Catfish

I've recently had a problem with my starlight (L182) also. Found a couple of puncture wounds on the belly and no reason of why. Only other fish in the tank are fry, some panda cory's and khuli's. Been keeping an eye on it and it is healing slowly but getting there. There isn't anything sharp in the tank that would have done it either. Strange. I'm thinking with yours, possible fungal? Not sure though, maybe your boy is getting territorial over his girls. I always keep more caves in my tanks than plec's and very rarely see any aggression in them.

Is there any other fish in the tank that could have attacked him? Is it possible he could have hit his head or been caught on something? My other guess would be Lateral Line Erosion aka Hole in the Head. Usually caused by poor diet. Does he get a good variety of food? He could be lacking essential vitamins like A and C. Frequent partial water changes can help too and good filtration.

I have been considering getting a couple 3e's for my 6foot but would like to know how reliable they are. I love Eheim and have always found them to be quite and never a problem (unlike my Fluval), however the 3e's has all the extra electrical gadgets that makes me wonder.... more gadget's = more problems? Either way I'm still putting Eheim on it. But can anyone enlighten me on this?

Some stay quite small like the Amano or Cherry staying around 3cm, but the filter shrimp can get quite big such as the Vampire shrimp at about 15cm. Check this site for freshwater shrimp varieties. http://www.petshrimp.com/shrimpspecies.html I use to keep several of the species that they have listed.

When I lived in Canada I use to keep shrimp in my tanks, mainly the Amano shrimp which was most common, but you could find alot of different varieties their. They are fantastic little cleaners but you have to keep them by themselves or with small community fish. I had a few of the larger ones too that were called flower shrimp. I do miss my shrimp....

This is true, however I e-mailed API out of curiosity a while back and asked them if their (API) brand Ammo-lock was used with the API liquid tester if it would still read positive and they said it would not and would give you your true reading.

I'm using a tank that sat under the house for maybe 20 years. 4 foot. I just siliconed an extra strip of glass across the top for extra support, filled it up outside till it was overflowing and left it for a week to make sure it had no leaks, gave a good look at the silicone joints, all good and now I've been using it for several months with no prob's. I have two 6 foots that I've been storing for a few years now that I plan on using..... eventually, that I'm not too worried about either.

I personally don't like adding any kind of metal to my tank and don't trust those weights they use for plants. They do usually contain a type of coating too that will flake off. I always remove them before planting anything into the tank. You can sometimes find plastic "anchors" for plants, but they can be hard to come by.

Really..... The people I live with has a son that's a Tiler.....

I love my Eheim's

Those are great pic's and some beautiful fish. Nice work

Ah, she's finally added some more pic's of the parents and bubbas and admitting that mum is actually a Bristlenose. How long did that take? lol

Same here I just might get blacklisted too lol :roll:

I couldn't agree more!!! I certainly wouldn't want to expose my fish to sudden temp drops which will lower their immune system. Of course fish will play in the current coming from a cold water hose, it's in their nature, but that doesn't mean it's good for them. I'd rather see mine play in the warm current, gives me piece of mind.

My fav is the Acanthicus adonis - Polka Dot Lyre Tail, but they get really big and I have yet to find them in NZ, I use to have a few when I lived overseas and I loved them. I also really liked my Vampire plec too as he was great at getting rid of any unwanted snails

Oh man that really sucks!! It's amazing what a fish can get in their mouth when they really want to. I have had that happen before but not with a pair.

Love my plec's for algae control but I always enjoy keeping a red tail shark too as they should be a nice dark black with bright red tail if you have a healthy tank and start to pale if things aren't right

It may or may not have been the salt, by the look of him I don't think he had much hope anyway. Still think tumor though as it did look a little lopsided. Keep an eye on the others in the meantime though to make sure the same doesn't happen to them too.

Ira, I don't think there was need for a comment like that. It discourages some people from wanting to ask questions on here for fear that someone will make a comment like that and make them feel stupid. I have spent most of my fishkeeping time in another country where we always worked in gallons and fahrenheit and I find I'm always looking things up to convert over. Eheim also have a tank calculator.... http://www.eheimasiapacific.com/

Any news with your fish? Didn't look too good but was wondering if he pulled through anyway....

Have you separated him from the other fish? Put him in a hospital tank if you have one. Do you do water changes weekly and have you tested the water in the tank? I'm not sure what would bring that about so quick unless as you say you didn't notice him before. I'm thinking tumor.... What are your water results?

how long did it take him to get like that? I wonder if it could be a tumor.

I did a water test on my hot and cold water taps before using them in the tanks to make sure it would be safe to use, otherwise I would have used boiled water.

I've said it before and I'll say it again even though some disagree. I ALWAYS add water the same temp as the tank. I use a digital thermometer for this. Some say their fine just with cold, but to each their own really. The only fish I had that got straight cold was my pond fish. Everyone has their own methods and mine is warm water.

I would still never take the chance, even 30 years ago we never did it that way. Pond fish are more adapted to temp change than tropicals. And I think that these captivity bread fish become use to the consistency of having the temp the same. It's like bringing a new fish home from the store and just dumping him straight in the tank without floating him. My fish still get to play with filter current and my water change comes from my sink mixer, a set up that lets me attach a hose to it and straight to my tank after I have adjusted the temp correctly, so they get to play in that too if they really want. But that's my opinion. I'm sure others would agree. However if yours works for you then that's fine too. I would just never recommend it as I've heard too many times of fish loss that way.