Pegasus

Hi Ormali, You were asking in the Welcome section... Stress has got to be the number one killer of fish, and it can bring on a number of things that makes your fish sick... among which is White Spot... which tends to show up before other probs. Even fish fighting or hassling for territory or a paticular space can cause stress that can lead to probs. The change in conditions and water quality can also cause it, but fortunately WS is curable... and take heart.... even the experts get it from time to time. BTW: White Spot spreads like the plague.. so take VERY great care if you have other tanks not to spread it around, as even a wet finger or implement can transfer it. See here for the cycle of WS. http://www.homepages.paradise.net.nz/gr ... 0cycle.htm Bill.

Hi Scoobyjene, Don't nind Alan... he does like his bit of humour Sounds like the Goldies are a bit run down. First thing to suggest is a good partial water change.. perhaps 30%. Don't know if "you" are doing this, or the "teachers"... but a short ten minute salt bath may perk them up a bit. Use a two litre container and thoroughly mix two heaped teaspoons of sea salt in it. Sea salt can be bought at the supermarket (blue bag).. for a few dollars. Once mixed, place the fish in the container and leave for around ten minutes. Watch the fish all the time for signs of undue stress, and if this happens, remove the fish, but it should be fine. Repeat this treatment (fresh mixture).. every day for three days or so and you should see some results. What this salt bath does is it flushes the old mucus from the fish.. (the protective coating).. and allows rapid growth of a new layer of mucus. It will also help to clear the bowels of the fish, as it may be slightly constipated. Basically this mucus layer breaks down as the fish becomes unwell.. so it needs replacing. The salt bath can't do any harm... even if you overdose slightly... so don't be too concerned. Food... As Alan suggested.. shelled boiled peas would be good... but remove any uneaten ones after about 15mins. A bit of live food (if you can get some) would be good.. Mosquito larva.. Daphnia.. White Worm.. etc. The kids might like to go on a Mosquito Larva hunt. Usually any still water area holds them.. from old buckets to baths.. to ditches. Hope they come right

Welcome to the NZ Fishroom Ormali. I've been at this hobby more years than I care to remember, but I can safely say that 85% of all white spot cases within a few days of buying fish, are caused by the owner... not by the store. You say: It seems your larger tank has not been set up long, and possibly the stress of transferring the fish may have caused the outbreak of WS... or the (seemingly) rapid growth in your fish stocks. If the Betta has only just been bought and then contracted it, then chances are the change of environment has brought it on. Hope we can guide you through your probs, Regards, Bill.

Spooky said: The Pleco (Plecostomus).. is one of the best algae removers around. There are "Catfish"... and there are "Catfish".. Some will tend to remove "certain types" of algae.. whereas others won't touch it. The same goes for "Algae".. there are so many types, and there are few (if any) Catfish that will remove all types. Last week I dropped one of my larger Plecos into a four footer that was so green with algae I couldn't see the back of the tank. The tank gets a fair bit of bright daylight, but I like it that way 24hrs later there were just a few patches of algae left and the tank was crystal clear. Had this been blue/black/ or brown algae, then the big fella probably wouldn't have done such a good job... but it was fresh green algae.. so it went pretty quick. Hair algae is one that is particularly hard to erradicate.. so the story is... "Don't let the algae get out of hand.. and if it "does".. then get the right Cat for the job" Also remember to "feed" your catfish, and not just rely on the scraps that other fish have left. Bill.

Hi Caper, If you are "still" hungry for some reading material, try aquarticles.com in Canada. I believe there's a list .. plus write-ups of the local stores in the Vancouver area. Couple of links here might help. http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/peo ... index.html http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/tra ... r_Map.html Oopss.. Just had a look at the map. Might be a bit off the beaten track for you to go there. Bill.

