Aftaburn

I have short vallisanaria... I could get you started with some perhaps a plant trade?? One problem... I also have Planaria in that system, can you set it up in an isolation tank (to check for contamination)? I would likely pick new plants & wash hard which should get rid of the worms (or alternatively I know Sodium metabisulphate kills them if the plant can survive the treatment) Not sure how to easily insert a photo here or I would. I'd be more than happy to email you a photo.

I've recently discovered a couple of things about Planaria as I had several thousand in a system of thier own waiting for me to find a cure (no fish or plant in this tank). Apon adding 4ppm solution of potassium permangenate the worms started dividing hard out. This is a 80 liter tank too btw. Disolved 4 teaspoons of Sodium metabisulphate in a glass & used a syringe to squirt large Planaria (the ones the pp hadn't got too as it settled out a bit), they really dont like it & turn into fuzzy blobs. Added about another 10 teaspoons to the tank. Now they're all fuzzy blobs. I think though knowing how tough the things are that I'll leave the solution at least overnight. This may not help remove them from a system with fish & plant but it is effective with minimal effort. Didn't give the permangenate long as they just kept dividing (those that were in the coloured area of the tank divided to the point where they were getting hard to see).

Recently had a case of Dropsy in a Melanotaenia praecox (Dwarf Neon Rainbow). Treatment was not effective. Its the only case I've seen in ages. Treatment attempted (from Handbook of Fish Disease) was chloramaphenicol. Then as a combo with formalin. The fish survived 3 days in bath treatments. I wasn't aware of the draining method or I'd probably have managed to save him. I was unable to find it in Edward Noga's book on the subject. Treatment method from Handbook of Fish Disease Chloramaphenicol (effective against gram positive and gram negative bacteria including: cocci, and sprore bacilli;actinomycetes, flexibacteria, spirochetes, rickettsias, and large viruses. 40mg per liter for 10 to 20 hours If the water runs turbid, transfer to fresh solution. Dosage in feed: 500mg in 100g feed Feed twice daily for 3 days. I did not use the feed method due to application difficulty.

The bamboo has been dry for some time from the looks of it. Its been outside. Thanks for the taste info this stuff was oozing slimy stuff for a week when I put it in a cycled tank to mature (nothing else in it currently & it'll be cleared prior to next use). Prior to putting the bamboo in I'm soaking it for just over a week then boiling it. Seems today a little competition for the log they've been using with 3 fish trying to fit into a hole for one. I expect that means more babies sometime next week although I'm about to rearrange a few things & try bamboo with these guys as well. I have to wonder how loyal to thier lair they are.

