oneeyedfrog

Hi, DD2 got a couple of these corys a while back. Today I noticed one looking strange. I have popped him in the QT tank. What's the matter with him and how do I treat it? He seems to be covered in a brownish slime/fluff Thanks

How is this doing? any changes yet?

Man I hate nits! :evil: I have two daughters with v long hair and the same thing was happening to them. I combed thru with a nit comb daily using conditioner until I was getting no more nits ( the tiny ones can be hard to spot) then used a hair straightener- this cooks/kills the eggs. The hair straightener was the breakthru for us. Pantene 3min miracle was great for getting a smooth comb thru without tangles and hair being pulled out. I left the conditoner in and just plaited their hair. Wet it each evening and combed thru. Leaving the conditioner in seemed to discourage more nits. Repeated this a week later . A couple of drops of tea tree oil in their shampoo or in a spray on /leave in conditioner is supposed to help too. apparently they don't live for long off the head so frantic washing/cleaning of bedding/carpets/ furniture is not necessary. Good luck- you have my sympathy !

Ah cool . I was thinking that Aqadvisor may be too cautious. But better to ask people who have kept them than have carnage in the tank :lol: What about the congo tetra? Anyone kept them. Will they eat the little tetra and/or the plants -I think I read somewhere they eat plants?

I have a 120 x60 x60 planted tank with 6 cory, 2 gba, 8 glowlights, 8 neons, 8 male guppies, 2 steelblue apisto, 5 diamond tetra. I am adding a Royal whiptail as soon as I get it picked up. I am planning on adding 8-10 black neons and 6 dwarf chain loaches - aqadvisor reckons the loaches may fin nip the guppies. Is this so? I have also been eyeing up a blue ram- Aqadvisor sez they are too aggressive towards glowlights- Is this so? Pet shop recommends congo tetras. Would they be compatible or are they too big? Thanks

I reckon unless they are free roaming in a paddock, pigs need at least as much care as a dog. Also pig poo smells more than dog poo and you will have to get rid of it to somewhere. Would the piglet be an inside pig or outside only? They are very intelligent social animals and need company. They will turn a confined space outside into a muddy smelly mess very quickly esp. in winter. They will root up your lawn and garden. As they get older they can become territorial. They are very food oriented and can be a nuisance trying to get to food. I.e. In your house, rubbish, neighbours vege garden. But even with all that I love pigs- they are neat. When our one was little she would walk inside, pull a blanket off the couch and make herself a little nest to sleep on the floor. She loves to run and looks so cute with her ears flapping up and down. She talks a lot, loves a scratch and sits for her food. She lives out in the paddock now but we are all very attached to her. I know a couple of people who have had trouble rehoming their pigs to good homes. Ok if you don’t care where they go but if you love them like your dog/cat it’s hard. My friend’s sister got given a small kunekune sow – her rottie had a go at it and the sow killed the rottie! Gutted it! Just go into it with your eyes wide open!

I got a blue LED flexible tube light from Dick Smith ( has 24 leds in a water resistant tube for $6-7). They also came in red. It plugs into a 12v adaptor which you can buy for around $25 if you don't have one lying around. You can also get the lights on TM and I think auto places as guys put them on their cars

:lol: Too true ha ha ha

DD1= Dear daughter 1 ( 9yr) DD2= Dear daughter 2 (7 yr) :lol:

Hi, I had around 60 gba babies- from 1cm to 3-4cm. They have been in a barebottomed 3ft with some driftwood. Recently DD2 added a couple of young guppies and a small platy. I had been thinking that there seemed to be less gba and today I counted them and 20+ of the little ones have disappeared. I have been sucking up the poop and doing a waterchange every two days and testing water every week. Checked the water before I chucked it to make sure I didnt suck them up. Mesh over the filter intake- I checked in the canister and none in there- only heaps of those rotten little snails :evil: . They are fed a couple of times aday. Haven't seen any dead ones. I can only guess they have been eaten. Will larger gba or the other fish eat the smaller ones or only after they are dead? Would like to know what has happened so I don't make the same mistake next time Thanks

The mealworms bite too. DD2 pinched one from the frogs as a pet :roll: ( she was 6 then). One night she came out of her room not long after being put to bed. "Mummy I was kisssing my mealworm goodnight and he bit me on the lip" I said ew don't do that put it in the frog tank. She goes " Nah its ok I'll kiss him on the bum instead" :lol:

Hi, My pH is the same as yours and the fish are ok. I think it is more important to have a stable pH than the recommended pH. Ie neons prefer a lower ph but will be happier at a stable higher ph than one which goes up and down all the time. It’s much easier if you keep them in the same conditions as the water you have readily available. I have quite a bit of driftwood in my tanks and even when the water is really tannin stained the pH hasn’t changed. Don’t know how well oak leaves work. Introducing fish slowly to your water by dripping water from your tank thru an airhose for 1hr plus into their bag will help to avoid ph shock for new fish if the pH at the pet shop is different from yours. I usually boil wood for ½ hr if it fits in a pot – to kill nasties like snails. Otherwise I water blast it . +1 for a bristlenose- even my big ones eat that algae.

Hi, a couple of months ago DD's large female guppy was sitting on the bottom very pale unable to swim properly. She was wagging her tail fast but not getting anywhere. Her back end looked kinda stiff . She also looked very thin. I thought she would probably die but we popped her in a tank by herself and a couple of weeks later she was fine. Last night I noticed she is starting to do the same again. Any ideas on what it could be? Thanks

It's great isn't it. Our creeks/drains have been dry for months . I thought it might flood but no they are now just full to the brim. The kids are out riding up and down them now. The horse is ok but the shetland has to swim!! :lol:

Thanks. They have chilled out again now. They have become my fav fish and I wouldn't have liked to lose any coz I didn't realise that this meant they are gonna kill each other or something like that I've spent hours watching them - better than the telly!

