sharn

looks good those platties in pic three look like they think its dinner time :lol:

because BN are 'scaleless' they can often react badly to meds, normally a half dose is used on tanks containing BN, other plecos, clowns, khulis etc. it could have been something else, perhaps bacteria on the substrate or something?

my guess is the treatment didnt last long enough the first time. clowns and rams are sensitive fish, with clowns being prone to WS so thats why they would still have it the cysts can remain unhatched for a few days, with the freeswimmers still free swimming trying to find a host, thats why keeping treatment up for a week or two after is your best bet to try and knock it right back down. pehaps a nice water change and another dose of meds might help (perhaps using the 1ml per 20L for a bit longer might help) to try and get it off them for good, make sure you give the susbstrate a good cleaning as thats where the cysts are. if your clowns are still looking happy theres a good chance you can get rid of it again, not too sure about the ram, i suppose just keeping the water nice is all you can do. i hope he gets better. good luck!

dont worry, that girl has always had that bump, its from digging :lol: its sort of like a callus. those spots on her fin seem to be normal also, my boy developed a few dots like that when he tore his fins, where the split stopped is where the dot is, i think its just scarring. however if its all over her body then you could be looking at ich.

perhaps its something similar to what happened to the pieces i was soaking in my big tank out in the garage. it sort of look liked it was in a cocoon of clear gel, perhaps 4-5mm thick and when i touched it it sort of floated off in a sheet and dissappeared... not sure what it was, sort of like slime but after i shook the wood it went away. this is in a fish free tank though. im not sure what yours could be sorry, hope ya find out

its not like a clearish gel or something is it? it sort of looks like the woods been dunked in jelly or something and theres a thin layer?

dont really have to do anything at all, oscars are amazing healers! if you want to help the process along adding some melafix at the required dose and some salt (1tbsp per 40L, which is the light dose) if you want to. keep the water nice and clean and you should see it start to look better within a few days. if you do use salt make sure you only add what you take out. its probably just annoying him a bit, if he really hates it he'll scratch it off himself or something. what did he cut his lip on? oscars are one of those fish that if they can hurt themselves on it they will :lol: good luck and let us know how he gets on!

success!! i can get it the lady said its not always available but she can get it

i will probably hardly ever use them but id rather be safe than sorry :lol: the only thing its going to be used for at the moment is for my baby axolotl who is outgrowing his BB and i want to make a divider to get him into the 180L. hopefully i get my new tanks soon so i wont need them but i wana be prepared... those sound good suphew, i might look into them. the holes dont have to be teeny, i can always chuck a stocking over it if it needs to keep out smaller fish. i might go browsing this weekend

yeah alan- not sure if i have any fish to sacrafice :lol: i went to bunnings and this one didnt have anything blue- that might end up being easiest, but i need it so the water still flows around nicely... ill store that though and ill definatly consider it

perhaps that courier driver has lost the parcel or something and is trying to cover his butt? i always have a fear of stuff getting stolen from outside, i just received another pair of docs which are worth around 5/600 or so and was stressing i might not be home to get them. the man pressed the doorbell but being in my jamas i didnt answer, we have a closet like thing by the door where he stuck the boots which i thought was good of him. i think it might be NZ couriers who wont leave a parcel there if your not there to receive it. i also like that but that probably isnt much good when it comes to fish :-? hopefully someone saw this lovely package and thought 'oh, dvd player' or something and when they open it see its fish and have the heart to return it, even if its in the middle of the night so noone sees. i got my fingers crossed for you bud that you get them back and whoevers got them brings em back. perhaps asking the few houses around you might help (if your street it anything like mine you might have a little old lady who spends her day watching everyone and their houses lol)

yeah it is, they didnt have anything else available there and cause im not the most knowledgable when it comes to hardware products i thought there probably wouldnt be much else around :-? i wanted the stuff your talking about (at least i think your talking about it), its like oversized, hard plastic cross stitch mesh or something... where did you get yours from?

i understand what ya mean about losing fish like this. all fish have personalities but you just cant compare a red devil, oscar etc to a neon tetra with personality. all fish hold sentimental value to each person but these fish are really like dogs in a tank, its not uncommon to hear of certain species of fish who will refuse to eat from all but one person!! they might not be able to learn to 'roll over' but they sure can remember faces. ive heard the tigers are real funny fish to own, must have been a bummer to have yours pass, sorry for your loss

are ya using two nets to try get them out? sometimes they can be right pains in the A$$'s to get out, i had to use four nets (my little sister holding two) to try and get my khulis out :lol:

heres a link to my drawings, dont laugh :oops: :lol: http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f351/ ... ivider.jpg the red lines are the thick edging (that i need to find), to keep it stable and right to the edge of the tank, if i just tie suction cups onto the meshing the fish will be able to get through the places the suction cups arent. the black circles are the suction cups and the purple thin lines are the 'kebab' pieces of plastic (that i need to find)to strengthen the lot up. obviously the black is the shade mesh. http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f351/ ... vider2.jpg the second link is the pic of the plastic sheet, basically a home made version of the shop ones though im not sure where to get sheets of hard plastic from, perhaps 2mm thick and clear. the white bits are the holes, pink bits are suction cups. this option would be easier and more sturdy but im not up on what 2mm plastic sheeting is used for. perhaps they make that wavy thick plastic (people use it for covering in their outside porches etc to keep the rain out ) in a flat sheet? sort of like perspex sheets or something... kinda hard to understand :roll: :lol: this is one of the few times a male would come in handy in this house :lol:

