fishplants

Uv filter will fix the symptoms, if a relatively new tank then it will likely not come back as the tank matures and finds a balance. I wouldn't turn off the lights and black out the tank (unless you don't have plants?). Very frequent water changes will also reduce the quantity of algae while you have the UV running.

Assuming the dosage of praziquantel was sufficient, that should have taken care of any gill flukes. But without further information I am just speculating.

Sorry to hear about your lost fish, and the condition of the others. I would agree with the others, you need to change the water more frequently especially while the fish are sick. There is lots of information you haven't provided - like do you use aged water/treat with water conditioner? How long have the discus been in the tank? What dosage of Prazi did you do? Are the fish pooing? What colour is the poo? Are the fish eating? Do the fish lie on their sides only at night? Otherwise, Metronidazole (Trichozole vet only) is a good option to try, as is Levamisole (Aviverm available over the counter). BTW, Hole-in-the-head is more attributable to nutritional deficiencies, which may be due to hex, or lack of nutrients in their food. There is no 100% correlation proved. I hope this helps. Good luck

One of my Discus pairs always :facepalm: spawn on the filter intake pipe, in a planted community tank. They did this 5-6 times and the eggs would always disappear on the second night. Their behaviour then changed, becoming far more protective and aggressive towards the other tank members (Discus, loaches etc) when they had eggs. On that particular spawn (mid April) they produced wrigglers and then free-swimmers, they got eaten by the big bad filter though! Since that successful mid April spawn I have divided off the tank, and they have produced one unsuccessful batch and two successful batches, still spawning on the filter intake (now with pantyhose over the inlet) and on a timer. Long story short, leave them in the current tank and let them develop their bond and protective skills, and hope they are a viable pair. IMHO 60 litres is not too small for a breeding tank, as long as you maintain a solid water change regime. One of the most successful hobbyist breeders I know breeds in tanks of 50-60 litres.

18 months old is not old, I know some have success with fish as young as 12 months, but more often they do not have much success until they are 24 months old.

Regards the reduced Fluval flow, have a look at the hoses between filter and tank - especially the intake hose. The ribs on the fluval hoses are very good at holding all manner of food/algae/plant material. I normally remove from the tank and filter and blast them with the garden hose stuck in one end. You will be amazed at the crap that comes out! The reduction in internal diameter due to detritus will cause a massive reduction in flow.

As others have said, the first thing you need to do is to detemine if you do have a male and a female and that they are paired up. The first is relatively easy, the second not so. If there is only one fish making passes over the spawning surface, and eggs are appearing behind it, quite obviously that is a female. If there is a second fish passing over the surface, it could be a female or a male. You need to have a look at the breeding tubes (which will often be extended some time before and after the actual act of egg laying). The females breeding tube is a cylinder, the males is smaller and more pointed. If the fish are young (how young?), it would not hurt to leave them in the community tank, in fact, this can be quite beneficial as it can strengthen their bond and teach them how to protect their spawn. I have a pair that ate their eggs on the second night, every time. I introduced a small male into their breeding tank and the pairs' next spawn was successful. If the fish are young, and you are unsure if there is even a pair, I would just leave them to it and see what happens. Some pairs just need lots of practice. Hope that helps.

You are right, there isn't much unpolluted water, or rivers at all, in and around Christchurch. However, there used to be a lot of shrimp in the Selwyn just below the upper huts, although it has been quite a few years since I was there.......

All of Central Canterbury's water is sourced from underground aquifers - the same stuff NZer's (including Canterbury folk :facepalm: ) buy in the bottles. Funnily enough, Christchurch cannot receive the highest water quality rating because no chemicals are added! The water is extremely pure, apart from the ever increasing amount of nitrates from the ever increasing number of dairy farms. :an!gry

Shell Templeton is operating. But not BP Rolleston (emergency services only).

Hi all, unlike the September 'quake, we have suffered no damage at all. If anyone needs any fish rehomed, I have plenty of tank space. I have three tanks at about 6.4ph, and three at about 7.2ph. oh2seven4nine1triple 6 eight is my mobile number. Take care Canterbury.

Power out to most of city. Can't connect to Alan, if he has cordless phone only then won't receive calls. Have got hold of Jennifer and she is ok.

Hi Phantom, sorry to hear about yor fish deaths. With regards to your tapwater hardness, I believe the hardness level you are seeing is fairly typical for central Canterbury, where tapwater is untreated artesian supply. I live in Rolleston and my hardness levels are identical to yours. When I lived in Linwood they were also the same. My TDS in Rolleston is in the low 70's ppm. The only thing I can suggest is to ring the council and ask them if they have changed bores/done any renovations or modifications to pipework or storage tanks/started treating the water with chlorine etc. I think there was another thread recently where someone was asking about the ChCh water supply and it's quality post-earthquake. cheers

I have the same issue with 10 Blue Diamonds I bought. Six of them are growing very well, 3 not so well, and one not at all! I took the small (runt) one out and put it in a 35l QT by itself and it put on 0.75cm in one month, feeding high protein foods as well as flake/Colorbits etc. Water changes only twice a week. Unfortunately I needed the QT for a sick fish so he ended up back with his siblings, and now he is not growing again. Am going to move him and one of the other smaller fish into the QT again.

