herefishiefishie

What type of parrot? There are a couple of cichlids known by that. Frenchy

I am with Caryl, sounds like it is stressed out. Especially if hanging in a corner & breathing heavy. The only other thing is flukes, but others should be showing the same signs{heavy breathing} Frenchy

From reading your post, the Venustus brought in the white spot to the tank. The other fish never showed signs of problems as they are healthy{slime coat} the whitespot can live in the gills for prolonged periods. Loaches being prone as mentioned above, come into a tank containing the parasite & brake out with disease. I believe that whitespot isn't always with fish. It has to short a cycle. It either lives in gills out of sight, or is introduced. Hopefully now that you have treated, no more dramas. Frenchy

Having been in the importing game, just a couple of views. Importing rooms here tend to have UV sterilisers connected. To kill off unwanted organisms etc. Therefore moving them to not so clean tanks can expose them to certain pathogens. Some species are more prone to diseases than others, due to bad breeding practices, or changes from wild-man conditions. Some have there own personal problems, neons, gupppies, discus....etc. Some are more prone to common diseases than others, ie; clown loaches to white spot. Chances are the importer got a batch in where a group of fish weren't right. They just came down with something, could of been a bacterial infection, flukes, internal worms etc. Or something as common as dirty water. Few hundred guppies in a bag from Asia to NZ can cause problems. Also changes in ph, where we ordered from in Asia, they gave us the ranges they kept their fish in. Frenchy

The problem with the kiwis is the fish ID. Trying to do that by comparing to pictures on a USA for a novice isn't always a good thing. Past history here has shown that. Look at some mbuna & peacocks species, makes it more puzzling as there are so many similar species. & also a novice may see a fish they think there is & it may not even be in the country. Just trying to say to people use caution & best to verify here. Tip: Try writing down the name of the fish from the lfs. I will admit though, on the point of gaining information, yes those sites are very useful. Frenchy

To me it is all part of the cycle. Here is a good read, http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html Frenchy

The utaka spots are a good sign & the aqua colour in the head is good too. Body shape is the only query, but they are young. Give them a chance to grow up. Great quality on the pics too. Frenchy

That one there looks good nimbo. Frenchy

I agree, clean water is best, but slimey poo, darkened body colour & heavy breathing is not a sign of a healthy fish. If the discus is still eating best to treat now. If it is a disease & stops eating it will die, be to late to treat. To me a prize discus is better to treat, than risk a few cardinals. In saying that, Prazi has no affect on plants or bio load what so ever. If metro is mixed in the discus fav food, same again. No affect on plants or bacteria what so ever. I would use metro, it is an internal problem, slimey poo. Frenchy

Welcome aboard. You can go for clown loaches. Just do the trade them back for smaller ones when they get bigger. Good luck with what you go for in the way of fish & layout. Just make sure you take care when cycling the tank. Frenchy

Looks good. Try turning the house lights off when taking pics. The darker the house the better, works for me. As for adding new fish, how long has the tank been running for? Frenchy

Got any pics of the girls? Any of the fish have spots on them? Frenchy

Try placing a mirror in front of him, see if that livens him up. Frenchy

I have had mine lot for a year easy. Still going strong. Just have to clean in bleach every so often. Frenchy

:lol: I am with Alan on that one. Frenchy

You are not meant to add anymore fish until the tank has cycled properly. Everytime you add a bunch of new fish, you will then get an ammonia rise. You should be testing your nitrites as well. The tank isn't cycled until both ammonia & nitrite levels return to zero. Here is a good read, http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html Tanks to cycle can take 3-6 weeks. Depending on bacteria growth, feeding, stocking etc. The fish flicking themselves will be probably due to the ammonia, be careful fish are prone to white spot & other diseases when stressed. Ammonia causes stress, burns the gills, protective slime coat etc. How much, what & how often are you feeding the fish? You can speed up the cycle by growing plants, using filters from other tanks. Adding more porous matter in filters helps too. I load my canisters up with ceramic noodles, matrix, coarse sponge etc. Frenchy

Buy some purigen. That will take the colour out of the water. I had a lot of tannins in my discus tank, threw some purigen in the filter, now clear as a bell. Frenchy

Alan, the guys at this end miss things too. Really when you look at all the other matters these guys & girls are on the look out for. Training someone to be a aquarium fish guru is probably lower down on their list of things to do. Then again, those experienced in fish keeping wouldn't want the job either. I like to see new fish for example. :lol: Me, Mal & his off sider laughed every now & then about imagine if one of us had the job. Alan, if you looked hard enough their would of been nearly 1/3 of the fish in his shop not on the allowable import lists. "But" they are not on the noxious list, therefore no dramas. Unless AQIS, {our MAF} had of come in & spotted I think 5-6 species when we were there that are fairly new. Therefore you could get in trouble for as they can be traced. Or if you don't comply, big fine. Mal has had one a few years ago, for zebra plecos. Usually it is done by tip off or similar. I have seen AQIS come in with a couple of pictures of fish, looking through the shop tanks. :lol: I can't see how people can blame MAF or whatever. They weren't the ones trying to get them in & bottom line is they aren't allowed. As far as I am concerned, Mal will agree. It's all fun & games, don't get caught. Knowingly or not... stiff shit. Frenchy

Water changes always help. Puts clean oxygenated water in. Gasping at the top is lack of oxygen. Poisoning is usually gasping at the bottom. Frenchy

Why waste your money of expensive buffers. You only need to go to the supermarket & buy some sodium bicarb, salt & epsom salts. Of course doing water changes more often will help. But if you are a bit on the slack side, here's a link... http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php yep it is for cichlids, your water is soft. Guesstamation here, try 2 teaspoons epsom salt, 1/2 teaspoon bicarb, 1/2 teaspoon of salt per 20litres. See how that goes. Frenchy

Depends on what you feed. I only feed mine once a day. If the diet is high in flake foods, then twice a day is fine. For me I mix flake, pellets, mysis shrimp... so once is heaps. They might get double feeds on weekends, then they usually get a day of no feed too. {make sure I am not around, I feel like I am teasing the poor buggers when I walk past them} Frenchy

Thats a huge female. Don't know? it all depends on how much of a moody b#t#h she is. :-? Frenchy

oh, maybe they weren't to comfy in the smaller tank. The bigger room makes them more comfy, active etc.... Usually the food shouldn't hit the floor, or if it does it is gone in seconds. Cichlids should always hang by the top for a feed when you walk past. Must resist urge to over feed. :lol: A tip; makes it easy to spot when things are not right too. Frenchy

Nope. Just means you are giving them 4 times the amount of food. Frenchy

If they pair up & breed, then no they won't. You could get away with one. Maybe buy a female, they are better looking, colour wise. Frenchy