A month ago I put a couple of steel blue apistos in my planted community tank. I haven’t had any experience with these type of fish before so was wondering what’s up with their behaviour They have been very cruisey till last night. Since then they have been chasing each other around – in and out of a particular cave. They look as if they are trying to slap each other with their tails – looks really funny. Then one will arch sideways and go really pale with a dark belly. Then go back to dark stripes or bluer then off chasing again. It’s pretty entertaining to watch. Is this coz they may be teenagers now and are sorting out territories? Is this typical behaviour? I am guessing they are males coz they look pretty much the same except one is smaller and paler than the other. Are they likely to hurt each other? Should I add more caves or something? They are in a 4’x2’x2’ with tetra, guppies and gba. Thanks

I would give it a go- you could get quite an effective setup with just a few plants. Try with some cheap lights first and see if you are happy with the results. figure out which plants they don't eat and then get creative with securing them. DD has a 4ft 60cm deep goldfish tank that she did keep bare bottomed with some plants in pots. The lights are two cheap 4ft 6500k tubes. In plastic trays as big as your hand and 11/2 -2 inches deep with gravel no fert she grew stargrass, ambulia, hygro diformis ( just stuffed as many stems as poss in ) they grew well but then the fish ate them. They didn’t eat the hygro augusifola (which grew planted and even just floating around with weights on the end), Indian fern (both planted and floating), anubias tied to wood and suckers on back/sides of tank,, java fern (on wood or rubbered banded to pebbles and left to be moved around tank), windelov fern, java moss (tied to wood, rocks) and planted polysperma, some sort of val and an unidentified water lily I pinched from a pond. I thought this might not like it as I thought they need ferts etc but its growing great- heaps of new leaves- it looks a bit like a tiger lotus but with thicker leaves. She now has the same plants in a thin layer of gravel in there and added a few crypts which seem to be growing fine. She has a 60 x 30 x60 deep tank that has 2 x 6500k energy saving bulbs over it that is growing lots of plants at a reasonable rate so I think if you just want green plants and don’t want abundant growth 6500k bulbs are ok. I have a couple of tanks with powerglos over them and the plants do grow faster and with more colour if red but then more maintenance is needed coz you have to trim all the time and I think they get more algae overall -come to think of it I have jbl balls in these tanks and not in the tanks with 6500k bulbs so that could make a difference too. The little black rubber bands for horses manes are great for securing plants too.

A bra? :lol:

I have been told to get an old spoiled bale of silage and spread that out to kill the kikuyu ready for a garden. I haven't tried it yet though.

Did the vet check her thyroid function and teeth? And is she going to the toilet ok? Have had experience with vets not checking the obvious. They are human too! I have a half wild cat of similar age- same deal losing loads of weight- vet said kidneys (pretty usual for age). I wormed her couple of extra times which helped- they seem to need it more when older. But her main problem seemed to be stress. I sorted her space of her own where she could live and eat without being bothered and she’s put on quite abit of weight. If she’s not eating – feeding her something smelly (fish etc) and warm – roll it into balls in your fingers before offering it to her might help stimulate her appetite. Even putting it into her mouth if she will let you. Try other types of food. Sometimes its just a case of getting them to take those first few meals. Our cats love rabbit too. Make sure she always has access to water as with kidney problems they drink heaps. Has your cat experienced a change lately- loss /gain of another member in the family? She may be stressed and needing reassurance/company. . As they get older and eyesight and hearing diminishes they can become disoriented and that makes them cry. Things I have heard that have helped are: Letting the cat have access to owners at night- only ok if she doesn’t come in and jump on your face then pee under your bed LOL! Leaving on a night light/radio for her Sorting out a safe comfy place for cat that she can call hers-place to sleep with access to food, water, litter tray – my 20 yr old blind cat spent most of her time in a play pen (she could get out if she wanted) on an electric blanket. She’d yowl if she ran out of food but seemed content- just like an older person- happy to sit. Rescue remedy in her water. I hope you manage to find something that helps. It‘s a hard decision. She possibly can’t be too bad if she is out hunting. But endless sleepless nights are not good for your family either. Mostly I find they seem to tell you when it is time. If she’s happy she could just be getting senile. You know her the best and can best judge whether you feel she has quality of life. She is lucky she has owners who care enough to spare her suffering. Go with your gut feeling. Good luck

I have 5 , 3 are very large - look like they are about to pop! A few days ago I removed all the other fish from their 3ft heavily planted tank ( may be a couple of tiny gba left in there ). They have become very shy now. Did a major water change . Yesterday DD noticed one egg on a bit of driftwood. We put that into a floating container with an airstone. Guess they ate any others there may have been. Questions: Do they only lay small numbers of eggs? Do they spawn at dawn or dusk? If I leave them should they spawn again? How often do they usually spawn? Or should I do more large water changes to try to get them to spawn again? Thanks

Sorry it's looks like you've come down with MTS! There is no known cure so best you and hubby accept it and realise that life is gonna change :lol: I agree - get a larger tank. Greg- tanks2u on TM makes a nice tanks for a very good price. I just set up my 6th tank- each larger than the last. I told myself this is the last- its big enough at 400l- I only keep small fish. When we 1st brought it inside it looked big. Now its all set up I was looking at it last night and said to myself - it's not big enough! oh dear :roll: Lucky I have a lovely husband too- he knows I could have worse vices!

Wow what a lovely spot. You are so lucky. Showed my girls and they thought it looked like a great place - wish our stream looked like that! Impressive eel too

If it is just the appearance you could just cover it with tape on the outside or wooden edging can look good.

Anyone seen this? She's amazing.