Jennifer

2 cups sugar, 1 tsp active yeast granules, a smear of other nutrient (I use Marmite). Dissolve in 2 L of warm water.

I know there seems to be a lot of theories about discus getting worms that other species do not, or whatever, but in my experience, lab tests show that they tend to get the same things that other fish get but perhaps are more susceptible to higher parasite burdens. The most common parasites by far are nematodes of various orders but they almost never produce clinical signs in the host (in fact most humans have nematodes and will never know it). The most common clinical signs of heavy nematode burdens are intestinal blockage or chronic weight loss but these most commonly occur in unwell or debilitated individuals. The faecal oral route is the most common transmission mode. The second most common fish parasites are protozoans (mostly ciliates with a few flagellates as well). These can be present in subclinical levels for some time and then become quite a problem in times of stress. Lastly, the trematodes (flukes and tapeworms) are not as common but they do tend to show severe clinical signs. They are mostly transmitted by an intermediate host (e.g. crustacean). The best route of treatment is the oral route (injecting a dose into a feeder worm or putting the meds into gelatinised foods). However, some medications are quite soluble in water so you can dose the fish using a medicated bath but absorption through the gills can sometimes be a problem.

Too bad we don't live closer, we could have a foodie club too!

All good ideas. You can also try posting on my friend's website as well (http://www.thepethub.co.nz/). They do lost and found things there quite a bit. BikBok's suggestion about just listing it as a 'small parrot' is a great idea. If you don't find its home before you go I can hold it for a while. Good luck and well done for trying to find its family - I am sure they are desperately worried. It is so cold out there tonight as well!

Soak the diffuser in dilute bleach and rinse well. Then dry in a slightly warm oven until no more moisture can be seen. As for the mixture, I use DIY on some small tanks and I let it run for a month. Sure the amount of CO2 goes down but it is very gradual. If you want it to slow down, you can add bicarb. But really it is only the cost of 2 cups of sugar - chips really.

Adtape is praziquantel. I have not used that brand but I have used the same drug under the brand name of Droncit. Praziquantel is the most effective drug against tapeworms/flukes but these worms are less common than roundworms. Roundworms are eliminated with the drug Levamisole (brand name Aviverm) but there are many other drugs that can also work. Praziquantel and Levamisole are your safest bets. Avoid any combo drugs as they often contain other ingredients that can kill fish. I do not know how garlic's effectiveness is altered by freezing but I would guess that if the fresh garlic is frozen quickly it should be fine.

Oh, I thought you originally said you are doing it more for the plants. But that's right, with juvi discus you need to keep those water changes up!! Er, is this the same person with thousands of dollars of fish plants and lights on that tank? :roll: Come on, some Pseudomugil furcatus will be so cool. Green fire tetras are nice too though.

I personally don't deworm that often. Parasites don't just magically appear, they are introduced and if you deworm any new fish before adding them and you don't feed high risk live foods that can act as a vector then you won't be introducing worms into your closed environment. Frequent high doses of dewormers are the quickest way to get resistant worms and that CAN be a problem. When you don't have resistant worms you can use a normal dose rate (2mg/L for praziquantel and levamisole) and treat for a normal duration of time (6 to 24 hours). If you ever have a problem you can safely double or triple the dose if needed (or better yet use a different drug like fenbendazole) but if you start out with double or triple the dose then you don't have far to go before toxicities and resistance start becoming an issue. Remember, praziquantel treats for tapeworms and flukes. Levamisole treats for roundworms. Fenbendazole treats for both. There are many other chemicals that can be used. Garlic is effective in helping to prevent high worm burdens but it won't kill large worm burdens. Freshness is key. HTH

Some good advice here and I would agree that we don't know what we are dealing with so we can only guess. Columnaris is apparently common in apistos and it is a quick killer so it would be prudent to assume that it is that (I have little experience with apistos but I have dealt with columnaris quite a bit). The first thing is to isolate the sick fish. This is critically important. While I was writing this I got a phone call from my friend in the states who is an aquatics vet, he said to treat the fish's wounds directly with concentrated Meth Blue. Then place it into a concentrated salt bath (15 grams to 20 litres of tank water, gradually introduced over 2 minutes and remove the fish after a total of 5 minutes or sooner if it looks really stressed). Carry out these two treatments twice a day. Treat the hospital tank water with this product if you can get it http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... aplex2.jpg (kanamycin antibiotic, I have not seen it here but a pharmacist should be able to clarify). A second choice is minocycline or sulfa trimeth. In the mean time, prevent it from cropping up in the main tank by adding salt and reducing the water temperature below 24 degrees - both of these actions are quite effective at preventing columnaris. It is very important to keep stress to a minimum as well. It is also very helpful to increase micronutrients, a supplement like Flourish Comprehensive is good in a pinch. Also, add a cuttlefish bone to the tank, apparently the free calcium will prevent the columnaris from attaching. Good luck, keep us updated.

