fishnut

Thanks for the advise guys, plenty of plants would help but we do have a problem with a hoplo uprooting them. Will get some more discus (and plants), definately bigger this time. Goldie- we did get them from the same source at only about 20c piece size. Not sure what kind they are but they're brownish with blue fins?? The last 2 seem really happy on their own. I do have a tendency to have some unsocial fish. Just had to remove a bristlenose from the 5ft tank. She was even beating up the whiptails!!

Well the fish didn,t last the night Will look at getting some more if we have no more probs with the last 2. Thats if we can figure out what been going wrong. I hate to lose any fish and feel guilty especially if its our fault through wrong conditions or feeding. Its a big learning curve. I don,t think there were enough hiding places. And will look at trying to reduce the current. Thanks for your help guys

Hi Warren thanks for replying. They are in a 3ft tank. We got them a few months ago, 7 in all. all the same size but very small. About 2-3cm. Now the biggest is about 13cm, the next about 8cm. All were doing really well till the last few weeks. We do regular 25% water changes a week. Their food consists of tetra bits, bloodworm. beef heart and some bottom feeder tabs they get before the corys do. Lately they have been getting more beef heart because we ran out of bloodworms. They poor wee thing is lying at the bottom. Not looking at all well. The fuzzy stuff coming out of its head is about 6mm long and 3mm wide. Pretty big for a wee fish. It has been bullied. Do discus like a strong current?. This tank has a powerful internal filter which does create quite a current. Maybe this isn,t helping? The ph is 6.8 and temp 28C. The tank had been running sice August. If this fish survives I will keep it in isolation as you suggested and give it heaps of TLC.

Hi Guys, tried to get into chatroom but didn't have the java thingy, so trying to download. Might not work. Anyway another discus is dying. This is the 4th now. Its the smallest about 5 cm. Its seems to have been wasting away and not eating for the last week and today noticed it was lying on its side with white tufty bits coming out of its head. Theres 2 separate ones above its eye on one side. The other two are a picture of health. Hopefully they will stay that way!!!! Could it be hole in head or a result of bullying?. I noticed the others hassling it alot. Its in isolation with melafix and will hopefully survive the night. Any ideas. Don't want to lose another

Welcome Doc. I am another one from Ashburton. There quite a few keen fishkeepers here! Our fish club is really cool and friendly. And theres plenty of help and advise. Happy fishkeeping!

Thanks guys I am trying the Methylene blue at the moment - problem is the only instructions are to use 5ml to 90 litres. So I have adjusted accordingly but do not know how often to use it. It been 2 days and the rainbows mouths are looking better but the big spot on the tail is still there. I think that I should do a water change and treat again- is that correct? Hopefully this works. I,ve heard melafix is great but can,t get it till payday :roll:

Hi I have a problem with my rainbows. They have what looks like a bit of mouth fungus and a couple of growing spots on their body as well. They are constantly displaying what I think is spawning behaiviour and are alway bunting and making close contact. I have isolated them in a hospital tank - as well as an unaffected rainbow, it was freaking out too much on its own. I have been treating them with Masterpet Antiseptic several days now with no effect, it seems to be getting worse. I have some Methylene blue 1% here. Should I change to that? Any advise would be great. No other fish appear to be affected

Hi Everyone, Well things seems alot better today, Thanks so much Goldie for the loan of the test kits. You are an angel! The ammonia was at 0.6, no nitrites or nitrates or phosphates. Ph is 6.8. I think stress was a main factor and the silver sharks are very nervey. I did alot of bumping and banging (and cussing) getting this filter going as I,ve never used an external filter before. The extra turbulence probably didn,t help as my old filter already has a really strong current. It,s been turned to face a different way now and theres now a quiet spot for the fish to hide. I always really thoroughly clean the gravel each week, I feel that I've been going overboard so will tone that down. I just like a clean tank! Can anyone tell how long to seed a new filter?. The old one is needed elsewhere. Thanks all. Hopefully things will settle right down now

Wow this place is a mine of information! Warren- I clean the gravel each week when I do the water change and I,ve just rinsed the old filter in tank water, it wasn,t too bad, last done about 3 weeks ago. Noticed one of the sharks have developed a silver/white ring around the pupil. Danios still sick but the angels colour has returned to normal. Done the water change and everything else seems fine. What I don,t understand is why everything was great and then turned yesterday with the new filter!! Maybe just coincidence. Oh.. at least the ph is ok- 6.8-7? Ho Goldie, Thanks! I will give you a ring tonight

Hi everyone, thank you for the replies. I have just done a 30% water change and rushed to the LFS. I only had the money for a ph test which I will do soon. I will get an ammonia one on Friday. I definately treat the water, they add heaps of chlorine here. The old filter wasn,t cleaned at all so there should be enough bacteria. That filter is just a sponge and I was wondering of the new filter with the "pottery macaroni" would change the water chemistry at all? It just seems weird that the problem happened the day the new filter was installed. Anyway will do the ph test soon. What ph should the water be? The fish definately seem more active with heaps of new water :lol:

Hi Chris L, Thank you for your reply I do a 20% water change weekly, last being last Friday and I have: 6 juvenile angels 2 silver sharks 3 rainbows 3 zebra danios 7 neons 4 panda cory 3 whiptails 2 small bristlenose 3 cherry barbs Except for the neons they are all about half grown. The sharks are about 10cm. At the moment one shark is hiding with its nose up and "panting" , I,m really worried. I,ve never had fish act this unhappy before. What have I done!! Would a water change help?

Hi everyone, Im new here and got a problem I hope someone could advise me on.. I have a 400 litre tank thats been running for 4 months with no problems but cloudy water after feeding sometimes. I have been running a fluval4 internal filter and didn,t think it was doing the job so yesterday I got a via-aqua 750 running in it. I have left the fluval running as well until the bacteria can build up in the new one. How long would this take? Well last night one zebra danio was lying depressed on the bottom and one golden angel had it tail fin clamped and turned quite orangey in colour. Today the angel seem a bit better but the zebra is just "hanging" in the water not swimming around at all. After work I found a dead neon!! But it was old. My silver sharks are hiding in a corner not looking very happy either. So I,m wondering if the new filter has something to do with it even though I rinsed the media really well. The tank is definately not overstocked but I don,t know what the ammonia or nitrates or ph are, I do need to get the test kits, but the prices!! Anyone know of any cheaper ones. Could it be being overfiltered? Any help would be very much appreciated, I had to see them unhappy!!