Brennos

I bought black fine grit from HFF today, $40 for 25kg. ill post pics later.

I suspect the same thing also, Any recommendations as to how to keep this good bacteria, maybe replace substrate, and put old substrate in a filter bag or something? Or replace it and not worry, as I wont be increasing the bioload too dramatically.

How much of the good bacteria is in the substrate? I ask as, fingers crossed the issues with sick and dying fish in my tank is over, and I'm looking at re stocking slowly, over the next 2 months or so, I would like a few Kuhli loaches, but everything I read tells me they would prefer sand over gravel, which is fine, but I am weary of replacing my gravel, as the tank has only been cycled for 2 months, and the filter has only been on this tank for 2 weeks (Filter media is 2 months old, I transferred it to the external canister I have now). I wont be adding any more fish for at least 2 weeks, and then it will only be a single Gourami, then 2 weeks after that, I will add 2 more gouramis, then 2 weeks I will add 3-4 Loaches, I have decided on this method, as to not overload the filter etc. So If I replace my gravel with sand this weekend, will that cause an ammonia spike, or any detrimental effects to the cycle in the tank?

Ha, I was planning a trip into PetPac tomorrow, after reading what another user said. Ill let you know after I visit.

UPDATE: My Bristle noses have perked up a little, and are moving around the tank now, instead of hiding under things. My Gourami is moving around a lot more too, He is still hanging around the bottom of the tank, but goes up for air, and speeds down to the bottom as fast as he can, the 2 platys are still hiding behind things, but look OK, but my 2 guppy's appear to have started to get fin rot, but only on the tail, and the 2 fins by the gills, the dorsal and the anal fins are unaffected at this stage, The tail fin, is missing about .5 of a mm, and has white tips??? I have been dosing with rocksalt, and melafix since thursday last week, how can they get fin rot while i am dosing with melafix and rock salt? And according to my water tests, all seems normal.

I purchased 2 "Rage" branded clip on desklamps, and used 6500k/900 energy saver bulbs. Cost me 40 Dolars all up with a timer and power board.

I can offer no help OP, but after reading that you all (fnzas regulars) have had similar experiences to the OP and myself, it makes me slightly better about loosing most of my fish. I will get it right one day.

All tests seem normal?

Well, I have now got, 1 Gourami, 3 Guppies, 2 platys, and defiantly 1 bristlenose, the otehr I can not see, he is in there somewhere, but he is hiding good. I just put a small amount of food in, and non of them seem to be very enthusiastic about it. The 2 platys are hiding under rocks and drift wood, the 3 guppys are staying as still as possible at the top of the water, and the gourami is hanging around the middle of the tank, occasionally going up for a gulp of air. non are eating the food in the tank. I was thinking about getting a UV Purifier tomorrow, as they are $106 at animates, which doesn't seem that bad. That may help if its a bacterial infection i guess. I'm about to do a water test, so ill see how that goes, ill update this post soon.

the filter was brand new. Yes, they are the only guppies still alive now. But some of the newer guppies died today too.

I used a handful of new noodles, but they were rinsed thoroughly, the new filter was filed with tank water, and the tank was topped up accordingly. I just bought some melafix, so ill dose with that see how we get on.

Yeah, everything was fine until i added new guppies a few died, then everythting seemed to be ok, now all the harlequins are floating around upside down, and the "waking up" and ebing normal for 10 mins, then back to lying on the bottom of the tank upside down. Is this swim bladder disease? I think it has something to do with the new filter, maybe a massive ammonia spike stressed them out, and now they are dying? There are no signs of anything amiss with the fish, other than what i have explained. I am watching one harlequin at the moment, it is upside down on the bottom of the tank still breathing, possible gasping? he is about 3 cm.s from my airstone.

gentle treatments? Like what.

In the tank is some shist rock, some drift wood, and some plants, gravel from hff cant remember the name. that's all really, Tank is a AR620T, and filter is a CF1200, i have a air pump delivering oxygen, and a aquaone heater and heater cover. I have added a cf1200 filter yesterday, but all my filter media went into that. That's the only thing that i have changed, which would cause ammonia spikes, but i didn't think it would affect the PH. Just did a water test now everything is 0ppm ( i just did a water change though) so assumption says that's squewed and i need to do another tonight) ph is 7-7.5 When i added the old media to the new tank, i added the same fish, i then slowly over December added all the fish i had. except 2 bristle noses i got 2 days ago.

