Warren

There is already a Canterbury Aquarium and Pond Society (CAPS). Linda Graham is the current secretary, Ph 389 3137 for more information.

Yes, finished moving last weekend. All tanks up and running.

Go Here!! http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=298 8)

Go buy cheaper Oscars. The most expensive ones I've seen here (even adult size) is $20.00.

Big Tank update. Its been sold. The new owner is the National Aquarium of New Zealand. Didn't I say it was going to a good home? I'll still be able to visit it regularly to see how its hanging together. I beleive at this stage the long term plan is to put the South American Cichlids into it. That of course may change. I hope its Discus they mean. Then it will be getting used for what it was originally designed for, - a planted Discus tank with 30-35 Discus, - cool

I have a surface skimmer. It draws about 25% of its water from the surface and the rest from the bottom. It is specially constructed to stop air being sucked in. Its not to be confussed with a protein skimmer however. It is completely different. It does a very good job of removing surface scum.

Still think it is a precipitate. If its not hurting the fish and it clears up pretty quickly I wouldn't worry about it. PS. I was being silly about what you did in CHCH. I'm nearly always silly, you should know that by now... although, sometimes it's hard to tell??

What is the pH of your tank water. If it is acidic, it will be reacting with the bird grit. Still waiting for more info, like water parameters, new water parameters, what you've changed recently that may cause the problem, what you did in CHCH that could have made your tank react.

Could also be the new water reacting with the 'bird grit' creating a precipitate. Calcium carbonate doesn't dissolve that well to start with and very readily precipitates out if you give it the slightest exceuse. I'm assuming of course that the 'bird grit' has a high CaCl content.

The money it costs to buy a good skimmer would get a hell-of-a filter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah stop going to CHCH. You're not bringing CHCH water back with you?? (Definately the problem if you are. Stop mixing different types of water!!??)

What else is different? Maybe the filter is overly dirty causing a bacterial bloom? Maybe there is something precipitating when the new water is added? Please supply more info, then we may be able to help.

Exactly, but a purifier big enough to purify aquarium water would be relatively expensive to buy and run.

Small hint for post mortem on a fish. If it has been dead for more than 1 hour when you find it, then it may be useless. Many external organisms immediately exit the host when it dies. The internal organs begin to deteriorate (liquify) very quickly also. Many of the internal membranes deteriorate even before the fish dies as this is often the cause of death - internal bleeding. It is important to deal to the dead fish as soon as possible. Worms etc are seldom fatal if the diagnosis is made early enough. Worms are easy to identify by grabing some faceas and putting on a slide. 20-100x magnification is all that is needed. Good show getting the book. You will find it very useful. Skoda Power Rulz!!

My book 'Discus Health' is also by him. It has 400 very useful pages and excelent details including colour photos of diseased fish and microscope pictures of bacteria, pathogens and worms. It is brilliant for identifying all the nasty critters that bother our fish.

It is sad you got such a response. Maybe the Vet was having a bad day. Still no excuse, but haven't we all had bad days? Maybe what is required is getting the Vet on your side first. Using your analogy however, if I couldn't find a Skoda mechanic, I'd either find a manual and fix it myself or find another mechanic and work with them to get a solution. Maybe give the Vet another chance. If they still have an unsatisfactory response, go somewhere else. Good luck with your future Vet hunting. Also, why not try the fishroom first. You would probably get a faster response from here anyway, especially if you do not live in a main center where there are LFS that have more experience (generalised comment).