Firstly to do easy planted is EASY, here is what I do which is almost no maintenenance and very very simple. Heavy planting reduces algae problems but keep a supply of housekeeping fishes also (bristlenose, corydoras & flying foxes). I fertilize irregularly (sometimes weekly sometimes bi-monthly) with either liquid "Flourish" or "Leaf Zone". I also use various slow release "Root Tabs" and also baked red clay balls (which generally disintegrate cause I cant bake em hot enough) at a fairly concentrated level. I also have 3 Nutrafin CO2 units on this tank but will be raiding one for another 200 liter system later today (main tank about 400 liter). Bonus fertilizer: Fish poo. Main tank dimensions: 1200mm x 550mm x 650mm approx. Lighting: Can never seem to get enough. Currently 4x 3 foot tubes (various types as that seems to work for me). 11 hours per day. Since I never used to have much luck with explosive plant growth, I figured the above worth a try. Its going nuts, I have to remove stupid amounts of surface plant weekly. I have plants which I started with 1 of that now are everywhere (I started this system about 14 months ago) & others which I cant name that flower constantly. Yeah well... obsessive maybe but well worth the obsession. The goal: Planted systems which rival those of Takeshi Armano (If you haven't seen his work its definately a "must see"). Not quite there yet but all are thickening up very very nicely (I keep raiding for plants for other tanks which doesn't help). Sorry no digital camera so I cant post pics, something I'm working on but have yet to find someone with the equipment that can do it justice. I'm not in a hurry for photos just yet, when the tanks are ready I'll probably get professional photos done. Awkward plants: This tank seems to be able to grow almost everything I throw in it (oh also has lots of wood & peat occasionally). There are several species of plant I've got in this tank which wont grow in any of my other tanks. Crypt is slow but healthy. Ferns are starting to do well. NB: due to the heavy planting there are lots of dark areas created which the ferns seem to appreciate. Fish stock level: Medium / high. Substrate: Gravel. The one thing I have the most trouble with is Amazon Sword plants. I was told the species I have should only get 450mm high, yeah well think again... try over 630mm high plus they stick out the top of the water hard up against the glass lids (I think given a chance they'd just keep going up). The lower leaves have a little difficulty & tend to go lace like which I haven't managed to prevent totally yet (root tabs helped). The 3 largest Amazon swords I've had to top completely as they were simply too massive (each leaf stem almost as round as my finger at the base). Any suggestions re: these swords would be great. Strange thing too some which appear to be the same species as the biggest but are very very healthy & super short. Plants can either look bad & be a pain in the arse if badly done or if you choose species carefully & give them just a teeny bit of care can be almost no work & look amazing. My best advice for easy good looking planted: Avoid stem cutting plants, they're too much work (Granted they do look wicked when they're right). I've had planted off & on for years they did ok now they do... amazingly. I've planted almost everything I could lay my hands on but have found ground cover / wood cover plants harder to come by. Planting method (mine): make picture in head with what you've got, then make it real. Remember to plan for future growth is very important. Priority: welfare of plants and animals, everything else is secondary. If you plant what you have to where you have to so it'll work the rest will fall into place as you gapfill. I plant back first to groundcover in front (ground cover I use short Vallisanaria which is going mental). Largest bare area of main system: too small for a small coffee cup except under wood.

I've just removed about 49 from my main system to raise seperately. Not sure what sort of survival rate to expect but when large enough they will likely be available. I have 2 males & about 9 females in one tank (only one breeds though that I've seen so far). I have 2 males & 3 females in another tank which I've just planted (these fish bred a long time ago but when I cleaned out the tank they havent spawned since). To this other tank I've added 2 pieces of bamboo to try to provide some better holes but the Bristlenose dont use the inside (when I had it soaking pre boiling it was very slimy & had something like a jelly thing going on, since boiling I think thats gone). Anyone got any ideas for getting the 2nd lot going? The bamboo is opening slightly upward, I have to wonder if this might be it (the male in the other tank with mohogany doesn't care so long as his hole is accessable). The males used to fight but haven't for ages & definately not since the last rearrange (swapped them about to stop the fights).

Is anyone breeding Cardinal Tetras? I'm looking for 20 - 50 young Cardinals at a reasonoble price.

I'm looking for about 20 1-2 month old Corydoras. Preferably something which doesn't grow too big & schools well. I've got Corydoras panda & dont mind increasing the number but then again variety's always good & something thats easy to raise would be great. The C panda have spawned when I had them seperated out but only produced 4 - 6 eggs at a time (not sure which female was laying), I lost most to fungus & didn't manage to raise the fry. Feeding was attempted with fry powder & microworms. They were spawned in a bare tank with a little plant but became xtra spooky. The Cory's are seldom seen (I have 12) in the main system being extremely shy. Main tank: 4 foot x 2 foot x 2 foot roughly. Heavily planted with lots of wood. Panda territory: behind / under the logs. I figured that increasing the number would help get them out & about more but not with 12 (small pandas do thier own thing & dont hang with adults in this system).

