Squidlet

Ok thanks for the hints Get it now while its still small haha

Ok so I have bought some flourish excel today, but am slightly confused by the directions. It says: On initial use or after a major water change, use 1 capful (5ml) for every 40L. Thereafter use 1 capful for every 200L daily or every other day. Dosing may be slowely increased in high growth aquarims. DO NOT OVER DOSE. Do you have to use flourish every day to get rid of black beard algae and what will happen if you stop using it? In a week I'm going away for 3 weeks and my flat mate will be feeding my fish, but I can't expect her to dose my tanks with flourish also. Would I better waiting until I get back to start using it? I have a 40L and a 75L, so the daily or every other day dosing would be 1ml for the 40L and 2m for the 75L. I would be interested to know how other people use it Thanks!

Ok great thanks Simon!!

Did you find that you had an increase in other types of algae when you used flourish? This is what I have been told but would prefer to hear from someone who has used it

Hey everyone A little while ago I had some java fern that grew black beard algae on it. I took it out and soaked it in a bleach solution before putting it back in and the algae disappeared. Its now about 6 weeks later and my plants were doing really well, except I have notice this last week it seems to be coming back in little tuffs. Now it is growing on my driftwood and on the glass and filter outlet. There are small amounts appearing everywhere. The only change I've made is in the last two weeks I haven't used plant fertilizer (nutrafin plantgro), as the bottle smelt really sour and there appeared to be white particles in it? Unsure why as its not out of date but I thought it would be safer to get a new bottle but haven't been able to get down to animates. Now that I have had black beard will it always be there? My tanks are not big enough for a siamese algae eater so can't put them in, and I have millions of baby bristlenoses who won't touch it :facepalm: My other plants have a small amount of standard green algae or diatamos growing on them but otherwise still look good and healthy. Any suggestions for getting rid of it?

Thank you very much for your help and advice guys, it is greatly appreciated

Today I went down to the pet shop and bought second nets, scrubbers etc, and now have separate things for both my tanks. Its interesting that we always advise and are advised to keep stuff separate, but personally it has taken illness in my own tanks to actually make me do it :tears: Now I just hope my fish don't die because of it. The main thing concerning me about the furan 2, is that it says to use in a well ventilated area or outside, and my bedroom is defiantly not what I would class as well ventilated. My hospital tank is only 20l, which means Id have to divide the furan2 sachets in half for each treatment, which would mean more dust aerosol directly into my bedroom to breathe in. I'm the worlds biggest worry wart unfortunately. :nilly:

Ok thank you Personally I am a little bit hesitant with using furan 2, wish there was a safer product out ther.

It seems at the moment I am forever posting in the disease section this last week, I apologize but I could really use some help again. As many of you would have seen, Ive had issues with my black molly having a fungal spot behind her eye that refuses to budge. She was originally treated with salt, pimafix and melafix. After that had no effect she was treated with a cycle of wunder tonic which also did not help. On closer inspection in my nano tank, I have discovered 2 dwarf emerald eye rasbora with a small amount of fluffy "cotton wool like growth" on their chins. Cotton mouth? I check my fish each day when I feed them, and have only just noticed this today. In my 75l tank (where my molly has come from) I have noticed two other mollys with what appears to be a grey film hanging out of there gills occasionally. Its not fluffy but reminds me of the skin that turtles shed when they moult in the water? They are showing no other symptoms or fungal growth though. When I first treated my mollie, I thought of columnaris but as the symptoms didn't quite line up, I assumed it was something else. However after seeing 4 fish, 2 from each tank showing potential signs, perhaps now would be the time to assume I have columnaris in my fish tanks, as I cannot think what else it could be. Due to the highly contagious nature of columnaris, I am considering euthanasing the rasbora in clove oil, and treating the 3 mollies. Would I better treating the affected fish in a hospital tank or treating both my tanks entirely? Both tanks have bristlenose catfish in them, including babys that are a month old. I have done water changes on the tanks yesterday and today. Apart from the visible signs all my fish are swimming happily, eating and otherwise look healthy. I cannot see any grey "film" covering the fish, although last night the black molly had patches which since today have disappeared. I do a water change each week, the ph is perfect on both tanks, and water is crystal clear. They have been set up for about 5-6weeks, but were moved with old filter media and water so they did not have to re-cycle. If anyone has any advice, or ideas on what could be ailing my fish I would love to hear them. Would also love to hear advice on treatment for columnaris. I am hesitant at this point to use Furan 2, after reading the info sheet on it and seeing the harm it can cause to humans. The fishtanks are all in my room (flatmate dosn't much appreciate fish), so would not want to be breathing furan whilst I sleep :yaw2:

I did think of columnaris the very first time the fungal appeared, but Ive had a mollie that's had columnaris before and this one doesn't seem to have the same symptoms. The only fungal spot is the one behind her eye, and shes not got worn fins or fungal on her face. Since Ive stopped the treatment and done water changes, the grey patches seem to have disappeared over night and she is her normal jet black self. Im really hoping its not columnaris, i do water changes each week that involve removing organic waste, the ph and ammonia and everything is pretty good. Do you happen to know the dose rate for salt that is suggested for suspected columnaris infections, or a treatment that has worked?

