BooUrns!

Sorry to hijack this thread but I was enjoying reading about the discus and other members input on the tank that member had... until I ran into the flaming match these two members had. Might I make a suggestion? Instead of editing back and forth to 'correct' altercations or having moderators seemingly powertrip and openly threaten to ban members until he/she supplicates through edited posts, perhaps just deleting/editing the posts so there is no trace of the problem would be a less disruptive solution? I really can't stand seeing flame threads in forums when I'm just looking to read information or enjoy a discussion.

This is a myth, regular old table salt is just fine. Can you go into further detail about this? I have always read that the anti-caking agents used to keep table salt free-running (like Yellow Prussiate of Soda or whatev) were harmful to the fishies in large doses? I beleive that is a matter of debate. There is an arguement that the trace amounts of anti-caking agent and iodine are in regular table salt are in such small quantities that they would have no impact on an aquarium population. I tend to err on the side of caution and use the kosher/pickling salt. It's cheaper and I know there is no inherent risk to my fish. I have tried both the salt/heat method and malachite green method for treating ich. I found the salt method to be less destructive to the biofilter but it took more time. Two of my long tailed comets had their tails pruned while waiting for the ich cycle to be halted (both tails eventually recovered). I have used malachite green to treat ich (and aeromonas on one of my koi) and found it to be fast and effective. On the downside, the biofilter takes a heavy blow from all the copper (malachite green is copper solution) and the hospital tank gets stained green. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Not the prettiest tetra but an interesting fish.

We've had good results wit our purchases too. My gf's breeding pair of angels lived up to advertisement and within days had coated one of the plastic plants (which she had also bought at the auction) with eggs. All our other new aquisitions are doing well.

From what I have read and experienced with fish getting dropsy (common with short-bodied goldfish purchased from bigbox LFS), treating the bacterial infection at this stage is usually unsuccessful. The problem is not the infection but the swelling in the body cavity that causes damage to the internal organs. Even if you are able to treat the primary cause of the swelling, the secondary complications usually result in the fish dying anyway. For coldwater fish I have used the deep freeze euthanasia, but for your fish I would go for the clove oil. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

I actually have the 2nd seller bookmarked. Those canisters look like a good price now but usually go too high in price by the time the auction is over. That, and I'm an ebay sniper. I never bid til the last 10 seconds. (Yes, I'm that guy you all hate! :guns: )

I've got about 8 or 9 Fluval canisters of varying sizes and have only had trouble with two. If I had the money I would be buying the eheims aswell. The only advantage I had with the fluvals is that I was able to procure most of them off ebay for a fraction of their (ridiculously high) store prices. I just can't seem to get an eheim off ebay for what I would consider a reasonable discount.

I would avoid smaller fish such as minnows/tetras as the amount of effluent goldfish emit can become toxic to smaller fish. A black moor couldn't catch a minnow.. until the minnow dies. I keep my 3" moors along with two weather loaches, a lionhead, a very small ryukin and a shubunkin in a 20G. This tank is pushed to the limit as for bioload and I run a fluval 104, an AQ 150, and a sponge filter just to keep the waste in check (I used to keep them with my comets and ropefish in a 60G until the ropefish gang killed my ranchu and maimed the moors' tails). A good tankmate for a moor might be another goldfish! A ranchu/lionhead or a ryukin or maybe a celestial or a pompom. These goldfish are all either similar in body type or are myopic enough to not outcompete the moor for food. Getting a few plants (if lighting is adequate) might also help with the bioload issue that goldfish present. For these shortbodied goldfish to survive a long time without health issues (swimbladder disease etc.) I would recommend reserving 5-10G of your tank for any goldfish 4" long and over. Since weather loaches are bottom feeders, I don't count them as making any significant contribution to bioload.

Looks like the ultimate "sin bin".

When I change the gravel to the granusil 3.4 and Sil 9, I'll make sure it's at least 2" in each tank. Thanks for the offer! PM'ed! :beer:

Hi, I have two tanks that I would like to try planting (shown below). Shown Here! The upper tank is a 29G long and the lower is a 15G. The 29G has a Hagen Light-Glo canopy with a single 24" aquarium/plant flourescent tube. The water is tannin stained as I have a large piece of Mopani wood in the tank. The occupants (4 dwarf frogs, 4 ghost shrimp, 4 platies, 5 guppies, one white cloud tetra and one albino cory and a whack of snails!) don't seem to mind so I didn't try to remove the tannins as it is a very large piece. I plan to change this tank up later with crushed quartz substrate (Granusil 3.4) and will try to lessen the tannin levels then. I'm wondering if this 29G tank has sufficient lighting to support plants? The bulb claimed to have a unique spectrum beneficial to plants but its' temp is only around 2700K (was going to go with 5600K). The 15G has a decent little flourescent canopy and the tank seems bright so I think plants will do well enough in that smaller space (also after the two ryukin and lionhead move out). I would like to add more shrimp to these tanks and I imagine the guppies and platies will be producing fry soon so I want more places for them to hide. Anyone have any plant suggestions or donations for these two tanks?

Was wondering the same thing Also about water parameters, food, temp., also if any water conditioners are used? Jvision, where are ya? LOL! I guess I know who I'll be bidding against at the ACE auction... :pff: All I'm bringing to the auction is my penny jar... be gentle :boxer:

Nice to know. I've been looking for a nice white sand for my dragon gobies and weather loaches. I plan to start a RCS shrimp tank soon and this will also be good for that too. Any idea where to find crushed quartz? Went out to SIL Industries today and got two 100lbs bags of Granusil 3.4 and one 80lb bag of SIL 9. Total: $40 Learning that Granusil 3.4 is crushed quartz: Priceless. SIL is located at 305-116 ave, access off 17st just below yellowhead trail.

You could gain more working room above the tanks by using 2x3 material for the shelves. The shelves would require spacing of around 4-6" o.c. and would need to be sitting on a 2- 2x4 ledger with jacks running to the floor.

The last time I tried to upgrade a tank, I just ended up with a second tank, and then a third, a fourth, a fifth and dammit, I'm running out of space in my room! I know there are others with more expertise than me here who could comment. I generally follow the one gallon per inch of fish rule. With those smaller fish, you can push those numbers if you have a filter that supports a high bio-load but if you slack off on water changes/filter maintenance you might see trouble down the line. Good luck with your next tank... umm, I mean upgrade.

Thanks, I'll go talk to him and see what he can offer. Do you have the name/address of this store? I'm only familiar withthe edmonton stores.

I'm getting ready to murder an older gen 204... but have had no problems with my others. Even had a 404 still work after a house fire. Can't say the same for the tank.

10-20 Looking for: Asagi (I'm very particular about these as there are a lot of junk asagi with poor colour lines) Shusui (Same preferences as Asagi) I'll be after some of these in the shipment aswell but will probably sell them off to distribute the shippping cost. Kokahu Tancho Tancho Sanke Showa Ki and Aka Matsuba Utsuri

Could you post a link to this "european" method of cycling? It sounds less caustic than the fishless cycling (store bought ammonia) method I've read about on WWM.

Thanks for the input so far. Keep it coming! I have contacted some fo the american sellers to investigate the export requirements they have to undergo. I expect to pay over $100-200 USD for shipping but I am ok with this if I can select the exact fish I want. I have been looking at doing this for close to a year now but was hoping to hear from anyone who had already done it. I've purchaed some imported koi from edmontonians off the bargainfinder buy/sell. I got the impression they were just ordering large lots of standard Japanese tanchos and sankes. Nice fish but I'm after some very specific fish and the only place I've seen them is on ebay.

Nice to know. I've been looking for a nice white sand for my dragon gobies and weather loaches. I plan to start a RCS shrimp tank soon and this will also be good for that too. Any idea where to find crushed quartz?

Hi! I'm looking for some information on importing koi from the U.S. I would like to purchase some koi from a few sellers that display their fish on ebay. Has anyone done this? I basically want to know what the requirements are regarding: import licenses (I'm in Edmonton) process of importing via airlines potential stumbling blocks that could delay my live shipment (i.e. customs) any other suggestions would very much be appreciated I'm going this route as I want some specific types of koi and I want to choose the fish (given the longevity of these fish). I find the LFS here massively overprice extremely low quality koi. I have yet to see a proper Japanese koi for sale here (excluding one beautiful aka matsuba I saw at the koi shop a few years ago).