sharn

yeah, i did that a couple of times and the seals looked fine. i will pull them out and put them back in just incase they have been mushed really far in and have got stuck somehow. i can always buy a new seal and see if i cant fix it, theyre not too expensive

ill try the cardboard tomorrow and if that doesnt work ill try the vaseline. its not a tiny leak- all four sides have water coming out, i would estimate a litre or two a minute would be trickling out so its a pretty steady stream seems wierd its just decided to do this after being fine for four months

the bubbles themselves dont actually add any oxygen to the water as they go up, its the surface movement at the top where the bubbles break which is increasing the oxygen in the water. if you have a heap of tiny bubbles they are going to make less surface movement than big bubbles which make ripples. you dont NEED to use it but if your other filtration doesnt have a high turnover it could be of benefit. you will know if it was helping if you find the fish gasping at the top, if you do find that then adjust the outlet of your filter/s or add another to get more turnover/surface movement

i was cleaning the discus filter out the other day (rena xp3) and i pumped the hose disconectors to get the siphon going to fill the canister back up afterwards as usual. for some reason once the canister had filled it started leaking down the sides of the canister from where the motor housing clicks onto the media casing holder thingimabob. this has never happened before- normally once it had refilled and was ready to be plugged in again the water flow just stopped going down. now whenever its turned off it dribbles down the sides which shall be a big problem if the power goes off when im not home, i have put it in a 40L bin for now but it will drain down to the inlet which takes 60L removed to expose. i may raise the inlet up just incase. any ideas as to what it could be? i have checked the rubber seal and it all looks ok, nothing out of the usual

theyre not super fast growers IME (not like a couple of cm's a month like oscars) but pretty steady. i didnt take much notice of my sevs growth but he did slow right down when he got to around 15cm. depends how big ya four footer is, if its a standard 200L you could do one adult pair with other smaller fish nicely and everyone would have sufficient room. you can obviously keep more to a tank with the size they are at now and just thin the tank down as they grow

sevs are awesome fish! they are pretty laid back for their size (20-25cm) IME and eat anything. mine loves algae wafers broken up and garden worms (if they get past the oscar hehe). shelled peas and shrimp are also a favourite theyre not picky at all about their water params. they will eat fish they can fit in their mouth and mine tends to keep the smaller fish in line with 'the look' :lol: i think they would probably nibble at live plants if they could, i dont have mine in with real plants permantly in the tank with the sev in it (i chuck in stargrass for the SD's every now and again but thats gone in two seconds flat)

red tailed black sharks are neat but they can be agro. they dont like the same species and often hassle other fish that have red/orange/yellow on them. they will also eat fish neon/guppy sized when they get bigger apparently. their max size is aroudn 12-15cm. they also have funny mouths so need to eat small fish foods (mine cant eat my large cichlid pellets so has to get given tetra bits). people often have problems with them in comm tanks with fish that wont stand up for themselves. they appreciate a hiding hole, mine spends his day in a fake log. my RT black shark is in with one oscar, a sev, 3 silver dollars and a pleco. he definatly knows his place and wont dare to get in the way of the O or sev (gave the SD's a bit of a run around till they got larger). i think they make good tankmates for larger fish who they cant bully.

dont bother bout removing them, they make tasty snacks for the parents/other fish

id say no. while the clown and BGK might be fine (havent read of them being mixed before so dont know how they would go but the clown gets alot larger than the BGK) the BGK probably wont do so well with the O and maybe the cons if theyre nasty. if the BGK gets picked on he will run and the cichlids will chase and that will equal a stressed fish that really cant fight back. also any extra bio load (even though it wont be much lol) will mean more maintenence and possible compatibility problems while your gone

awesome discus, congrats they turn dark when theyre stressed so its very possible they are doing that because of their new surroundings? i wouldnt add any more melafix, ive read a bit about discus not being too fond of it but i am unsure as i have never used it on mine. i find if my discus get scratched up (fighting :roll: :lol: ) it heals fairly quickly on its own, clean water is often all thats needed to keep problems at bay

they are pretty good disease carriers due to the filth they live in but most people cultivate them in cleaner conditions i beleive. im very wary of any live food which is from fresh water

