sharn

are you sure you are looking at the right one? tapeworm is often contracted via dropping as they contain eggs. i could be wrong, ive just never read anything about it being infectious (keep discus so was investigating to treat them) may have to re-read a couple of articles now :lol:

tested the tap water for ammonia?

:lol: SW. I normally stay out of feeder topics cause they can get heated but you are right about nutrtional benefits. Many species arent adapted to eating fish and just cause they will eat it doesnt mean its good for them. People often think large fish need and want fish in their diet when in most cases its not a natural food source and can lead to a few problems (digestion, nutrient absorbtion). Natural piscavores like clown knives and so on will be fine with feeders if you choose to use them but many are 100% healthy from prepared foods. Certain species of fish are shown to be less nutritional than others and contain certain things that can lead to deficiencies of vitamins etc. I cant remember off the top of my head which were the 'healthiest' ones to feed :lol: Main thing when feeding live things is to remember that can contain parasites (basically any live food). If you are careful you can minimise these risks but its never 100% safe

do *not* use drontal- i hear of many more cases of tank loads dying that tanks being cured sadly. It would be fine if it was plain old Prazi but its not, its got a few other nasties in it that fish arent too fond of. I know you are thinking 'anythings better than nothing', and thats totally understandable but its such a huge risk using it (you may be willing to take that risk, im not sure)- you could end up with no fish at all. Sick fish are the worst part of the hobby and i understand your stress but we can only do so much for them with our limited supply of medications. If you can find out *why* this is happening you can prevent it happening again. Are the fish coming in with the problems already or are they developing it later on? Its a process of elimination really and sadly it can take some time. Hang in there bud, if you can get metro from your vet you have a great chance in clearing it up, ive seen fish come back from within an inch of death with that stuff!

In my experience the fish wont infect other fish and everything i have read hasnt said its contagious so im assuming its not. Medicated food is just that, food that has medicine in it. For my metro food I mix up the fishes fav food (sometimes home made frozens, sometimes tetra bits) and then dissolve whatever amount of metro i need in a small amount of water and mix in. With the tetra bits i only needed a very small amount to make them soggy. Then i pop it in the freezer and use as required. The fish dont seem to notice the meds in it and eat it as usual. I cant remember what dosage i used though :oops: If they are still eating this is the most effective way to treat them cause the food goes where it is needed- to the intestine. When treating via water it is absorbed through the gills which is less effective but will still produce good results (messier though and probably more stressful)

I have my inlets as close to the bottom as i can safely (one tank has sand and that doesnt go well with impellors) and the outlets as close to the top, or facing the glass pointed slightly upwards (if its a spray bar) as possible so i get good turnover and good surface movement you dont NEED an airstone most of the time, and if you did even after altering the outlet of your filters chances are its too small for your tank.

Hammerlock stands (or something along those lines) are good. Mine measures 90x40 and you can adjust the shelving height. They have five shelves and mine can hold 350kg per shelf. Only downside is mine has MDF wood so i had to cover it in duraseal (thanks Jude) to make it water tight incase of runs down the glass. They only need a hammer to put together and a screwdriver if you want to attatch them to the wall (brackets provided i think)

HFF is spot on. Prazi will do intestinal worms (tapeworm? is most common i think and the fish will pass white segmented poop) if thats it and Metro will do Hex. Prazi can be hard to obtain and the liquid form which is great is pricey. Metro can be obtained from your vet, they call it Trichozole. Your fish may be coming in with it or something isnt right in your tank and its causing them to get it. As far as i know it isnt contagious (from my personal experience it isnt). Hexamita can be a persistant thing and needs persistant treatment. IMO if they are eating feed them nothing but medicated food (im not sure if there is generally a time limit or not but ive fed for a good week or two with no ill effects), if they arent do a full 10 day treatment via water and then follow up with medicated food. When i treat i find the fish start to pass good droppings (if eating) around the 48-72 hour mark but you need to treat for longer just to be sure. Best of luck and hang in there!

I have used salt with my plecs a few times at the 1Tbsp/40L dosage and they were happy as larry. That is the dose i see reccomended often for tanks with scaleless/sensitive fish (plecs, your loaches and knife etc) but do keep an eye on them *just incase*, every fish reacts differently You havent changed foods recently have you?

Heximita is not contagious (as far as ive been told/read). It is a flagellite in the gut and when the fish become stressed/their immune system is weakend it can take hold. I think they irritate the intestinal lining or something as that is what they are pooping out (shedding it). Im about 90% sure that that poop doesnt have anything contagious in it. Garlic has been used as a treatment but it is a slow one (can take 6 weeks or so), its good to try in the earlier stages but be prepared to use meds if it doesnt start to improve. Fresh crushed gloves (as fresh as you can get) are what you want. Use one of those crusher thingies or chop it down to size and then feed to your fish. Try feeding in the morning as thats generally when they are most hungry

could be a few things, most likely genetics though. often the deformed ones are weaker but some live to be happy and healthy

im not actually 100% sure :oops: in my cases i dont know what its caused by but it has to be bacteria of some kind, im not sure what else can cause such rapid stomach size increases overnight. just thought it may be something similar to what ive had- two fish got bloated over night then their eyes would start protruding over the course of 24-72 hours (internal pressure or perhaps secondary infection (pop eye)) then a few days later die :-? epsom salts did nothing, a dose of furan didnt do anything either. it could be plain old constipation, especially if hes been eating alot and its new to his diet? hows his pooping been in the last few days? internal things are such a pain in the bum because you need all sorts of fancy gear to attempt to find out whats up. sorry i cant help you more

just replied to your other thread wouldnt hurt to add epsom salts to the tank if you suspect its a blockage, if it is it will help clear it out. i use 1tbsp/40L when i have plecs/cories etc in the tank and they have been fine but others have different dosages they use so you may like to look into that if you want to treat as far as i know it doesnt hurt plants.

replied in your other post. you mention in this one his stomach is a bit bloated, could it be constipation or bacterial bloat? his eyes arent slightly protruding are they?

where did the cucumbers etc come from? did you leave the skins on? it could be possible they had chemicals on them. he isnt bloated is he?

i know blueandkim have a heap of diffusers + other bits and bobs for co2 units on trade me...?

awww, farmchick! that is so SWEET!

taken from http://www.amidchaos.com/cakc/articles/tappin_05.html

:lol: Afrikan

make sure you seperate out the sizes as they grow, they WILL eat each other if they get the chance. if you have a small batch ice cream containers can work well until they start to get larger. remember it is normal to get small losses- keeping the sizes apart can help, if something goes wrong with one lot not all of them will die. i would advise small w/cs (depends what size containers, how many animals and what food as to how often youd want to do it), try your best to get it the same temp. a turkey baster may be of some help to you to get their little poopies out heres a link to some more info that may be of help- http://www.axolotl.org/rearing.htm

agreed, keep the water nice and clean and it will heal up in no time

if you want to change your floss often and you have plenty of other bio media in there then its probably not too much of a problem, sure the floss will hold bacteria but there should be enough on your bio media to keep things stable. i rinse it every clean out i do, i personally only change mine when it gets old and starts to break up.

congrats billaney :bounce: tank is looking great! best of luck

:lol: im pretty sure all the metal in my ears amplifies the noise :lol: ill definatly look into it next pay day, thanks guys

im confuzzled now, purple says no but DG says yes :lol: what size is your bracing Ronnie? also how quiet are they? it would be sitting right at the end of my bed and i dont enjoy loud humming :lol: