whetu

If you can break abit off, then it's probably too soft to go into your tank. It will rot, and if it's pine it may leach toxic sap... sorry!

OH MY GOODNESS! The potential for disaster there was HUGE! Wow you certainly have had a lucky break and a very graphic lesson on how something so simple could have ended badly. Thanks for sharing your experience and allowing us all to learn without having to clean 180 litres of water off our floors! :lol:

How are things now? My understanding is that it could cause an algae bloom from the extra nutrients, but a fresh yeast solution isn't too dangerous. BUT if it was a 'mature' solution that had been running for a while it's likely to be quite acidic and the pH shock would be the biggest risk. Also was it just yeast, sugar and water? Did it have any baking soda in it? Again, the pH would probably be the biggest danger. Sounds like you did the right thing with the carbon and the quick water change, so hopefully everything has returned to normal

My fish eat tiger worms out of my compost quite happily.... it's only me who gets queezy watching the process

Yep, all the things they said ^^ plus: At this time of year the biggest stress (for the clowns especially) may be if they get cold. So if you can put the bags of fish in chillybins, have the pre-warmed water waiting, and make everything as quick as possible, it will all help. Now might be the time to buy an extra heater. You can put it in a tub of dechlorinated water at the new place to help the water come up to temp while you organise the rest of your move. And after the move you'll always have a spare heater if the old one fails at any time. EXTRA HEATER CAUTION: if you're using a heater in a plastic bucket, never let the heater touch the sides! The bucket will melt with resulting chaos! One way to catch clown loaches without using a net is to put a length of black plastic pipe in the tank. When the clowns hide in the pipe you just cover both ends with your hands and lift the pipe out and into your bucket (or bag) for transporting. I never net my loaches any more since I learned this trick. The easiest move I ever had with my fish was the time when I had to go to work on Moving Day. My Dad and my boyfriend at the time had no idea how to move the fish so I gave them clear instructions then went off to work. When I came home (to the new place) the tank looked like all the plants and decor had just been randomly dumped in there (which they had). But all the fish were healthy and happy, and I hadn't suffered all my usual anxiety! Good luck with the move.

Definitely do the vinegar test if you're in any doubt. Or yeah, leave them in a bucket of water for a few days and test the pH of the water. But also keep a bucket of plain water as a 'control'... some tap water will change its pH after it's been left to settle for a few days so you need to know what's the rock effect and what's just the water doing its thing. I believe bottle # 1 in a nitrate test kit is hydrochloric acid so you should also be able to get some nice fizzing with that if you get bored with the vinegar :lol: If you're doing the fizz test, be sure to test any whitish lines in the rocks. Sometimes a patterned rock is made up of layers of lots of different stuff and it all has different properties. Personally I like nice smooth dark river rocks and I always think it's a good idea to boil them. Better safe than sorry! (*has visions of 'rock snot' invading her tank* eeeewwww!) On the other hand I don't know how you would make places for the fish to hide using roundish river stones. I use driftwood for the hiding places and rocks just for decoration. Good luck and have fun!

Hmmm I was going to suggest salt but obviously you've tried that.... I don't think the meat idea would work because they aren't scavengers - they need live meat not dead stuff. They suck fresh, warm blood like.... yours for example! I think Alan's second idea is the best - the legs! Wait until the water warms up a bit (brrrrr!) then wade into the pond and hang around for a while. When the leeches attach to your legs, stand out on your driveway or somewhere and sprinkle salt on them [the leeches. although you could salt your legs if you really want to.] They will immediately drop off []and you can leave them for the birdies. By the way, don't do this if you have any kind of blood clotting disorder because leeches will inject you with an anticoagulant and if you get too many and/or leave them on for too long you might find that the bleeding won't stop. They also use a very gentle anaesthetic which is why it doesn't hurt at all when they attach or detach. Good luck being a lettuce substitute! :lol:

Congratulations! I LOVE Arizona! Definitely take a camera and say "YES" to any offer from a local to take you sight-seeing. I was in that part of the US during August a couple of years ago and it was unbearably hot at the low altitudes, then you just climb slightly and go into a canyon or something out of the sun and suddenly it's freezing cold and you're breathing steam! I drove the length of the USA on that trip (Canada to Texas and back) so I did that whole bottom corner there - Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Would go back and do it all again in a heartbeat. By the way, say hello to the caterpillars for us :bounce:

Sorry Jacko, can't help you there. Bt I sure would like a 540 litre tank

Yay for Billy-Bob and Angelina! You'd better keep the glass clean because you'll have all the women's mags knocking on your door to buy their story! :lol: Angelina certainly is a lovely looking girl

I have found ottos mostly good, but expensive. Unfortunately I lost all of mine a couple of years ago when treating the clown loaches for ich. Made the dreadful error of raising the temp AND adding meds. :oops: I now have a bristlenose and I must say he's doing a brilliant job. He has kept the tank cleaner than the 5 ottos ever did. IME he seems to eat more varieties of algae than the ottos, and he seems to have a stronger mouth to scrape off some quite stubborn stuff. And he was way cheaper than a school of ottos!

I can't view the video either but just in case.... have you checked the water temp? I've found some fish go mental when the temp in the tank is warmer than normal. Otherwise maybe they're just playing.

