youre onto it.... I found a huge sea slug the other week but gf said it was awful and i couldn't keep it !!! Man never seen something so pretty (and ugly at the same time). must have been about 6-8 inches !!! Just a gigantic slug !!!! Green !!!! Hahahahaha I've been at the beach most my life ..... and misseed it ..... peety

Thats one insane tank. Discus rule!!!!!! Saw your post ages ago, been saving ever since but its an ask :lol: :lol: If I keep saving when ya gonna have the next ready???? peety

Scarrier still is the theory that all fish carry every parasite, and organism ever introduced to them. (they're just biding their time) Scared now? Regular preventative doses is my new slogan. I have UV on 2 tanks and it will be on a third as soon as I get paid. Watchim while ya gotem.....

Caryl, You bought 25 !!! You must have a lot of tanks or poor eyesight !!!!! I am jealous trying to figure out how many litres that equates to.... lol As a matter of interest do you stick with .5 per litre. I use less but some plants suffer, or can't be grown at all. Also what distance between tank and light. Also when the worldwide supply of daylight tubes runs out can I get some from you .... :lol: :lol:

Some of the other rocks I've added have come to life as well...... The calciferous ones are showing some freaky blue/violet feather duster type worms. Been there for about 6 weeks so I assume they're fine. Its just a matter now of planning how many beaches i can visit..... peety

It's warm My tank sits about 23-24 I figured it would be close enough for rock pool types.... :-? So in they go !!! Peety

I sense a lovely seafood chowder in the making Follow-up : Most seem fine and are sticking to the upper edge of the tank (probably to get air ??), a couple that are on the lower parts of the tank have stopped eating (no tracks). If they die i'll have probs getting the buggers out :roll: :roll: I'm watchin them to see if they figure out the new high tide mark I didn't realise how much algae/slime buildup there was, even the front glass shows where they have been the previous night.... cool I also inadvertantly introduced some water mite thingies that I need to identify... Fun hobby..... Peety 8) 8) 8)

Hah !! Went to the beach and brought home some snails. Had to ditch a couple after browsing (carnivorous), but the most common snail, the black nerite, is an algae grazer. I brought home some big ones and they are racing through my tank cleaning up. Wicked !! Anyone had or know of any probs with them, unless you have firsthand knowledge I'm keeping mine.... Go get a couple, free at a beach near you.

Heat stroke? What are your temps? I have mine set high and sometimes find the guppies out of breath on the bottom. (Its high for the discus so the other fish suffer a bit). :roll: I also found over the summer the tank got real hot with the house locked up....about 3 degrees over normal. (won't tell you what temp that made it but it was nearly a drinkable tea!!!) :oops: :oops: peety

The outdoor pond (with those fish) is badly silted. I hired an industrial sump pump but that didn't help much ( it dragged tons of water but left piles of mud behind). Does anyone have any idea how to get years mud out of the pond? peety

I had a similar problem a while back.... it went away. I think (just guessing!!) it was the local water supply. It seemed to get really chlorinated for a while. Just a guess mind.... :-? I hadn't made any changes and didn't alter anything when it went back to normal.....

Stop going to Christchurch :-?

Koi taste awful !!! Now if you called it a trout and made it taste like a trout i guess the powers-that-be would let them stay .... o yeah ...they did (and they feed on all native species in the lakes and streams.) Everything introduced to this country stays because of judgements made by those who have an interest in it. Beauty or asthetics don't pay the bills. Realistically I don't think I agree with introducing any species. Every country has enough unique and beautiful fauna and flora that if you spent time looking at it then you'd be pleasantly surprised. But then, I can't go down to the beach and bring home a baby crayfish, or snapper and drop it in my tank either (maf reg's about size and species restrictions, but netting and commercial fishing kill em every day). The worst offenders of imports are grass and pine trees!! Forests and paddocks where there used to be bush (sigh). But ya gotta pay them bills. And ya can’t sell a view overseas. Rabbits, possums, deer, we’ve got em all. I don’t have a grudge against any, just the idiots who brought them all here in the first place. Now these species are here we live with them, I like my Koi and respect nature enough not to introduce them to the waterways. I wish the same could be said for people who dump their “legal’ cats in the wild, that turn feral, and kill the native birds and lizards. Rant rant rant…… Now if we could start exporting the things…… peety

