Southerrrngirrl

Not too many places for dead fish to hide other than under the driftwood I have in there, I suppose the poop could be collecting under it though... I feed maybe once every 2-3 days, 3-4 small pellets Once a week about 40-60 litres Have done lately since the discovery of the excessive poop, I do it the same time as the water change, but at the rate it collects I could probably do it every 2-3 days. Rinse in tank water I've been feeding wardleys shrimp pellets to my fish for over a year and never had any problems like this before. I'll try flakes but my loaches and shark aren't gonna be happy.

I have an Aqua One AR850 and use the filter that came with it. $$'s are pretty tight at the moment so can't go out and buy a new filter. So you think something might have disrupted the biological filter? I can't think what, I haven't added anything to the tank other than some new plants and some Leaf Zone, which by they way I have used in the past with no problems. I've done a water change already, I'll do another tomorrow morning and as you said continue until that ammonia gets down.

Just got home to find one of my poor corys sucked up to the filter, although still alive, he's clearly not happy. I caught him and took some pics: What do you guys think?? I immediately did water tests pH about 7.2-7.6, nitrate less than 5ppm, but ammonia is at about 5ppm. I don't know if thats regarded as high, but I know its unacceptable. So I'm thinking this poor little fella is suffering from the effects of ammonia in the water?? Also on a side note, while I was at it I snapped a couple of pics to show the amount of poop that collects in less than a week: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/excessive-fish-poo-vt23104.htmlPost on my fishy poop problem I'm guessing this is attributing to my current ammonia problem. I'm also guessing that the show is over for this little cory.. off to do a water change. Any other advice??

I had a Dwarf Gourami go the same way and was put down a couple of weeks ago. It was displaying the same symptoms although didn't notice the gill redness as described above. I can't go bigger brighter shinier.. no $$'s. And it also generally means more work. Two tanks is enuff for me thanks, especially the way my fish poop! How does one know if a fish has fishy TB?

Well the gourami in question, had to be put down on Tuesday night. I came home to see it lying on the gravel, breathing rapidly and curling itself up, obviously not a happy fishy. I don't get it. It was happy. I had observed it that morning, just quietly hanging out at the bottom of the tank, but thats generally what they do early in the morning when the lights are off so. The night before swimming around happy, eating etc. No signs of anything, had just done a water change a couple days beforehand. I'm really starting to get quite dejected with this hobby. I think I pretty much suck at it.

DON'T warm the fish tank up by using hot water. How I learned the lesson? I came home to find fish being very sluggish, checked thermometer water 20 degrees!? Check heater, not on, check heater plug, its come out! Panic! added hot water to bring tank up to temperature. End result.... lost my rainbow shark. The sudden change in temp must have stressed him out, next day he couldn't swim properly and had whitespot all over him. I assume thats what caused his death anyway, otherwise it was a freaky coincidence. BTW, I was very new to this hobby when it happened.

Hahaha ummm, there is only one. East Road Pets. Although there are probably a few breeders around, I don't know who or where they are. Diacks Garden Centre also sell a few goldfish, not sure if they do tropicals.

I think they'll be fine now. The other one seems to be doing ok in the other tank.

Thanks Caryl. I have done that, and looks good so far. The difference was pretty much instantaneous. The gourami came up to feed then spent the rest of the night swimming around, something it hasn't done for days. Looks like he's snoozing at the moment, will see what he's up to when I get home tonight.

Ok, I'm now thinking that this fish is suffering from the same thing as one of my dwarf gouramis was. I ended up having the dwarf put down, because it wasn't swimming very well, sort of just lying on its side. Another syptom, well maybe a symptom I don't know, is the tail is sort of drooping down. It's still hungry and when I come over to the tank it swims up to the top thinking its feeding time, and it does eat, but I've also noticed that it seems to be getting bullied by the other blue gourami in the tank. This other one, who seems to be a happy, healthgy fish, "attacks" the sick one. Could this fish just be stressed out from being bullied? The dwarf gourami I had put down was harrased by the other dwarf gourami. With the flukes, someone said there might be things sticking out of the gills?? I can't see anything like this on my sick fish, the gills themselves look and operate perfectly normal, apart from the slight pink/red discolouration near them. I really don't want to have to put this fish down too so what are my options?? Moving the bully to my other tank?? I did try moving the sick dwarf gourami to my other tank, but I think it might have been to far gone. Help!

Okthanks, so where to I get potassium permaganate then?

Thanks Caryl. I already have hygrophila corymbosa. It does grow fast and extremely well in my tanks, I have to keep chopping it! I've also got some Twisted vallisneria. Was actually after some smaller foreground plants, as thats what I'm really lacking. I have what I think is some sort of sword, but.. its errrr.. rather black and fluffy at the moment. LFS is not much help. they don't have a terribly good selection and most of the staff don't even know what types of plants they are. Maybe I should have a look on Trademe, are plants on there reasonably priced?

Thanks!

Can anyone tell me which of the aquatic plants are the fastest and easiest to grow. Or perhaps point me in the direction of a good plant database with pictures. Cos our local LFS just calls them all aquatic plants. No names at all. I know a few of the more common plants, like vallis, swords, etc but have no idea if they are fast growing or not. Thanks!