i know wardly put corn meal in some of their products. i use mainly JBL which dont list ingrediants but i suppose nows the time to look on the net. if it does ill switch to another brand. corn meal is just a filler and is often within the first few (meaning its a high percentage). i read bout the foods in the US containing "whole fish" as the first ingredient, but i dont think we have anything like that here ive smelt the zuchinni after about 16 hours (my large pleco is fussy and wont eat it) and it smells... interesting :lol:

gh is fine, its the kh that is a bit low, its very possible you were (and might still be) getting ph crashes :-? perhaps looking at some way to up it and keep it more stable might be beneficial? few methods of doing that come on!!! believe the LFS, they only grow to 20cm :lol:

one of my fav fish they will most likely have midas in them also as they two have been heavily cross bred sadly unless they have been in the country a long long time (not sure when all the cross breeding started). red devils have very pointy bodies, while midas are less severe (this is from seeing F0's). a great fish, massive personality but they are a one fish per tank fish unless breeding. if you wana mix them dont put fish you value in with them. its very rare for these fish to come in 'nice' :lol: i want a lone male for my 460L (i LOVE nauchal humps) but i feel cruel putting it out in the garage, theyre just too intelligent

hello all, im making myself some dividers. i have got plastic mesh stuff, like they use for shade sails and it looks like it wont leach anything (hoping). its pretty flimsy but i cant seem to find rigid plastic mesh so this will do. im wanting to get a bit of strength in the middle so im wondering if any of you know of anything i could use, it needs to be about kebab stick width but long (60cm or so and able to be cut down to size). also- for the edging (to stop fish being able to sneak in where the 'sags' are between suction cups) is there anything you guys could suggest for this? it needs to be able to be either tied or glued on, approx 1cm or so thickness and pretty rigid. its pretty hard to explain, if only my tanks were 'standard' sizes and i could just buy them :lol: if a picture would help i can draw one up alternatively i could just buy some see thru plastic sheeting (almost unbendable) and just drill holes, that would be easier and i dont mind, the mesh only cost me 8 bucks im just not very 'up on this stuff' when it comes to hardware and the products out there :lol: if anyone else has any suggestions on DIY dividers (removable) feel free to post suggestions, its not urgent but id like to have them there 'just incase'. they dont need to be fry proof either.

bill- lots of people have tanks big enough to house 1-2 pacu but how many people are going to use a 1000L+ for pacu? theyre not classed as overly pretty (i happen to think theyre gorgeous), theyre big and clumsy, can smash almost anything you put in the tank, eat lots and create lots of waste compared to say that stunning planted tetra tank :lol: ive often been told 'what a waste' when i talk about the 5000L i want to build for rescuing, its sad, cause a fish is a fish, just cause you like a different type dont mean that a tank is wasted on a fish. if anything the big fish need more help than the small ones. keri- that shop sounds real good, most people dont realise your common you pay 20 bucks for is going to be able to reach 50cm no sweat if you provide the room (hence alot stunted). i wish we had more around like that! ill be happy the day i hear of a store that makes you pass at least a general knowledge test on fish before you get hired two cents added, back to TM :lol:

as far as im aware corn constipates fish, they cant digest it :-? i have heard of people feeding oranges and bananas, not pear or apple though :lol: i think there was an article in the TFH mag about feeding fish bananas, saw a topic on it on another site. blanching everything you uses makes it easier to digest or something, breaks down the cells walls??? i have never blanched anything though but my fish dont get much fresh veggies other than peas, lettuce and zhuchinni (other vegies are put into frozen, homemade foods) caper- all fish can be fed shelled peas (bar strict carnivores i would imagine anyway as they wouldnt be able to break it down). some fish are picky and wont eat them though :lol:

congrats matey! apparently with some plants you can cut off that flower and then it will send out a runner, but that doesnt apply to all plants so wait for more info on what to do with them. your plants must be real happy to be doing that so good job :bounce:

i wouldnt call it stupidity, i call it being let down. when i started the people i got sold fish to (and the tank the same day) didnt bother to inform me about cycling. this is one of THE most crucial parts to maintaining a healthy tank over a long period of time and people who are supposed to be pros (after all they own the business right? who owns a business without knowing anything about it) just dont mention it. why? because they want to sell those fish NOW thankfully there are staff out there that will refuse to sell you fish if you purchase a tank the same day with the intention of putting fish in there. most of the time this pee's the customers off because they dont understand or dont care but at least its giving those fish a better chance at being happy and healthy. sometimes if the customer asks enough questions about why they cant have those fish now they realise and are thankful for it.

you can get these little metal thingies (i dont know the tech term) and you can attatch two airlines, and they have little sticks that you turn to adjust flow. you can just put your airline on one and open the valve on the other side to bleed a bit off if you like. ive done it before and as long as only a bit is bleeding off it doesnt make any noise (alot seems to make a hissing noise)

oh yes, stay away from pacu :lol: water will become slightly more acidic as your tank ages, it happens with all tanks (probably bar marine and africans) from the buildup of fish waste etc. however if its crashing that will be due to a low KH (carbonate hardness), your kh is what buffers the water and keeps it stable. i have a problem with the kh of my water so i now have shell grit (the stuff birds eat) in all my filters. crushed coral, shells etc can all help with that too. with my experience in tetras (not much but ive seen a fair few species, kept only rummies, and neons) they very rarely school much unless they feel theyre in danger. ive seen schools of 100+ that dont school tightly in their tanks unless they freak out at something. hope thats of some help and welcome aboard!!!