TommySharp

Well my tank has had it bad for about three months now so there must be something else amiss?

Well I had the master plan to try the "algae fix" product to see if it got rid of the problem..... Put in the exact amount as per the instructions..... Alas all but one of my Brichardis kicked the bucket..... Still lots of algae though.... Would the golden algae eat survive in high PH water and just wondering if Brichardis would give them a hard time?

Tank is almost 3 months "settled" now and just wondering what this rust coloured growth could be? would be okay if it was just on the glass cause i could clean that but it's on the plants and now the lovely rocks too..... Any sort of fish/creature that would control it and also survive the Brichardis and their high ph water? Will post photo once i work out how..... http://db.tt/yHzi51a

Living in Avondale so if anyone close by has any comments on water quality? I emptied most of the water but kept all the filter media during the move. However for my big tank I have started completely from scratch with a brand new external filter with new media, gravel, decorations etc.... Did keep the noodles from the old filter though. Has been running for about 6-8 weeks now and everything looks good except for the fact that quite a few fish I put in there have died off... As far as I can tell I'm doing everything the same as I did at the old place.

Do most people just use plain tap water? Have contemplated some sort of rain capture setup....

I should hope so cause we drink out of it..... Filter is about due to be replaced soon though.

I'm not sure if anyone can help me out here but I have a strange problem with my fish ever since we moved house.... In the old house on the other side of Auckland I filled the tank from the tap and added the standard product to remove the chlorine, I also did fortnightly 1/4 water changes and my fish were happy as larry.... Guppies breeding like flies and even had some baby dwarf gouramis appear the day before we moved house. Now this is over a year ago now and we have since moved out west into our own place. And since then my tanks just haven't been up to scratch, I've had a fish dying every other week and no babies from anything.... My guppies have actually died out, can you imagine that! Regular testing shows my PH is is 8.0 for my cichlids and 6.5 for the tropical tank. 0 nitrates and nitrites.... 0 ammonia.... Temp is 26.5 steady... I also fill the tank from a counter top filter in the kitchen hoping this would be better quality water than out of the tap. In setting up my new cichlid tank a few months ago I have noticed one thing.... If something dies, or even if I drop a piece of cucumber in there within a matter of hours it's coated in a cotton wool type growth... Just shocked me how quickly it appears and was wondering if this might be something I should suspect.... Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Tommy

Do we think that the Brichardi and Jullies would fight it out or live peacefully? Am doing a bit of reading online to try and find out too... Okay didn't take me too long to figure out that's probably not a good idea. Am kind of liking the idea of getting a group of Julidochromis ornatus (The Golden Julie) and see if I can end up with a breeding pair. Anyone know a good place to get some smallish fry? Anyone keen to adopt my 4 remaining cichlids?

Hmmmm wonder if I should put some salt in? Any ideas on what is a good level to put in? Salt might knock if the little pleco who lives in there too?

Fish shop guy was adamant that their cichlids are in Ph 8.0..... I wonder if all their tanks just run the same water?

Well all the water tests are fine so far. Am just waiting on an ammonia test kit which will hopefully rule that out. The tank was a tropical setup and I cleaned the whole thing out and wiped down with white vinegar and then rinsed throughly a few times before setting it up again. All the water is out of the kitchen betnch top filtered tap so hopefully it's better than straight out the tap. My tropical fish definitely didn't do very well either since we moved out west from Onehunga to Avondale. I'm constantly wondering if there's something else wrong with the water out this way, have even considered trying to catch some rain water....

Unfortunately the two smaller ones haven't made it. Put them in a smaller tank on their to try and give them some piece and quiet bit didn't make much difference. So just 4 similar sized fish left, all very skittish and hiding a lot. Anyone got any thoughts on some different fish that might suit this tank more but which would be okay with the PH of about 7.5? Spent a bit of money on the sand and rocks so don't want to get rid of it..... Looking for something with a bit more character than guppies etc....

Thanks Guys, Did a 1/3 water change yesterday and water is sitting at 26.5C...

Thanks, I did think of the air stone so put on at the back. My testing kit doesn't have ammonia so not sure what it is, will have to get something to test that on the weekend. Not sure what the other two "random" fish are but will try add a photo. Could these symptoms be a sign of bullying?

Thanks Matt, I'm used to the little tropicals where you know it's pretty much "bye bye" if they start swimming strange.... Not sure how many fish would be a good number for the 620T tank.... It's not super wide but it is tall however most places say the wider the better so don't want to crowd them too much....