Very nice P44, with all that light it will be as if the tank is getting full sun. There is no algae because you have a lot of plants. If you remove any plants, do it only in small amounts or you will offset the balance. But why add nitrates and phosphates and then remove them with absorbers? Plants will not do well without phosphates and nitrates so with all that growth the absorbers must certainly be getting spent very soon after you add them (the ferts will be usable to the plants once the absorbers are spent). With that many plants, they will be the best absorbers you can get. Do you have substrate ferts? If so, I can see why you do weekly water changes, but you shouldn't need to do it more than once weekly. The plants will keep that water very clean - the only thing you will be adding with all those water changes is dissolved CO2 so if you change the water change regime, you will need to add a bit more CO2. I reckon a shoal of these would look unreal:

Next time you come to Chch I will make some for you (bring a bib). 8)

And mouthwateringly delicious they were too.

BBQ ribs. Sticky, melt in your mouth goodness. Bring your wet wipes!

Flourish excel is very effective against BBA.

This sounds like a promising area. If egos can be put aside, it would be great to see a committee of interested parties who could pool resources and talents with an aim toward achieving these goals.

Free food!

I had a similar problem when I was feeding too much cucumber. Some people told me here that they were tubifex which feed on excess nutrients. There were worm casings in the filter as well. I cut back on feeding and increased cleaning and in no time they were gone.

Looks like detritus to me. I had the same problem with my AR380 and hairgrass, everything got caught up in it. I think some ground dwellers would have helped to stir things up so that it didn't all get settled there. Increased flow will also help (I used a canister filter on my AR380 just to get the circulation up). Is that algae blackbeard?

These are likely scar tissue from past injuries or parasites. It could also be active disease. If it is just scar tissue, it could be negatively affecting vision but the fish is likely to live a good life anyway. If it were me, I would swap it out...just in case it is an active form of disease. Better safe than sorry.

Ammonia damages the gills so fish can struggle to get enough oxygen. A dead fish can release a lot of ammonia, especially a large dead fish. If you aren't feeding very much on a routine basis the bioload of the tank will be minimal so a dead fish can cause a significant spike of ammonia. All of the above advice is good, particularly the increased water changes, salt and Seachem Prime, all which reduce ammonia toxicity to the fish. Sorry for your loss though, I know how distressing that can be when you are just getting ready to leave for somewhere and your tank is having a crisis.

Looking good. Midnight is a great choice. Have a look at this link in regards to aquascaping: http://www.aquatic-eden.com/2006/11/gol ... aping.html

I have found live fish in my filter before. :roll:

I fly all around the country and in little airports you often just walk out on the tarmac and climb on the plane! Nobody checks anything and you certainly don't get x-rayed.

Well, I suppose this is as good a time as any to share a strange tale.... About 3 weeks ago I received this box from HFF: and then yesterday I received this box from HFF: Both shipments were sent with the same courier (Fastways) and both arrived the next day. The first box was packed around midday and arrived approximately 24 hours later after being flown down to Chch. The second box didn't arrive as expected and HFF contacted me to update me on a problem that the courier had encountered when they got the fish to the airport in Auckland - the airline refused to carry the fish without a $150 surcharge. So, the fish were driven down to Chch on the 'bullet.' Some excellent after hours service by HFF and Fastways saw me picking up the fish from the depot that night, but at least the fish didn't have to spend another night in the polybox (it would have been 48 hours total before they were delivered and it is quite chilly down here at the moment). One important note: the FIRST box was well labelled as live fish and had no problems. The second box it was not labelled as live cargo but the airline either opened the box or assumed that they were fish but they would not transport them without the surcharge. Fair warning.

:bounce: with Havana Club gold rum I hope! Mmmmm