Caryl

Welcome Raza

Welcome snowman and I am glad you have found the information you require. Look forward to pics of your tanks

Can't help with the blemish Jammos but most don't have them because they are so destructive when they get bigger and they grow too big.

We are driving up and could probably pick you up on the way through mystic. Our car seats 6 (7 at a pinch) and I think there might be 4 of us (maybe just Grant and I even). I can't help much with costs until the Taranaki club sends out the information later. Usually it is $50 registration plus accommodation and 2 meals which are usually in the $20 - $25 range. Reg covers the bus trip, morning and afternoon teas etc.

The FNZAS conference is mainly to host our AGM. Prices vary and will be known once the registration forms are sent out (usually in March). Costs are kept to a minimum as many attendees are retired or beneficiaries and all are merely hobbyists. Accommodation is usually in a motel but some clubs are able to offer one or 2 billets. We meet on the Friday night informally to catch up with old friends and gossip etc. Saturday is usually the AGM itself which we try to get over with as soon as possible (by 3pm). Sometimes guest speakers are also arranged. That evening we go out together for a meal somewhere then often arrange to meet some later in someone's motel room for a coffee and laugh. Sunday we seem to be going on a bus trip. I don't think I am allowed to tell you where we are going (more detail is up to Minch and his team to divulge if they wish) but it is a chance for the host club to show off their province. At least one winery is on standby so some drinking will be involved. One of the other stops is a place we went to last time Taranaki was host and I, for one, found it very interesting and am pleased we are returning there. Sunday evening is another meal out and laughs as per Saturday night. Monday we all head home again rejuvenated, happy, informed and replete (plus some of us will have prizes and/or raffles we have won)! All you bring is money to pay for it (and a bit extra for the raffles). We are well supported by a number of aquatic wholesalers (in the past these have included places like Brooklands, Masterpet, Kongs, Petware, Petpro, and Jansen's) and they donate goods for our raffles. We have had tanks, heaterstats, books, fish food, filters, t shirts, Stresscoat/Zyme JBL Test kits etc all donated to our raffles previously. It varies each year. Each delegate gets a 'conference pack' with a few sample packs of various products plus information leaflets etc.

Sorry to hear that. They only have 4 or 5 members and meet every so often for dinner. The secretary is away a lot with his Boccia team and a couple of others have been overseas a lot. I will see if I can find someone to contact for you.

We all stay together mystic and we will look after you - assuming you have joined the FNZAS by then of course as it is members only.

Hi and welcome Nana and JJ. How old is JJ? She will find the tanks useful starting points for some interesting projects to enter in the school Science Fairs. :lol:

We are getting there re the printer Minch so AWs should be out by the end of the week (I hope). Looking forward to conference. Let us know when the registration forms have gone out to clubs please.

Hi and welcome. Hope you have a bigger tank for that lot to go into! Look forward to seeing you around.

Welcome to the fishroom. Hope you didn't burn tea as you got carried away reading here! :lol:

I have an AquaClear that has been running for about 10 years and still using the original sponge! They just keep going, are easy to maintain and clean and go forever. The only Eheim I have experience with is a wet/dry and I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Stopped running as a wet/dry after 6 months. Found many other owners say the same but no-one has come up with a fix it that works. Works ok as an ordinary filter and doesn't need cleaning very often. Fluval 404s work well but are buggers to clean. Even the new one (the one before they came out with ribbed hoses) is a nuisance to pull apart and trying to prime it to start is a right pain. I have 3 internal Sharks and find they work well but I wouldn't use them on their own in a tank your size. They are handy to have in your tank as a spare. Friends bought a Jebo and love it. It has been running for 6 months on a 6ft tank and they say it does a better job than the Fluval 404 they had before (which broke twice). On their recommendation we have bought one for ourselves but haven't set it up yet. They say it rarely needs cleaning and was very easy to do so then get going again.

Other people don't seem to have problems but whenever I tried to put dwarf gouramis into a community tank they got bullied. I found them very timid whereas others claim they are stroppy. Sounds like he has problems though but not sure I would pull the plug yet. Have you got a breeding net you could separate him into to give him a chance to recover?

Hi and welcome Peter. Another Wainuiomartian? Must be something in the water! :lol:

Our lounge was re-wallpapered and painted (water based) around the tank with no problem at all.

For all everyone is quick to suggest dropsy, I have never seen it in a fish. It could be a growth or tumour of some kind. Is it acting like all the rest and eating well?

Nice pics.

Personally I can't think what you saw in him phillz :lol: Seriously, nice fella.

It would not be good for the tank to transport it with fish and water in it - even if you lowered the level. Too much stress on the glass. How are they travelling? In a transporter's truck? Private car? Trailer?

Since it is 30C here I might just use it as an excuse to go wading to catch them anyway :lol:

I know little about diseases in fish but I do know that when they are sick they can form extra slime for protection. Is it possible it is just the extra slime sloughing off? You have to be careful what you put on clown loaches cos they don't have scales like most fish. I am also at work so don't have access to my disease book.

Thanks for that Rob. We do have little black beetles that dive straight down in the pond and are very difficult to catch! We will make a concerted attempt to catch them all.

OK, I do believe Sunday will be spent trying to kill as many as possible. Am working today (great having Jetstream at work too) and Friday working at the wine festival all day Saturday. Oh damn, have an MX5 run on Sunday hmmm might have to be Monday's job. :roll:

A gauntlet adventurer apparently - whatever that is. Having never had any of these games the names mean nothing to me. :roll:

Just because a shop has a tank with white spot in it doesn't mean it is a bad shop. They may not have noticed it until Travis pointed it out and rightly thanked him for pointing it out. If the tanks in the shop have it, then his should have it too unless they were stressed after his were removed in which case it is quite possible that the fish he bought do not have white spot, even if the rest in the shop do. If the shop immediately took steps to treat the tank and refused to sell the fish in it, then that is quite acceptable.