BikBok

hey thanks for that moya.. I think it's more like the chlorophytum bichetii and even has the stems that look like they're about to flower soon. So are these not really a true aquatic plant? Manukau

i was just as excited with my first fish too!

velvet! - gee , that would make things even more difficult for me but I suppose I better rule it out. My two dwarf gourami have a golden sheen on their heads. It showed up in some recent photographs I took of "elvis" who is recovering from being stuck in a driftwood tunnel. (Hence the tatty dorsal and spot of thin skin on his head, was way worse a week ago, this is the improved version!) is this velvet? It only showed up under torchlight or in this case photographic flash NO SPOTS doesn't appear to be any white spots on any fish in the main tank and my sensitive fish have survived 24hrs of the treatment. Haven't seen any fish flicking/flashing today either. Feel like I might be getting on top of this... unless i have velvet to deal with !!!!! Q TANK: The fish seem happy and the spots have lessened. I've been enjoying seeing the zebra out and about as the QT tank is close to the PC and I can see him easily. He thinks I can't see him! (got a towel draped over top so it's slightly darkened)

she's decided to save up for a bigger tank now.In the meantime it's her job to research it.

yep, I have a 21L splish and splash and the box lid clearly says "great for goldfish just like splish and splash" advocating two goldfish. I bought it as a QT tank, short term housing for any new fish or sick fish. Likewise my Hexy tank showed way too much fish on the box picture than would be sensible. Had I not been a person to ask lots of questions and research first i might have killed my first bunch of tropicals. But those little UFO type plastic goldfish bowls are the ones that get me.. small, odd shape , no filtration. I hate seeing goldfish in those. What are they good for?

yay, I think you'll have much more choices with tropicals. Once you've got gravel etc in , the water is about 32L. Just measure the buckets when you're filling up so you'll know how much you've got. Will come in handy at a later date if you ever need to medicate. Cheap, hardy colourful fish? Guppies, Danios, Platys

no I haven't seen any spotty stage ich in the main tank but i removed a guppy that was flashing, Last night I saw one of the gouramis flick himself a couple of times but there wern't any spots today. There might possibly be a spot on the female betta so I just don't want to let this get out of control in the main tank. QUESTION: If the fish are flicking themselves against objects but there are no visible spots yet, is the parasite still susceptible to the medication at that stage?

I'm dosing the main tank this afternoon and that will hopefully get rid of any free swimmers looking for hosts. I'm a bit nervous on how it will affect my sensitive fish - but here goes! My spotty fish who i know have definitely got ich will be continued to be treated more aggressively in the QT tank, I'm aware that the spots have to disappear to get the parasite at it's vulnerable stage. But at least by keeping the spotty fish together I can be sure to get the ich when it's vulnerable. temp in both tanks is 28oC - can I go a bit higher with the fish I have?

that's great you found the culprit!

welcome Josh. What school do you go to? My son is at Howick College.

:bounce: bumping up for the morning crew.

it is if you want Kuhli! I have 3 kuhli loaches and they have all been up the long one and into the filter. I found them in the top with various degrees of scratched bodies. One had damaged fins and I thought i was goign to lose him because he sat in the middle of the tank for hours and not moving. But they all recovered! I was checking daily until I got the new strainer. They have not been up since the shorter one. .

oh here we go.. this pic shows the shorter strainer: http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc65 ... 210132.jpg and the longer one: http://www.discusforums.com/forum/files/tankhs.jpg notice how the longer one has longer slots in it as well and they are more flexible. That combined with sitting on or just above the gravel makes it easy for kuhli to find their way up into the filter!

which strainer do you have? I'm trying to find pics on line but can't. My aquaone was also second hand and I had to order the shorter one in. It was $7 and the LFS ordered it for me. Otherwise you can order form aqua one.. but they are currently out of stock. http://www.aquaone.net.nz/cart_product20551-1-2569.html?Title=AQUA%20ONE%20AR380%20STRAINER%20BLUE you will only need the shorter one if you plan to keep kuhli! (which are cool fish btw)

there should have been two intake strainers that came with the tank, one is short and the other a bit longer. If not, you can order one in , less than $10.

hey guys.. there's a couple of fish now flicking/flashing in the community tank. I've tried the salt and heat but maybe it's time to treat it with cure. It would have about 155L so how much medication would it need.. based on 2 drops per litre. Do I really have to count out 310 drops! or is there an easier measure lol. I'm a bit concerned about the silicone being stained but I'd rather have living fish! The tank has kuhli loaches, otos, baby whiptail, dwarf gourami and betta (female) - should I halve the dose? Is it going to wipe out the filter bacteria? This is really turning into a mission. I have the zebra in the QT still, along with 2 guppies and a platy who were showing signs of begin irritated. Zebra has a few more spots again and one of the guppies is now covered. I really can't put any more fish in there as it's only 20L. And I'm still not sure if the redose should be the full amount or just the water change portion. Clearly the first dose which was half strength for the Zeb has not been enough. Getting a bit panicked .. help ! I don't want to lose all my fish.

could be.. same shape but the one I have is submerged and the leaves look more flowy and less rigid than the pics I googled. If it's the same.. needs high light and a lower temp so might not do too well in my AR380! Oh well, it will add interest to the tank while it lasts.

I bought a plant from animates to put in with my new guppies who are quarantined. They looked bored in the bare tank so I got them a plant and urn ornament. None of the plants were labeled so I don't know what i bought and the staff didn't know either. It's in one of those little pots, is long leaved green with white stripe edging and the roots have bulby looking things on them. It was put in the tank yesterday at 25oC. Today some of the leaves look a bit see through , like they're dieing. Got me thinking, maybe I got sold a cold water plant!

looking good ! I admire you green finger aquarists / aquascapers.

Siamese fighters are great but in my opinion the current in an AR380 is too much for them. You may be able to adapt it somehow though or provide lots of plant cover. I kept a female betta in my AR380 and she was fine because of the shorter fins. a real character and fun to watch. Hmmm maybe a Plakat fighter would work. Kuhli Loaches are perfectly OK too, current doesn't bother them at all in fact I think they like playing in it at night. Just make sure you use the shorter intake strainer not the longer one that rests on the bottom... reason: the kuhli will move along the gravel and swim into the strainer and up into the filter. Mine did this several times before I switched to the shorter pipe.

well he's grown some more and is quite pretty now. He has fathered some fry to his sister lol.. so will see what they look like.

google caddis fly images and see if that's what they are.

AND the BN's are messey! lot's of poop to deal with in a cycling tank. I cycled my first AR380 with a couple of guppys, adding a couple more a week later and so on. I got a BN about week 3 and he happily ate pleco tablets. You can an eye on ammonia/nitrite levels with a testing kit. Filter bacteria such as TLC or JBL filter start is great too. I think Tropicals are more fun then coldwater.. but probably more work. For a heater in the AR380 , I used a 55W.

could you put the tank water in a big chilli bin and put the fish in there while you move the tank. Might be a lot easier. The water should stay warm enough for a while at least. Just as long as the chilli bin has never had detergent in it.. or just buy a big fish bin or something. When we moved around the corner i bagged all the fishies up, put all the bags ina couple of chilli bins to keep warm and the water went onto big lidded containers. Moved the tanks into place, put everything back together again and it didn't take long at all to climatise the fish because most of it was the same water and similar temp. Didn't lose any during the move so it was all sweet. You do have a lot more fish than I had though!

I got mine from www.hippo.co.nz under the name aviverm. I also use it to deworm my birds once a year. BirdBarn in west auckland also sell it.