pink_fish

Ditto all the above advice – I've had it happen a few times and it always clears up if you improve water quality.

Two years is average/usual.

Any weekday evg or weekend day. Or if you can wait I can bring it to next month's meeting. Or ... any good LFSs out your way? Maybe I could come out to visit in the weekend!?

Just got the stats in – 12,749 visitors to the Expo this year, with 5953 on Saturday and 6796 on Sunday! Phew, thought it was a bit busy!

Well done, that's awesome news! And the parents look lovely, too.

Hi Vervo. Can I ask how big your tank is and how many fish you've got in there? How often are you doing water changes and how much water are you taking out of the tank at each time? Pop eye is a symptom of something rather than an actual illness in itself. It is most commonly caused by bacteria, but it is hard to know how to treat it without knowing exactly what has caused it. I've had fish with mild pop eye before and have got rid of it by upping water changes and using a bit of melafix - basically, keeping things extra clean and healthy in the aquarium to let the fish's immune system take care of it.

Oh dear, sorry to hear that!

Two newbie members so far I think ...!

Whoops - sorry Josh! Awesome weekend – not sure how many we had through, but must have been quite a few thousand! Great to meet Fruju and other fish keepers! HUGE thanks to everyone who helped out – the stand looked great (and yes, we have photographic evidence, Caryl! :lol: ). Thanks again to PDQ Print – had several nice comments about the banner and leaflet! And to Hollywood Fish Farm – hopefully we were able to direct some new customers your way! Finally, congrats to ERIN who won the raffle we decided to run on Sunday! Think I need a rest ... feeling just a bit tired now!

Hi there, as Neon has said, get in touch with Adrienne on this forum, or alternatively, take a look on that trading site.

The thin-ness I particularly don't like the sound of. There is a guppy parasite that causes all sorts of problems, one of which being that they waste away – good thinking for moving him quickly to another tank. My feeling would be that given all his other symptoms it's not looking good for the wee fella and it might be best to euthanise him if he doesn't look like he's improving.

That will be the insane one who suggested we do the whole expo thing :roll:

And huge huge HUGE HUGE thanks to HOLLYWOOD FISH FARM and PDQ PRINT for sponsoring the AFA at this event – you guys are awesome! Folks, if you ever need any fishy gear or advice, or some top-notch printing done – you know where to go! Will be great to see all of you – pop in and say hi! We're on Stand 10 – just in the main entrance on the right hand side (so we'll be under no pressure or anything, lol!)

Lol – Neon you've got one seat in the golfmobile. One left!

Hi Simian! I'm keen – me & partner came on one of yours last year, you will recall, and we enjoyed it immensely! You and your club are very welcoming. Happy to take our car and so can fit another couple of AFA members in if nec! First in, etc.

Hi all, no idea where to post this! Mods please move if you can think of a better location! Just wanted to hear from any Chch people about this morning's earthquake and see if all of your tanks are okay? There was someone posting on Yahoo! just before who said all their fish tanks got broken. I hope everyone and their fish are okay. Further, seems a good time to think about how we might go about 'earthquake-proofing' our tanks – if that is at all possible. Ideas?

Hi Giles, and welcome to the forums! I have had a similar thing occur with two fighters on two different occasions – both were bought and died within a few days. Both went into large, well-cycled tanks containing happy, healthy occupants who showed no signs of illness. The bettas both paled right down and died. The eyes on one of them sunk in as well. Their skin appeared 'burned' or 'rubbed'. In both cases the fish looked fine for the first day, then rapidly deteriorated and were dead within 3. After trying to figure it out for ages, I realised that it was probably pH 'burn', as the pH of the water they had come in was wildly different to that in my tanks. Now, having learnt from my mistake, I always check the pH of water that my new fish come and compare it to that in my tanks. I then spend at least a good hour acclimatising new fish – changing out small amounts of water in their shipping bags with water in the tanks. I have never had the problem since. Hope this helps.

That last CT is GORGEOUS! Is he quite a dark red, or is that just the photo?

Not in my experience – they are pretty much one of the hardiest ram species around.

I had a go a few months ago at breeding and although they didn't actually do the deed, she dropped her (unfertilised) eggs everywhere which they both ate. I believe its quite normal.

Sorry to hear about your wee man. I would suggest just keeping up with what you've been doing – i.e., not feeding him very much, and then peas on occasion. A big belly like that usually does mean constipation in my experience, and it can take quite a while for a fish to be cleared. It's always hard with internal things. How old is he now, do you know? I have noticed that when mine get around the 18 mth-mark, the incidence of them getting sick increases.

Indeed, whoa! Those are some BOOTIFUL fish, David! Am looking forward to purchasing some of those gorgeous plakats when they become available bbs is only good for certain stages, MW, personaly i think is just wast of time. it doesnt work for me.

Hi AquaVitamins, How are your fish going? Whoops – I've just realised I've got to this topic quite a few days too late – I hope they are all on the mend now? I agree with the others so far – Melafix (an anti-bacterial) certainly will have no effect on whitespot (a parasite, not bacteria) – get some White Spot Cure and dose per instructions on the label. My local lfs (HW) actually recommended I dose EVERY DAY for 7 days (as you will notice that a day or two after putting it in, the water becomes clear again as the chemical breaks down). This worked wonderfully for me, although I did have to buy a lot of the White Spot Cure! If you do decide to dose daily, a daily water change before dosing would probably be a good idea too.

Hi geana_wolf and welcome to fishkeeping! N1CK is spot-on about stocking-levels. In terms of the heater, I do agree with N1CK re second-hand heaters, but if you've got the time and are keen to save some $$$, you could test it to see how it goes without any fish in the tank for a few days. I use and have used a variety of different heater brands and have had no problems with any of the cheaper brands really – I've only ever had one heater 'die' on me out of the 20 or so that I've had over the past few years, and that was a Jebo, but I've got quite a few of these still going strong at the moment. 200w should be fine for your tank – maybe a little overkill, but should be fine.

Dropsy is a symptom of kidney failure, not a disease/parasite etc., in itself, and kidney failure can be caused by a number of things, some of which could be contagious, so if you do suspect this is what he has, it might be a good idea to put him in a quarantine tank. However, I would guess it's not dropsy. Bettas, in my experience, are quite prone to dropsy, but with dropsy usually the first symptom is not bloat by itself, but sticking out scales. If he is not passing any poo, then he will probably be constipated (also something Bettas are v. prone to because they are not good at regulating their food intake!). First of all, move him to be by himself, if possible, so that you can regulate what he eats and monitor his bowel movements (or lack thereof). Then, stop feeding him – he should have nothing at all for 2-3 days. Then, on the 3rd/4th day, cook 1-2 peas, remove their skins, and squash them up. Offer him small pieces and as much as he will eat. Wait and watch for a bowel movement over the next few days, repeating the pea treatment once per day if you see no improvement. I have used epsom salts before for constipation, but it my experience, they have been of little help. Let us know how you get on.