mcmillanm

Bummer!

Hi, I've had a sick young male sword who I thought had been a bit bashed by another of the males so didn't worry much and just added some melafix. He was a bit red around the fills, breathing a bit fast and had a little red patch on his side ( which I thought was a wound). Today though one of my male dwarf rainbows was hanging at the top of the tank with his colours looking dull and a small whitish patch on ts side. Not fuzzy or anything, just looked white. I tested the water and everything was fine except for ammonia which was light green instead of yellow. I know this is toxic even in small doses but I don't know why it spiked. I cleaned the external filter on Mon but didn't touch bio balls and rinsed bits in tank water. I've only added one new fish this week, a female swordtail and in fact have taken a lot of fish out as I've bought another tank. I do two 20% or so water changes a week (last one Monday) but do seem to have a bit of plant matter to vacuum up each time. I moved my wood and ornaments today to get anything that might be stuck. My pH was quite high as I add oyster grit to make the very soft water a bit harder. Today I did a 25% water change, took out grit and added a nitrazorb, added some powder to lower pH & added 20mls pimafix (in case whit spot is fungal?). My sword has just died and the rainbow is now on bottom with head down, rather than on top. I'll do another water change tomorrow but what I can't understand is why it would be in an established tank when I did a water change Mon??? Any ideas?

Oops, I meant hopefully the gourami's will be ok with quick rainbows & maybe blue conchu's. :gigl:

Thanks Sophia & Phoenix, I found the gorgeous little gourami's on page 28 & in the meantime got sidetracked reading about a whole lot of other stuff LOL... Phoenix - did your gourami's bash each other up or get along just fine? Getting a red flame dwarf to go with my blue may be a plan - hopefully they will be ok with 2 pairs of quick gouramis... Another idea I have for the future is a team of 6-8 blue conchu tetras - has anyone had any experience with these & think they will be ok with gourami's, ottos, Corys, rainbows & a few platys? Or another type of schooling tetra for mid to top levels that would look effective on dark gravel & plants? :cofn: Cheers & thanks for the ideas...

Cheers, I got my dwarf rainbows in my other tank from him so emailed him last night and am going to buy his last two pairs - yay! :happy2:

Hi, Thanks for ideas :slfg: I think I've just decided to add two pairs of boesemani rainbow fish as they are both stunning to look at and peaceful LOL. I have two dwarf pairs in my other tank and they are lovely, showing off their colours all the time. Will let you know how I get on. :thup:

Hi Sophia, These are cool looking little fish :nfs: . Do they eat any dried food or just live food? Do you think they would be happy sharing the bottom levels with some chain and striata loaches and some Corys? Thanks

Thanks Ismart, I may loil into getting a couple more as they have great personalities too. Hmm, to get more of the same (I have a gorgeous sparkling blue dwarf one) or a couple of other colours... Will have to see who grabs my eye at the LFS next time I get there. :lol:

I never have as my scaleless fish (loaches & Corys) don't like salt. If ever they are under the weather I give them a salt bath though. On saying that when I bought mine 18 months ago there was no sign about needing salt...

Have you got them in a breeding box or just free swimming in the tank? If they are tiny & in a breeding box you can feed them liquifry no2 from pet shop. I feed my live bearer fry this in a breeder box so grown ups don't eat them 3 times a day for first few days and then move onto powdered flakes in the morning, liquifry at lunch time and ground tropical granules at night until they are big enough not to be eaten by other fish. If they are in the main tank though I just have a breeding mat for them to hide under and they just eat what they can get as well as algae etc. HTH

Thanks Ismart, I forgot to mention that I already have a dwarf blue gourami in there which I got as a feature fish for my previous 'fry' tank. I was told that gourami's prefer to be alone in a tank - is a 165L big enough for two of them? Cheers