in my 360L i have- 1 adult Oscar 1 adult sev a 20cm common plec which wont grow (he was kept in a 60L for a few years before i rescued him two years ago) a 12cm RT black shark (also rescued) 3 SD's i may upgrade them all into my 460L once teh SD's get larger. decor is driftwood, dark gravel and fake plants 50-70% once weekly w/c (im a fan of big w/c's :lol: ), fluval 304 and 2000lph internal 220L bare bottom 7 discus ranging from 7-14cm 50% w/c every second day. Rena xp3 and sponge filter 150L planted- 8 rummes 3 cories 1 lonely khuli one agro angel pair of wild agassizi's M & F bristlenose once weekly 40% w/c's, jebao 304 170L- five axolotls. once weekly 40% w/c with a small 200lph internal (amazing how such a small filter can create enough current to move the axies gills at the other end of the four foot!)

oh dear you are in my thoughts peter and family

keep in mind apistos can be pretty nasty when they get breeding, to other fish and their partners. my agassiziis are lovely fish but my cockatoos werent so friendly to othe fish

golds are a colour mutation of the blues and seem to have been bred to enhance the fin lengths. your fish may be a cross or it may just be a nicer finned blue. my golds had gorgeous fins but they didnt last very long (we get bottom pick when it comes to being sent fish from other countries and because they are inbred so much they have become quite weak fish sadly). it will be very interesting to see how any survivors turn out :bounce:

its also known as Flagyl when used in humans. i am unsure if it has any extra additives though so best to check if you get it labelled as Flagyl

aweome to hear it worked well! keep your eyes peeled for more though just incase, some fish seem to have more problems ridding them than others

have you checked the feaces? heximita is common among discus. they will get white stringy poops, turn dark, and eat less and less until they waste away. the flagellite is always present in the gut but it takes hold when the fish is stressed or its immune system is down. hexamita can be treated with metrondiazole either by food (most effective method) or via the water if the fish wont eat. what did the strands look like? spider webs? if so that is most likely slime coating. they can over excrete slime coat over alot of things, stress, water quality, certain illnesses like body flukes etc. i would invest in some large aging bins (just large rubbish/storage bins work fine) and age the water to see if that makes a difference. all the bin needs is a powerhead for water movement so the chlorine can dissapate (and during that time the ph will normally change slightly) and a heater if you wish (makes it alot faster). my discus hate my water straight from the tap but after its aged they seem fine with it. it also saves on heaps of water conditioner which can become pretty expensive when your doing frequent large w/c's

awesome photo billaney! the only fish of mine attempting to give me xmas babies are my discus but they will eat them soon anyway :lol:

around 2-3 weeks to be able to run another tank by itself properly. check the motor housing out, mine was noiser until i pulled it apart and had a good fiddle round and put it back together (i dunno what i did but it sorta helped lol)

setting up tanks and getting into the hobby can use up alot of cash, im a student and struggled to provide for my fish at the start because i was earning less than 100 a week. i like to help newbies when i can. i give my plants away to newbies or people setting up new tanks when they reproduce- the way i see it is im not doing anything special for them to reproduce so why not help someone else out? theyd just go in the bin otherwise! i spose they wont be too much help to you though if your going african? :lol: chin up

i have all my tanks in my room and my rena is most certanly noiser but i bought it second hand, i have read alot about them and it seems most of them are silent which is wierd. i have actually had to stuff the handles with socks, put poly around the base of the stand (its an open stand) and chuck my duvet over it so it doesnt annoy me- im one of those people that cant sleep with alot of noise though :lol: my fluval and jebao are quiet enough. if its really annoying you take it back and try another

i also have the xp3 also and i love the setup options. perhaps if your tank is deep enough dont use the outlet bend for the spray bar and having the spray bar go straight down? either that or just face the flow downwards. as ant said with any turnover your going to be getting movement at the surface, you will just lessen it if you face it away from the surface

google 'pop eye' and see if that looks similar. if it is i found Furan-2 worked well to stop it in its tracks when it was just starting to show up, im unsure how it would treat a case that is quite far gone.

as caryl said they can block the fish up. it wont always but its better to be safe than sorry and its not too hard to pop them out of the shells