Southerrrngirrl

Welcome from the 'wintery we just skipped summer and autumn' Southland.

Fish get stressed when you mess with the pH too much. Most fish aren't generally bothered what the pH of the water is, so long as its not too extreme either way. pH 7 is generally considered ideal but going either way a little isn't going to harm them. My tank water is always above 7. Its something I can't control, believe me I have tried and it resulted in more problems and dead fish. What kind of gourami was it? I've had Dwarf Neon Gouramis and Blue/Three Spot Gourami's and they never lasted very long. I've read that other people have had trouble keeping gouramis alive too. Re your tests, nitrate in particular, (someone please correct me if I'm wrong!) but if your tank is cycled and the nitrogen cycle is doing what it should, wouldn't there be a little nitrate present? A little bit of nitrate is not harmful. I would guess that your tank has not cycled properly. I would suggest you stop adding more fish at this point and just carry on with the remaining fish. Keep doing regular water changes and keep an eye on your nitrates, nitrites & ammonia. How many fish were in the tank when you started? And how many do you have now?

It does happen, some people just see $$ signs. Totally agree with this too. When I first started out, I too came on here seeking help as my fish were dying. Advice given to me at the time was to stop using all these unnecessary chemicals the LFS had sold me, such as pH up down whatever, Ammolock and Stress Zyme. So I quit using those things and things got better. Now, the only thing I regularly add to the tank is Stress Coat which removes the chlorine from the tap water. Ocassionally I add plant ferts. I've only been keeping fish since 2003-4 so by no means super experienced but I'll learned a whole lot from this forum. I've come so close to throwing in the towel so many times but I stuck with it and now I'm pretty happy with my tank. Now if Only I could get rid of my black beard algae...

:lol: hehe I think you mean rummy noses. A bit more info required. How big is your tank? How often are you doing water changes? And how much do you change each time? Are you adding stress coat or similar?

No I don't think so. We get the odd warm/hot day here and there but its generally followed by a week of solid rain. And so much wind. My poor little vege garden is taking a real battering. Don't even get me started about my lil plastic greenhouse being tossed over the neighbours fence a few weeks ago. :evil:

Yeah it was still fun! Looking forward to Glendhu Bay in February, the summer crowds will have departed by then. We went there for a week last year, but it rained the whole time. Fingers crossed for fine weather this time!

Well in the end we did head to the Mavora Lakes area. Was a bit windy on the way up but we were hoping that it would be sheltered in there. We got there it wasn't too bad, pitched our tent then, made a couple of friends with some other campers (who knew there would be so many people there!!) and had a few drinks. Saw in the New Year, then not long after went to bed. On New Years day we headed over to Te Anau to get our gas bottle filled and picked up a few handy camp supplies. Headed back to Mavora only to discover the wind had picked up quite considerably, but it was still sunny. Sat outside, had a wee wine and read a book. It was coming up to 6:30 when we started to feel spits of rain. We put the door of the tent up on its poles so we could cook under cover. We got BBQ tea done, and no sooner had we done the dishes the heavens opened and the winds really picked up speed. So the rest of the night was spent in side playing card games, THEN the thunder & lightning show began and rumbled on for several hours. At 10:30 we called it a night and rolled into bed. At 2:00am we were woken by an almighty gust of wind that blew several tent pegs out. Hubby quickly reinstated them and came back to bed. Neither of us got much sleep after that. The wind was horrific, battering the tent from all directions and the rain was bucketing down. At 4:30 AM we both decided that we had endured enough, the rain had stopped so we tore down the tent, bundled it in the car and left. Happy New Year everyone!

Lucky buggers. It was supposed to clear up this afternoon. But the only thing that has changed is that we now have near gale force winds! :evil:

SOLD! My hubby can milk for you tomorrow.

What have you planned for New Years?? My husband and I were thinking about packing up the tent and the dogs, and heading to the Mavora Lakes area but this weather is just terrible. Invercargill just had a torrential downpour about 10 minutes ago. Yet it is supposed to reach 25 degrees tomorrow. What is up with this weather?! Anyway we've flagged that idea and are now toying with a back up plan. Party at someones house *yawn*. Was looking forward to a couple of days camping!

I've never had absinthe... I'm sure it would give me the hangover from hell. What does it taste like?

Yeah I had my rainbow shark in with Dwarf Chain Loaches too and he had no problem with them. He just didn't like one of the larger Zebra Loaches :roll:

Warning: At least 5 x Black Neon Tetra are recommended in a group. Warning: At least 3 x Yoyo Loach are recommended in a group. Warning: At least 3 x Dwarf Loach are recommended in a group. Note: Albino Bristlenose Pleco needs driftwood. Recommended temperature range: 24 - 26 C. [Display in Farenheit] Recommended pH range: 6 - 7.6. Recommended hardness range: 5 - 15 dH. You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity. Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 198%. Recommended water change schedule: 31% per week. Your aquarium stocking level is 91%. Not bad eh?

Cute!

I thought Tiger Barbs were pretty hardy too, but I had a small school of 6 earlier in the year. They all died within a couple of months. No visible signs of illness. Just one by one, turning up dead. It was only them and 2 bristlenoses in the 90 litre tank so... perhaps they are not as hardy as we thought.

Who's lucky enough to still be at work?? Me. At least I have a little glass of wine to keep me entertained Merry Christmas!

Post some to me! I have 10 hungry snail-eating loaches How small is the tank?

Did you add the fish gradually or all at once?

How long has the tank been set up?

Yep thats why the husband bought me a laptop. So it can go in the kitchen and laundry, everywhere I have to clean or do housework.

Looks good so far. Maybe try cycling with Glowlight Tetras or Black Neon Tetras. I've found them quite a bit hardier than the ordinary Neons.

Fine. For a manky loooking wire nailed to posts enclose yes. I may posses such skills. The quality would be a different story, however. At the risk of being sexist, dare I say, its a mans job?

*sigh* Yes. I am aware of that and I do in fact use our shovel (in the garden!) But I seriously lack other skills required to undertake such tasks. I can use a nail and hammer but the results are often less than desirable.

That may be so.. but I have a bit of a lazy husband. Still waiting for him to complete a fence he began building last summer. So I think I'd have to add on to that the cost of a builder to build it. Anyway I do have a plan for a cat enclosure but its a bit more fancy than just a couple of posts and some wire netting, hence why it will cost a bit more to construct.

Doh! I remember the debate as to whether you were male or female too, obviously I remembered it wrong. Sorry bout that.