Caryl

Billaneys' place is one big baby factory!! (Watch out Adele and Amy!!! :lol: )

Yes, my post got lost in the crash It is the surface area which is more important than the size, or depth, of a tank. Goldfish need lots of oxygen so break up the water surface as much as possible. The bubbles in the airstone don't release oxygen into the water a they rise up the tank, it is when they break the surface that the action takes place. Bigger fish need more oxygen and better filtration as they put a huge bioload on the filter. Your fish might just have grown a little large for the surroundings which is why it didn't have a problem before, and why it is affecting only the larger of the 2 fish. If it is indeed a lack of oxygen, the problem will worsen over summer as the water warms up as there will be less oxygen in warmer water.

Are his gills looking redder than they should?

Yeah you have to watch how much shell is in it. Beaches differ in this.

It may not be the brand itself, just that your fish didn't like them and/or you overfed We do not slag off products. I do not see a problem with someone saying they found X brand good but the fish did not like Y brand. Everyone's fish have different tastes and what works for one does not necessarily work for another.

Hi there Nigel, Rochelle and Cohen. I understand Palmy doesn't have the best water supply. There is a fish club there but I think they are pretty quiet at the moment.

In my opinion, you don't need either.

Famous last words Chris :lol: Welcome to the fishroom. We will be down your way Labour weekend as we are attending a rally in Rolleston 8)

It is times like this you wonder why you keep fish

Quite possible if it is affecting the bottom dwellers. I wonder if the wafers weren't eaten, rotted, and have polluted the substrate.

Spirulina wafers should be OK but perhaps this packet was contaminated or something. I know I bought some bottom feeder wafers once, not the usual ones I buy, and found the fish barely touched them and they very quickly fouled the tank. Will never use them again! Mind you, I believe they went off the market soon after :-?

If this is sudden, and occurred soon after using the wafers, I would stop using them and see if the fish come right.

Welcome to the fishroom Steve

The big fat shaped goldfishes can be hard to sex. Look down on the fish from above. Males are more streamlined and their tails are straight. Females are more rounded and their tail looks like it is slightly to the left or right side a bit. When due to spawn, males get small white dots on their gills. Females get even fatter.

Hi Willy (and Jo) from Mary's sister

Go for it PeneJane! The shrimps are the best.

Fishkeeping is a lot easier with a Net

I just had a fluoro on my tank so we could see the inhabitants at night. Be careful removing the anemones as they are easily damaged. Try to find some on a rock you can add to the tank rather than try to remove anemones stuck on a large solid immovable piece

Penejane there is a big difference between the requirements for a TROPICAL marine and keeping a small coldwater rockpool marine. I would never attempt a proper tropical marine but a coldwater rockpool is easy, as long as you can keep the temperature down. Rockpool set-ups do not require the skimmers, powerheads, expensive lighting etc that the tropicals do. Wasp: a few deaths are important. If you are going to take live animals from their natural habitat you should provide them with the best conditions possible.

I have never used CO2 but would have thought it would increase algae growth since it is just a lower plant form. Have no experience though

We had a cold water marine and it was fascinating. All we did was got a 3ft tank then took containers down the Kaikoura coast and gathered up some rocks, sand and critters, took it all home and arranged it in the tank. We used an AquaClear filter. That's all. No fancy equipment or anything. Hardly ever fed the inhabitants but they all seemed to grow and some reproduced. Every few weeks we would top it up with fresh sea water and add sea lettuce. Lots of edible greeblies came in the top-up water and lettuce. Our tank had anemones, shrimps, chitons, rockfish, triplefins, sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, various sorts of starfishes and, at one point, an octopus - to name but a few. We tried a paua but the water was too warm. The biggest problem we had (and the only one) was keeping it cool. It really needs to be below 15C, preferably 10C, ours did anyway as the water they came from was that cold. We found constant temperatures above 15C not good and the critters would start to die off. Since the room sits at about 28C during summer, we could not keep it cool enough. We have since bought a chiller so might try again, once I have a tank free.

Your biggest problem is having to chose what you can get and I suspect your choice will be limited. Most lfs seem to sell them just as "African cichlids" and don't know what they are - and many are actually hybrids. Try to find a breeder.

My water always went yucky and slimy when I added banan skin. I don't seem to have trouble with daphnia. Indeed, all I have to do is fill a container outside (not with green water either) and daphnia just appear in it, without me adding a culture! I don't feed them either. Occasionally I feel sorry for them and add some green water from the goldfish pond.

Hi and welcome. At least you live in a good area for pet shops! Some of us meet regularly in the chat room around 9pm-ish if you are interested you are welcome to join us

Well Google "columnaris" (Flexibacter columnaris) and you will find plenty of information. Never heard it call saddleback disease though