Squidlet

Hi all I have in my tank 3 corydoras(1 albino, 2 julli's), 1 beautiful chocolate strip pleco and 1 angelfish. Over the last week I have noticed that my Julli cats are not as active as they used to be, they just sit there on the sand or hide, whereas my albino cory is very happy rummaging for food and has grown a lot since Ive had him. Then over the last 4 days I noticed they are both breathing very fast, had fins clamped a bit and just looking unhappy in general. Yesterday I noticed the bigger one flash a couple of times against the sand, then this morning I've noticed the smaller one flashing against the shale a lot, where as yesterday he wasn't at all. I'm worried they may have gill fluke, although I can't see anything on them that looks out of place. They get a regular water change every week, and I have a water sample I'm getting tested at my LFS for nitrates and ammonia, although the tank is fully cycled so not expecting anything there. Tank is also well oxygenated. Ive done a bit of a search and found praziquantel mentioned a lot, but no dose rates or dosing program. I have access to droncit tablets and want to start treatment as soon as possible, but don't know how much to put in or when to do a water change etc. Any advice on this? Also should I only treat the two julli's in a quarantine tank or treat the whole tank? Im concerned about how hard the chemical might be on my chocolate stripped pleco who im very attached to and I'm not sure how sensitive they are? Any advice is appreciated, thanks

Hi everyone I have a new blueplanet 54L tank setup as shown in attached photo that houses 3 corydoras and one growing angelfish. It has an internal filtration unit, 450l/hour, that is an overhead unit. There is also a bubblewall at the very back that goes all the way to other side that runs all day. The problem I think I am having is inadequate water flow to my filter as there is always particles(some quite big) floating around the tank that really destroys the look. I think there could be two reasons for this. First, the pressure from the bubble wall is constantly pushing water up and is behind the filter intake so water doesn't enter the filter as easily? The second reason I'm concerned about is the rocks interfere with water flow around the tank? Any thoughts and advice on this? I want to shift some bits around and would consider putting in a smaller bubble ball off to the side. Many Thanks

Thank you your replies, it is this tank here: http://newsteadvets.co.nz/product/fish-tanks/blue-planet-classic-aquarium-50ltr/ They don't make stands for this particular size, in fact is a discontinued line as the 70L is more popular and does have a stand available. I used to have a large blue planet tank, numerous ones actually and never had an issue with them but they were all on purpose built stands. However now after shifting flat all I want is a medium tank to put a few fish in thats going to look nice in the room Rather than polystyrene or a mat, I may go with the plywood option as livingart suggested. What width plywood should I go for here? Thanks again Want to get this set up once and right the first time

Hi everyone I am in the process of purchasing a new 50l blue planet aquarium with internal filter and light(collecting this weekend). It measures 58.5cm long and 38.5 cm deep. As I don't have the room for a stand in the room, I plan to put the tank on a solid pine set of drawers that I have had a builder check over to confirm they will support the weight. The drawers measure 80cm long by 40cm deep however they have one of those beveled edges so the actual flat surface is 38cm deep. This would leave a half cm overhang on the width but the entire length would be supported. I'm quite a paranoid person, and worried that whilst its only half a cm it my be just enough to put pressure on the seal? Is it worth worrying about (there is a black plastic frame around the entire edge of the tank but i doubt this would do much?), and if so is there anything I can do to remedy it? The drawers are brand new with the top being 32mm thick so very sturdy. There will also be a mat under the tank to stop it scratching the wood. Any advice is much appreciated.

Ok thanks for the advice guys, will see how i go with some minnows in there perhaps

Nope Ive had goldfish in planted tanks for a few years, and Ive never once had a problem with them eating them. I have Ludwigia in there currently, and haven't had to replace the plants either they grow quite well (touchwood). Bummer! I love how goldfish have character, i was desperately hoping they could live together in harmony :nilly: Thank you for your info I'll have a good read up tonight, I may have to go on a shrimp catching expedition. What other small cold water fish would be suited to a 20L tank that can live happily with shrimp? . Thanks for this I could probably make a day of it and head to castlepoint. Where would you be looking out there?

The tank is already fully planted So they arnt compatible with goldfish?