Before we get too much further down the track of rubbishing all the Vets in NZ because they know little or nothing about fish disease, lets look at things in perspective (further to Bill’s comments). Most Fishkeepers in NZ don’t recognise their fish are sick until too late. Maybe not so for many people here in the fishroom, but certainly nationwide. Did you know that approximately 14% of households in NZ keep fish. I do not know the margin of error on the 14%, but who cares, it still means there are a heck of a lot. Working off approximately 4 people per household, we have some 750,000 houses, which means some 105000 Fishkeepers. Our current FNZAS membership is approx 250. We have just over 200 members on this web site. We represent a very small percentage of the Fishkeepers in this country. We are also a very small country. Many overseas cities have larger populations than our whole country. I’ve previously discussed our topic problem with several local Vets. There response is pretty unanimous. For the population of this country, for the number of people who recognise their fish are sick before it is too late, for the number of people who are prepared to bring their fish to the Vet in a bag and for the number of people who are prepared to pay the bill, it is just not worth knowing anything about fish. You will find that many Vets are quite knowledgable about how fish work inside, but because they have little or no experience with them they cannot diagnose sick fish. To correctly diagnose a sick fish you must have seen the symptoms before. Good books can offer a description of different diseases, but it still take a bit of experience to correctly identify most problems. In many cases a disease must be diagnosed and action taken very quickly or it is too late. The local vets get only about a dozen enquires about how to treat sick fish where the person will actually bring the fish in. In most cases the act of moving the fish causes too much stress. You cannot just clip on a lead or put it in a crate at take it along. Are you prepared to pay the cost of a house call for you fish that cost $10.00. Basically it boils down to; It is not worth the Vets spending the huge time and commitment to learning all that is known to treat all fish due to the number of fish that people will call for help on. You may have kept fish for 10 years plus and have a huge wealth of knowledge. Well this is what the Vet must also do if they wish to know all about fish too. We have a huge resource right here. If you can accurately describe the disease, the conditions in the tank and the events leading up to the time you noticed the sick fish, there will be someone right here who can help. There is a very good book I use regularly to identify problems. It is called ‘Discus Health’. While it is specifically for Discus, it does cover many diseases and symptoms that are common to most fish. It also lists treatments and medication and shows the active ingredients used and the dose rate. From this it is possible to work out alternative medications that are available at the Vet or Chemist. If you work on creating a relationship with a local Vet then you have a good start towards finding a solution to a sickness. There are also some excellent fish shops around who can help you with fish disease. Jansens, Hollywoods and Redwood Aquatics are some of the best. If you speak to the right person you will find a good answer. I’ve had help from all of these identifying a problem. They may not have had a treatment available directly, but through my local Vet and Pharmacy, we found a solution in most cases. That’s not to say it guarantees success, but its better than nothing. If you are truly concerned about your fishes health, you will find a solution, not just give up after trying the first place you think of. Nothing is impossible to those who are prepared to keep looking. So lets stop giving our Vets a hard time. They do have good knowledge in most cases, but will need a little help with the diagnosis and prescription. The end…

Protein skimmers work on Marine tanks because saltwater is more sticky than freshwater. The dissolved mineral content and it make-up create an air bubble that is very sticky compared to a freshwater bubble. The protein sticks to the surface of the bubble and collects at the water surface. As previously said, by the time freshwater accumulates enough rubbish you are better off doing water changes. At this stage your freshwater fishes health will be in jeopardy anyway. They may have some effect in certain cases, but for the general freshwater aquarium they do not work efficiently enough to make them viable. You can buy a lot of activated carbon for $1000, about the cost of a protein skimmer good enough to be a little effective in freshwater.. At cheap one will not work at all in freshwater.

Hi Bill, I'd say I use the same stuff as you. It seems you've been around a little longer than me. Its good stuff wot!

Disclaimer: Don't take that last post as serious, in fact never take anything I post as serious, I'm probably wrong!!

True. Maybe a preventitive maintenance plan is in order. Replace Fluval impellers every 3 years just to be safe ??? Then you'll get 30 years use out of your Fluval before it costs as much as the Eheim...