It is a very attractive plant KP. I hope you can convince it to propagate naturally (or with the assistance of Barry White). If it does, keep me in mind :lol: Alan doesn't need any more swords, the number he has is already unnatural! :lol: :lol: Although, if you don't have any luck propagating it, I don't know anybody better able to do it for you.

Zayne, I had power out on my tanks, sized 220 litres to 30 litres, for over 12 hours on the day of the earthquake (September 4). Every tank contained discus and there was also a mix of Cardinals, Hatchets, several types of loaches, whiptails etc. I covered the tanks with duvets, towels, blankets etc (didn't know how long we might be without power), and the temp only dropped 1.5 degrees in the big tanks and 3 degrees in the little tank (which contained 14 baby/juvenile discus - refugees from a smashed tank). Once the power came on I just removed the temporary insulation, and left everything as is. Did consider flushing the filters but we had sewage (sp?) in our water so couldn't risk reducing the water levels in the tanks any further than the earthquake had. Apart from the discus being extremely skittish, all inhabitants were fine - well, except for the one young discus that spent too long in the back of the wardrobe.

It is a shame that you were unable to take the post in the good humour in which it was intended. Smilies are a way of making it clear to the reader that the preceding sentence or paragraph was meant in jest. If one must add a disclaimer at the end of each light-hearted dig, along the lines of 'please note the preceding words are intended to be received in a manner that provides mirth to the reader, and no offence is intended whatsoever', then we are taking ourselves too seriously and need to have some fun. Also, I didn't think that abusive and foul words, such as the two you have used, were allowed on this forum, no matter how jumbled the letters are (or not in the case of the word sixth from the end), especially when the first word is aimed at another member? Edit: My apologies if anyone was offended by me quoting the very words I was complaining about, from Bishops post. I had a bit of a blonde moment, and being blonde I have a few of those!

Really depends on how vigorous the 'nosing' is. If the 'aggressor' is biting the other fish then I would definitely says that is aggression, and not courtship related. If it is a gentle nudge, then it is likely there is some affection going on. In the spirit of correcting all and sundry - Bishop, 'comma' does not have one 'm', it has two. 'Coma' is a type of condition usually associated with a patient in hospital that is alive but unresponsive, similiar to someone on Sunday after a big night on Saturday! :lol: :lol:

Hi Zayne, If they are a confirmed pair (ie produced fry), and have successfully raised a/mulitple batches of good numbers of fry, then $400-$500 may be reasonable. If they are recently paired and/or have laid one or two unsuccessful batches, then paying much less would be reasonable, say $200-$350. Worth a bit more too if the peppering is non existent/minimal. Most Marlboro Reds I have seen have minimal peppering. Shape/colour is genetic so this is also important. Hope that helps.

I have three Striata (Zebra) loaches in one tank that was becoming infested with snails, those lazy bu**ers weren't interested in doing their job, it was way too easy to eat all the food the discus missed! :lol: I put one small 3.5-4cm Angelicus Loach in and within a couple of weeks he had knocked the population down to barely noticeable. He quite happily cruises around with the Striata, although they don't appear to have learnt anything from him! The Angelicus Loaches in my other planted tank keep that devoid of snails too, although there are plenty living in the cannister filter. Angelicus Loaches are very slow growing, even slower than Clown Loaches, and don't get as big either.

Can the daphnia be killed by temeperatures that are too high? I always thought that the more sun = more algae = better? But, I recently had a nice algae filled bucket of daphnia die, and this bucket had quite a lot of sun during the middle of the day now that I think about it. I didn't know what killed them. Is it best to have the bucket on the shady side of the house, as Zev does? Some sun or no sun, during summer? Thanks

Would be nice just to see a list here in NZ that we could order from! I would pay some of those prices (dependent on quality), although €250 would be a bit of a stretch!

Vervo, I have two grow-out tanks at the moment, one has 100 litres of water (and 7 young discus) in it and the other has 120 litres (and 10 young discus). Both are bare bottomed, no plants. There is no worrying bullying in either tank. 40% water change on each tank every 2nd day. Sometimes you find fish that are just mean/bossy - they may get over it, they may not. The best thing I have found for curbing the aggressive nature of young discus is to add an adult - it has an amazing calming influence on the youngsters. But then you have tank size issues etc etc - you never win!

My Golden Red Melons spawned last week and the female did all the fanning and hardly let the male near the eggs. Two of my Blue Turqs spawned yesterday (very unexpectedly - she had only been in the tank 8 days!) while I was at work and the male is doing almost all the fanning and not letting the female near them! As for sexing them, the absolute best way to tell is to watch them in the act. The females breeding tube is very wide and ends bluntly, much like a cylinder. The males breeding tube ends in quite a sharp point and is overall smaller than the females. Once they have finished spawning the tubes will still be partially visible (the females especially), just behind the anal vent. BTW, stunning looking fish! Good luck.

Yeah, Hatchets go bananas when they see a moth or fly struggling on the surface. I do pull the wings off the larger moths as the wings are waterproof and the Hachets can struggle to swallow them - but they give them up for no-one! Quite funny watching a Hatchet tear around the tank with Cardinals and other Hatchets in hot pursuit (almost as funny as watching a grown man prancing around catching moths with his bare hands..... ).