mcmillanm

The fish are sure loving it & I feel better knowing there's extra filtration coming from both sides of the tank for them. :lol: I've got the inlet & outlet pipes in opposite sides to AR850 too but the spray bar runs along the back from the LHS. Have you got the spray bar running along the LHS of the tank rather than the back? :spop:

Hi, I thought I'd reply to this to help out others in the future who would like to add some more filtration... I rang Aqua one to ask their advice and it has worked a treat - here's what I've done... I've set it up so that I've got an inlet pipe going down in the back corners of each side of the tank, the AR850 trickle filter still working as normal (with a thin aquarium sponge cut from one of my Juwel tank sponges to quieten the (urinal) trickle sound my husband hates) a d the Aquis 1000 spray bar fed through the cords hole from the back LHS and along the back of the tank. All the pipes go to the RHS of tank and into the cabinet where the external cannister lives. Ok, to attach the inlet pipe all we had to do was measure where hole would go and starting with a small drill (and placing wood under plastic to be drilled to protect plastic and floor) made steadily larger holes until it was slightly larger than pipe diameter. We then used a hand saw to make a space for hockey stick to hang over the back without lid sticking up. Easy and now I have great filtration over entire tank. Fish are loving it too! This probably sounds obvious to some but to a non DIYer like myself and wanting to use both filters without ruining my original tank it took some thought (and a helpful husband LOL).

Hi again - can anyone who has run the existing trickle filter with an external filter help me out with advice and possibly pictures? Thanks :cofn:

Hi, I decided that my AR850 could do with some more filtration, particularly on the RHS & so I've just bought a 2nd hand Aquis 1000 off of trade me. I'm hoping to put the spray bar into the LHS of the back of the tank & run it along the back & would like to somehow put the inlet pipe into the back corner of the RHS. I'm not that much of a DIY'er and was hoping not to involve my hubby of whom I haven't yet told about my recent purchase LOL :facepalm: . I would like to continue to run the trickle filter which I've just managed to reduce the 'urinal' noise, I just think two filters will be more efficient. To cut a long story short I was hoping some people could provide me with some instructions, tools needed and pictures showing how and where on their tank they did it and the finished product. Jennifer - thanks for your instructions. I would love to see a picture when you get a chance to take one.

Not sure of LFS near you but Hollywood Fish Farm sell it. They are in Mt Roskill and Albany and also courier. Not sure about animates, you may need to ring first. HTH

I'm REALLY sorry to hear of your loss :tears: . It must be devastating to lose a pet you've loved and looked after for so long. You've also inspired me to look into getting clown loaches in the future as I keep hearing about their great personalities as it sounds like Sweety had. Thanks for that.

I've been having a similar problem with my external aqua 1000 lately too. The pipes looked a bit murky but nothing too serious. I was amazed at how much muck came out though while cleaning and the water flow is now SOO much better. :gigl: I hope it works just as well with yours! :thup:

I've had a young male platy get this but in general my female live bearers are much more succeptable to most things. I guess giving birth every few weeks gets them more run down. GL with finding an answer!

Hi, Have you tried levamisole? I've had this happen to a few of my platies & baby mollies in one of my tanks and it turned out to be worms as they got better after being treated with this. HTH!

I have also used aviverm successfully. It is safe and You can find dosage from loaches online. Birdbarn in Henderson have it (although not in fish section) and they will post it quite cheaply if you don't live near there like me LOL! GL!

Hi, I find using plastic breeding matting weighted down with an ornament a whole less stressful as well as more natural and less work for you than the breeding boxes. HTH

You can order Furan-2 online from Hollywood fish farm or drive out and pick some up from HFF in Mt Roskil. Hope this helps you and your fish.

Thanks for the info cricketman. I've been doing some More searches and looking at pictures online in the meantime too. I think I may have an outbreak of velvet in my tanks, a severe one in my older tank and a slight one in my newer tank from transferring fish over at various times. On looking at my Molly fish who happen to be speckly anyway they seem to have patches of dull grey on them. Also, my Cory in the other tank has Greyish white patches on him too which are more noticeable against his colour. Until now I thought it was fungus & told to treat him with meth blue but when I took him out to treat I could only see a greenish sheen so now I think velvet. Off to get some meth green to go with formalin at 1/2 strength due to loaches. Thanks again and PLEASE let this be the end of it!!