Funny... but before I learned to dive I was scared to death of what was lurking beneath the waves, but you get to a point where they can drop you out of sight of land with no probs (once you get used to it) People always ask... "Oooo.. arn't you afraid of sharks..? " In around 20yrs of diving I would say I've only seen around four. No fear whatsoever of deep dark caves... but hey... I'm not too keen on night diving. We were in the B.O. Islands doing a bit of cave diving and grabbing a few crays on the way. There were five of us, and one guy was engrossed in digging this cray from one of the crevises on a rock face. Suddenly a three metre shark came around, and four of us hit the deck and layed still.. but this guy continued his quest for the cray he had spotted. The shark went up behind him and thumped his shoulder... but the guy thought it was one of us, so he thrashed out with his elbow and hit the shark on the nose. It swam off... did a small circle... then returned to repeat what it had done. We could do nothing.. but stayed grouped together as we watched. Three times the shark violently nudged this guys shoulder... and three times it swam off after "getting the elbow" ... then eventually it swam off and disappeared. Moments later the guy turned around clutching this huge packhorse and headed up for the boat. We followed, and told him the story. He turned drip white and collapsed on the floor of the boat and was STILL shaking after we made land an hour later. On another dive for a Preservation Society we lifted an old eighty foot Scow off the bottom of.... another story Come on guys... this is interesting.

Can anyone ID this plant. Grows like mad in cold or warm water. Thanks, Bill.

Used to do a number of years back. Deepest dive was 150 feet at the Sugar Loaf off the Poor Nights. Nursery Cove at the Poor Nights is a great place for the beginner to view some fantastic NZ fishlife. Main interests were in Wreck diving and underwater caves Goat Island is also a great spot to learn, with heaps to see and explore. So what places have you all dived..? Bill.

Deal is concluded.. but thanks RnB...

Ha ha... No probs... you're part of the family now.. Great to have you join us. Really good when you find a place you feel comfortable and at home in, and even though you are in Canada, we all have the same interests, so we hope you will stick around and keep us company Bill.

Pic is here if you are interested http://www.homepages.paradise.net.nz/grumpygr/Power.htm Bill.

I have one that I recently advertised on the Trading section, but it seems to have been lost off the end of the list. Email me if you are interested and I'll get a pic off to you. Bill.

Man you have "REALLY" got it bad It seems that when you first get new fish that you don't "really" notice all the details, but after a while you tend to "observe" them more closely, which give you a better impression of what size and such that they really are. Bill

Errr... I think you had best look at where Conaquavict is located David Might be a "bit" of a long trip for the little fellas . OOhh.. Sorry... just saw your edit Bill.

Hi Shelley, Just reading through some of your posts. I would say that the cucumber was the start of your probs, as if left too long it will cloud the water very quickly. I also notice that you tend to be cleaning your filter quite often, as you mentioned you were surprised to see how dirty it was. It's supposed to be dirty... and cleaning it too often will kill off the bacteria it is meant to hold. If you want a "quick fix" to your cloudy water, then beg, borrow, or steal the dirtiest old filter you can from an "established" tank. An old corner filter, (older the better).. or a sponge type will do, as long as it is gungy and from an established tank. A filter of this type will hold vast amounts of the beneficial bacteria that is needed to combat the bad bacteria that is possibly causing your tank to be cloudy. Keep up with the water changes, and if you can get a filter as above, your water should clear within a day or so. You don't mention your feeding schedule... or if you have any live plants. Feed only what the fish will consume in five minutes or so, and the plants will help with your other probs. Don't be "too" concerned about the pH... it's within safe limits. Also.... "Don't fret so much"... calm down and try to stop having everything "By the book" so to speak. The water changes should bring your Nitrite/Nitrate/Ammonia levels down, but try to replace the water with some of the same temp to avoid stress. Chopping and changing things or adding this and that will give you an ulcer... so work on one prob at a time and try to keep track of what you are doing by keeping a few notes. Also check behind/under any rocks or ornaments to see that there isn't any decaying cucumber there.. or dead fish... you never know. Regards, Bill.

This should help... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=2406

Hi Davyjey, Glad you found the NZ Fishroom... welcome. Hope you find lots of interest here Bill.

Hi Heni, Welcome to the NZ Fishroom. Pretty confusing all this tech stuff... but you will soon get the hang of it. The shop possibly told you to leave it a week in order to see that things were going as they should... temp.. filters etc Look forward to your posts. Bill.

But you only have ONE... :) Nice pics BTW.. Are those Scottish Highland Cattle..? Only half the pic is showing. Bill.