Hi, I've set up my new tank which is an Aqua 850 165L tank and all it's inhabitants seem to be doing fine so far. At the moment it contains platys, chain & striata loaches, some albino, bronze and emerald (a result of my bronze & albinos getting together?), a golden bristle nose & 4 Otto cats. I'm also going to transfer some rummy noses and black neons in the next few days. I'm thinking of selling my platys in the next few weeks when everything is settled & wanted some ideas of what fish may go well in there. I originally thought angelfish but now not so sure... I've Lready got mollies, swordtails, dwarf rainbows & a pair of butterfly cichlids (which are all lovely) in my other tank. I also thought about discus but not sure if tank is big enough or that I'm experienced enough for such expensive fish :roey: . I also intend to take a trip down to HFF in the near future to have a bit of a chat and a look. Thanks

Aha - the quote button, obvious when one points it out. Thanks

"Why add cycle when you had a cycled tank to take media from? It would be a waste of time/money, and when you transfer the media you need to transfer the fish at the same time otherwise the bacteria can die off due to lack of food (ammonia)." Not sure how to copy and paste properly LOL - I fell for the 'cycle' talk from the pet shop when I first started keeping tropical fish 18 months ago & only recently found out I didn't need it... Now I have a large container of it sitting around & I just figured it could only help the process. I've already wasted the money :roey: . Thanks for your advice.

Thanks, I think I'll just add some cycle and watch and wait today then and see what it's doing tomorrow.

Cheers Sophia, I did start yesterday afternoon as I'm impatient/excited too. :slfg: I'm going to add the rest of my substrate this afternoon when I clean the tank with the water that's left in there & I've just tested the water with the results being: pH: around 7, Ammonia around 0 or very slightly above, Nitrite is around 25 Nitrate around 5. I know that even though I used filter media, water & substrate from my old tank that it still needs to cycle but with nitrite at 25ish should I do a water change or add some cycle? Thanks for your help!

Hi, I've got the new tank - yay! So far I've added: half of my substrate, half of previous owners substrate, My ceramic noodles & wool from old tank, some of the ornaments and plants, filled it with water at approx right temp, Some prime & cycle. Can I start acclimatising some of the fish now or wait until tomorrow? Cheers :cofn:

Sorry to hear about your clown loaches and GL with not losing any more!

The blue background looks great, almost the same colour as the splashback in my kitchen which I got to remind me of the ocean LOL. how long does it need to be cycled before you start adding fish?

Hi, the 850 does have it's own filter which is incorporated into the lid but I thought I would use my ceramic balls from my current tank and maybe even the gunky wool? to help keep the bacteria going and add some cycle. Re the substrate: the guy who is selling me the tank is taking his fish out and cleaning it as I type. I was going to mostly use the substrate from his tank and top up with mine but maybe I should do it in the opposite order and use his to top up with? Also, should his substrate be safe to use? Should I rinse this at home even though it was in his tank today? Thanks for advice everyone :thup:

Hi, As my husband refused to let me have a third tank in our lounge (reckons I spend far too much time on my fish already :gigl: ) I have instead decided to trade my smaller 67L tank for an aqua 850 165L tank. My initial reason for this was to get some angels or some sort of fish that may not work in my community tank. In the meantime though I'm just going to divide my fish from both tanks so that they are less crowded. I'm picking up the new tank tomorrow and when I get it will of course wash the pebbles and put in all the ceramic noodles from my old tank. What else can I do to ensure the tank stays cycled? Thanks for your replies :spop:

Thanks Caryl, That's what I've been told at a couple of fish shops :spop: .

Hi, someone else may be able to confirm but I don't think it's healthy to feed blood worms every day. I think it is supposed to be too high in protein and best for the occasional snack. I feed blood worms once a week. (this is just what I've been told though) - can anyone confirm or let me know if this is wrong? Cheers

I've got a pair of dwarf butterfly ram cichlids which I adore. They may be a great addition and have great personality if there's room :roey: .

Re: caudal fin - meant to be head to caudal fin sorry, my mistake :gigl: . I did wonder about the size as I couldn't find any info on dwarfs online. At 7 months would they be almost fully grown and if they are in fact stunted would they be healthy? Questions, questions sorry... Also, am after a tank with built in filters and a stand, not just a tank thanks Liam. Has anyone had any experience with a hexagon shaped taller tank for a different look? Thanks for your thoughts everyone - I may need to reconsider the angel thing, these just looked pretty and a bit different to what I have...