Yeah, I think a break she defiantly needs, it looks like she has little grey patches on her skin as if her slimecoats been worn off. Thanks for the advice

Treatment finished today, and the fungal spot is still there bold as ever. The tank temperature is 26degrees. She and another mollie I put in for treatment both had their babies over the weekend though. I came home today to find 8. They were a bit bigger than newborn mollies normally are, so am thinking they were pregnant with less due to the large size. My flat mate said they were still pregnant last night so they were either born during the night or today. I suspect some may have been eaten also, but for now I am happy with 8 (especially considering one is pure white, my first ever!), as I finally have some 2nd generation fish, and am well into my own little breeding project Any other suggestions anyone may have for treatment for this mollie?

She still has the fungal spot, it won't budge! Im going the full treatment of tonic which finishes on sunday, so fingers crossed she shows some improvement then.

Ok thanks for the tip about the furan Jennifer! :smln: Thinking back I think I have worn gloves every time I have used the powder furan, as I happened to be treating tanks with formalin at the same time. Personally I have never used furan on my own tanks yet. Luckily I have her in a hospital tank so im not worried by the silicon staining :thup: And that's good to know the fry have a higher chance of survival than expected, thanks everyone! I have just done a water change and the first treatment with wundertonic, really hope it works! If not I'll give her a break from treatments for a couple of days, then try treating her with a 50% formalin/malachite green treatment that I have when all else fails. I loathe to use it knowing the damage formalin can cause (to people also), but I guess it comes back to the old "if the fish is going to die anyway, give it a go". I'll keep updated on how the treatment goes! Fingers crossed this works, Ive been working on breeding freshwater mollies for two years now. This young lass is the 2nd generation, having watched them grow up Im a tad bit attached to them!

Ok thank you very much for your help guys. Im going to do a water change today and treat the tank with wundertonic tonight and see how she goes. Hopefully she wont drop until the treatment finishes.

Would he wunder tonic or any other treatments I have done affect the fry when they are born? Would I perhaps be better to wait further treatment until the fry are born so I can move them out, then treat mum fully, perhaps just running salt in the tank for now? Only issue is I have no idea how far away from dropping she is! Ive taken a few out before just to put them back and have them drop in my main tank, and most recently I went to uni thinking my big molly was ages away to have her drop whilst I was out! I wish it was simpler to tell.

I have attempted to take some pictures showing her fungal eye as close as possible. Right now am wishing I had a 2 thousand dollar camera :facepalm: When I was treating with both melafix and pimafix in my main tank, the fungal went away and then came back when I stopped treating. Since I have had her in the hospital tank it refuses to budge and I have noticed a second smaller fungal spot appearing next to the original. Ive been doing a 25percent water change every second day. I added a tablespoon of salt and at each water change have replaced the amount of salt lost via the water change. She so far has had pimafix and melafix 5 days in a row along with the salt whilst in the hospital tank. She seems very happy however, eating bloodworms and swimming with her fins up. There is not activated carbon in the filter and she has oxygen running. If it were bacterial instead of fungal, what should I be treating her with? You can just see the smaller fungal spot appearing next to the original. Hope these pictures help? And also whilst Im uploading photos, does anyone have any idea what this injury could be from? This is my female golden bristlenose. Shes been separated from the male because he beat her up a bit during the last spawn. I was just about to put her back when I noticed this which was not there yesterday. They've been separated for about 3 weeks now. Any ideas on treatment? And thank you Phoenix44, I will certainly try and fit this into my schedual, I was looking at coming to a meeting last year but got waylaid each time :an!gry Thank you everyone for your help

Hey everyone, just wondering if anyone has ever used methylene blue on its own as a topical fungal treatment? About a year ago I had a bristlenose that developed a sever secondary fungal infection after scraping its fins on some rough driftwood. After a month of no success with various treatments It was suggested to apply one drop of metheylene blue directly to the fungal source whilst holding the affected fish in a net twice a day. I have to admit the only reason I tried this was because I believed the fish to be on deaths doors, after losing one fin completely including the boney ray and the other heading the same way. It had absolutely miraculous results, with the fungi falling off within a week, and the fin was fully regrown within about 3 weeks! The particular fish then went on to pro create twice within 2 months, and is perfectly healthy. I ask of this as I am considering trying this treatment with my molly who has a fungal infection at the top of one eye. The fungal looks the same or very similar to what my bristlenose had. What is stopping me at the moment however is that a) she is pregnant and I loath to stress her out by catching her with the net continuously (This is her first batch of fry which I have been waiting a year for!) and b) I am not sure if it is wise applying methylene blue so close to her eye (I can guarantee it will get in her eye). I posted a few days ago about my fungal problem with this molly, the treatments are still having no effect. Before I change my treatment(wunder tonic was suggested) I wonder whether this has the potential to be a alternative treatment? Any advice of thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hey everyone At the moment I have a young black female molly, pregnant with her first batch of fry. I noticed over christmas that it looked like she had knocked her eye or the point just above her right eye, which took on a slightly discoloured appearance, kind of like a grey patch. I didnt treat her or the tank at the time, as I couldnt see any other symptoms and she was still happy and healthy. This last week (2 and a half months later) she has developed a fuzzy white spot at the same location. It looks a bit like its growing at the point the top of her eye meets her head. Im assuming its a secondary bacterial infection, so started treating with melafix and pimafix. I ran the course of treatment and it went away. The day after I finished the treatment however it came back and dosnt seem to be reacting to the pimafix or melafix anymore. I put her in an isolation tank 22l, with a tablespoon of salt, and am running the pimafix at the same time. anyone have any other suggestions?

Yup I have an AquaStart 340 Pro, which has in internal filter which sucks in one side and spits water out the other. It wont pick up fish poo from the sand, so Im assuming it wont suck the fish in. Ive had molly, guppy and swordtail fry in there when they are about 1cm big, which havnt been sucked up. So hoping it wont happen

Ok thank you so much for all your help guys Can't wait for these fish to come into stock again I will post some pictures once my tank is all set up and sorted. :happy2:

Puffers are so tempting In my mind I am currently working out how to convince my flat mate to let me have another tank, Ive just set my heart on some other wee fish but these guys keep drawing me back. :facepalm:

Oh wow thanks guys! You have all been really helpful. I am super excited now to get a shoal of these lil guys and some more pygmys. :happy1: May even put some harlequins in with them also but first I need to work out how many cm of fish I can keep in the tank. The measurements are 37 X 30 X 30cm (Its a cube). With my tank being not so long I think that means I have a smaller surface area and there fore can put less fish in it. By my calculations I have a total surface area of 172.28 in squared, or 437.6cm squared. (Using online aquarium stock calculator). Which gives 14inches or 35cm of fish. Have I done the math correct? :smln: If the mosquito Rasbora grow a max of 2cms, and pygmys a max of 3cms, I could have 10 mosquito rasbora and 7-8 pygmy corys, or perhaps 10 rasbora and 6 pygmy corys, and a dario dario. As you guys mentioned however they have a smaller load on the system, so how many does anyone care to recommend would be suitable? Id like to get a dario dario as well, but im having enough trouble sourcing the rasbora let alone one of those! There is currently one left in the tank at the LFS and it is stunning! However they said to expect a wait of a month before they get any more :tears: Perhaps Im being too particular about fish numbers? Since I'll be setting this tank up again, I want to do it properly from the start. from what I have researched it seems to me so much trouble could be avoided just by lowering stocking density. Im going to wait a couple of weeks anyway once Ive shifted, and just plant the tank and get it all arranged to my liking before I put the fish in. I figure this could also help iron out any hiccups I may get with the filter. Thanks for the tips on keeping the bacteria alive as well

I was going to ask about the filter media but forgot by the time I got to the end of my post. You must be a mind reader thanks! I was going to take over half the aquarium water also.

Has anyone had any experience with these pretty little fish? From the research I have done my 40l aquarium will be big enough for a group of 6 as they only grow to a max of 2cms, however I wanted to know what you guys would advise on this. I have also read that they can go with pygmy cories (which I have two already), harlequin rasbora and dario dario. I thought that dario dario could be aggressive though? Any other ideas what you could keep as tank mates? O riginally I was just going to keep 6 mosquito rasbora with 6-8 pygmy corys on the bottom, and plant the tank up nicely to make a mini scape for my study desk (so I can procrastinate when I study you see). Im moving on sunday so I will need to set up my 40l and completely re-cycle it before I add any fish. So I guess I have a little bit of time to find out more info. Thanks guys!