Spink

Unfortunately with my fish, I knew i had a highly transmittable disease within the tank. Some of my guppies which had been born in the tank very quickly developed the symptoms as did other younger introduced guppies, and although they survived reasonably well for a while, I knew it wouldn't be any good to raise them to adulthood. I was hoping it was something strictly related to guppies, as none of my other fish have become infected (touch wood), so I'm still a bit perplexed about what happened, and I'm wholely sold 99% that it is TB - God help me if it is! Once i got talking to others about it, I very quickly stopped using the same equipment in all the tanks, and sterilized what I had. I then bought a new net, bucket, etc and kept it solely for that tank. Mr Ed, it sounds more like you were sold either an 'old' fish, or a fish with some weakness in the line. :-? I'm lucky that I have another tank of uninfected guppies, and all my other fish including other livebearer fry are all fine, so it seems isolated to the one tank.

Sorry Caryl!!! :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: I didn't read it right, but i understood what you meant! I know sometimes when a fish gets wounded and is stressed it can develop a fungus problem, but I didn't mean that it would :oops: Sorry, I feel a little bit stink now. I use Melafix as more of preventative measure than a cure. Please accept my apologies - maybe next time I'll make sure I'm not too tired to understand what I'm reading!

Hey PurpleCatfish, Do you happen to have any photos of your sick guppies? I have just had to euthanise 34 guppies - my entire tank full - for the first time EVER because of a recurring disease in the tank. I'd had it once, it went away, but then mysteriously it came back. My guppies had a type of fin necrosis - the tail fins clamped up to a point, the dorsal fin was clamped up close to the body, they stopped eating and eventually died. The looked like funny little pinpoint tail guppies. I did a lot of consulting in books, internet and with other clubs members/local LFS, and the closest and most unfortunate thing we could come up with was fish tuberculosis. I was gutted and absolutely devastated, and decided it was better off to euthanise and sterilize the fish and tank than risk transmitting what ever it is on to other fish and myself, or my family and pets (my cats drink from my tanks whenever they can :roll: ) I hope to God that it is not fish TB in my tank, but I did not want to spend the money having a post mortem done as for the moment it is just a hobby. My other concern came from reading that in livebearers a female can transmit the disease to her unborn fry. Do you have any links to sites with info on the Heyanna (?) disease? I guess I'm looking for peace of mind that I did the right thing :-?

Hey Vindy, I have a barb that looked that same as that last week! - He's a big golden barb we named Fat Albert, and he seemed to have been frightened by something (maybe my cat :roll: ) and got stuck between two pieces of rock that stand upright. He scrapped off a few scales and looked a little red (maybe blood under the tissue?) but i put some Melafix in the tank and he came right. Like Caryl said, make sure you treat it just in case it gets fungus etc, and I'm sure it will be fine

Yep, I plan to overdose my car windows with RainEx before we leave, just in case the weather decides to take the trip with us! Nearly all ready to go, but never tried making gingernuts before, I go more for the plain base then make it your own, like Rocky Road! No promises though.....

Hey Bilbo, Some of us are still super keen, and i am definately coming, with 4 others in my car so far. Maybe PM Stella and see what she can tell you. I have my car cleaned and almost ready to go, the poly boxes are in already, just need to make some cookies to eat along the way....... :bounce:

In my 4 foot community tank, I put JBL Novo tabs on the glass and watch to see who's first to get the food - some of the fish try to eat my fingers first, and others wonder what the heck I've done! My fighter girls are a little weary of them though... With my mollies, I have an African Butterfly Fish (called Fat Tony the Mafia Hit Fish) and when we don't have live foods for him, we feed him cichlid pellets. We call it Molly Soccer - the pellets are too big for them so eat, so they nip at them and chase them around the tank until they are soft enough for them to nibble at! It's so funny to watch, because they all go after the same pellet, rather than getting another one for themselves! :lol: :roll:

That sucks... Maybe it's best for the fish though. Never mind :-?

I just had a quick look at the video on the link - OMG I sort of get why they do it = it looks cool to have a tank full of bright colourful fish - but IT'S SO MEAN!!! :evil: :evil: :evil: If people want a tank of beautiful brightly coloured fish, why don't they go marine?! Marine fish have such striking NATURAL intense colour, and it's what God gave them. I really cannot imagine trying to hold a fish and inject it with dye, it's just not right, but some people in this world will do anything to make a buck...

I had a similar sort of problem with a male killi fish I have. His back end seemed a bit crooked and like he had no control over it. He got a bit picked on by the other fish, so I caught him and put him in my guppy / fry raising tank, and he seems to be doing fine. He looks a little munted, but for all it's worth, he holds his own against the guppies, gets his fair share of the food, and he can really move when he wants to! :lol: Like Caryl, I'd suggest keeping an eye on it and if it's doing ok, just leave it be - I'm a sucker and couldn't kill a fish if I tried!

