Caryl

Not sure how old they have to be but as for getting them to breed - they either will or they won't. They seem to breed continually for a time then stop for no discernable reason (sometimes several years) then start again - and the other way around.

They suspect where the leak is but several attempts to seal it have failed so they figure a liner over (or should that be under?) everything will do the trick.

You might have read the thread re my 4ft x 2 x 2 African tank and the unplugged filter. Things have gone from bad to worse. I now have 5 electric yellows plus 3 other fish (hard to tell at this stage but I suspect a couple of borleyis and a blue something left. In my rubbish are my favourite S ahli (15cm), an 8cm J marlieri and a couple more 11 and 15cm borleyis When we discovered the unplugged Eheim wet/dry filter, Grant cleaned it out thoroughly, put the media back (it now smelled OK) and restarted the filter. Next day fish were not looking their usual perky selves so we figured it was the media. We unplugged the filter again (all the while the tank still had a fully operational Jebo 819 running) and sterilised the media. We found 3 electric yellow fry in the filter too! This morning (still not replugged the Eheim in) I saw first the S Ahli, then the other blue dead in the tank and the marlieri missing. I realised there may be other fish missing as they are hard to count when they hide in the rockwork so decided I had to strip the tank totally to get them all out and do a head count. Lifted a rock and phew! What a smell. A well and truly dead, by now unrecognisable as it had lost all colour, fish. Big barrels brought inside and tank stripped. Fish divided up into barrels to prevent too much aggression. As well as finding the other large fish I also caught 1 electric yellow fry about 1.5cm and 21 more the same size as those in the filter - about 0.5cm. The one bright spot in my day. I now have the tank refilled and have slowly been doing partial water changes in the barrels to prepare them for their total water change. I have not dared turn the Jebo back on as it will be full of smelly polluted water. Do you think I should sterilise its media as well? This would mean recycling the tank with 8 large fish in it (ranging 8cm - 14cm), or just empty the water out of it and refill it as is? I think I will have to recycle and be resigned to large water changes as it progresses. I think I will pinch the Fluval 404 off the golden barb's 3ft tank and leave them with a couple of internal Shark filters and use the Fluval through the cycle. What do you all think? Sorry this is so long but I am so upset. We have had these fish 3 years and they did not deserve to die like this. PS. Saved the fry and dumped them in a spare small tank. Will need to find a filter for them too. Got several sponge and box filters around here somewhere :roll:

ljtan55 - no nothing. As far as I know water conditioner removes chlorine doesn't it? We don't have chlorine added to our water supply.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I dump a handful or 2 of salt in the tank then wet the salt just enough to then cup it in my hand and wipe the surfaces with it. It sticks. Scrub with it making sure you get into the corners too then rinse well. Take the tank outside, tip it over so the top is facing downwards then blast it with the garden hose until it is clear of salt residue.

Salt. Rinse well though.

OK. We came home from holiday to see someone had knocked the plug out of the socket - the one running the Eheim wet/dry filter on the African tank. Not too terrible for the tank as it also has a Jebo 819 at the other end (and only about 12 fish all about 10cm or so, in the 4 x 2 x 2). Then forgot about it until a couple of days ago so Grant pulled it to bits - pheww! What a stink. He rinsed it all out then put it back on the tank. Next day I noticed the fish not looking good so we figured it was the filter. Should have boiled the media methinks. So, pulled it apart to get the media out and in the top tray found 2 baby electric yellows swimming about. Looked in the next tray and found another baby! Did a 50% water change and the media has now been boiled and ready to set the filter back up again. If we had not had to pull it apart a second time we would not have found the fry!

The filter wool in LFS is way more expensive though. I have always used dacron and mine is very old now. I know newer stuff often had fire retardant in it which isn't good but I have not heard of anyone having trouble with it. A wool shop might have it but so would any sewing shops or any places selling material.

Bet it wasn't such a nice surprise for them to have you walk in on them

dacron (the stuff they fill duvets with)

OK, the refilled the pond and the level dropped 1cm overnight. I have suggested they leave it a week to see how far it goes this time but they are thinking of lining the whole thing with a butyl liner.

Carbon is an added unneccesary expense.

One of my tank sits on concrete blocks. It works well. More important - what colour MX5? :lol: Both of ours are BRG - (boring husband)

Personally I never add anything to my tank if I can help it.

My Africans play in the stream when I haul the garden hose through the window and do a 50% water change using a trigger gun on the end of the hose. It is like a whirlpool in there and the fish play in the current. The change in temp doesn't bother them at all.

White cloudy? Have you recently done a water change? How big is the tank, what is in it, and how long has it been set up? It is possibly just an algae bloom which should go away on its own after 4 or 5 days. If this is so, it will not harm the fish.

My fish were bred in a pH of 7.0 - 7.2 so don't know their pH is supposed to be higher. Our tap water is 7.0 and I have limestone rocks in the tank which bring it up to about 7.4 max over time. When I do a water change it drops to 7.0 again.

Of course it is. I know I can eat 50g of chocolate and it turns into 500g on my bum.

Typing error. I will complain to Warren :lol:

No, we are MAC

Well my Africans don't have anything added to their water and seem fine.

I would remove the carbon for the reasons mentioned by suphew.

We have a member in Texas Caper so I don't see why we can't have a Canadian as well. Consider yourself a club member. We have to send our fees into the FNZAS shortly (just gathering the final ones now) so will make sure you are on the list.

Sunday evening here as I type this. It has been raining steadily so pond has partially filled on its onw. Good news is - the bottom doesn't leak! :lol: :bounce: Will let you know when they refill it.

Platies can live 4 or 5 years depending on conditions. If you did not breed them yourself you have little idea how old they are when you buy them. A female platy is usually just about permanently pregnant so finding a dead one full of babies doesn't necessarily mean a lot. On the other hand, it is possible she died if one of the fry got stuck and blocked the rest from being expelled from her body. This happens sometimes.