sharn

hey penguinleo- LFS stands for Local Fish Store/Shop

suphew- i thought tape worm you could see, i have read many stories about ultra long tape worms hanging out the bottoms of fish when being treated. or am i thinking of another worm?

thing is the shops here very rarely educate about the size. i saw no signs on the baby pacu tank at a store and at another store a sign that said they only grew to 20cm (when quizzing staff member she didnt know they get 2 foot long and was very shocked they sold them). it is a very common thing to see fish put down or given to the national aquarium once they get 'too big' GG are cute things (ok, so sorta ugly but i like ugly things), same with pacu and people buy them thinking they will go ok in their four footer. a fish that grows over 50cm should, IMO, have warning labels on the tank, it should be inforced. your average hobbiest doesnt have a 8x4x4 lying around for a giant gourami (using the 4Lx2Lx2L rule, L being length of fish), not to mention most people who did have tanks that size wouldnt use it for one of them (i myself would, i love monster fish :lol: ) i guess i just expect too much from shops that sell stuff, in my mind you should know at least basic info to be able to sell something. its illegal to house a horse in a room it cant run in, it should be the same for fish! edit- i dont think jags fall into the above catagory, they arent a massive fish so are easier to house.

drontal is the stuff everyone uses so good guess there i am not sure what the specific ratio is for the pill tofood so hopefully someone else can help you with that one. if it is tape worm you will see the worms lying on the bottom once they have been shed, you wont be able to miss them. i would suggest cleaning the bottom, i dont know much about TW but just incase their bodies contain egg sacks or something nasty like that. alot of people worm certain fish every so often, ive seen anything from the 3 month- once a year used. quite a few people even worm any new fish they aquire when it is in quarentine. now, im not too up on golfish poop but could it be the daphnia causing the wierd looking poo? i have been told it is like a laxative. however if it is long and stringy then that probably wouldnt be from food. just thought id ask you guys metro (metrondiazole (sp)) is used for treating instesinal flagellites (heximita). it would be best to try and find out exactly what the problem is as you dont want to medicate for something they dont have aye p.s. if you add your location to your profile perhaps someone in your area may be able to come around and have a look if they know about this stuff :bounce:

or you can have a naughty boy like mine who loves digging right smack bang in the middle of my tank in the sand and making the aquatic mix get exposed :lol: he only did that about 7 times but has stopped now thankfully

slap me and call me stupid but i cant for the life of me find that article! i want to print it off and add it to the folder for furture use :lol: anyone have the link? i saw it a while back when people were discussing a large tank but i cant find the post and the search function is down. thanks

if it is stringy, white/clear with segments that would very likely be tape worm (i think thats the one with segments). i am unsure if goldfish can get hex, but i assume so and when they have this the fish produce a white stringy poop also, but without the segments. either of these two will not go away by themselves and will need treatment, either worming or a dose of metro in the food/water. what have you been feeding your fish lately? is it possible it could just be the food or undigested bits? either way it would be best to quarentine it for a while until you can get this sorted. good luck

im not pleco expert but that looks too 'camo' to be a common/sailfin, it definatly looks cool. hopefully catbrat can confirm what it is?

did they put poor helen in that jag tank right down the other end! i hope not, that massive long tank she was in was too small for her. these are just one of the other fish that shouldnt be able to be sold to the general public *shakes head sadly*

LOL at spares thing :lol: might wana re-assess the heaters. thats 450W all up and most tanks will get by well on one watt per litre. the 300W alone would do it and could also cook the tank pretty easy if it did jam on on the filter material- i dont own an eheim so im not sure if they have specific cartridges etc in them but my canister just has empty baskets that i can stuff with whatever i please. is this the same as yours? if so you dont need to use specifically eheim products, they often cost twice as much as the next product thats exactly the same but without that pretty label :lol: everything else seems to be in good shape, seems like youve got everything on track big ups to you for doing all your reasearch first, your discus are going to love you for it

most people use meth blue i also think but i think about malachite green... not sure about it but in my 'fungus file' in my brain malachite green stored in there for some reason :lol:

ahhh yes, plants dont really like salt that much... if it doesnt get bette your plan is good. do enough water changes to completley get rid of the salt and then go with your meds. i have heard good things about Wunders 'white spot cure'. not sure if that is needed as a half dose but i would reccomend it and see how they go, up it if it doesnt improve but make sure you keep watching them for a while after you add the meds just to make sure they dont have any reactions to it

oh man it would be a miracle if they did work safely! i would really love to find a kh increase that doesnt increase ph... seems there isnt really much i can do that is still safe and easy to use. i was just wondering what they meant by 'phosphate buffer', wondering what exactly was in it... anyone have any clues?

