Jennifer

Please contact them and let them know Donna. The petrol stations around here have run out of fuel and I don't have much left.

Does anyone know if courier and mail services are back up? I heard that they were going to be down for a week. If they are back up, I can help package it for courier to Stella if that helps. Unless someone is available for transporting it...

I can take it temporarily. I don't have any more spare tanks but I can keep it healthy in a bin until it can find a more suitable situation. Just let me know if you need anything.

I am going out to rescue more fish today. Please, if you or your animals need help, let me know. I have a number of people who are helping me organise shelter, transport, phones, water, food and evacuation of animals. We will come if you need it. Same goes for anyone you know who needs help.

Yeah, I heard from Nav yesterday, all safe.

Sent message

Alan and Sheryl are fine. The damage in their area is extensive and some of the roads are impassable in many places. They have no power, water or phone and everything in the house is pretty much in piles on the floor now. They are in good spirits and have the fire going. They have drinking water on hand and many of the pets are now with me (they had several smashed tanks and some fish losses). Lots of cleaning up to do but they have places to stay if they decide they need a break from it all.

Sorry, I don't have any marines. Try John, he might have room for one in the shop?

I am making the rounds to some badly affected people, going to try and get into the city to find Alan. If anyone needs anything, just shout out.

Most of us are safe, dodgy internet, power, phone and water. Haven't heard from Alan despite lots of trying but roads are closed around me at the moment so I can't get out. I think we have accounted for most others in the area, heavy damages but no major injuries to report. I have room for 4-6 if anyone needs a bed and I have power and can house fish if anyone needs it. Also, if anyone needs help to find missing people, let me know. Txt seems to be most reliable at the moment.

I get mine filled at Air Liquide in Chch and I know there is at least one branch in Auckland. They fill it while you wait, takes about 5 minutes and costs around $30 incl GST for a 5lb cylinder.

There are heaps of different methods for fertilising. I personally like to add micros and macros separately rather than all in one go. Depending on the tank, the plants will use them at different rates. The more you separate them out, the more control you have if things go wrong. For instance, I usually mix my NPK (nitrates, phosphates and potassium) together in one bottle so I only have to dose macros from one bottle but now I am getting green spot algae in a couple of my tanks and it is because I need to add slightly more phosphates - but I don't want to also add more nitrates (the levels are good for that) so now I have to mix up some phosphates in a separate bottle so that I can add more phosphate without also adding more nitrates. The more you become familiar with your system, the more control you may want over it...I guess that is true for many things. So, no right or wrong answers there. Just experiment and see what works for your tank. Keep in mind, your tank is low light, so your plants won't have a huge demand for nutrients and it will take a couple of weeks for them to adjust to the new available nutrients in the water column once you begin adding fertilisers.

No need to add salt. It is beneficial in some circumstances to treat illness but it can cause some stress to purely freshwater fish if they have to live in it long term. It is safer not to add it unless you need it. Weekly 20% water changes are good if you have a planted tank with low light. Suphew is exactly correct about the micronutrients and adding them will help the plants a lot. If your nitrates are zero, the plants will be limited in their growth (at its worst, that can show up as deficiencies in the plants or it can result in algae getting a bit of a foothold). You might be ok with minimal nitrates, but you will see better growth if you add a bit of macronutrient. Macros are NPK = nitrate, phosphate & potassium. You don't need much if you have low lights, but some will certainly help.

Your tank looks good. The ambulia is growing well at the tips which is a good sign that things are doing well - it is a great 'bell weather' plant for that reason. The base does tend to get straggly and can rot if it is clumped together too much so it is helpful to pinch off the healthy tops and replant them. How long has the Java fern been in there? Sometimes it can go through a shock, the leaves can rot, but it will usually come back with new leaves if the nutrients are in balance. The new leaves will be used to the conditions. Java fern grows very well in low light. If you add more light, you will need to balance it with more carbon (Excel or CO2) and more nutrients (micronutrients and macronutrients). The only reason to add more light is to get faster plant growth but the risks of that include a greater possibility for algae problems. In short, there is no need to add more light unless you want the plants to grow faster, and are prepared for the extra work of a higher tech tank. Your tank is just fine as it is. Now that you have good CO2, you might consider adding a good balanced fertilising programme.

Hmm, thanks. I was looking for something to watch while I work. Was it Darren from the fish committee?

MY birthday. Is it too late to back out? :roll:

here Unless things have changed recently, Frontline & Frontline Plus; Advantage, Advantage Multi & Advocate and Revolution are all flea products that are supposed to be sold exclusively through a veterinarian. Sometimes a pet store has an 'affiliation' with a veterinarian (i.e. might have a vet that works there to treat the animals or may have a veterinary practice operating out of the store front). That would give them the ability to sell 'vet only' remedies like the above flea products as well as 'vet only' dewormers like Endoguard and Drontal. Regardless, these products are typically held behind the counter or a similar area where specialist advice can be offered prior to sale.

Around 10-15cm diameter and 10cm tall. Way nicer than those monster evil things. :lol:

Come on KP! No pressure. 8) Alan, I have 7 leopard runners and each one has at least 2 pups, some have three. Some pups are so big they are now planted (and getting eaten by the plec/GBA :an!gry ). Horizontalis has a runner now too!

Yes, a VOI can most definitely extend past the clinic. There are several examples of VOI with laypersons including a deer farmer who sedates his stags for de-velvetting. A veterinarian can train anybody they choose, including clients and lay people. The principle is that the trained person acts within the veterinarian's orders and the veterinarian trusts the person enough to issue them the medication in anticipation of them being needed. With over-the-counter remedies like dewormers, the risks of misuse are potentially much lower than would be with controlled drugs. A VOI could be quite useful for a very experienced fishkeeper since they can have a lot of experience dealing with routine fish diseases and fish vets are few and far between in this country. However, don't go thinking you can just walk up to a vet and demand a VOI - most veterinarians would never even consider issuing a VOI to someone they didn't know well, much less a layperson.

Things have changed in the last year or so and a new policy is in place regarding restricted medications. Basically, a trained person who is not a veterinarian, and who has a good relationship with an authorising veterinarian, can act under the veterinarian's guidelines to legally hold and dispense medications.

What treatment did he receive? Did he get a Vitamin A injection?

I have bred and kept most of those when I was in California and they can be kept in a wider range of temperature than you might think. Some have piercing tweets that are 10 times louder than you would expect from such a little bird! I miss them...

The website upgrades are almost complete. Once this is done, the fish committee will be able to interact with the expert advisory panel about selecting species for the list and the fish committee will be able to post regular updates that members can access at any time. In the mean time, the fish committee is working on projects in the background as our busy lives permit. I would like to give all the exciting details now, but I must wait to ensure that it all gets implemented as planned. From what I understand, it won't be long now.

I can do repens and arcuata although my arcuata was thinned recently so it isn't looking as good as it can. I will do a bunch of others while I am at it e.g. All sorts of anubias, java fern, echinodors, barclaya and crypts.