Gill

Even the loaches, think i had better change my plans then ...Rather like the loaches Thanks

I have decided to have a change around as i have two community tanks and feel like a change. I have clown loaches, swords and the odd guppy in one tank and bucket loads of community fish in the other .Would a small oscar be ok with the clown loaches, black widows ?? and swordtails (i will shift the guppies ). Are they fast growing the tank size is 920mm x 400mm x 600mm. Thanks Gill 8)

Thanks , i have a holding tank for the surplus fish . Once they have gone i will use that . Its got a internal fliter in it . Thanks for all the advice 8)

Thanks :lol:

Hi How long should you keep fish in the q tank for before adding to the main tank . Both my tanks are stable now all levels are great and healthy fish. I want to add some new fish ,thought about some hatchet fish and some neons ... 8)

re tested the water in the bucket it was still 7, pH in tank is 6 so its looking like its stablised now. thanks for all the info 8)

Animates tested the water and the pH is ok , so once again different readings from home tests .But i will re test the water in the bucket tomorrow.I am planning on having a move around as at the moment i have a mixture of fish in there and i want something different .I want to keep the clown loaches and cat fish , there are some of those black widows swordtails , male guppies .i have another big(380l ) community tank so i can move things around. I like the look of gouramis. I am a beginner so i dont want anything to challenging to keep . The big tank is full of community fish ,my guppies are taking over!!!!!I leave the fry in there now and so far plenty are surviving . 8)

Hi any idea why the pH even with 30% weekly water changes keeps dropping ,just done another change and the Ph is showing about 5 ,all other levels are great ,fish seem happy 4 Loaches, 10 guppies 6 swordtails 4 female fighters 4 catfish . Tank is 200 L . Added some crushed shell as suggested by animates. The filter is a fluval 204 just wondering if i should change the filter media. I have some driftwodd in there but its not new and untill a couple of weeks ago the pH was stable .Tap water pH is about 7.I am using tap water to fill the tank My main tank is fine with a stable pH and no more fish losses . Thanks :lol:

Problem still here . lost four more fish this weekend, dispite the water levels all being ok ,got them checked again. Been doing 30% water changes ,so resorted to using Melafix in case its a bacterial problem. Lost two fish in about an hour of using the meds. What ever the problem is it looks like there is about 10 days between fish dying.Its affecting the swordtails and guppies. Going to talk to my friends at animates in the morning to see what they can suggest. Will keep up with twice weekly water changes in the mean time. The last 3 swordtails looked bloated just before they died they hung around the sufrace for an hour or two and that was it !!!!!

Thanks everyone ,might save my money and go with the hose and conditioner . :lol:

Do you use hot water from you hot water cylinder.

Thanks so much , i hate the thought of lugging buckets around the place.i think i carried about 25 buckets today !!!!Have to do it again tomorrow ,but it might have to wait till i get the tap. :lol:

HI All i have asked this question before but i lost the details ,sorry. I seem to remember there being a fitting you can out on your taps to help with water changes ,i think they are on trademe ,can anyone point me in the right direction as i have done a search and nothing had come up .I think a Christchruch trader has them.I have just spent the day doing 50% water changes on two 350 litre tanks ,PHEW Had a problem with ammonia ,even after testing my test results were wrong ,have no idea why at this stage . :lol:

Hi are there any types of filter media which help with nitrates/ammonia levels.I have a Fluval 204 and Eheim 2217 thanks :lol:

I bought them about a three months ago when i had the tank set up. I will check the packets. Ok daily water changes it is .Better go and fill up the bin ready for tomorrow. thanks :lol:

The guys at animates tested the water and the ammonia is high around 20 , how accurate are the test kits as the one i have showed it as being almost clear. Just done a 50% water change ,i will do another one on Monday. Bought some meds 'Melafix' and 'Tonic'but dont want to use them unless i have to ,but wonder if there's some bacteria floating around. Would aqua salt be a good idea.??? Perhaps i need to do water changes first and see how things settle

I do have a spare tank; it’s only a small one but I think that in future i will also quarantine. It’s not an easy job scooping out dead fish. I will continue with water changes and let you know how things go.Good point about my daughter , i am always teling her to wash and rinse her hands before going dipping ,

i saw the guppy swimming near the tops and her breathing looked a bit laboured ,i think .She wasnt moving around much sort of just sitting there. She did swim around but not as much as the other fish and near the top .

No three have died this week since adding the Farlowella,before that about 2 weeks ago we lost a neon.The fish in the tank all appear ok. there's a male betta, swordtails, guppies, platys, 4 algae munchers, two Farlowella, just remembered the Mollies three ,they arrived last week .So this week we lost a platy and swordtail on Tues and the guppy today .No i didnt add the water from the bag bag was floated and water from tnak added and fish netted out later .Could the rain water be contaminated , straight from the sky into the new washed out bin ,i rinsed the bin heaps before i used it for collecting water.

4 days ago the Farlowella . 2 weeks before that a neon died .but no more since then .I thought they might be stressed my daughter rearranged the plants and stirred then up a bit ,but not sure ,the sudden death caught me by suprise

Right the readings are 0ppm ammonia almost clear ph 6.5 to 7 NO2 almost clear 0 .Tank is huge about 1000mm x 550 x 600 with an huge filter can't remember the model but its plenty big enough .Have community fish ,Betta , 3 neons sowrdtails about 10 ,guppies about 20 platys 10 and a four of algae munchers and two fish from trademe arrow somethings they eat algea too. Temp about 26 ,lots of plants air stones x 2 rocks drift wood, the sword tail had his tail nipped in the other tank so i shifted him back he was with the black widows , and female bettas.The fish in the other tank so far are all good. The swordtail just died right infront of me one minute he was swimming and the next he dropped to the bottom of the tank ,i think the guppy did about the same , the swordtail came from the pet shop ,the guppy was female may have been ready to drop babies, my daughter said she saw a pink spot on the side if her yesterday ,i will have a look and see if the spot is still there and let you know . I will take some water into the pet shop tomorrow just to make sure my reading are ok .I will do another water change tomorrow as i have heaps of rain water collected. :-? Its not a new set up been running since Jan 08,i guess its still newish though. No spraying too

Hi all , i have been loosing fish this week three,one platy, swordtail and a guppy .All the water levels are good, meaning ph ammonia, nitrates .I have been doing water changes about 20% a week.The fish have been active and then later in the day dead. Any ideas where to start. Can't see any signs of worms or anything , they seem to look ok,eating swimming etc. thanks

That sounds encouraging .The tank came with two but one was sick and died.I think they are old the remaining one is very big .So we thought we should get him/her some mates .The new ones are alot smaller and seem to all be ok. The clown loaches are settling in too. We need to get some more plants as the tank looks very bare. One of the loaches is alot bigger than the others. The biggest loach jumped out of the container during the move ,but hes/shes ok

Ok thanks for the info ,they are with clown loaches so i hope they will be ok as my daughter has bought 5 more ekkkkkk. :lol:

Thanks , its pretty big so it looks like a male. thanks for your help