boomerbob

Thanks for the info , only problem is not sure how old they are when I bought them LOL . The shrimp i had ( cleaner, fire and peppermint ) lived about 3 years . They were growing ( molting ) on a regular basis and seemed fine , then over about 2 weeks they all died . So I checked water parameters and all was good so Im not sure if there was a problem or if they died of old age . They had tripeled in size over the 3 years and looked good ( Do they get gray hair when they get old LOL ) .As for the fish they seem to be happy and growing so time will tell . Thanks again for the help .

Thanks for the replys , but to late they died last night . to answer some of the questions 1- all fish full grown 2- 65 gal tank with large ehiem canister filter 3- no aggresion from any one 4- had africans and loaches togerther for years 5- no new fish 6- never had anything like this before 7- did 25% water changes 2 times in 4 days 8- checked all levels ammonia , nit , etc all came at 0 9- this tank as all my tanks is well mantained 10- aquari-sol is only med i had and it helped kill ich and other problems in another tank last year. 11- no swollen bellies, feed them NEW LIFE SPECTRUM PELLETS ( allways done good on this food ) used it for years This came out of the blue , the red patches first showed up near the tail and within 24 hours it looked like they where loosing their scales , they lost appitiet at the same time and began to float near surface , they did not show signs of breathing problems but had lost control when swimming , on their sides, power head would push them all over the tank. then this morning i checked them and the venestus and flame tail were dead , loaches are fine as well as the 5 pleco's that are in the tank , they have all been together a long time. so again thanks for the help , ILL keep close eye on tank for the next while and see what happens.

lost 2 in 6 days, now venestus and flame tail are in bad shape , red patches on body and fins , swimming eraticly , looks like loose scales coming off ,not eating , have large clown loaches in same tank and they seem fine . did 2 heavy water ghanges in 3 days but not helping . tryed aquari-sol last 4 days not helping . anybody know whats going on , checked all parrameters all is good.

where can i find info on how long saltwater fish and inverts like shrimp live

Yup same here, EBO Jager heaters , Have used them for years never had one go bad .

Hi boomer here, I have 2 of these very same fixtures 36" and 48" . The bulbs are very tight { end to end } but with a little bit of help from my wife , I pryed just slightly outward <- -> on the ends of the fixture while my wife gently turned the bulbs and in they went. make sure to turn them by holding the bulbs close to the ends so as not to break them . Good luck .

Well thanks again to you all for your suggestions , After going to 3 LFS and looking at all the canisters that were talked about on this page I purchased an Ehiem pro II 2065 . Have not set it up yet but after looking at the way it is constucted I am quite happy with the way its made . And I finally did find the source of the leak in the 405 , when I took it apart last week and gave the houseing a slight twist I could see a very fine crack that ran around the base of the of the Impeller well and when plugged in would have small bubbles form at the point of the crack . So when the unit was running it would not leak as the impeller would draw a small amount of air into the well { That is why I could see micro bubbles coming in to the tank when the 405 was running } . But if I turned { unpugged } off the 405 water would start to syphon back down the hoses and out the crack . as long as it runs with the valve open it will not leak but if there is a power loss you have to close the valve on top of the canister to prevent a major mess . So if we are not home O-BOY . so as soon as I can the Ehiem is going on line. Thanks all

This canister is on a 65 gal african tank { my wife got some off my son } and 11 differant plecos , my wife loves plecs . The fluval is still hooked up and running BUT im still going to replace it as i dont want a flood if the power goes out . As long as the power is on it works fine , but if the power is cut it starts to syphon the tank and leak out of the motor housing , still cant find the source of the leak . talked to 2 guys at LFS and they said the housing must have hairline crack , o-well i want to try a differant canister anyway so this gives me an excuse to buy one . again thank you all

So far the ehiems have the lead , Ill wait a couple of more days for the final tally and then A Shopping I will go LOL . thank you all for the input .

Here we go , got 2 fluval 405s one leaks out of head { send back to manufacture for repair , comes back with new lower half all new media, bio , floss, canister } Damn thing still leaks when you turn off power . Did little test for myself , if power fails { as we live in country it happens sometimes } it would syfone tank 3/4 empty in about 1 hour. this is a 65 gal tank , holy crap big mess lol . My other 405 works fine , turn off power NO leak . It is not o-ring or seal area have checked and rechecked this thing over and over . So do i buy another 405 or do I try a differant brand . Lets hear what you all think FLUVAL 405 EHIEM MARINELAND RENA OR ANY OTHER FAVORITE

Thanks again for the help ( can't get rid of the wife , need her to feed me LOL just like the fish ) The tank has lots of wood in it and I noticed some new growth on the swords so I'm hoping that they make a come back . but just the same I will keep an eye on my pets to see if I can catch the culprit in the act . If there's a good side to this maybe I can talk her into buying another tank (sneak,sneak ) to put her plecos and lotchs in HEHE.

Thanks I think your right as most of the swords have holes in the leaves , damn , my wife just loves all the differant plecos that we have .

thank you all for your input . I only have a few plants ( sorry cant remember the names ) purchased them at pices pets , they told me these were good begginer plants to try , i think some are swords and the other are long grass like plants ( blades about 3/8 inch wide ) , swords are doing only so so but the others are growing like crazy ( have to trim about once a week ) . using seachem flourish and it really made a big differance with in about a week . have about 2 watts per gal light , still learning ( thats why i want as close to dummy proof as i can get ) . there are fish in this tank tetras , clown lotches,and 6 differant types of plecos . it used to be my cichlid tank ( they got to big and to messy , had to do water changes way to often, damn africans LOL ) . any more help you can offer will be very nice . thanks again .

just converted 72 gal to planted tank , i have right lighting , substrate ,ferts but still having problems keeping plants happy . is co2 a worth while investment and whats a good system to get . it would be nice if it was as dummy proof as possible lol .

Thats what i had in this tank, africans ,now im turning it into a planted tank with tetras and such . they looked just like you discribed we have well water not city water . Iv tried to clean,suck,wipe and med the tank with aquarisol but nothing seems to get rid of it . they dont seem to hurt anything , they just look bad .