sharn

gill inflamation and scratching sounds like flukes to me. few things to treat them, the gentler one costs quite a bit but doesnt harm bio filters (praziquantel) but there are a few other harsh ones out there that will do the trick (and nail your bio filters too). the thing about flukes is the tank theyre in needs to be treated as the babies are waterborne- or so im told- which is why its probably best to try find something that wont harm your bio filter but if all else fails something like formalin or potassium permangante will do the trick. they are pretty harsh though, when i treated with PP i sat by the tank for the full 5 hour duration of treatment (yes whole five hours) because things can go wrong so quickly and if you arent vigilant enough you can wind up with a tank full of dead fish. there are many other methods and quite a few medications others will/may use, the above is just off the top of my head

they dont look like a stick with tentacles on one end do they? could be hydra and they are known to kill small fry... being wormy though sounds like planaria, havent heard of them turning serial killer though :-?

ive been looking on our suppliers lists for them recently, i havent seen any (or i could just be blind) :lol:

people on trademe sell it, they use it for horses i beleive

i can get discus to spawn but i cant get plain old cories to :lol: IME they are easy to get them paired up and laying, its just the raising part thats the problem. a friend of mine sews neat little curtains for around her discus breeding tanks, its probably just as easy to throw towels over but they are nice and neat and are able to adjust onto most size tanks (elastic and black material of some sort). apparently they work well for her when she cant move them to a low traffic area. two females can pair up, you should know after 24 hours or so if the eggs are fertile or not as they will go white if they arent. ive had a pair for close to 10 months now that just keep spawning (fertile too) and will eat them after 48 hours, its my fault because i make no effort to cover the tank up, remove them etc but goes to show that a couple of spawns with no babies isnt too major, mine have laid probably close to 100 batches now :lol: best of luck :bounce:

I agree with you Amazonian about understocking. Most of my tanks could hold a bit more than they do but its always nice to know that i can skip a few days on a w/c or things arent going to go sour quickly if we lose power and so on.

Theoretically speaking you could do a 100% water change and still have everything in order if you did it properly. If its not done correctly you just end up with a whole new tank cycle :lol: Im not saying you should do a 100%, just pointing out the large water changes, if done correctly dont harm bacteria significantly (if at all). Id do a 2-3 50% w/c's, one each day and see if everyone perks up. With your 45% w/c youve almost bought the algae fix dose down to the amount that it was supposed to be so from here on it shouldnt be too bad, just keep an eye out for secondary problems (due to stress), the extra clean water will give them a nice boost.

Leave the filter on 24/7 (if its too noisy get a new one). You can turn off your airstone at night but check the fish in the morning, if they are gasping you may need to adjust your filters outlet or leave the airpump on all the time. In one of my tanks i have a canister running and i put an airstone on during the day (dont need it but i still use it for a little extra kick) and i turn it off at night. None of the fish are hanging at the top in the morning so its safe to say in my case i have enough turnover/surface agitation.

id wait it out, as dimebag says it can take a few weeks for them to feel 100% at home where others can be plopped in a tank and resume life as normal :lol: as long as hes eating and looking healthy i would leave him be and see how he is after a week or so

if hes eating what are you feeding him? what media is in his filter? sounds like it might be fungus? when that lifts off it leaves a raw patch. best of luck

a sump would be great (im not sure how they go with co2 if you are planning to use it, i think it would dissipate it quickly), or the canister with UV thingie, or even one without it :lol: Im not sure how much extra the UV costs when in a canister but if its not too much then its a nice investment, you dont *need* it though. My only suggestion is leave the discus till last if you are new to them, have the tank running a few months before you stock with them so you have time to get things running properly and have your routines sussed. Also get the largest you can afford (breeders often the cheapest and best quality), going into a planted tank they may not have the cleanliness of a barebottom which can stunt their growth if small (part of the reason to get the planted tank running nicely and all in balance) and larger discus are hardier IME anyway. Cant wait to see photos as you go, sounds like it will be a stunner :bounce:

id wait and see. sometimes cloudy eye is bacterial but it is often from poor water quality so keep the water nice and clean and see if it clears up on its own. could possibly be cataracts too if hes old or damaged it in the past.

perhaps the alpha is the brightest and the less dominant ones are fading? id do a couple extra water changes to see if that has any effect

Once they get a little larger chopped bloodworms can be good. Daphnia or brine shrimp are generally used for freshly hatched babies though. Good luck

here you go dixon http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/tiger- ... 19628.html hope thats of some help and if theres anything you want more info on let us know or a search may be able to get some more stuff up for ya. from what ive read and heard theyre quite easy to breed so definatly worth a shot if you are into them, good luck!