Koi are so common over here that I've seen them sold as bait. When the rivers flood they are so prolific they can clear paddocks of grass!!! I had a friend who would regularly head down south when the rivers swelled to catch them with a fishing rod!!! Really good fight on light line. Mine aren't going anywhere fast and I guess they are all same sex since they've never bred. $2500 !!! Thats a lot of bait peety

I had fry with PH of 6.8 - 7.0. It just takes them a while to figure out not to eat their young. Go to simplydiscus.com for tons of info. Its really hard to keep your PH constant if you start playing with it. I would say stick with what you're doing and be patient. Are your fish by themselves or with others? Sometimes its best to have them go through the first broods when other fish are in the tank (it gets the protective parenting thing going). My first pair raised fry on attempt number 7 or 8 My second pair never did! Good luck, its worth the wait..... peety

How deep is your tank ? Lumens drop pretty quick in deep tanks. You can't really have too much light... you can have too much light and not enough c02 or too much light and not enough fertilizer, its just a balance. If you get algae build up its just due to the plants not being established and too much nitrate in the water (my outside pond is in full daylight and is as clear as a bell). The usual is about .4 - .5 watt per litre for tropical but if you have a deep tank that won't work. I actually use less than that and plants grow out the top of my tank but they grow REAL slow. Also get some Siamese Algae Eaters. They will eat any extra algae growth and keep your plants healthy. Bulbs are a compromise.... they will help your plants grow OR bring out the colours in your fish... you choose. Growlux provide less lumens than standard tubes therefore you need more. The spectrum is also biased towards growing a plant. I think the grow lux has a wider spectrum towards the blue end so it may be ok for fish. I would stick with standard flouros, get your mate to give you about .5 watts per litre and you should be OK. (3 x 36w minimum) Hope this helps peety

We had a really long think on this the other night.... (bear with me) What ya need is to feed your tank water into a holding tank with salt water added and a skimmer, this removes the extra nutrients. It then gets fed to a thermal water purifier where the salt gets left behind but the pure water goes back to the tank. It would work really slowly but would use the skimmer. Hmmmm maybe you're right, a straight bio filter would be best

I agree, and thanks. I'll be book buying this week, and I've been checking t&e for microscopes for the last 2 weeks (missed a goody ). The ones in the shops are really dear !!! I'm also really interested in seeing the full post mortem report since it may be something I can get arranged myself anyway. Yep it looks like that Skoda is going to get a full overhaul this week afterall.

Wow 2 foot. We have 3 koi. The biggest is about 15 inches, makes the big goldfish I have look like sprats..... I don't think they're particularly attractive, maybe I just got some duds. The orange one is cool but the marbled ones are so-so. Nice having such big fish though. They are in with about 40 goldfish and they all get along together fine.

Nice one cat.... I do pretty much the same but just hang my bottles on the wall (no tank). Takes 2-3 days instead of overnight but no extra tank, thermometer etc. Just as long as the room is warm over winter you should be OK. peety

Me again..... My first post was not a lack of knowledge on the vets part but a lack of sympathy. If I owned a Skoda and there were no mechanics to fix a skoda, I would be frustrated when it broke down and be frustrated with the lack of mechanics.... fair call But another mechanic would try and listen and help (its in their best interest and good for my soul) A vet isn't bad because he can't fix my fish he's satan himself because he won't spend five minutes thinking out a solution with me. I got told they won't buy in the meds I want from one vet because the minimum order would leave product on the shelf. (I suggested I would buy the lot). I'm not saying they should be saints, I am saying they took on a profession that is supposed to heal, if not my fish, then my spirit. I agree they can't learn everything but they could try compassion.... (still watchin those tanks ) peety

I have both Koi and goldfish, those that heven't seen both assume both to be the same.... :oops: Just asking....

Was it a goldfish or Koi ?? I've seen some big goldfish at Jannsens a while ago but not that big....

Haven't had to try them on myself yet, my slime coat is just fine, and apart from being green behind the gills sometimes, and being kicked out the of the breeding tank for forgeting a birthday or two I'll stick to common bottleshop remedies