In response to John,- maybe he does, maybe he doesn't... Go ask him to show you his calculations then I'll be happy. Well done Pies, lots of luck for the assembly process. I've had really good success with only one brand of silicone. Every other brand Iv'e tried let go on my test tanks so now I stick with just the one. Use FOSROC Silaflex RTV glass sealant. It comes in a white tube with blue writing on it. As far as glass preparation goes; use methanol to clean the glass (if you can get it). Alternatively, use Meths that has no die or flavour added to it (so it should be clear). You only need to clean the areas that the silicone will contact. Rub the area with a lint free clean rag with the meths on it. Immediately wipe the residue away with another clean rag. Once you have finished, throw the rags away and get 2 more. Repeat the process. Do this as late as possible, - just before you silicone if possible. Leave a few minutes to allow any missed meths to evaporate. Do not touch the cleaned areas with you hands. It possible wear cloth gloves while moving the glass around to reduce the risk of get skin oils on the glass edges. Mask the area just inside where the silicone goes. It makes the cleanup job easier. Apply just enough silicone so that the air bubbles squish out as the surfaces mate. A little experience and you get it sorted. If you work the glass side to side just a little as the surfaces mate, it makes the air bubbles come out easier. Do not push the glass surfaces completely together. When glass is cut it has an uneven edge. If a high point contacts the other glass surface it can cause a future crack. If you've had the glass ground flat, square and polished then tank assembly will be really easy and the joins will look awsome. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Didn't you know, they use very special plastic in Fluval filters. Its specially designed to go brittle and bust so you have to go buy some really expensive spare parts. The stupid thing is that they could have used a plastic that doesn't go brittle and lasts over 10 years, but no, its a special design feature. Should have got an Eheim, they don't use the special busty plastic in their filters.

Here's my 2 cents worth since I've used both those pumps and lots more: Eheim are excelent pumps. They are realatively quiet and are like the old HQ holden ute, - it just keeps on going. Sicce are definately cheaper. They are usually a lot noisier although that does seem to very from pump to pump. They do not last as long with 3-5 years being their usual life expectancy depending on how well you maintain it. Grundfos are excelent pumps. I'm using 2 FP4 pumps that are 100W 6000L/hour. They are dead silent, yes they are, the fluro balasts hum loader than the pump and you have to put your ear against the tank to hear that. Sadly, Grunfos sold the license for these pump to Oase who now manufacture them. Why sadly, well the FP4 used to cost approx $300.00, but now it costs $1200.00. Still very good pumps but they have now priced themselves out of the market. My 2 pumps are both 7 years old and have run 24/7 for the entire time, and still going strong... I've also got a 350W sump pump in my fishroom pumping approx 20000L/hr through approx 4000L of tanks (well till Sunday anyway, - then I'm moving it!). The sump pump is quite noisy, but then its not designed to be quiet, just a cheap old sump pump. It was $275.00. It uses about $400.00 in power each year however. Hagen Aquaclear Powerheads seem to be pretty good too. They are fairly quiet, relatively cheap and seem to last a long time. If you've got the Eheim 1060, then you've got a good pump. Provided you do not have to much head on the pump (less than 1m) it should pump plenty for 150Gals (550L). Its probably only going to pump 1600-1800L/hr but thats 3-4 times and hour. If you want more, I'd get another Eheim.

The problem with the LFS is they usually just guess. Sure you are covered by their warranty (kind of) but is it worth the hastle. They may provide specs etc, but do they have the engineering calculations for the tank to back them up? Haven't come across a fish shop yet that can, and yes I have visited most of the fish shops in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and also most in NZ. Not one of them calculates the glass thickness required. They just learn by trial and error until they have tank sizes and glass thicknesses that don't break too often. How many of use have had a tank that has broken at some time, - most of use right. Well, not me. I've never had a broken tank in twelve years. I guess prior to about 5 years ago when I started to calculate all the spec for all my new tanks I got lucky. Since then I've upgraded the glass and bracing in many of my tanks. Not one has ever broken or leaked. I've also check unevenly loading the tank by twisted the base when the tank was full, still didn't break. I'm a little paranoid about earthquakes. Not many LFS have tanks over 600mm tall because the glass gets too expensive. Most of the larger tanks that are readily available are made using 10mm glass. This sets the height limit to 600-650mm depending on tank length. They will custom make taller tanks but you need to start choping off arms and legs to pay for it. Also, in NZ very few LFS make their own tanks and therefore know nothing about designing them. They are either made by a glass company or are imported. The glass companies are obviously cheaper to buy from. There is also a lot of work in properly designing a tank to someones specification. With this in mind, is it really moral to ask the fish shop to spec the tank for you when you have absolutely no intention of buying it from them?