Maxy

Shouldnt be any contam probs as I never touch my tank, food etc till Ive washed my hands and thoroughly rinsed off any soap residue. Snowman, cleaned filter for 1st time last week, and used siphoned off water to do so, just rinsed, didnt scrub etc. I thought I was doing ok, but now not sure what to do. Not that close to the LFS so have ordered test kits for future use. Am pleased about the no to the ammolock as I dont really like it. Need to destock and fast. Have the 4footer arriving on sat but am not ready to set it up as per ants suggestion (freshwater) and that won't solve anything anyway. Have glass coverlids and lighthood. The water pH here is about 7.6 but I use Proper pH7 to adjust it to neutral. Today is turning into a give up all together day.

The 4footer is arriving on saturday but dont have any equipment for it yet as was not planning to set it up for a few months, so thats not much help ant

Snowman, I have ammo-lock but dont like using it as then my ammonia test kit doesnt give a true result, but should I anyway to correct levels?

I think I may have gone overboard with the fish numbers and now want to destock tank. Not sure if this post is in the appropriate place. Have never sent or received fish and not sure how to do this either. Please someone help me out! I have guppies, mollies, platies, keyholes, cocho blues, and rummynose tetras. Am feeling v disheartened at the moment but want to do whats best for my fish. Any interest?

Tank been operational since 18/2/05 with first fish introduced 25/2. Have noticed a few minutes ago that my dwarf blue gourami is behaving v strangley. Has always been a very timid fish and is now out in the open and looking a little bloated. Keyholes are now inhabiting the shipwreck he called home. Is this a standoff or something more serious? Am feeling like crap at the mo, as everything I seem to be doing is wrong

Update: red tailed black shark has taken a ride on the porcelain express. Thanks for the info tho guys, he tried and I tried but it was too late for him.

I read that B/N can be territorial so maybe they were scrapping amongst themselves? Have no problem with my 3 but the older bigger one stays well clear of the two smaller ones usually. Theere was a slight confrontation on a shipwreck one day between bigboy and a youngster but it was a quick tailswish and off to the other end of the tank

Sorry Caryl, 1 red tailed black shark, 1 blue ram, 10ish neons, 3 platies, 3 swords, 4 mollies, 2 keyhole cichlids, 1 clown loach, 3 B/N, 4 cocho blues, 8ish guppies, 2 bumblebee gobys, 4 rummynose tetras, and a dwarf gourami. Three foot tank, oh my god, am I overstocked? Nitrite and Nitrate and water hardness test kits arriving any day now.

Thanks for the advice people! Have got the keyholes and they play very well with others, so far! V V cool little fish

Ehiem 2215 external canister bought brand new, tank is three foot long 180 litres, fish are: guppies, mollies, platies, swordtails, neons, B/N's, dwarf gourami, bumblebee gobys, a clown loach somewhere, red tailed black sharks and a blue ram.

Will keyhole cichlids be suitable community tankmates? To go in a three foot semi planted tank with guppies, platies, gourami, mollies, swordtails, B/N's, cochos, some black sharks, a clown loach, neons and a little blue ram? Will my neons be dinner? And will they torment my little blue ram?

They are beautiful fish Phil. I was told that the bigger the tank the better for angels. I was temtped to buy an ar (not sure what model) tank of about ninety litres to put angels and maybe a few neons in, and the staff at the LFS said that would be a tight squeeze for angels. Duno if that helps at all

Tank has been up and running for about 7 months, learnt about cycling the semi hard way, but havent really had many problems. Didnt scrub my canister or anything, just rinsed out the filter pads etc in a bucket of siphoned off tank water. I was really careful about this after having read the posts here. Thank you for any info I can get, because I get hte feeling Im not doing this right

Have just done my weekly 25% water change on Friday night, my ammonia is up but at the same level it always is, cant seem to get it to 0 (see post in beginners corner) and can only do ammonia nd pH as they are the only testing kits I have at the moment. Have added salt but I fear Im too late as he isnt improving much

Why cant I get my ammonia levels to 0? What am I doing wrong please? I do regular 25% water changes weekly, feed the minimum amount once daily, add StressZyme once a week to keep my biological filter happy, clean and service my external filter regularly and still my ammonia levels arent low enough. I dont know what my nitrate or nitrite levels are as I dont have those kits yet. My pH is 7.6 but I use Proper pH7 to bring it down to neutral. Please advise me as am feeling very disheartened at the moment. Tank is three foot community

Have just got home to find my red tailed black shark lying on his side on the tank floor. He is trying so hard to live but I dont know whats wrong with him or what to do. I have put him in an isolation trap and added tonic salt but dont know what else to do. He is struggling to breathe. All the other fish, including another shark the same as him, are fine.

Hope the co2 goes well. If it does I may have to comission your talented husband to build me one! I have a community tank with guppies in it and am waiting for my first drop of fry, but dont expect many to survive as I have some fish that will probably eat them! But if you have some established fry that you want rid of later on then I might be able to take some. Talk to east road tho as you might be able to give some to them.

Im in the same boat Penejane as my plants are still establishing. I use Excel Flourish once a day and that helps, but want to know if running CO2 would work out cheaper. I want healthy plant growth especially tall plants to hide my equipment but wonder if just using fertiliser would suffice? Also do I need a stronger light as I'm currently running a single 30watt in a three foot 180 litre tank

Would someone please be kind enough to explain what co2 does for plants in a tank. I know they need it to survive, but how does it work and should I be using it to grow plants? My plants are adequate, but nothing like the flourishing lush looking members tanks! Thanks

One of my neons is looking very strange at the moment, it has lost all its blue colouring and turned white. It is also suddenly much fatter looking than before. It is swimming fine and feeding as per usual. Any ideas?

I had the same problem when I first started Varina. Bought my whole set up from the lfs and have since only used there stock, plants etc (possibly due to a severe shortage of lfs!) but was also not given very competent advice about cycling and I lost a few fish, namely my expensive pictus cat, due to the ammonia being to high for him. My fighter harassed one of my male guppies shredding his tail to a stump, and killing another. That was six months ago and my guppy is still living, albeit he isnt very pretty! His tail has grown back, but he sometimes struggles to swim in for feeding. Welcome to the site, any info or help you need, there are always people willing to assist

Hi Heni, cant help much with the identification of the skin condition as Im too unfamiliar with the diseases yet, but I would recommend isolating her from the male as soon as possible as the distress he will cause her will definitely not help her recovery. Either a floating breeding trap or intank isolation box if, like me, you dont have a hospital tank. Ideally removing her from the tank altogether would be the best option in case its infectious to your other fish. Also try looking at the posts in the disease section of the forum. Sorry I cant help more

Thanks Caryl for the info. I'll ask at the main lfs in invers next time I'm there as I think that would the best place to start gauging interest as we only have really have two lfs in the district. East Road Pets is our best bet as they specialise in tropical, marine and pond fish (as well as other pet stuff) and I know that the family that runs the business all keep tropicals etc. They may already have a club of some sort that may not be affiliated? The other lfs is horrid. The tanks are always green and gungy and usually have at least one dead fish per tank. Its gross. Would be really good to have some sort of get together to exchange info etc and travelling wouldnt be a big deal, whereas the Dunedin club is just too far away to travel to at nights for meetings. Thanks!

How would we go about it Caryl? Have no idea where to begin or whats involved. Any info would be great as a starting point, then maybe we could gauge interest to see if it would be feasible?

If the poo is long and stringy it may be the fish are eating your plants. Some of mine ate long thin grasslike plant (no idea what is was called) and they suffered from this. Can also cause choking.