SpidersWeb

Yeah carbon should be replaced every 30 days, or better yet not used. You only need carbon if you're removing chemicals. Any filter wool can be rinsed whenever you feel like it, but not replaced. Cermaic Noodles etc used to store bacteria, as you asked, should never be replaced or cleaned (unless broken or completely clogged). As said above, the surface of the ceramic noodles means there is more surface area for bacteria to live, and the design prevents problems with water clogging so you dont get stagnant areas. If I can't afford the media, I do put stones in, because they're better than nothing, but not nearly as effective as the noodles. There are other products like PhosZorb, or ammonia removers etc that need either replacement or regeneration. These aren't needed, and should only be added later on if a specific problem exists.

There are in-tank chemical treatments like Snail-Rid too.

If it looks kind of like a rugby ball then its a common pond snail, if it has a long pointy shell that spirals then its likely a Malaysian Trumpet. Pond Snails and Ramshorns are common and normally found attached to things you buy, malaysian trumpets are common but not quite as common, and I've never got one free on a plant before.

Tank is looking great after the redesign Nice work!

Nice find, they're a regular supplier too, I'll make note of that new cheapest.

I think the product in your second link would be the most cost effective and usable. If you're growing plants, might want to swap in some 6500K tubes (~$8ea). Plugs you can get at pak'n save, warehouse, dick smiths etc $4-7, and mains wire is cheap enough at Dick Smiths (or just butcher the cord off an old broken appliance). I can't think of anything more cost effective for tanks that size. You could do it cheaper by making the fitting yourself, but not really worth the trouble I found. That little waterproof kit would mean it could be just sat on the aquarium, and wouldn't need to be held up etc. Another option (over the budget), is that SwitchedOnGardner do Aluminium Aquarium lights in double 4ft for $120ea.

Whats your budget?

Yep. Halogen is a no-go when it comes to fish, it gives off too much heat and produces a very yellow light at around 2700K.

Those are some interesting clamps, and they certainly look a lot better than the idea of using sticky tape I had previously been told of. Where can you get those 90 degree clamps from?

They've got more blood red oscars in, so if anyone wants some cute baby oscars that are BRIGHT orange, go in now! They do sell guppies but guppies are not a coldwater species, keeping them in cold water is cruel IMO unless you can ensure the water wotn drop below 20C. There are plecs in the cold tanks, but you'll notice the cold tanks do have heaters to prevent them getting too cold for the plecs. Coldwater Hutt Pets have your normal goldfish selection and mountain minnows. The minnows are like $3each I think? I poked Ben to investigate stocking the new Aquis filters too, so that'll be a nice addition to the stock. They do provide a 10% FNZAS discount AFAIK (well I got given it in the past).

Thanks heaps for the offer, but I got a few $ together and will get a bag of copper sulphate tomorrow ($6 a bag at Mitre 10). I'll salt as normal, I'll just move the redspot in to another tank. Thanks again guys!

Thanks heaps guys great work Tracey looks like you're on the ball, Columnaris looks like a match. Well its a perfect match for the little guy, and close enough for the big lady. It says its contageous from nets etc, which could explain its introduction. The old female Firemouth also has anchor worms now. Nobody else has them but she has these bumps now with little white lines sticking out of them (which I assume is a worm, it doesn't wiggle though). Not too worried about that as I imagine salt will kill them anyway. I'm on a painfully tight budget (out of work for 2 weeks), but will do my best to get either copper sulfate or furan2, more likely the former. Are redspot plecs sensitive to salt?

meh this thread went down the pooper, sorry fizgig but anyway Frenchy, I consider a tank 'cycled' when there is sufficent nitrifying bacteria to maintain a fish load without measurable spikes in nitrite or ammonia. Adding large amounts of these bacteria, seems like a safe way to ensure those bacteria numbers are up. If we say a tank is cycled when the quantity of bacteria is perfectly balanced with the fish load, then our tank would be considered 'uncycled' every time we added a fish, or removed a rock. So if he is adding nitrifying bacteria (which BioZyme advertises it is), then the tank can be considered cycled, especially if you're putting in 4x the dose and liquids like stresszyme which also encourage growth where needed, the changes of an ammonia spike would be 0 unless BioZyme is false advertising, and we dont have that product here so we can only give him the benefit of the doubt (since thats what the product claims).

Not sure, this really looks like its eating the flesh away from the fish, during a salt bath a few scales normally fall off. Didn't quite sound like Costia to me, but I don't know really. I really need a microscope :-?

Your fish will never get electrocuted, you can though. But for that to happen the heater glass would need to be cracked and the heater element submerged in water, turned on, and your hand in the tank. But anyway moisture will always get past the seal, some heaters are better than others at keeping it out. The moisture wont cause any danger of electrocution. The problem with the moisture is it will decrease the life of the thermostat, the bi-metal strip which turns the heater on and off can rust and seize on, causing the heater to stay on continously. This isn't something that happens in a week, it can take a lot of time, however we can't say exactly 'x time'. I've got a Masterpet heater with 3mm of water in the bottom and moisture, been running fine for 4 months like that. I've got AquaClears that got moisture 30 days after buying them, but 6 months later they're still fine. Heaters I have with water problems: AquaClear, Masterpet, Jebo Heaters I have that are still water free: AquaOne, Visi-Therm, Elite If you want to keep your heater moisture free, easiest way is to keep the plastic part of the heater out of the water (not too far though).