Yeah Brad I was pretty amazed too. I checked the ammonia test and it's definitely working. Maybe I just missed the ammonia spike if it was as short-lived as yours? I've been testing for nitrite and nitrate too. I was thinking even if I didn't see the ammonia spike at least I'd see the nitrite but there has been no sign of it. And there's no sign of nitrate either, but that doesn't surprise me because of the fairly low stocking levels.

That's so cool! Where is it? Where did you get it from? What's it made of?

I've been amazed with the recent 'instant cycle' I did on my boyfriend's 50 litre tank. I haven't set up a totally new tank for years, so I simply hadn't tried it before. I gave him plant trimmings and a few decorative rocks from my tank, we introduced two female bettas and 10 neon tetras and monitored the ammonia every day. No sign of any kind of ammonia or nitrite spike. Amazing and unexpected. His tank had been thoroughly cleaned and stored dry for several months, all the gravel was new out of the bag, the filter was brand new and we didn't use any media from my filters. The tank has been running for about four weeks now, and we've now added a baby bristlenose to deal with the algae. For anyone who's considering it, I thoroughly recommend introducing greeblies from a healthy tank as a painless cycle-free method.

Hi Rozski, and welcome I totally agree with everything Caryl said. The goldies will get too big for that tank and I thoroughly recommend replacing them with tropical fish (and adding a heater to your tank). Do you know someone who already has a big tank or pond and will take your goldies? Then you can put more suitable fish in this little tank for the next couple of years. Try putting a backing on the tank to keep out some of the light from the window. It's not just the direct sun that's the issue, but all the light that comes in the window. If you add up all the hours of natural light plus the hours your tank light is on, that's a lot of opportunity for algae! A siamese fighting fish and a bristlenose would be fine for your tank. You might only need one BN since the tank is so small. This is a much better arrangement than the goldfish you have now. The BN will eat most kinds of algae - it will certainly reduce the problem a lot, even if it doesn't get rid of it completely.

Well, we did have a power cut in Auckland the other day. It only lasted a few hours but of course we didn't know how long it would be when it started. The most important thing in my opinion is to have a good thermometer so you know when the temp is dropping. (And of course have a big enough tank so the temp will drop more slowly, and a low enough bio load so that things don't crash too badly.) When the power went out, I turned off the lights and covered the tank with blankets. I monitored the temp, and if it had dropped too far, I could have topped it up with hot water (the water in the hwc would have stayed warm a lot longer than the water in the tank). If I'd had a gas cooker or BBQ I would have considered warming up water on that if the power had been off for ages. I also turned off the filter (eheim canister) because the water in the canister and hoses will cool down faster than the water in the tank. If the power had been off for ages I would have pulled the filter apart so I wasn't putting dead greeblies into the tank when the power came back on. That's about it for my plan. I might get some extra polystyrene to pack around the tank in case it happens again - because I'd need all the blankets for my bed! But I would have used coats and scarves and whatever else I could lay my hands on if the power had stayed off overnight. I'm interested to hear of others' experiences and/or thoughts.

Brilliant! My setup sounds just like yours, and my frustrations have been exactly the same. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a second-hand fluval and do just what you've done. This definitely gets my prize for tip-of-the-week! :bounce:

js, have you had the water analysed? It would be really interesting to see the results here - not just iron but hardness, pH etc etc. With bore water it's likely to be the hardness that will restrict you like suphew said, but that just means it restricts the kinds of fish you can keep, it doesn't mean you can't keep them.

Hi wok, where's Butterfly Creek? And what is it? (sorry for my ignorance )

ottos are smaller and more delicate, and ideally need to be kept in groups. bristlenoses are larger and hardier, and are happy as singles or pairs. Both are good at eating algae in my experience.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :roll: Not necessarily. My HOB 'whisper' filter is currently being borrowed by a friend for a tank that's right by his bed. The only time he gets the waterfall noise is when the water level has dropped. When he tops it up the noise stops and he says it works really well in that situation.

I take a (cooked) corn kernel and squeeze the soft bit out. The fish seem to have no trouble digesting it - perhaps it's the hard 'shell' they have trouble with? But corn is very high in starch, so it's more about giving them some interesting tastes and smells rather than a staple part of their diet. I agree about the low nutritional value of lettuce, freaky. But I disagree that it doesn't benefit the fish. Most of the processed food we give our fish is highly concentrated and nutritionally dense. For snacking 'between meals' lettuce is an ideal food. And remember, this is about play-time as much as feeding time! Also I think if you expose your fish to a wide variety of food in their lives, it makes it much easier to introduce new kinds of food. My fish will have a 'taste' of anything I put in their tank, because they're so used to me putting weird stuff in there that turns out to be yummy! :lol: (Becomes a bit annoying when they're chewing on my arm while I try to rearrange their decor, though)

Very clever solution, mitch. Did you have to eat all the icecream first? If you don't mind the look, then just leave the snails. If they're the tiny cone-shaped ones, then they can be beneficial - they're trumpet snails and they burrow in the substrate and help aerate it. But all kinds of snails will breed very fast and you'll end up with a tank full! Or... you could just squish them onto the glass and let the fish eat them? WARNING: Do NOT do this when the girlfriend is watching (unless you're prepared to get ruptured ear drums). And do NOT do it if she has started giving the snails names like "Cutie-Pie" and "Moppet" :roll:

That's a great tip. Gaza. How much did it cost to get it repaired? It seems like they knew what to do (catching the bits, using non-toxic resin) did they say they have experience doing fish tanks before?