jn

Have you got live plants in there? From what I've read I think that helps too. I think they use up some fish wastes before they get converted by the filter bacteria so help keep things in check.

What about your bathtub? Can you set your tank up somewhere else until they're done? It's just like all the thread for people moving house really isn't it? You could try sweetwater aquatics who can board your fish overnight if you need them to http://www.sweetwateraquatics.co.nz/our ... rding.html. They also rent out display tanks so might be able to work something out for you. We know about them through the previous owner of our rental place. She used to have them service her pond! (Maybe the guy's a member on the forum? Website says he was previously the Assistant Curator of Kelly Tarltons.

I bought a cleaning tool from pet planet. I love it. It's got interchangeable heads on a very long handle. One steel edge (like the paint scrapers) and a algae scrubbing pad on a head that swivels in every direction! Between those 2.. I can clean every inch of my glass without getting my hands wet! (I have a cold tank so that's a bonus!!) The long handle means I can get good pressure on the scrubbing pad for those tough green spots! The scrubber pad is slightly rounded and tapers at the edges too which means I can get into corners and I can do the rounded edges of my Aqua One tanks. (It's also got a plastic side to the scraper which I don't use and it has a little shovel end which is good for flicking out dying leaves or whatnot!) No.. I don't work for pet planet.. it's just the most convenient tool!!

Thanks Alan. I'll probably be keeping my own and getting her some 'new' ones. I've only seen mine spawning once and never found any fry yet so haven't got any spare (I have 9 but currently in 2 groups with very poor M/F ratios!). I should drop a pair in my own barrel! The 4 I was treating have been 'symptom free' for a couple of weeks now so I've been turning their temp down a degree every couple of days (was only at 23 anyway!) (warmer temp was to hatch any parasite eggs.. not to benefit the fish ). The ones I got from Wilson (5) at the meeting at scalares place last month must have been used to warmer temps or something cause they have been VERY pale and are only just regaining some colour and picking up their activity in the last few days with the temps warming up!! The leopardfish I got that came from his same tank never slowed down when put into mine. I'll be putting all the wcmm together as soon as I'm sure everyone's 100% healthy and they'll be much better off (1 group is 1female/3 male and the others look like 4f/1 m) and hopefully they'll breed for me! I'll hold off setting up this lady's urns until the temps level off a bit. The waterlilies aren't growing yet anyway and I'll probably need to split some rhizomes to get pieces small enough for her. I think this is best done once they start to put out a bit of new growth right? May move them to a shallow tub in a sunny spot to speed them up. We're closing up a pond this weekend so will be moving them anyway. Probably chuck in a bit of papyrus for some height and then something small submerged underneath...maybe some lilaeopsis/myriophyllum to catch the eggs or some oxygen weed if mine would ever grow enough to take some cuttings from!! Hmm.. have a feeling I'm gonna want this lady's urns for myself!

They survived the winter outside! That's pretty hardy for such a little fish. I think I'd be worried that the temp would fluctuate too much in her smaller containers over the winter (but maybe we can try it for the first year). She's out near ferrymead and they don't get alot of frost. We can make sure the urns go somewhere sheltered. Cool, she'll be pleased. I'll get her some white clouds and set her up with some plants Thanks guys.

ok. I guess they'd be 'cleaner' than the goldies too.. she can probably get by on fewer water changes! Thanks.

HI all, A friend was asking about putting some water lilies into a couple large glazed urns and is concerned about mosquitoes What would you recommend? I think the urns are a decent size.. maybe 40-50L each? Snails don't eat insect larvae do they? I could probably supply her with 2 baby goldfish for each urn which I can then swap back to my own pond at the end of summer or maybe a couple wcmm? I don't expect anything to be able to overwinter in a small pot outdoors down here and do realise the goldfish would outgrow the urns eventually. I'm, hoping mine will breed yearly I should be able to keep supplying new youngsters at the next season. She realises she'd have to do water changes of course.. and the lilies and perhaps a small oxygenator at the bottom should do some natural fitration. How does that sound?

I don't know if the 620 is the same but mine came out of the box with the light cord running from the light through the channel on the filter section behind it (over the pump) and out the back. To get it out the back I have to open the lid on the filter unit and then squeeze it through between the lid and the back of the filter unit. This was awkward at first but once you know how to apply the pressure to the right spot it slips right in. (so the cord comes out at the same place as the pump cord does)

I think one of the Alan's said you could use the HCL from the Ammonia test kit bottle if you have that.

