Stacey

I have no experience with platys, but torn pleco fins heal completely within a day or 2.

I've made my fish guacomole, (minced garlic with mashed avacodo.) Not in an attempt to medicate, just to see if my pleco would eat it. He does, but it's hard to get it to him, as my oscar goes nuts for it! I freeze it, let the smaller chunks float for the oscar, and wedge a bigger chunk into a vegetable for the pleco. (It has to be a big chunk, the oscar picks at that too.) I think next time I'll try freezing a chunk onto the pleco's feeding spoon.

Sorry for your loss.

Tanker: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: You're response to my perfectly serious question just killed me! Makes me seem like Cousin It's hairier sister! :smokey: ........It was only a couple of hairs actually, but when each hair is about 2 feet long........ well that's still a lot of hair. The ponytail suggestion is a good one, and it's a method I currently employ when cleaning my tanks.......... but not when feeding, or rearranging etc., so I suppose I should probably pay a little more attention there........ The "head banging G'n'R fan" bit just cracked me right up. :thumbs: Fishytime: 15 years for an AquaClear filter?? That impressive! I do have an AC filter, but it's only about a month old........ good to hear they work so well, as I was considering another AC to replace the Whisper. Thanks

Glad to have helped. :smokey:

That one gave me a giggle..... :thumbs: It's not difficult to remove the hair, I've just never had this happen before. It's my second-newest filter too, so it shouldn't be wearing out yet. If is stops again, I'll replace it with another brand, toss this one on another tank as a secondary........ the cost of replacing a filter for a 10 gallon is not significant, and it's worth it when I consider I'll be obsessively checking it whenever I walk by the fishroom.

Can't add much here....... Melafix seems to work pretty well for superficial fin and scale damage. (Although I'm sure you probably know that.) About the balance problem, I just don't know..... hopefully it's just stress from his recent assault and soon clears up on it's own. Good luck with him!

Okay, well I fell kinda dumb asking this............. but does anyone else have a problem with a few pieces of hair wrapped around the impeller shaft stopping a filter?? I've had a Whisper filter stop twice in as many days......... this time I completly took it apart to clean it, and it wasn't that dirty. There was, however, a few hairs wrapped around the impeller shaft. I'd like to know if anyone else has this problem, or should I just replace the filter?? (The Whisper, I think, is not the very highest quality I could've bought) This long hair is a huge pain in the butt.......... once every few months I have to unclog the sink........ yuck!! ....... and every time I smell burning hair while vaccuuming, I have to stop and cut my hair out of the roller brushes! Am I the only one here, or do some of you other long-haired folks also experience this??

One thing I would recommend is that you clean your filters very well 2 weeks to a amonth before doing the switch over. Remember you will be losing all of your bacteria in the gravel, so having your filters preforming at peak efficiency would be a good thing! :thumbs:

Crisis apparantly averted. This mornings test results are ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate 5. pH 7.4. A little lower than I expected for pH, but a test on the tap water revealed 7.6. The last time I tested the tapwater pH was 8.0. This was probably many months ago. I will continue to keep an eye on it. I must admit these last few months I have not used the test kits much. Tanker, your explanation about the pH test results makes sense. The lowest the test reads is 7.4. So I don't know if it was a severe pH drop or if the results were just wonky. Fish and snails seem fine. I have also rehomed some of the larger snails. Now there are about 20 ramshorn babies in there, all dime size or smaller. This has the added advantage of all the ramshorns old enough to breed are in one tank now, which makes egg removal easier. So, anyone want any snails?? Got a never ending supply here. Werner, fairly sure it wasn't the gravel buffering the water........ it was that artifical painted stuff. I chose that gravel back when I was new to fish and knew that some gravels would affect the pH. The painted stuff was supposed to be inert. Now that I've been doing this for about a year, I feel I've graduated to more natural looking aquariums. (Although I still use plastic plants in with the ramshorns)

I noticed this morning that one of my filters stopped........ don't know how long it was out for but ammonia registered 0.25 or less. (was slightly lighter green that 0.25) I did the full range of tests and and nitrite was 0.25 (again a little lighter purple, so probably a little less) and nitrate was 10. This tank (along with all the others) had it's substrate changed from gravel to sand last week, as a result I did not change the filter cartridge then. My tanks are all usually at about 7.6, a light green on the Nutrafin high range pH test card. (All other tests are API) This time the pH test came out YELLOW, not even on the colour chart! I did a 50% water change, replaced the filter cartridge, did not add any new peat, as usual, due to the pH test results. Tank is 10 gallon, with a Whisper filter (for a tank up to 20 gallons) and stocked with a betta and several baby ramshorn snails. (Exactly how many I'm not sure,) it also contained some of those "surprise snails" commonly brought in on plants, but I got real sick of the way they just showed up with no visible egg sacks for me to cull, and I fed my oscar a live meal tonight.......... shhh don't tell my kid! Can anyone suggest a possible reason for the pH drop? (The test is not off, other tank tested as usual)

From what I've seen the submersible ones aren't cheap........ I've got a Tunze 6025, (the smallest size) cost me $80...... I know you can buy cheaper ones, but they aren't all submersible, and what's the point of adding circulation to the top of your tank......... that's what the filter does.

Is there no one left in all of Alberta with gravel still in their tank? This sand thing is really catching on. :smokey:

So you're saying you add the sand to the tank dry? As in right out of the bag? Because if that true then I just spent the last 2 days rinsing 3 55 lbs. bags the hard way!

Sorry for your loss. My oscar has bonked himself dizzy jumping for food left on the glass lid for a moment. I'm carefull what I park on top of his tank now.

I also highly recommend the target playsand! :thumbs: One tank down, three to go! Each bucket rinsed only 4 times....... no clouding! And I now have a FISHROOM!!! :thumbs:

Excellent idea! I like the thought of a whole bunch of tiny fish in a big tank. My cardinals certainly seem happiest in my planted tank.......which, by the way, looks no where near as good as yours. Nice job!

Just an idea here......... and I don't know if it will work for you, because I'm in Calgary and you're in Edmonton........ but I like to buy my plants at the Aquarium Society meetings. They have mini auctions where they sell fish and plants for excellent prices, and if you're not to picky about which types of plants, then it's all good! Of course I don't actually know if the Edmonton Aquarium Society has the mini auctions.......... but it's worth looking into.

Well there you go, 2 Calgary stores selling them.......... I would call for prices, as I find Pisces to usually be a little on the expensive side, but for an Eheim, you'll be paying big bucks anyway.

Regarding overdosing, the label states "5 times the regular dose may be used to detoxify nitrites in an emergency"......... there is also a bit about "using a half dose if temp. is above 30 C and chlorine/ammonia is low"............ I don't actually have the bottle in front of me, (I'm at work........ you know...... working....... ) I wouldn't pour in a whole bottle, but I think it's pretty difficult to overdose. Definitely worth the money, in my opinion.

I've seen them at Pisces.

:thumbs: Glad to hear they're doing better!

I don't really have any suggestions, other than to maybe add a little Prime to their buckets to detoxify any ammonia. How long have they been in buckets? It sounds like your doing all you can......... Good luck and I hope the rest of them make it!

That might work........ if anyone else here has pigs in their tank thinly disguised as fish?? Anyone?

Excellent options Tanker and Toirtis........... and thanks for the reminder about that sale, I've got to pick up several things for a new tank anyway, so probably taking advantage of that sale would be the most convenient option right now.