Adrienne

No, if you do you wash all the fertilizer out of it. If you are using propagating sand you need to wash it really well and also any gravel you are going to use.

Pretty sure it would work but I'd be tempted to add a couple of not too valuable fish in place of just fish food and feed those small amounts. I don't cycle my tanks because I have fighters and they love new fresh water with the chlorine removed at the right temperature. If I give them that I have bubble nests everywhere.

Yep, I just find it easier to organise in the pm as I've children and I work. Dropped some off at 5.30pm yesterday in Auckland and they were delivered in Rotorua at first light but I think you can get them there in a few hours if you time it right.

I used to have them too. My rainbow shark was not too territorial but the albino grew quite large, was very bossy, and eventually jumped out of the tank in the middle of the night.

I'm very interested in this - do you think this would apply to all sorts of fish or just cichlids?

I have fish on TM most weeks - only breed fighters - and have been shipping on and off for a few months now. More and more people are asking to have them sent all over the country so looks like its going to be once a week from now on. Just decided though, because of the traffic, that one trip a week to the couriers will be enough. Not like Timaru - lived there for 11 years over 2 stints - love going back there with lack of heavy traffic.

Yep, they arrived the next morning all fine and happy. Sent some more this arvo as well but this time I took them to the depot myself. Decided it was better for my blood pressure than waiting to see if the couriers would turn up and collect when they said they would. No problems at the depot - didn't even blink at the fact it was live tropicals, no comments at all! Will be doing this weekly from now most probably.

Could be the fighter winding up the Rams when you're not around - don't know much about Rams but if they are brightly coloured it could be the fighter whos the culprit.

Sorry, didn't mean algae meant to keep the leaves healthier. Should have read my reply better.

I have a cf1200 in my 4ft and while its a lot of filtration the flow of water is very gentle. I don't know a lot about planted aquariums but maybe the algae needs stronger current to keep it at bay. You might need to ask under the plants section?

I don't have any wunder tonic at the moment but I'm not sure about it not being bio friendly - if you treat a tank the active charcoal needs to be removed for the meds to work, not sure about bio balls etc though.

My husband, a chemistry/science teacher says potassium permanganate will kill algae but he wouldn't want to take a guess on quantities. Suppose you could start with a small amount and then add a bit more if it didnt work.

Okay, what I find works best with methylene blue and should work with wunder tonic, if you can either entice the fish right up to the top of the tank or take it out the water briefly and put a drop of the med directly onto the wound and fungus (make sure it does not go into the gills). Put the fish back into the tank if you have taken it out and the fungus will literally peel off and float away in a short time. I normally can get my fish right up to the surface and drop it on that way. Make sure if you are using meds that you have no active charcoal in your filters as it neutralises everything.

Had a quick look on some sites last night and some suggest it can be used with formalin, others also say 10days treatment. Have a search around on the web, you never know what might be of help.

Whats in wunder tonic - just been for a look in my cupboards and don't have any, and is the fungus on a cut?

I think air must be getting in from somewhere - I know you said you had no taps but maybe a minute split or hole somewhere. I had trouble a few weeks ago with my new cf1200, but it was a tap. I must admit occassionally now it still has a small airlock -but very rare.

S--t, you were really lucky and they really are staples! I cringed when I first read what happened and looking at it is even worse and this is from a qualified first aider who works a school sickbay area. Next time get a ladder, its not worth it. I really hope you don't suffer any problems from this.

Sharn might be right - I wonder if there is something in the substrate that neutralises or reacts with the metro so it isn't working properly. I have to say that I have never yet had hex (touch wood) so I certainly bow to others experience. You probably need to get some feedback from others to say whether or not they have used metro in tanks with substrate and whether or not it works.

Well, it depends. I used to move my guppies into breeding traps when they were ready to drop but you do have to be sure they are ready otherwise they can abort the babies. If you are leaving the adult/adults in the main tank to drop, make sure there are plenty of hiding places and use a sponge filter set to run reasonably slowly to start with. Guppy fry when first born are not always very steady swimmers and often drop to the bottom of the tank until their balance adjusts and a strong filter will suck them in. If you run externals it will be a while until they are strong enough not to be sucked in.

Really sorry to read about all your problems. Others will probably be horrified with this suggestion but if it was me at this stage I would probably take my fish out of the tank, completely strip it, rinse it with janola, rinse it out really well again (several times), do the same with the filters, heaters and everything else, refill it with water about the same temp, add water ager and put the fish only back in. No stones, plants, just a bare bottom tank and then hope like hell that it works. No, the tank won't have cycled or anything else but if you can't do the meds theres not a lot else you can do! I know how you feel, lost a tank full (40-50) jarred male fighters last year to a bacterial infection, tried for weeks to save them to no avail.

I don't know what type of filter you have but guppy fry will be sucked into it when they are newly born - they are very tiny.

Makes me cringe to hear it, but I'm glad you'll be okay soon.

Further to my saying "no problems' with NZ Couriers, they failed to collect from me today and on ringing was told I booked late??? booked 8am this morning for a later pickup. Then told the courier tried to collect this am and was now on his way home. Finally they sent some 60minute courier van to collect this evening. Not the drivers faults but be very very careful that you make it very very clear to the person on the phone - probably pays to get them to read back what they logged in. There seems to be a serious lack of communication between the call centre and their drivers. Lets hope my tropicals make it to Rotorua overnight!

Don't try to mail them, they need to go by couriers. I use NZ Couriers, others will tell you what they use. Haven't had any problems other than some of the people answering the phone telling me they don't take fish, when in fact they do. I'm still reasonably green on 'shipping' so will leave it up to the more experienced. Somewhere on this site in one of the sections there is a good article on sending fish which helped me hugely when I started.

I've got some of these wee guys or gals in my tanks doing a great job on the algae. Don't know a lot about them but what sort of age are the males when they start to get their whiskers. No idea how old mine are but they were about 1cm long when I got them, about 4 of them are probably 3-4cm now and the rest about 2cm. Thanks