How about just a half wine barrel with a couple plants in it for your shubunkin? You could have a pair in a wine barrel and if you sit it on some bricks you can use just a regular hose as a syphon for cleaning. I don't run a pump in mine at all. Just keep it well shaded and well planted. Have you got a picture of him? How big is he now? I love shubunkins and have some myself. I've got about 8 in a pond at our rental and tenants just love them to bits too! They sit there and dangle their fingers in the water and the fish always come see them!

ok. That's all very logical. Merci! I'm happy now I just need to buy a cheap corner filter now and a little spare tank The amount of fishy stuff in the house is definitely spreading! Every time I say "Now I don't have to buy ANYTHING else".. I think of something else to buy! I need a fry raising tank anyway! (well hopefully that is!!) Thanks for your help as usual!

Ok Thanks guys. I didn't think the bacteria would live without some inhabitants to support it! I had been poking around on the net and had seen references to treatments to basically sanitise all new fish before adding themt o tanks.. like salting, followed by stuff like dimlin and other anti-parasitic meds etc. regadelss of any symptoms showing. I guess though that the water in a qt tanks should be warmish at least? to make sure that any parasites or diseases are not sitting dormant. Are there diseases etc that a fish could carry without displaying symptoms though? I recently read some old guppy die off threads in the livebearers area. Would prophylactic treatment help in cases like that? I've also read fish often carry some degree of parasites but that problems don't appear until they get stressed (mind you I suppose buying them and brigning them home = stress!!).

How long will bacteria in a filter live if there are no longer fish in the tank? (this is good to know too from the perspective of having to remove fish from your main tank to treat in a smaller tank)

How many of you use quarantine tanks and what do you do during that period? Do you do administer treatments in the name of prevention or just watch them? What about scaleless fish? Do they get different QT procedures?

Office is still on their website so hopefully they're still around. http://www.waterdynamics.co.nz/location ... ristchurch

There used to be a place on Mandeville St. across from Placemakers. I think it was called Water Dynamics? The shop isn't large but I was after some slightly non-standard sizes for some irrigation fittings once and they had what I needed.

You would think they were nice looking fish Carla They're from the batch you send to to chch a few months back

Maybe skip feeding them for a day or so. How often do you feed? How long does it take them to eat it all? (Hang on. I'm remembering.. you're feeding shrimp pellets? Sorry!!) How about trying just some regular flakes for a while to see if it helps?

Maybe the fist question when seeking help at a 'pet' shop should be.. "Do you have fish yourself"? and if they don't then you should ask if anyone working that day does...if not tell them thanks anyway and wander off.. they might eventually get the hint and hire people who have an idea. (Like going to the hardware store and asking what's the difference between product X and product Y and they tell you something like.. "uuuuh this one is $50 and this one is $80") :evil:

The Droncit I recenly bought was 50mg of prazi per tablet. I'm pretty sure you'd want to calculate the amount of actual praziquantel and not rely on the weight of the tablet weight Persdonally, for dosing I rounded stuff to pill segments.. full, half, or quarter tablet. They snap pretty easily Since the recommended dose ranges from 2-10mg/l I was rounding up if required to make sure I had no less than 2mg/l (usualy aimed for 2.5) I didn't bother weighing the tablets. Apparently its VERY hard to overdose on prazi. I more or less followed the recommendation made by frenchy...I did water changes at the 1 week mark and never bothered with carbon. I was initially worried that 3 days dosing in a row would be a bit much but it was tolerated with no touble at all. Found some info on the web that indicated the prazi stays active in the water from 2-5 days and is very gentle so doesn't really need to be w/c'd out. Of course with any disease I guess the gravel vacs in between are important to clean out as many bugs as poss. I had a great link that had info about the lifecycles at different temperatures for the different types of flukes (gyrodactylus and dactylogyrus) but I can't find it anymore (or its moved!). I added a heater to my cold tank to take the water up to about 23 (on a tropical tank it's probably not worht changing the temp). At very cold temps some of the eggs of gill flukes apparently lie dormant and the lifecycle is very slow so treatment is impractical or would have to last a very long time! The egg stages are not affected by the prazi. Good to know about Adtape! Thanks purplecatfish!

Busy fish then huh I lost my other fry yesterday. I'm officially fryless now. I'll just have to wait for the next batch. I reckon a couple of the females are getting rounder.

Maybe the fry are a bit sensitive to big temp. fluctuations (but maybe they aren't truly coldwater!!). It would have been quite warm yesterday evening with the fire going.. then cooled off dramitically overnight. Could be water quality I suppose.. although I did a water change yesterday morning and with 2 fry in a 1L container you wouldn't think it would go that badly!?

What type of stone have you got in there? Found this on the web (http://en.allexperts.com/q/Freshwater-A ... reatly.htm): Very nice tank by the way !!

Lost one.. the other looked like a goner too (lying on its side looking lifeless!!). The water was VERY cold so I topped it up with warm water and the surviving one perked up and went back to normal! I'll have to find a way to keep it warm overnight if this cold weather keeps up! (Maybe in a carboard box with a H/W bottle?) Maybe it was the cold that got to yours too Dixon?