As I see there's a bit of interest in this thread as further info comes to hand the results will be posted here. Good article on use of Potassium permanganate at: http://www.arborman.com/ Look under Pond and Water Garden Topics 4-7-00 A potassium permanganate protocol developed by Dr. Roddy M. Conrad for treating Koi I will be picking some up later today & observing the effects on plant species under microscope. If I notice any serious problems I will post info under this thread where I can identify plants which may have problems with PP as a bath. Treatment cost... 15x 0.2gram lots (each sufficient for 100 liters at final dose rate) for the chemist to make up $25.00 mostly handling & labour containers. Dilution series: Mix 0.2grams PP with 1 liter of water. 100ml of this solution is enough to bring 9.9 litres of water to 2ppm final dose rate. more to follow...

And some plants are extra sensitive to KMnO4: after a dose of potassium permanganate, Vallisneria can melt away as if it were Cryptocoryne. Found that... I have both those plant species. If I can use alum for those safely then great. Not sure of complete plant list but it includes a fern (apparently only true underwater fern there is if my info is correct)

What strength solution potassium permanganate? Have you had any adverse effects? Alum is toxic to snails (any mollusc) any idea on potassium? I ordered alum however they didnt place the order so if theres a better alternative... Thanks

Does anyone know about any adverse effects of using alum to sterilize plants?? Found the trick in a book which suggests: Add on heaped teaspoon of alum to 1 liter of water soak plant for 5 mins & wash thoroughly. The plants to be cleaned will be back in tanks which will have spawning fish of various species.

I'll wait till the microscope turns up before I try anything too drastic & let you know the findings. Should help. I figure cellular disruption has to be the best way to deal with the planaria & thier eggs. Might need to play around with things for a bit. I've got some good lab reference stuff to work with which'll help, big job tho.

mmm... missed the ads, got em filtered out (zone alarm pro). am finding some interesting stuff out in search of bugkill, I've got what I think are the 2 top fish disease books here at the moment. They're lab stuff mostly 800x microscope is a requirement (hopefully I will be able to borrow one up to 1000x later in the week). Looking into a computer based microscope system down the track for diagnosis etc... ie study of small stuff mainly to do with tanks. I've been noticing other small bugs lately have no idea what they are yet as they're well smaller than 1mm. Might be nice to try build a semi sterile system, no fish, no plant just bio filter started with "cycle" to see what else shows up in there. Plus I want to see what is alive in "Cycle" etc... knew someone who had a look with a microscope (very basic low powered) once & he didn't see anything. 1000x magnification might do the trick?

Would this kill planaria & be harmless to plants? Looking at bath options biologial filter cleanout etc... (ammo zorb & other day water change programme for 4 weeks plus "cycle").

Interfecus, re: tapeworms... hopefully not already got enough worm troubles. Do you have tapeworms? I've got a couple of books here (that I'm yet to read the tapeworm sections for) that might give some answers. Do you need help with tapeworms?

Thanks... I'd heard they shouldn't be a huge problem as don't affect fish (I'm assuming by that none of thier lifecycle is hosted by the fish or hopefully snails either). Sid (ex Otautau) had them I think I got them from wood & plant from him. He hated the things especially in breeding tanks. I'm still going for total irradication as these are breeding tanks & will be subject to overfeeding to some extent. I have at least 5 species spawning in these tanks on possibly a daily basis so the worms are getting plenty of eggs to feed on.

Macropods do you mean Paradise fish family? Can you give me a specific latin name? I have no idea how paradise fish would do in these tanks @ up to 28 C & are they any trouble? If I use them it'll only be till the worms are gone. I'm going to look into things like hibiclens, dettol etc... it might be ok for plants as a dip then wash under running water hopefully clean & doing ok with a trim to most. Waiting for a loaner microscope to arrive, chemical removal is certain conditionally, the fish cant carry the worm & the plants need to survive the treatment. There must be a system that'll result in 100% deinfestation of worms & only controled quarantined entrances to tanks (treated for bug enroute), hopefully guaranteed worm free, plenty of snails. I can breed new clean snail strains in beaker systems. How common are planaria in tropical tanks?

