Caryl

Yes you need a permit these days. We used to have them but when the law changed we released ours.

If you have fish that like to nibble live plants you will find the uplift continually being clogged by plant debris. Java fern is a bugger for getting sucked up too.

Black muck you can scrub off sounds like it may be a rotten bit. Can you cut that bit off and make sure it is at the back or has a plant in front to hide the cut? If you have flakey bits of wood drifting around there is definitely a rotten bit of log somewhere.

That last green thing looks like a siphon tube with the net missing (from the wide round open bit). You would connect it via an air hose to a pump and it would suck up the waste. Never did a very good job in my experience.

If your fry keep popping up I suggest you turn down the filtration a bit It's SPRING!!!! :bounce:

What neat looking animals. I suggest you back off a bit when you take the photo then it might focus on the dragon rather than the things behind the dragon

Yes. The first few days when they are wrigglers they are feeding off their egg sacs.

"No threadsplitting yet" was a personal opinion Why doesn't someone produce a basic beginners guide which could be stickied to the top of the thread?

When you have problems like this it always pays to go right to the top. They do not like to hear of customers having trouble buying their products.

Hygrophila sp (usually sold as "bunch plants" in lfs)

Come to think of it, if they are clear and bursting I would say ulcers. Carp pox are bright white and look just like big warts.

If it was just one fish I would suspect gill flukes or something attacking the gills, rather than ammonia.

I was going to say I would appreciate a copy for the Aquarium World but the NZKA newsletter would be far more appropriate

I would like to correct the initial statement made that there are over 2500 members in the FNZAS. There are not! There are over 2500 members to this site - which happens to belong to the FNZAS. Registering on this site does not make a person a member of the FNZAS I doubt very much the saltwater section will be split into categories any time soon. Not enough traffic in it.

Hmm that would make sense. :roll:

I believe many shops have a deal with particular brands who give them good deals if they only stock their products and it is very hard to get other products into shops for this reason.

Nothing wrong with a pH of 7.4 - 7.6 if it is stable. The neons will be upset cos of the damage done, not the pH as much. Although they originally come from more acidic waters they are adaptable and these days cope with quite a wide pH range.

I have always been told BNs need wood in their diet but I suspect the bottom dweller pellets available these days have enough wood lignin(?) in them to do the job. Don't know though as I've always had driftwood in my tanks :roll:

It should be locked. As Rockerpeller says it gets the air out plus helps to fill up with water. Whatever you do, don't take it out with the inlet hose still turned on cos water goes EVERYWHERE!! :lol:

My first thought was carp pox (warts) too and it is contagious.

Do you mean that some were pink but are no longer so?

There are several in here from Tauranga. Perhaps one could babysit the fishes until your return?

I've not studied rummys up close. Is it possible the pink is blood?

That only works on some types of algae. I think you have your lights on for too long. 10 - 12 hours is plenty. You have an odd mix of fish there that won't be shown to their full potential as most are shoaling fish but you do not have enough of each. If it was me, I would swap the single x-ray tetra and the 2 head and tails for more cherrys or glowlights, and get more neons or swap for others. Shoaling fish stand out more and show their colours when in a large group (minimum 6 but preferably 12 or more if there is room). The clown loaches will outgrow that tank eventually.

A bit of background information would help dannybanks. How long has the tank been set up? What size is it? What kind of filtration? How many, and what, fish? What sort of lighting and how long are the lights on? We also need to know what sort of algae you have which is where a pic would help.