Sorry about the above essay but if anyone can clear things up. The Boesemanis seemed to have red gills ( but maybe they do naturally?) but they aren't liking something about my tank. The breeder said his are fine. Im getting scared to look at my tanks not to mention the waste of money on what I hoped would be my feature fish in that tank... Def not getting any more fish for a while. &c:ry

Yeah, I've felt things aren't quite right for awhile but it's the odd fish here and there, often those which are already a bit weaker ie: the fish down the bottom is a female sword whose pregnant or had a few babies so I guess her immune system would be down. The neons have a wee bit of fin rot and a white spot at the end of their fin and some look a bit discoloured. I just can't definitively work out exactly what it is. Adding heat and a bit of formalin and white spot treatment at half strength seemed to help some fish a while back but even though I REALLY want to fix it I don't want to keep putting my fish through 'maybe' medications. I still haven't tried salt because of my loaches and Sterbai who so far have been fine but maybe that's a start. Am in process of getting a hospital tank. With a hospital tank, I'm looking at a small 20 or so litre and a 25watt heater - what sort of (quiet and cheap) filter should I be looking for? One other thing - in my other tank whereby I moved the fish from a smaller tank to a bigger one I've also just had a couple of issues. Firstly, one of my bronze Corys who acts happily enough has what I thought was fungus and treated unsuccessfully with furan-2 & meth blue drops as instructed by pet shop. I thought he mAy have been stressed as old tank was a bit overcrowded but now think it may be a slime coat thing too... When I lifted him out of water I couldn't see any sign of whitish patch - ideas? Lastly, I added 4 young boesemani rainbow fish on Mon and 3 have died since then. Water parameters were fine in Tues when I tested after npricing they looked quiet. Other fish seem fine.

BTW - I use prime, is that similar to the stress coat you mentioned?

Hi What does loss of slime coat look like? The fish that's often on bottom of tank occasionally swims about a bit erratically then back to bottom gasping. A couple of fish have a slight greyish patch on them. Not fungus I think but some kind of discoloration patch? My flying foxes look fine but keep flashing? Does this sound like flukes? I have formalin which I've used before at half strength (because of loaches) if needed. My dwarf cichlids which o thought were succeptabke to flukes seem ok although a little quiet. Thanks

Hi again, I just did a 15% water change, added prime, removed some excess plant growth and some of my fish seem to be flashing more than before the water change! They do seem to be flashing more again lately but I'm concerned that they seem to get worse after a water change. I've also got a couple of fish, a female sword and a female Mollie who are lethargic and hang near the bottom of the tank. I'm really OVER worrying about my fish all the time... Could it be the tap water or some sort of parasite? As always my neons look a bit wretched but water parameters ok. Any help appreciated.

Absolutely stunning, it must be a real distraction whenever you walk into the room LOL! :love:

Went to HFF in Mt Roskill this afternoon and picked up a gorgeous dwarf neon red to go with my dwarf blue. Was told they can be territorial so will see how these two get on before adding another one of each in the future... They had quite a few of these there though as well as some dwarf chocolates and honeys I also saw some silver tipped tetras which I may get 10 of in the future for their schooling/shoaling nature - they looked stunning and aren't known as fin muppets as the blue cochues can be. Will have to get the hang of photo bucket so that I can post some pics

Hmm, I wonder if the Auckland water board will reimburse me for two fish?? :digH: Is there any way to check chlorine levels before doing a water change and is it ok to add more prime than recommended to combat this in the future? Cheers :roey:

They are in bottom of filter so were only taken out to quickly rinse and refill canister. Prior to this in my naivety I used to rinse everything in hot water and never had this though. Some of the fish were flashing after I put in fresh water today though... Inused Prime but could chlorine levels be high for some reason?

It was a couple of weeks ago now so hopefully not... Thanks for theory though.

I just rang HFF in Mt Roskill and he said he had plenty of dwarf neon reds in stock - phew. :nfs:

I've also turned off the lights and won't feed them tonight to hopefully help lessen ammonia levels.