Hey Spoon, I have a brackish tank as well, but no where near the seriousness of yours! At the moment I am using freshwater and artificial salt to increase the salinty - might keep in touch with you to trade ideas! Anyway, I have mollies and bumblebee gobies in mine too, and they seem to handle variations in salinity ok, as long as it's not too much in one go. From what I have read on figure 8 puffers, they can go in tanks with other fish, but have also been known to be fin nippers some times, so I guess it depends on the size of all the fish, and the size of the tank. I reckon a really neat puffer tank would be cool! I'd love to do it, but haven't seen any puffers around here at all!

Hey Zeblyn, Welcome to the forum, hope to see you at the Kapi Mana meeting tomorrow night! Were you there for the auction night we had? If you were, I think I know who you are... Would be keen to talk to you about your brackish tank ideas; not many people have them around here!

Hey BogBossPants, Do all you fish live in the same tank together? The reason i ask, I'm in Upper Hutt Wellington, and probably wouldn't mind volunteering, but your fish are much bigger than mine, so i would have to set up a tank for them on their own, which wouldn't be a prob if I had a large enough spare tank and the equipment. Have you considered sending your fish 'on holiday'? Some pet shops can house your fish for you while you are on holiday or moving, at either a low cost or free. Perhaps try Hutt pets in Lower Hutt - they have a website, and it wouldn't hurt to email and ask if they can help you out. Worth a shot!

Anyways..... Over the week I have been slowly adjusting the temps of the two tanks involved - decreasing one and increasing the other. Today is my regular maintenance day, so I have put the CPD's in the tank with Clifford our male Siamese fighter, and the 6 Sparkling Gourami's, 4 pygmy corys and 2 pencilfish.... What a difference it has made....I can actually see my fish!!!! :bounce: I have been keeping an eye on them and so far they seem to be very happy, no aggression showed by the other fish, and they don't seemed stressed. I did get a chance to have another good look at them while they were being floated, and I am still of the same opinion - there is a chance that only one of the 6 is a female. Thanks to the extraordinary pics posted by Luke, mine all coloured up just like the males do, other than this one...'it' has strong colour, but is slightly plumper than the others, but the colouring in the anal fin is still a bit of a throw off. I think I may have to keep watching them and see if anything starts to happen now they are in a bigger tank. Long term, I will get some more females, when availability and money allows!!!! :bounce:

Are you saying I shouldn't have the fish if I do not intend to breed it and do not have killie breeding experience? Despite the fact I will be able to provide it a great home, have an interest in the fish and will get a lot of enjoyment from owning the fish?

Hey, thanx Luke, I might have another good look at them next chance I get. Another thought I had....I wondered if I could put a particular killi in with my male fighter and sparkling gourami's; it's one i saw on Trade Me and I like the look of it and think it would LOOK stunning in the tank, just need to the ok temperament and parameter wise. It's called Austrolebias nigripinnis 'nancy', it has a blackish look to it with blue flecks/spots. Is there anyone out there who could tell me if I could pout them all together?

It's time to put on makeup......? I loved that show! Why don't they bring them all back?

I purchased a divider from a supplier on Trade Me (hope that's allowed!) It has sturdy plastic side with metal clips to hold it firmly on to the side of the tank, and plastic bits to hold the top and bottom in place once it's in the tank. It was clear plastic with very small holes in to allow for water flow etc. My problem was I had a bit of a blonde momement (sorry!) and tried to put it in a tank with a curved galss front - duh! :oops:

Keep trying... Does no body else wake up with Wiggles songs in their head, or is it just me?

I almost feel like mine has become extinct, or at least gone backwards about 50,000 years - he retreats in to his man cave after I change the lightbulb, wallpaper the bedroom, paint the walls, mow the lawn, walk the dog, build a pond, cook dinner, clean the house, and the rest.... Why do we still have them again? :lol:

I'm with Stella, it's not about how 'good' your tank is or how it stacks up to others, it's all about having a look at what other people are doing, sharing ideas, seeing what worked for some and not for others, sharing knowledge, and just getting to know all the other fish geeks in the world over a good cup of coffee! The forum is about using the wealth of knowledge that others have to build on your own, and tank crawls are a great way to do that - actually seeing the tanks is just an added bonus! Stella is famous because not many people know of anyone else who keeps natives, apart from her! Personally, I can't wait to see any of the tanks that are up on offer, regardless of how 'good' you think it may or may not be! Be proud of your work!!!!

Being willing to volunteer is good enough for me! Go you! :bounce: I think I am in need of a little therapy.....of the retail variety that is! I'll start my penny pinching now!

Here's one for ya.... Fruit salad...

I'd be keen on some more info too - I posted a thread aboput what cameras people had a while ago, but only got a few responses. I'd really like to upgrade to something really good, but I don't even know where to start! What brand, model number, place to go to buy it etc.....

My hubbies ex used to throw plates at him and chase him up on the roof with a kitchen knife! My theory is - woman gets a cold, she carries on; man gets a cold, he's DYING!!!! It's just nature. If hubby doesn't help me out around the house, I threaten to sell his car and turn the garage in to a fish room and take over the man cave....that works! :lol: