brett2003

Hmm. A Cory just dropped dead too - no obvious symptoms, just one day he's fine, next day he's dead :-/

It's hard to tell (because of where he's hiding in the tank), but it looks like it's in the same place on both sides. There's no swelling that I can see.

Hi all, I have a sick Harlequin that seems to have come down with something I've never seen before. Was wondering if anyone else had any insight? Symptoms I have observed: Isolating himself from the rest of the school Colour is faded Dorsal fin is collapsed/down There is a colourless spot on the black triangle marking on both sides of his body There is slight silvery sheen on his caudal fin, and on some other parts of his body He's cowering in the plants at the back, so it's hard to get a decent photo, but I've had a go anyway. All the other fish in the tank (loaches, tetras, gourami, catfish other rabsoras) are fine, water chem is fine.

It's a 116L, 60cm across the top, around 50cm tall

The flatmate who bought them is keeping one in a community tank (I did try to talk him out of it), but so far (few months) it actually seems fine :-/ It's in there with a range of other species, including a fairly large Opaline Gourami that could probably swallow him whole if it wanted to, and it doesn't show any aggression towards any of the others either (Rasboras, Tetras and Loaches).

Hehe, I still giggle uncontrollably with the Dory-Whale-talk Scene in Finding Nemo Very kind of you to say, although if I were completely honest, it's more 'perpetual student who should probably get a (full time) job at some point'

Our flatmate recently purchased a pair of Dwarf Puffers from Hollywood Fish Farm in Albany - I don't recall the price, but it wasn't bad.

I've had a couple of very similar looking air pockets in the seams of one of my tanks for a year or two now, and they've shown no particular signs of getting any bigger (despite the tank being moved once and stripped down twice in that time), so you *might* be lucky!

Neat Thanks for the advice! I'm looking to see if some/all of what I want can be shipped from marinedepot.com, too - much better pricing than locally, but then of course there's shipping.

Sweet, I'll keep an eye out there too (when the time comes(!)

Actually scratch that - I've done some more reading, and it sounds like DI units actually end up being *more* expensive if you don't have an RO system attached because the media depletes faster :-/ I don't suppose you'd know of a retailer who ships to NZ and sells RO/DI units (that don't require me hacking at and/or modifying my apartment in any way), and that are cheaper than HW's $600? It could even be quite small with a low output since I want a tank in the 100 - 150L range (large side of nano, I guess). Preferably something for which I could still buy consumables locally

Hmm. I'll give it some thought/research. With the RODI units, do they require any modification to pipes in the house and so on? There's no way our agents would let me do that - they only just tolerate the presence of fish because they like us for some reason. My other question would be re: running costs - what sort of consumables are involved in running an RODI device, and how often do they need to be replaced?

Okies, well, I've tested it with the home test kits and it reads zero on both nitrate and phosphate (don't have a silica test of any type), but the PO4 kit isn't really sensitive below about 0.12ppm, and the NO3 isn't sensitive below about 5ppm, so I take your point. [Edit] - I see there's this one: http://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/deta ... ter/m/949/ available from HW - I see it's not a proper RO/DI unit, but would it suffice for a small tank? I ask because the only actual RO/DI on there with a price is $600, and looks like it might be a bit large for our small apartment (Can't really tell from the low qual photo, but it would be a concern) This is actually a point I've been curious about - where do skimmers typically fit? As in, do they sit in the sump or are they next to it? It seems to vary depending on which brand you read about. Yours does look pretty good! I'm not remotely handy, however - I have trouble assembling kitsets with clear instructions, which is one of the reasons why I was thinking of buying a 'set' in the first place. Regardless, though, if I have understood you (and everyone else) correctly, if I were to investigate custom I'd need: Tank (with overflow), sump, cabinet, heater, skimmer, pump for skimmer, return pump for sump

Tapwater - I had a look at the RO/DI units at Hollywood and just about died of shock when I saw how much they cost. Is there anything in particular I should be worried about in tapwater that won't show up on a home test kit? I work at a lab, so it wouldn't be the end of the world for me to get it tested for one or two things if needed. It's not working out quite as I intended, but I'm not giving up just yet - at least my fish seem happy and healthy, so that's a plus Yep, if HW ever get back to me, I'll make some inquiries about custom setups as well (I know they do stands, tanks, sumps to order etc)... What would be the minimum for filtration? Some people seem to say skimmer is sufficient (with LR), but other people seem to say skimmer + sump with whatever media you happen to be using.

Absolutely, especially when you can't be seen to ask too many questions at uni itself lol

Ah, right! I did a single Psych paper, but in hindsight I regret not doing more (and some sociol, too, for that matter). My partner is doing his PhD in psych, though, so he's a useful resource

It's more linguistics than it is sociology (and all of my undergrad was in linguistics) *but* it does include a certain amount of sociology and social psychology (particularly in terms of people's attitudes, beliefs, motivations re: language) Sorry, I hope that makes sense lol

Yea, the more I read about the AM900, the less I like the idea - it sounds like even the supposedly new-and-improved MariSys filter that it comes with has a pretty bad reputation. Well, the snail is dead (smells rank), and the coral is also browning pretty badly. I moved it to a separate container with freshly mixed water as a last ditch attempt to stave off NO3 poisoning, but it also smelled pretty bad when it was briefly out of water... Plus of course, the pH isn't quite the same, so that might very well kill it too . I think I wasn't quite ready to make the transition from FOWLR to reef I'd prefer to go new, so I think I might just spend the next six months saving up for a 130D, move the existing rock and sand over and see how I go from there. It also has the size advantage, in the sense that we move quite often, so 110L (the RSM 130D) would be easier to take with us than 176L (AM900).

I've ramped it up to twice a week until the problem is under control, but I can't actually afford the marine salt to do it daily - I estimate the cost to be around $6 per 24L water change, and I'm living on rather less than minimum wage at the moment I have checked, and the tap water has no nitrates or phosphates. I *do*, and to be honest I'm of two minds about it - there's a layer of about 1-2cm (depending on where in the tank you are) worth of aragonite sand.

Sorry, let me rephrase that, "All spouses of all fishkeepers who are not themselves interested in fishkeeping" lol

Hmmm. I'll check on the snail properly today, although from the looks of him this morning, I'd say he's dead He was the last one the store had (went to AquaWorld for a change instead of Hollywood), but HW tell me they've got a new shipment coming in soon, so I might try again once I have the nitrates better under control. I'm reading that as '*can't* keep...'? Yea, I'm rapidly coming to that conclusion :-( I do actually do a lot of water changes - at least 1 x 24L change (in a 130L tank) per week, and the nitrates are _still_ that high. The extra hidden costs (and me being new to saltwater and therefore totally gullible) are part of what motivated me to think a set like the 130D or 900 would be good for me - I know it's frowned upon by the serious reef enthusiasts, but it would mean that I wouldn't have to then go out and think separately about lights, filters, skimmers and so forth because it would all be there. Plus I'm happy to stay away from the stony corals and stick to soft - the SPS/LPS are all out of my price range anyway(!)... In terms of price, the cheaper of those two sets was $1400, which is really pushing the limit of what I'd be prepared to save towards (student budget) -I'm not completely familiar with the prices, but it sounds like (just from a quick browse of HW's website) that I'd be looking at $500-$600 just for the skimmer and lights, not to even think about getting a frame/cabinet, the tank itself, a sump, whatever pumps are needed etc etc... The last custom I had built was my 152L freshwater, and that cost around $500 for the tank and the stand (and the stand was the cheapest, ugliest steel frame they did, too - the custom wood cabinets are frighteningly expensive). Hmm. Well, I've just reconfigured the filter chamber (removed all the grating, dividers and so forth and now have _just_ the coral in there), so it's too early to tell if it's still causing problems *but* in the event that it does continue to be an issue, is there any type of media you'd specifically recommend? I notice that HW (the Albany branch, anyway) just have most of their hooked up to skimmers and sumps with big chunks of live rock in them and not a whole lot of other filtering at all). I'm still really hoping it won't die if I can just get those nitrates under control - going to have another check of the chemistry tomorrow and see what's going on there.

I think that's probably all spouses of all fishkeepers hehe

Lol, it does sound a bit like that doesn't it... The quickest way to sum it up would to say that it's about looking at differences in the way people speak (e.g., by age, gender, ethnicity etc etc)

Thanks for the prompt replies everyone I'll keep an eye on the coral, but the snail is seriously unwell - it won't even attempt to stick to surfaces, and isn't moving much. The skimmer/filter issue is part of the problem - it's one of those 'kitset' things designed for freshwater, with an inbuilt wet/dry in the hood, so there's nowhere to put a skimmer without hacking at it (and honestly I don't trust myself to get it right) - plus I'd be tempted to just replace the whole thing (with one of the alternatives above) rather than buy an expensive skimmer for a terrible aquarium (that I've owned for 7 years, and so which I didn't have to shell out a lot of money for recently). I'd also read that vodka dosing doesn't work if you don't have a skimmer to clear the excess free-floating bacteria? I've never tried it, but that's the reason I've been avoiding it. Re: the coral rubble, I was told it was better than using bioballs, foams and so forth because those are even worse for detritus buildups? I'm sorry if that's terribly naive of me to say, I'm totally ignorant with the saltwater tank thing - I did a lot of reading (and watched a lot of YouTube videos), but everyone has a different take on it, so I'm a tad confused(!) Edit: The coral polyps are turning brown too, so it looks like that's also on the way out. I might have to make this a FOWLR tank until I can afford to upgrade/replace the setup - the fish, at least, seem happy and healthy (a little *too* healthy in the case of the Clown - she tries to bite the test tube when I do water tests )

Hi My PhD is in Sociolinguistics at the UoA (so nothing fish related at all! I did do a BSc in BioMed tho, in addition to my Linguistics undergrad, which has proven quite helpful in understanding some of the fish related stuff!)