I've just noticed one of my Blue gourami's appears to have a slight redness around the gill area. It was also kinda just hanging out quietly at the bottom of the tank, its top fin sorta clamped. Tested for ammonia, doesn't appear to be any registering. Is there anything else that causes gill redness? None of the other fish in the tank (3 other gourami's and a couple of blue rams) are displaying any symptoms. I just fed them, and the one with the redness seems to be hungry and alert now, seems to be swimming about normally. Something to be concerned about?? If it is ammonia burn, I obviously need to do a water change, but what else can I do, does the burn heal by itself??

Not really relevant, we're on a chlorinated town supply. Yep, got carbon. And phos-zorb, to be honest I don't even know if it is working, as I can recall doing a phosphate test in the water after a few days of the phos-zorb being in there and the results were positive for phosphate so.. maybe thats still my problem. I haven't tested for phosphate for some time. I was using Leaf Zone fert a while ago but then the LFS ran out of stock and it took a while before they got more back in, so I'd switched to another brand which was doing nothing. I've also used Flourish Excell until recently cos I didn't think it was doing anything. There are also JBL fert balls in the gravel.

Revisiting this yet again.. the brown algae is not so bad now.. in comparison to the black beard algae I now have growing on everything in the tank! I did a little bit of research into what causes this type of algae and found that it can be caused by high phosphate?? How is this happening.. I have a phos-zorb bag in the filter! Ugh this is just a constant battle.

jn, I test the water reasonably regularly, at least once a fortnight anyway. No new fish added lately. The noodles weren't totally replaced. Sorry I should have explained. A few months ago I bought another tank, same set up but slightly smaller, I took a couple of handfuls of the noodles from the old tank and put them in the new tank to help get a biological filter going in there, and replaced what I took from the old tank with new noodles that came with the new tank. As a precaution I did increase my testing of the water after I did that to ensure I hadn't messed up the filter, and everything was clear for several weeks afterward so I assumed everything was ok. Even if it hadn't have been ok, I would have expected something would have occurred long before now. I don't think they've grown significantly.. biggest fish in the tank is the rainbow shark who is probably getting near two years old, well thats how long I've had him anyway and he was pretty small when I got him. All the rest are just fairly small fish. Phos-zorb bag has been in there for... 2-3 months maybe?

Yep agree with what the others said, get more Yoyo's. Loaches are soo cool. I have 2 Zebras in one of my tanks, they hang out with each other all the time, its not often you see them apart and if they are apart its not for long. I've read that its best to a group of at least 3 loaches. My 2 seem to be doing ok but I plan on getting more ones all my tetras have died off.. which shouldn't be long now based on the fact that I've lost like... 6-7 in July alone!

Another dead fish discovered yesterday, and yet another this afternoon. He was definitely not dead this morning.. nor did I notice any sick looking fish. I know, because I did a water change this morning. Tested the water yesterday, there was maybe no more than 0.25ppm ammonia. Enough to kill?? I don't think they're being underfed, as soon as I drop the pellets in, they're all getting into them. Its kinda hard to tell examining the dead fish, the filter seems to.. suck them out of shape I aim to do weekly water changes, but sometimes other things get in the way so they aren't always as regular as I'd like, but its generally every week of about 2-3 buckets which is 40-60 litres. I changed the gravel like.. probably 4 months ago, I would have expected something to happen long before now. I did gravel vac with the other gravel, but it just not as much as what I seem to have to do now. Our tap water is naturally very soft, so prone to pH changes. It comes out of the tap fairly neutral say 6.8-7, but testing the water from the tank its always higher, most recently as high as 7.6, but not high enough to register a result with the high range pH test. As far as I can tell the change of gravel has not affected the pH. All water tests have been ok, no nitrites, acceptable levels of nitrates, and well after that water change ammonia should be nil. I do seem to have quite a growth of black beard algae goin on, could this be a sign that there something not right with the filter? Oh.. mabye the filter is the problem? You're supposed to replace those ceramic noodles right? How often? The were changed around the same time as the gravel. And I've since replaced the carbon. And theres a phos-zorb bag in there too.

Ugh that is just not acceptable. May those spineless, gutless &$#*#'ers meet a fate 10 times more horrible. So sorry for your loss.

Thanks, I thought it might have been the change in gravel. Thing is now.. my tetras are dying. I had 6 cardinals, its now down to 3, same with the glowlight tetras, alll of them died this month. I was having such a good run with this tank. I suppose it could be old age, but my black neons and silvertips aren't dying and I had those ones much longer than the glowlights & cardinals. I bet if I go test the water now, there will be ammonia due to the amount of poo in the water. How long does it take for a fish to die from exposure to ammonia? Cos the deaths seem to be happening pretty quick. Like I'm not noticing sick fish at all, I'm just finding them dead and sucked up on the filter.

I seem to have a problem with what looks to be excessive fish poo. Any ideas what might cause this? I've had this tank running for over a year and never noticed anything like this before. I don't think its overfeeding as I only feed 3-4 small shrimp pellets every 2-3 days. There are... approximately about 23 fish in the tank, mainly tetras, corys, loaches and a rainbow shark. Tank size is a AR850 - 150ish litres. About 3-4 months ago, I pulled the tank apart and removed the tacky plastic looking gravel and replaced it with finer, more natural looking gravel. I've never really had to gravel vac before, but now, its like i need to do it every day. And its not a job I particularly like, mainly cos the stupid fish won't stay away from the vac and end up getting themselves sucked up.

Whats your water like? Have you tested it? I seem to recall reading an article online a while ago that said if you have poor water conditions it can cause bent spines

Here's a pic of one of my Blue Gourami's. The other one just looks the same, maybe slightly less coloured, but its not noticeable in the photos.