They'll only dig if you give them a soft substrate. They dont need a soft substrate, and they dont need to dig either.

Thanks Shortee Yeah losing the green sev was a big loss for us, he was huge and just recovering from hole-in-the-head :-? All the fish that have been or are infected we have had for a long time, the only possible source I can think of would maybe be our frozen bloodworms, unless I'm forgetting something. I don't have a Q procedure, however haven't added any new fish to the 650L tank for a long time. Some pictures to help: Little guy, just got this today, the white patch above his eye, in real life it looks like sunburn thats just starting to peel (if you know what I mean). Left side of the big female Firemouth. The lighter orange colour is normal for this paticular fish.

I've definately got something in possibly two of my tanks. I'll tell the story in order of what happened. First off one of my big Firemouths was getting slugish and looked to have bite marks on him. I figured the cause was the festives, so I moved him and his girlfriend to my 200L tank away from harm. His condition gradually got worse, salt baths provided a short term (about a day) help but he'd soon return to his old condition, then finally deceased. His girlfriend then developed the same condition, it looks like her scales/skin is literally falling off. When giving her a salt bath yesterday, I could see the scales actually fraying away from her body. She is very thin and hasn't eaten in about 2 weeks, lethargic, but still flares up and protects her rock. I can 100% confirm that the marks on her body are NOT from bites, her scales/skin/slimecoat etc look to be just falling off. Few days ago I noticed similar marks on our green severum, I figured he'd just scraped himself on a rock or similar, however I found him dead Wednesday morning (happy valentines). Over the last week another of the Firemouths has become lethargic, and today his body is showing the same problem. I also have an Oscar being lethargic (she's not sulking). So its clearly contagious, but appears to take about 2 weeks to actually kill the fish, and the fish is lethargic before the skin starts to rot. It is not due to water conditions, the severum whom died was given to us with a severe HTH condition, and the holes were closing up on their own and the fish had no bite marks and was in good health. Salt baths seem to help, used in conjunction with Mg Sulfate, Melafix, and Formalin for 10-15 minutes (until the fish rolls over). I dont like doing these much because I'm a) out of salt b) stresses the fish. I also need to treat this so the problem does not spread to other fish. Any idea what this might be? What types of medication should I be looking at? Any home-remidies?

Oh and I use the elite mini filter as well, $35 and it works well enough to get my plants pearling.

I drill a 4mm hole, then use 5mm tubing, to get it through you cut the pipe on a 45 degree angle and squeeze it in. I then use a little silicone around the hole on the inside, although a hot glue gun might be a better choice. To check, I blow in to the bottle using the tubing as hard as I can, you'll be able to tell if it leaks. Most important thing with the yeast mix is making sure it's alive. When mixed with luke warm water then shaken it should generate a small white froth on top, if not then the yeast has died and you need to get something fresher. Remember no 'hot' water, water should be warm, hot will kill the yeast on contact. I also recommend adding a bit of baking soda to increase the water hardness which helps the yeast live longer. My mixes normally produce little bubbles after an hour or so, I always ran in to problems with the check valves and found that the DIY setup often didn't have enough pressure to open it, and after a few weeks it didn't work anyway (water would go back through it). This is fine if your CO2 is always connected, only a problem if you disconnect it and forget about the tube (like I did once) or your bottles dont hold pressure. Anyway here is the mix I use, done in 2.25L containers, I vary the amount of yeast depending on its age. 1 tspn heaped yeast 1 tspn heaped baking soda 3 cups sugar Warm water up to the top of the label Then I shake the boogers out of it until its all disolved and frothing like a rabid racoon. If I'm not seeing any action after about an hour (at least some good foam) then I add another teaspoon of yeast.

I'd treat it like its infectious, the puss is likely to be bacteria filled. Furan2 would be a good start.

water ager

sssshhhhhh!

Neons are very susceptable to disease, at least the stock we seem to get here are. Really I'd just replace them, most pet stores will offer a 10 for $20 deal or similar. I'd be suspecting age as above, but if you've neglected water changes (20-30% weekly) or overfeeding (more than they can eat in a couple of minutes) then it could be a water problem (ammonia) that is weakening the fish (and making them susceptible to disease/parasites. Also neons like it 22-24 degrees, I kept mine at 30C and they wither away after about a year, lower temp extends their life a bit. Cardinals are a better replacement, but you wont get 10 for $20! :lol: Good luck!

It's the BioZyme. We don't get it in NZ. BioZyme actually does carry the bacteria so it would totally work. I'd say this is where the confusion started. We dont have access to the same products you guys get in the states due to various laws and importing costs etc We get StressZyme etc but they dont actually contain the bacteria, they just encourage growth, so we actually can't cycle a tank in 2 hours like you have done. Sorry for the mixup