Caryl

Errr, no they don't :oops: The only room in our supposedly 2 car garage (plus workshop) is taken up by the 1928 Chrysler. It edged out the MX5. We are about to get a carport built :roll:

There was a knock on the door this afternoon and it was the owner of the garage where we get the Kia serviced. He had passed Grant on the road last evening (he was heading to Kaikoura and Grant was heading back) and he noticed one of Grant's headlights had blown. So he turned up with a replacement bulb, delivered to our door! Grant had noticed the headlight had gone when he pulled up in front of the garage and noticed one side of the reflection was missing. He had planned to go and buy a replacement on Monday but now will not have to. to Jim. For those who are wondering how he knew it was Grant... The aerials give it away (as well as the personalised plate) :roll:

Since it is such a cold, miserable, day (but not as bad as many have apparently endured - just cold and wet but little wind) I decided the best way to warm the place up (I refuse to light a fire in MARCH!!!!) was to do some baking trying out my new mini loaf tins I bought in Christchurch the other day. As we then eat it (and that is bad for our waist lines), I will give it all to my mum (except for one loaf Grant decided needed taste testing) to sell on her church's stall tomorrow. They sell a variety of fruit, veg, preserves and baking to the parishioners each Sunday. Money goes into the "new roof fund". I now have mini sized loaves and cakes cooling on the bench; gingernut loaves, spiced fruit loaves, chocolate cakes and lemon cakes. The smell is wonderful and has out-done the smell of the silverside that has been slow cooking since mid morning. The loaf tins are 14cm x 8 x 6 deep and the smaller ones are 9.5cm x 6 x 3cm deep. Cute :love: If I remember, I will take a pic after I have iced the cakes. 8)

A great book that one! I no longer have it as I gave it to someone who did not give it back :roll:

Up until last year I too would have recommended an osteopath. Thanks to mine though, I ended up with a prolapsed disc resulting in the need for surgery and ongoing pain thanks to permanent nerve damage :-?

An aquatic praying mantis :slfg: I rescued one from inside yesterday (not from the back of a tank though)

Kiwifruit is definitely good to keep things moving and is an excellent source of vitamin C.

That is a good point raised re warranty. I would not buy something like a canister filter from anywhere but a NZ supplier.

Are you wanting the whole cat shape or just a head? It is easy enough to make a cat cake shape by cutting a large rectangle. Change the ears perhaps and add a tail and you have a cat...

Cuttlefish would be cool!

Donna has a sticky in this section on turtle care. Read it thoroughly. She has a lot of turtles in need of a loving home.

I gather from the info that a snail's first line of defence, if something is wrong, is to get out of the water so if that happens you know there is a problem.

It may take a few hours. I have had a BN out of water for several hours (I didn't realise at the time) and it survived. Do you really want the driftwood? Can you cut into it?

I do not buy fish stuff overseas as I rarely buy any at all but I now buy all my books from the UK as they are half the price and free shipping. My husband is always importing electronic, computer and radio gear as it is a fraction of the cost of buying here. I know we should buy NZ made but they are making it more and more expensive :dunno:

http://www.applesnail.net is a great source of information. They say snails can only tolerate a very small amount of salt, if the concentration has been built up slowly. They also say... Apple snails are very sensitive to certain chemicals and compounds. Unfortunately some of these chemicals are used to treat fish diseases as fungi and parasites. The basic principle in combating a fish disease is to use chemical compounds that kill the disease, while having no adverse effects on the fish, due to neurological/metabolistic differences between the organisms. However, snails have more in common with many parasites then with fish in the way they react to chemical substances. It's thus advised to isolate the snails in a separate tank during treatment of the fish unless you are absolutely sure that the product you use doesn't contain snail-toxic chemicals. And as many disease causing organisms do not survive outside the fish during a few days, together with repeated water changes in the isolation tank, the risk of reinfection through the snail reintroduction can be minimised. Exceptions to this rule are parasites that have a life cycle with snails and fish as intermediate hosts (mainly the case with wild-caught fish/snails). See also here. A short list with chemicals that are/could be toxic to snails in therapeutic doses: -Malachite Green (used to treat Ich or white spot, fungi and Velvet or Oodinium). -Various organophosphorous pesticides like formaldehyde, metriphonate, trichlorphon (= dylox, masoten, metriphonate, neguvon, trichlorophon), dichlorvos and others used to treat infections with flukes, worms, crustaceans and lice. -metaldehyde used as molluscicide. -Various copper containing drugs to treat protozoa and fungus infections. -Parricide D (Di-N-Butyl Tin Oxide) used to eliminate helminthes, acanthocephala, trematodes, cestoda and worms. A list of fish phamaceutics of several manufacturers with the active ingredients is available on http://www.pubnix.net/~spond/product/medicine.html. Many of the preparation listed here could harm your snails!

I would get the new dentist to give you an ACC45 form to fill out and see how you go.

Be aware if you use Ammolock it will affect your test readings.

Welcome. If you add your location to your profile you may find someone nearby with some mature filter media to offer

All my driftwood came from the beach. I just hosed it off then put it in the tank. My bristlenoses never seemed bothered. I do not think the driftwood would absorb much, if any, salt but it would just be on the surface and easily hosed off.

Oooh nice :thup:

They are probably already aware of it. Our local river is full of that banned one (which is how I got a pic of it)

Diet is important too

Only native cold water varieties or marine.

Put pantyhose or similar over the uplift.

I could breed danios in an outdoor pond here over summer very easily (in a year with better weather than we have had in the past 3 years :roll: ) as the temp of my breeding ponds sits about 27 - 28C. All depends on where you live.