Scuba Sam

Hi all, thanks for all your suggestions. Snookie - you seem to have been on the right track. A couple of days later one of my clown loaches showed up with mild whitespot, and my severum had a few spots on one pectoral. I treated with half the recommended dose of Wunder Tonic, and all seems well. All fish look normal now, except my Severum has a raised red pimple on it. It sticks out more than it is wide, and has a visible blood vessel running to it. He seems happy enough. Any comments please? Sam

One of my cats eats apple snails - well he tries. So far just a tooth hole. He hooks them out the gap in the glass with his paw then tries to crunch them. He has a big mouth... :roll:

It is definitely the severum doing the snacking. He is the only one with a mouth big enough, and I have watched him hiding behind a plant then bursting through it to grab a tasty morsel!! Clever boy isn't he. Its good to hear that other severum's eat guppies - mine obviously isn't a vegetarian - I will move the angels so there is a safe place!! Funny thing is my old severum never showed any interest in guppies - I could put new born guppies in and he didn't ever chase. Thanks for your comments people. Sam

Hi Snookie, I found him in Auckland - Howick area - he is a beauty. He was in a tank with two other large cichlids and was being picked on a bit. Cheers, Sam

My new golden severum has been snacking on guppies and neon tetras over night - I thought they were vegetarians - my old one showed absolutely no interest in live food. What's the story please? Cheers, Sam

Hmm, you may be onto something with increasing circulation - I have just installed a second internal filter and have noticed an improvement over last week or so - the existing filter isn't too flash despite cleaning. More water flow with new one which is a bit oversized for tank. Thanks.

Thanks for your suggestion Alan - low nitrates - is that a bad thing? I don't do as many water changes on this tank because the nitrates are so low but I didn't think that was a negative - can someone explain the water chemistry of this please? I think I can remember my uni chemistry...

Thanks for your suggestion Caryl - will try that over the weekend.

Hi there, Some advice please. I have some bright green slime in one of my tanks. It comes off in sheets with the magnetic cleaner, and is growing on everything. Low nitrate in the tank, little sunlight, and it is different from regular green algae that I get on my other tanks. Any advice please? Thanks, Sam

Sorry to hear about your Olly dying - hard to lose a fish who has been around that long!! Sam

Hi Conch and JN, thanks for your responses. Conch I now find myself a little confused. My fish shows no sign of mucus around the gills as mentioned in the Cichlid forum article linked to above. He has not been scraping himself on things very often, it is mostly a tremor in his fins - tail fin, dorsal, etc. Gills look fine. Dorsal fin is held close to his body more than normal. I have not initiated any treatment apart from raising the thermostat slightly. On your advice I will turn back to where it was - won't have raised temp in two hours. You mention I need to check water parameters - what other parameters should I check other than the ones I have recorded above? You say to get my water right - what do I need to change? I thought my water was pretty good!! Ignorance is bliss... Thanks, Sam

Hi Alan, tank is at 26 at the moment so will give it a try. Thanks.

Hmmm, doesn't sound too good - I will have a good look at his gills when I get home. Has anyone seen flukes in a severum? Thanks Bananalobster for link - I have some info now if that proves to be what it is.

Thanks for suggestion Bananalobster - I know nothing about flukes, and welcome any ideas.

Hi Loopy, thanks for your reply. He is the only severum in the tank. I got him two and a half weeks ago, from a tank with two bigger severum's where he was being bullied. His old owner sold all three to different owners. He had a ragged tail which hasn't fully grown right yet. I have just added a school of cory's which are fairly consipicuous on the bottom of the tank so perhaps he is just peeved. He looks fine this morning but still twitching his fins as he was last night. As to age, my last one was five years old, and this one is about quarter of the size, but half the length - hope that makes sense. I'm guessing he is less than a year old, or a dwarf!! He has good coloured spots compared to my old boy. As I said earlier he doesn't look too poorly, but with the clamped fins, I wanted to get advice earlier rather than later!! Thanks, Sam

Hi guys, your advice please. My new golden severum has started twitching. Not noticed before this evening - I was at work all day but he was fine this morning. He has been twitching his fins, shaking his rear end, and bumping into things (like scratching his back). He is clamping a bit, and favouring the bottom of the tank. He is new so I am getting to know all his marks and abnormalities, but I have noticed the following differences from my old sev: a clear raised area kind of like a blister but flatter on his nose, and one rough area on a scale - looks almost like a deformed scale rather than white spot or fungus or a wound - like the scale has a bump of scale on it. Neither of these look particularly concerning though. Water details - 180 litres pH - 7.2 Nitrate 5ppm (has been higher last week, two water changes since then) Nitrate nil Ammonia not tested tonight but nil on Saturday Sharing a tank with cories, bristlenoses, clown loaches, a zebra danio and two guppies. Three guppies missing in last week - eaten or dead I'm not sure. Your advice would be appreciated please - he doesn't look sick yet but I want to take action early if it is needed. Cheers, Sam

OK here we go How I prime: Empty all hoses and canister Put the intake in the tank Suck on the output: this will fill the canister will out any airlocks Once the water comes out/up the output hose turn the filter on and put the output in the tank May take a few goes if you havent done it before Impeller is the bit that spins and pumps water

Thanks for for that Snookie - I have seen the propeller thing (impeller) and it spins. The suggestion to take it out is a bit scary - does the power head come apart on an Eheim? I can give it a go. I will try sucking water through the pipe - something to look forward to... :roll: Any other tips pls?

Thanks for suggestions. Hoses are flowing now - weren't originally I think. Sorry to show my ignorance but what is the impeller? And where do I find it? Also priming - there seems to be no actual priming mechanism - I just filled up the filter before I started it. Sorry - all a bit new to this stuff. Cheers, Sam

Hi guys, I bought a second hand set up, corner tank with Eheim 2213 External filter. Been going about two months, good water, fish happy, plants going well. Then started to get murky in the bottom and noticed water not coming out of outflow. Finally got time to pull it apart today. Dad was lying on floor, looked at filter, dislodged a loose hose and water everywhere. Finally got cleaned up, pulled filter apart. Filter is clean. Not blocked at all. Motor is running, can see spinning part when looked at from underneath power head. Connected up all the hoses, a bit more carefully. Started it up, grinding noise, and no water flow. Your thoughts please experts. I really want to use this filter rather than an internal if I can get it going again. Thanks, Sam

Hi guys, thanks for all your suggestions. I went home on Thursday and stripped both internal filters down. Carefully examined the heater which has a cover. The only possible way there is a clown loach hidden in that tank is if he has buried himself below a layer of round black stones!! And stayed there for several days now!! Have avoided a gravel vac up til now, just doing a surface water change just in case, but not that hopeful. So the only other possibility is that he flew out of the tank, either of his own accord (a portion of the lid was off) or hoiked out by a high climbing cat (they don't climb on this particular tank, just the other two!!) At any rate, I am resigned to being one loach short, and am enjoying the two clown loaches I do have. Thanks for all the help so far. Cheers, Sam

Hi guys, thanks for all your suggestions. Still only two loaches this morning. Definitely not under or behind filter or heater, but I hadn't thought about taking apart the filters - I have two Aqua One 103F internals, so they could probably fit inside there - I found a cory sticking out of the outlet once. Will pull filters apart tonight and look. Thanks for suggestions. Oh and I did doubt my sanity and wonder if there were only two in the bag from LFS, but there were definitely three!! Cheers, Sam

Thanks for suggestion Marko, but no wood in - have two pieces to put in tank but not in yet!! Maybe tonight...

Just a thought - have you tested nitrate levels (and possibly nitrite) in the source water you are using for your water changes - tap water for example. Cheers, Sam

Hi there, I went to the LFS and purchased three clown loaches yesterday. Two hours after I introduced them to the new tank at home, there are only two!!! No sign of a fish on the floor, and can hardly blame the cats coz they stay away from that tank. Buried? How deep can they go? Your comments please...