Hey everyone I bought a 21L blue planet aquarium with a light and internal filter for the desk in my room. It currently has a 5cm goldfish in it. I have heard people talking about cold water shrimp, and was wondering firstly: Will they be compatible with my goldfish, secondly: is this tank big enough for cold water shrimp AND a goldfish, and thirdly: where can you get them? I live in Masterton but am heading down to wellington on the 23rd, any idea if any pet shops along the way stock them? Any info would be great, as I don't know the name for them I can't look up any care info for them either :dunno:

Ok, I can try doing a bath with the fish in a seperate container, I'll have to go down and get some wonder tonic. Ive been doing the methylene blue direct application twice a day, and the fungus seems to have shrunk down a bit, however the skin itself is not really healing. It looks quite jagged and im just imagining how painful it must be to have it methylene blue applyed to a wound like that, so im willing to try the wunder tonic bath. Any recomendations for the concentration for the bath and how long to leave him in it for? If I remember rightly the container has directions for tank administration but not a bath treatment. I tried to upload the photos I took but the uni computers have a block on them preventing us from uploading. I'll try pick the best pic and upload it on the dial up at home. Thanks guys :bounce:

I havn't tried wunder tonic as a direct application type of treatment, only in the water. Are you suggesting to use it by applying directly? Also just to make sure we are talking about the same product, comes in a bottle with a red label and an angel fish on the front? Thanks

I'll take a picture tonight and try upload it on the uni computers. I also found a thread that said pimafix and melafix have the same effect on gouramis. There is a product called "bettafix" which is the melafix version but for labrynth fishes. But I'll try get the pic up before I do any further treatment. Alanmin: how often do you apply the methylene blue directly when you have a fungal problem? It was such a long time ago, I can't remember if it was once a day or twice a day. Thanks for you advice guys

Wow, I did not know that , thanks Graham. Any suggestion on what I can use to help the wound heal if the fungus goes away then? Does the same go for pimafix? I put pimafix in the tank this morning after I removed the carbon :facepalm: I am off to do a huge water change. I googled it and they seem to think a 90 percent water change is required. But thats an extreme amount. Im going to change 50 percent and put the carbon back in. Thank you for alerting me to this Graham, I just checked on the tank and it turns out that my healthy gourami is swaying a bit and sitting down the bottom. Crap.

Ok thats good to know 8) What kind of diseases would you use acriflavin and malachite green on directly?

Thank you for you very fast reply! I would love to post a picture however I accidentally used up all our broad band this month, so for another week we are running on dial up speed -whoopsies. Im in the middle of exams so will be returning to uni tomorrow and I can try upload a pic on the computers there. I googled pictures of the saddleback bacterial infection but I don't think it looks the same as what this fish has. My flat mate has just come home and said while I was away for 3 days she noticed my other gourami chasing him around and also saw the molly "pecking" at his side quite alot. I noticed it because just below his gill was a silver patch instead of blue (like when goldfish get stuck in something and rip their scales off.) I have seen the other gourami chase him away but I think it is more of a dominance thing because he does not hide from him now - they eat together and he has all his fins up despite his war wound. So if what she is saying is true, it could be very possible that the molly has caused this by continuously harassing him, and then like you said an opportunistic fungal infection has set in. Have you ever used a direct methylene blue treatment on a gourami before? Do you reckon I would have to reduce the time that its in contact with the fungus since gourmis can be stressy little fish? (At least everyone tells me they are a bit stressy lol) Do you think its worthwhile continuing the melafix and pimafix together, or maybe just the pimafix? Thank you!

Hey everyone A few days ago one of my new gouramis (been in the tank about 2 and a half weeks) lost a few scales on his gills on his right side. I thought he may have scraped it on something and as I had just introduced them I started a treatment of melafix. Ive been dosing with melafix the last 3 days now and noticed that it seemed to be getting bigger and spread down his side a little bit. He's still hanging out with the other fish and eating well, hiding a smaller amount but hardly noticeable from his usual behavior. I was quite perplexed as to why he was loosing more scales when last night I caught the culprit - a young black molly had him bailed in the corner and was viciously picking at the scaleless spot :facepalm: Ive noticed her following him around ever since I put him in, but I have never seen her actually attacking him like that before :dunno: Perhaps she has only been doing it since its been open, I don't know but the point of my narrative is that this morning when I got up to check on him I noticed the wound has turned slightly fungal - exactly what I was trying to avoid. Yesterday they had their usual weekly water change, and the pH is sitting at the slightly acidic side of neutral (however this is normal for this tank). I removed all the mollies so now in the tank there are two neon blue gouramis, a honey dwarf gourami, 4 bristlenose, a few albino cats and panda cats and various tetra. I removed the carbon from the filter this morning (can't believe I forgot to do it when I started treatment :facepalm:) and am now wondering what to do. I have pimafix which is safe to use with melafix at the same time but im a little unsure of how good these products actually are anymore. They use to work wonderful on my fish, but not recently. Ive also given up on wunder tonic as I have had absolutely no success with that product. I am tossing up whether to use the direct application of methylene blue while the fungus is still relatively new. I used this technique very successfully on a bristlenose who was near death which developed an intense fungal infection when it lost its front fin. It involved removing the bristlenose from the water and applying one drop of methylene blue to the fungus, waiting 5-10seconds then placing back in the water. That particular fish is now my breeding female, and one and a half years down the track has never been sick again. This really was a last ditch attempt to save the fish however, and am not sure if it is would be too stressful for this gourami than is worth. Please, any suggestions are welcome, particularly on the last technique I described. I have not done any treatments today yet.