Hi Jane, You can't make a Rolls Royce from two Morris Minors If you have a decent male and a sturdy looking female, then you may get some good looking fish, but if you are after a particular trait that is NOT present in the fish you have (that particular gene is missing).. then no amount of breeding will produce it.. Breeders have devoted their lifetimes trying to create a particular feature, so there are no short cuts in perfecting a new strain or desired feature you are looking for, so what I am saying in the above is that if you can start off with "something" that resembles what you are looking for, then half the battle is over. The article.. (when published) explains a little about selective breeding . Cees also has an article in the Articles Section on the FNZAS site.. (Click on the twin fish at the top of this page) Regards, Bill.

Hi Shelly, Do as above.... Use a Coke bottle with the bottom removed. Drill a hole in the cap so that you can push an airline into the hole. The airline should be a tight sealed fit. Add a small airstone. Fill to around 40mm from the top with clean water. Add two and a half heaped table spoons of sea salt (The cheap stuff from the super market works fine.. just make sure it is sea salt). Add a half a teaspoon of Baking Soda.. (NOT Baking Powder) Aerate until fully mixed. Suspend the bottle in a tank.. or place somewhere warm. Eggs will hatch in 18 to 24hrs at 80F Add a half teaspoon of eggs and aerate enough to keep the eggs in suspention. To harvest... Stop the air... let them settle for ten minutes.... The LIVE shrimp are at the bottom... the SHELLS are at the top. Don't feed the shells. You can easily see the shrimp if you shine a light at the base of the bottle. I just remove the airline from the pump... lower the line below the bottle and allow the shrimp to drain into a strainer then feed direct. Some rinse them... I never bother. Bill.

Hi Jane, This is an extract from an article I am writing for the NZ Poecilia Newsletter, which hopefully might get distributed this month. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gene Selection. Pretty confusing stuff all this, but let's try to look at it in simple terms. Imagine we have two jars of marbles of all different colours. Now imagine that each of these marbles is a gene. We have one jar for the male, and one for the female. Now looking at all these pretty colours we might not like some of them, but there may be a few we do like, and many will look alike in both jars, but the problem is, how do we sort them out. Now if the two jars represented fish that came from a fixed line of fish, we would see a distinct pattern, where most of the marbles in both jars were of a similar colour, but if the fish were not related, or from different lines, then the colours would be all random, with no sequence. Don't confuse the reference to the marble colour with the colour of the fish, as each gene (marble) represents a certain feature that the fish may hold... eg: Size, Vigour, Tail size, Dorsal size, Colour variation and so forth. If we now mix the two jars together.. (breed the fish).. then we have scrambled all the genes up and made the task of sorting them out even harder, however, if the fish were related or from a fixed line, we would possibly get more of the colours we are looking for, rather than a completely scattered gene pool. We can see by the above that starting off with fish of a known background will give you a better start, than two randomly selected unrelated fish. Selecting a couple of fish from a local LFS fishtank and hoping they will breed true will just not happen, so obtain your starting stock from a reputable breeder if possible. By having two similar jars of marbles (fish) in the beginning, then the gene pool is not so mixed up, and we have a better chance of seeing the genes that we want to appear in our future broods. If we reach a point where the only option is to use another un-related fish from another line because we are not getting the results we want after extensive trials and breedings, then you should only select the new blood (outcross) from a line of fish that most closely resembles the one you are working on. Failure in doing this will be like taking your two jars of marbles and mixing them all together once more... in other words, you “could†be back to square one. A crossing from another unrelated source will produce what are termed as a Hybrid, and the first generation of this brood will be known as F1, with subsequent generations being F2.. F3 and so on.. ... Continues in the article... http://poecilia.net.nz/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill.

I STRONGLY protest at the use of the title for this topic. Seeing this on the forums for a newcomer would indicate the demise of the FNZAS and possibly detract them from joining a local club. VERY poor choice of title in my estimation. No disrespect meant Mitch... but the FNZAS was running long before you became a member, and by the look of how new clubs are forming in recent times, it will continue to LIVE for another fifty years. BIll.

Travis said: You could be in for some probs.. like White Spot. You also need to lower the temp "very slowly" over several days to around 27 to 28C. Bill.

Hi Danioboy, Three tanks and another on the way... You have the bug.. but we all have that prob Welcome to the forums. Bill.