In the tank at present there is 1 gourami, 2 bristlenoses, annd 3 platys. Thats it. I have taken the remaining glowlights and harlequins and guppies out, they are in my planted tank right now. 3 days ago I had 5 harequins, 5 tetras, 2 bristelenoses, 2 gouramis, and 5 guppies. The guppies i have had for about 5 months. everything else has been added over the last 2

And so it start again. Last night one of my Gourami's died. She had been hanging around the back of the tank since day 1, in the long grass behind the rocks, i figured she was just shy, she did come out a fair bit, but always went back to the grass after a while. Last nght she appeared fine when i looked at her, then 1/2 an our later dead. I fished her out, checked, made sure, but def dead , so I carried on, and noticed my latest arrival, a 2 month old albino bristle nose was also dead so i fished it out, and did an immediate ph/nitrate/nitrite and ammonia test, everything was 0ppm but the ph was in the mid 6 range, dropped a fair amount since the last test 2 days ago, when it was 7.2ish. I added some bicarb of soda, which lifted the ph, but I fear it may of been to late, as i lost 2 of my glow lights as well last night. The tap water i use is around 7.2 ph so i dnt know whats cause it to drop in 2 days. I woke up this morning and noticed 2 of my guppies, 1 male and 1 female were stuck in the filter head i removed them, but they just floated around and then died. I have done a partial water change, and removed all the dead fish, and done a gravel clean. i am at a loss as to what's happening, i'm about to go to my LFS to get a heater for my other tank, is there any medication i can get to help these guys out?

Not really, I could remove half of the hood completely, but I'd rather not, and there isn't a light that would sit on the top of the tank perfectly.

Very much so, The platys dislike it though it seems, they are all hiding under the rocks. I reckon I can fit an Aqua One AL-15D Light hood in the filter unit of the stock hood. Dimensions according to Website: Model: AL-15D 46.5L x 12.5W x 8.5H cm Dimensions of standard filter housing 45.6Lx13.3Wx9H So i'm 9mm shy of it fitting in, but I reckon I can dismantle the ends of the light unit, or cut down the filter housing, on one side. Looks like another trip to HFF is in order. I wonder if they are sick of me yet? Might have to go to Albany, just to shake things up a little.

Ok, it seems as if I could use an Aqua One Al-15 Double light hood, Its almost the exact same measurements long and wide as the hole I have, but I'm unsure of the height, so I have emnailed the distributor to see if they can measure the height, so If the height is good, I might purchase one, and see if can retro fit it into it. On another note, here are some pics of the filter upgrade. Canister in the cabinet Top view: This is where the original power head would of of come through, I had to cut the original round hole, to a square hole to accommodate the inlet and the return. Back View: This is where the original witing hole was, I also had to cut this, this hole is approximately twice the size it was

I think this app is very good for some of us novice keeps, I have pointed a couple of novice mates to it, they have alot used it, to help with fish selection. Thanks for the great app, and keep up the good work.

Well, I got the CF1200. Its all installed and running. it is a very nice filter unit, no issues on installation, just had to do some minor adjustments to the hood, the hood is now never going to be able to be used as a filter again, which leads me to thinking if I could modify the old filter housing to take a couple of t5 tubes? I'm going to do some measurements later and see if its possible. If anyone wants some pics of what I have done (canister installation), i can take them and send or post em here. The only other thing worth mention, is that the canister its self does not fit in the stand for the ar620/t. Well, it does, but to get it in, you need to remove the door, so you can get it into the cabinet, once in you can re attach the door, and bobs your uncle.

Yeah, I do about 1/3 water change weekly. I usually skim about 5 liters off the top of the water every 3 days too, as it seems to get a film. I am upgrading my stock trickle filter this week, hopefully tomorrow. So my tank should be a better place once that has cycled.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, also things like substrate, rocks, heaters etc. They all add up to a fair amount.

It got stretched, as this forum can not work out the dimensions of the image. So i used iforce to host it @ 640x480. I do like your site, maybe another upgrade in the future could include all in one aquariums, like the Aqua-one AR series, and the Juwel etc. ie Input tank model, and the filtration rates and sizes are all set. Yeah my tank is busy, but everyone plays nice, so it's not really an issue, I have plenty of hidey holes, and plants for everyone to have there own space. the only issue i have at the moment, are my damn Gourami's laying hide and go seek. They hide so well, i spend ages looking for them, only to have them just pop up when they feel like it. I will upgrade in the near future (1 year +) to a bigger tank, so everyone will have some more room, or might end up with a second 620, and split them up a little.

I did that calculation based on the fact I am going to upgrade to a canister filter this week sometime. I wonder if my gourami will try and breed, and if they will indeed try and hurt the tetras?