from what you said Brishe it does sound like Hex and stripping the tank will not do anything IMO. I am concerned, like dimebag, about why your fish are acting so strangely to it- i have just finished a treatment on one of my discus at 400mg/40L with two 50% w/c's a day (400mg added after each w/c) for 7 days and he is happy as larry. I am wondering if perhaps its not that great of a med to treat for Hex when in a tank with substrate etc? If they are all eating then dont worry about the treatment via water, do it by food. I use tetra bits myself a use 10mg of metro per gram of food (as says the simply discus site). I dampen the tetra bits with a bit of water, crush the metro up and sprinkle it in, mix gently, then pop in the freezer. Getting one gram of flakes is quite a large amount, then you have to attempt to measure out 10mg of metro which would be hard :lol: I used tetra bits because they were the heaviest and absorb liquid well. Theres other ways to do it, and google would have a bit, i just wanted to add my personal experience so you can have more options to look at for your treatment

thanks angela we have a tank down the end that has duboisi (with the orange belt) along with some little blue, black and white stripy, elongated fish (around 20 bucks each if that helps cause the name totally escapes me now) and it says those are from malawi. they look like johanni (sp) but their stripes are vertical. now arent duboisi from another place and shouldnt be mixed? ill have to find time to write down all the species in the display tank and go thru whats what and who likes who, im still a bit slow being my first week so i dont find i have too much time to do extras. they seem to get on ok and we currently have one girl holding. its quite neat learning about these guys cause im more of a south american gal myself. tiden- thanks, its amazing how your attitude changes when you are doing something you like!

i adjusted the spray bar to give it more agitation but the water moves under the film so it isnt really getting airated :lol: the only clear patch on the surface is right above the spray bar. ive done everything i would have to fix a protein film but it wont budge! it even has green bubbles on the top too light is three 6500K bulbs (two three footers, one four footer) on a 144L tank (before substrate etc). those lights have been running a long time and this hasnt happened. the plants were all pearling before this came along. tank is across from a window but i have never experienced algae problems before. running a 1200lph canister. ferts- im thinking this is it, i have stopped using flourish altogether now and havent renewed my nutrafin co2 kit. water change- normally weekly, but sometimes i slack to bi-weekly. the plants seemed to be on top of things so i could do two weeks easily. fish are stocked lightly. one angel, one aggassizi, three cories, two bristlenose, 8 rummies. alan- that is not what i want to hear :lol: i like black beard and hair algae in low amounts (makes it look natural) but blue green is U G L Y!! for now im gonna up the w/c's, might do a couple small ones a week and see if that makes any difference.

ouch alan, glad to hear your ok! and dont worry, we wont hold it against you if you grow attatched to your staples and leave them in- youll be the coolest modded dude in town :lol:

i managed to get one of those rouges :lol: my female latched on a few times which is why i wont put bristles in with my discus now (im slightly over paranoid :lol: ). give it a go, it wont take long for you to notice if the fish is going to be trouble and you can always rehome if need be

many people use centrum once dailies in their home made mixes, i think they make drops too but i havent seen them. garlic is also a nice booster too, some fish will eat freshly crushed cloves but others need it to be disguised in other foods before they will touch it :lol:

Thanks guys, i will have to give them a good look over when ive got some spare time Haps Vs Mbuna??? *woosh as it flies over my head* :lol: i know what a giraffe hap looks like so i know a little something :lol: i guess it will all take a bit of time to read and learn but i enjoy researching so thats no problem- all this talk of malawis, tangs (can they both be kept together?), Mbuna *mind is boggling*. Afrikan- thanks, ive only been at it two days but its been good fun and ive enjoyed helping people.

At work (just started at animal antics) we have a couple of african tanks. Thing is i know nearly nothing about them :oops: other than they like a high ph (8-8.5ish?), like/need lots of rock work and can be nasty. Are there any good sites that give you a run down of the species with a bit of compatibility info so i can print them out and keep them on hand incase i am asked about them? I dont even know the scientific names of half of the species so i cant say 'weve got this and this' but my boss says i can go on the comp to gather info on them When it comes to diet does it differ greatly for certain species or do they generally eat the stuff? We have spirulina flakes for them but any other ideas will be greatly appreciated so i can get some more variety into their diet. Thanks in advance

on the top of my planted tank. its like the protein films you get but green its obviously some sort of algae related thing but i dont have a clue what it is :lol: the only thing i can put it down to was using plain flourish, i recently started using that and since then its popped up. i can lay a paper towel on the surface, remove half and have it back completly within an hour! spray bar faced at the top does nothing to break it up either any ideas?

great advice from Kapo its a good idea to try and keep some sort of live food in there at all times if you can until their legs are growing/grown, fresh water foods (daphnia, mozzie larvae) arent going to die like BBS so that helps with water quality. if you dont have a large supply of live food you could pop some in while you are out and do scheduled feeds while you are at home kapo- i havent been there in a while, must pop in again sometime and check it all out