I wasn't logged in when I posted the worm post (thought I had it set to auto)

From what I've heard they are near impossible to dispose of. I've got them in 3 tanks just discovered. They are the reason tanks here set up for breeding aren't working. Did you get them under control. Have you managed to destroy them completely? I have a microscope coming next week I hope to find something that will kill them & not plants. What effect are/were they having on your fishes??

I have various options for housing these guys & have about a week to prepare before my 400mmx400mmx1200mm tank comes free (4 foot). Ballistic check out the link. http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/bre ... wfish.html Alan... I found references to several species of Rainbows having been bred in 2002. It seems some of the earlier info I was given on these guys is incorrect I had been told they produce up to 600 at a spawning. I was planning on using a tank divider in a 4 foot tank to split male & female & condition them on bloodworm. This tank has a 1200 litre per hour canister filter (ex large cichlid system, cichlids have sold waiting on new tank to be setup next week) so I was not going to use it for very young fry rather for adults & large fry as space & fish size demands. I have 2 spare 150watt heaters which I had intended using in spawning / rearing tanks the first of which I'm considering putting on a 3 drawer steel filing cabinet (hope its strong enough) which would likely be dimensions 450mmx450mmx450mm (external dimensions) max weight = 100kg? (around 90 litre probably top off at 75 litres). I'm not sure if 150watt per tank this size will suffice nor of the weight glass I need (I had been thinking 6.5mm or 8mm glass depending on availability & cost). I have a sponge filter but was also considering using back half (glue glass divider in back of tank 5 inch deep with novaflow filter tray) subgravel in tanks housing slightly larger fry. I have space for another similar sized tank then space gets tricky but I may be able to stretch to 4 tanks total for rainbows (4 foot + 3x 2 foot tanks approx + 400 litre community tank). Spawning tanks... not sure what to use yet (I dont have much Java Moss) but had been considering a gause of some sort about 2 inches off the bottom (possibly stainless steel mesh), as I've yet to build these I should be able to integrate brackets etc... Another option is plastic potscrubs but these could be a problem to remove without eggs after adults have been removed. Glass bottom, sponge filter, spawning grate, heater... nothing else in tanks... I can include floating plant but have little else suitable plant to use in spawning tanks(except small clumps of Java Fern). The 4 foot tank will likely be a partitioned planted display tank eventually. Must I include plants for these guys to be happy & spawn well? They're used to a large heavily planted tank. I've got microworms started, brine shrimp to set up & a variety of other fry foods but not live possibly I will need infusoria cultures if I can get some started. The aim is to try to produce 500 - 1000 youngsters ready to go every 6 months & possibly breeding panda corydoras along side along with bristlenose. Open to ideas on what else to produce. The long term goal is it needs to be able to pay rent on a room for me to get a larger flat & therefore more tanks ($150 per week per additional room) I cannot have any more than another 3 small (5 total in flat, currently 2) tanks (this includes tank based live food raising systems as there are not enough power points or space). Any thoughts?

I'm setting up to breed Dwarf Neon Australian Rainbows (Melanotaenia praecox). I would like to know the merits of various meathods of doing this if anyone has bred them before. I have 3 males and 3 females.

Caryl, Wonder if we could have some imported if theres enough interest in the idea.

Ok microworms I can do Brine shrimp I've never had any luck with. I cannot dedicate a tank to raise brine shrimp (no space). I am trying to free up a 4 foot (200 litre) tank for the rainbows to breed in.

Not sure I've ever seen a long finned variety. I have the standard bristlenose. Nice tanks, are you interested in either Gold Saum, Synodontis eruptus or Pseudotropheus zebra? I'm moving away from cichlids in favour of breeding rainbows. If you want bristlenose I have probably 5 - 10 spare, I want $5 each plus freight.