tHEcONCH

It seems happy enough - it has moved out into the flow a little more, and happily swallows bits of shrimp etc - I'll take some more pics this weekend

Yes, you can get Phosphate test kits, and yes, frozen food is a source of phosphate (and a lot of it). I would remove and bin the plants that are covered by it (they must already be quite weak if algae can attach), and use a large net (or two, one inside the other) to scoop out as much crud as you can. I would also recommend to at least double the amount of water changes - but the more, the better, so long as they are regular. Forget the algae killer too - it is far better to get your water right than rely on poisons.

After the original ones are worn out (9 months or so).

I can't see any problem at all.

Ottos prefer fine algae to veges - they might take some interest from time-to-time, but algae is their favourite.

It sounds like you have an excess of nutrients in your water - In short, you don't have enough circulation, water surface motion, and you aren't doing enough water changes (size or regularity) to keep up with the bioload. You wil have to physically remove as much as of the crud as possible, and up the size and regularity of the water changes if you want it to go away. Test your water for Nitrate and Phosphate - if you have elevated levels of either you might also have to have a look at how many fish you have, how much you feed them, and what you feed them as well.

You can cut it no problem at all, but wait a while before you drill extra holes - the flow will likely drop as the filter begins to grow gunge inside the tubes etc. You could try pointing the bar slightly upwards to the surface of the water - that will slow the flow accros the tank down too.

Nematodes - tell her to put salt on them next time - they will let go instantly.

I'll take some this weekend... there is another shipment due Friday, so I might be able to squeeze a little piece of Acro or something in there... have you posted pics of yours anywhere?

Do you go to a Special Ed class? Is that Stoopid Skool?

They are all very easy - choose the one you think other people will be interested in buying, otherwise you will end up with a lot of fish with no place to go.

So, what would be needed to make a 'pod hatchery'? I have a couple of spare 80 litre tanks in a rack in the garage - I thought I might convert one or both into some sort of hatchery for pods etc - would I need to bother skimming? I was thinking of just live rock, no corals, T8 (low) light and an internal filter minus pads for a bit of circulation - your thoughts?

It wouldn't be the first time a shop doesn't know what it is that they are selling! Asian Eels, anyone? GE Danio's?

Listen to this guy! Drop it out the bottom - far less to go wrong that way.

:lol: don't beat yourself up about it - you've gained some useful info that will help you keep your fish healthy in future. If you are using rainwater then the thing you have to guard against is contamination - use a dedictated bucket etc and never use it for anything else or clean it with detergent etc. You shouldn't need to age it because it shouldn't have any chlorine in it ('aging' is a kind of euphamism for letting chlorine gas evaporate from water treated with chlorine - water 'agers' just nuetralise the chlorine in the same way that leaving it out for a few days would). Lastly, as a general rule of thumb never treat your tank with anything unless you can diagnose a specific problem, like whitespot, and then treat specifically for that.

Bigger is better.

Looks like an Ornate Birchir to me.

Personally I'd probably concentrate on re-establishing your tanks biological filtration first (ammonia and nitrite are far more dangerous than whitespot), although you may wish to treat the tank for whitespot anyway with 'Whitespot Cure' (or any Malachite Green based formulation - stay away from anything with Methylene Blue in it - it kills your good bacteria) - you can accomplish similar results with large daily water changes (80%) for the next two weeks, although if you have to condition your water that can get expensive and tiring. p.s Your maintenance schedule sounds fine - perhaps it was triggered by overfeeding? Anyway, Good luck

Have you considered buying better quality feeder fish?

It was a series of events, rather than a single 'disease'. In short (and with respect), you probably didn't do enough water changes / tank maintenance, your tank then 'crashed' as fish died which caused a massive overload on you biological filtration resulting in an ammonia and then nitrite spike (which killed more fish, compounding the problem) then you finished off the last of your biological (good) filtration by adding 'wonder tonic', which wasn't really the most appropriate treatment at that point. The moral of the story is 'maintain your tank and do regular water changes' and these problems can be avoided. Alternatively you can stock you tank more lightly (have fewer fish) if you can't commit to more maintence than you are already doing. FYI the 'cotton wool' was a fungal infection, which only affects stressed weakened fish. You should now clean out your filter (just rinse it in old tank water, not tap water) remove all 'stuffed' fish and do several large water changes over the next few days. I'd recommend adding some 'filterstart', 'cycle' or similar bacterial culture. Hope that helps (and isn't too discouraging)

Read my signature!

I would use none of the above - Melafix and Furan are poisionous at the best of times and should only be used as a last resort, and Formalin won't kill internal parasites anyway.

Sounds pretty much like what happened to my water with the unexplained phosphate spike. Maybe people should consider the predictability of RO water as an insurance policy?

Mineral oil - the 'general purpose' stuff from the garage is all you need.

So, what would be needed to make a 'pod hatchery'? I have a couple of spare 80 litre tanks in a rack in the garage - I thought I might convert one or both into some sort of hatchery for pods etc - would I need to bother skimming? I was thinking of just live rock, no corals, T8 (low) light and an internal filter minus pads for a bit of circulation - your thoughts?