hard out they would advise keeping a 45cm fish (male potential size) in a tank only just twice the length with a breeding partner...

i remember reading it ages ago, i *think* it was because the minerals were getting boiled out or something? it seems that might be poopies cause you say it raises back up as it cools... i wonder why that is?

i think thats very very pricey for a breeding pair of oscars, it isnt hard to get a viable breeding pair if you have the space to grow six up to the 20cm mark and let them spawn in the tank. he doesnt state that they have ever managed to get to wriggler/free swimming stage which is a problem- two female oscars will often pair up and try make babies...

white spot is a pretty persistant thing and can take a few weeks to get rid of. keep the tank water nice and clean, salt and heat up and see if that helps. if they still dont show any improvement after another week or so perhaps you may need to try the meds as they are stronger. good luck

we have a mini Amano in the house people!! :lol:

i use stress coat on all my tanks. i might not need to but i can smell the chlorine and if i can smell it theres too much to be safe for my fish in my mind. just use a general dechlorinator added during water changes

i mix warm and cold water to make the desired temp on all my tanks. when your doing 50% water changes daily on a tank thats kept at 30C adding cold water isnt really appropriate IMO. if your doing small ones it may be ok, but for me its not much effort to warm my water up

i dont like using the ph up and down stuff because it often doesnt correct your problems and it will swing back to normal. are you trying to harden or soften your water? you say its a phosphate buffer? what does that do? high phosphates encourage algae growth if i remember rightly. when people have algae probs they often check phosphate levels. i reccomend the aquarium pharm test kits, really easy to use. i wouldnt use carbon at all, it has a very short life (like a sponge, it will absorb what it can then leach stuff back into the tank). ive read it can last anywhere from a day to a month but a healthy tank shouldnt need it. it will often mask smells etc that you would want to correct. good for a short term fix. i agree with blue bout not bothering bout the UG filter, youll have to tear the tank apart and adding another canister/internal/hob will do a much better turnover. most fish are very tolerant in their ph, as long as its stable (can test if its stable by checking your KH) they shouldnt have a prob. keep it in the general fish keeping range and you should be all go.

careful with the dresser, thats 192kg in the water alone. have to make sure its strong, tough wood with enough supports in the right places to be able to hold the tank. it will weigh a fair bit more after you add in all the substrate etc good luck with the stand!

'apparently' cycle and all the other cr*p contains dormant bacteria, that have to have the right conditions to flourish- i happen to disagree. stress zyme, not sure what that exactly does to be honest, i read it once and forgot it. bio-spira is a thing they can get in the US, it is bacteria in a bottle but MUST be kept refridgerated at all times otherwise the bacteria 'wake up', start wanting to eat, produce waste etc and pollute their container. you add it to the tank a few hours before you add all the fish and the most you will get is a small spike from all the people i have talked to in the US about it. i have never added them myself. its a waste of money IMO, id rather save that 20 bucks for when my tank is cycled for some nice plants etc. but then again i can just pull out some media from one of my filters, use established substrate etc. if you dont have a tank to take this from do you have any friends with healthy tanks you could take some filter floss, gravel etc from? it wont greatly increase the cycle, maybe a week or so but it just jump starts the whole process. and dont forget- if you dont have fish in there you need to feed the bacteria your self

i would put my money on saying their isnt, got a mate in the US whos really into large cichlids (large scale breeder) and im sure in the many convos about jags weve had something would have popped up if there was such a thing, they always get the newer breeds first i wouldnt mind purchasing one of the 'mini' ones and growing it up in my 460L by itself to see if it reaches its full size... now, since you bought the breeding pair you want at LEAST 500L to get them comfortable, 700L+ would be the ideal. big fish and if your male snaps your female wont have a chance, their bodies are muscle going to those mighty jaws i know they have bred without a divider but putting em into a new tank stirs a new pot, they both have to re-establish their dominance etc, best to keep one on hand, make it so a good hard push with your hand cant budge it. p.s. try to keep your hands out of the tank if they breed, might be useful to get a real long siphon (which they will most likely attack anyway) but its better than your precious skin :lol:

yeah it would be cool, i love my big fish but smaller evil fish are also good too :lol: