Ichthyosporidium

Give the plants a little more time as they are probably still establishing their roots and top growth will come soon. Just out of curiosity, what types of plants are in the tank?

I use the Glo series from Hagen. The lifeglo bulb is excellent. But if I had to buy them at retail prices, I would not get them. I find that the Sun-glo bulb is just about the same and alot cheaper. The rason that Life-Glo is so expensive (around $55 to $65 for a 42" bulb) is that they have a built in reflector which increases the intensity of the light being emitted for the same amount of power consumed. Here is a useful link: Hagen Glo series and click on the PDF link at the bottom of the page. Just ignore the brand names and it has lots of useful information as Hagen has put alot of research into their bulbs. Regardless of brand, remeber to change the bulbs about every 9 months, depending on daily useage, as the broad spectrum coatings break down and bulb intensity also diminishes. I personally try to get 4 to 5 watts per gallon with plants in the tank. Also, because you are increasing the light intensity, you should stagger changing the bulbs by one to two weeks as it helps the fish adjust easier to the increase. Just imagine if you were in a thick jungle for months on end and poof!....you are in the middle of the Sahara dessert without any sunglasses. You would probably first suffer a severe migraine and that would be just the start. While that would not kill you, it is not very pleasant just the same and we have eyelids!

If there is availability on Archocentrus octofasciatus 'electric blue dempsey'(s) I would be into that!!

Hot water and pickling salt will make it leach faster. Boiling definitely speeds up the process.

You've got film? :drool: -roll- Thanks alot Vapor... I just spent the last ten minutes cleaning up chocolate milk that I just shot through my nose!! To keep this post relavent, has anyone gone covert and spied anything new on this LFS :ph43r: ? Or do I have to come to Calgary and do so myself :hey: ?

Well done! Wish I had four hands....so I could give it four thumbs up! :thumbs: :thumbs:

:welcome: I hope you further enjoy your experience around this site now that you have come from the shadows. I'm sure there are a few brains around here to pick and don't mid being picked!

My parents were avid fish keepers / breeders so it was kind of a birthright in my family. I also had an eight year career at a LFS which started when I was sixteen. When most kids were dreaming about their first car, I was dreaming about my first mini reef system. If you were looking for me, and couldn't find me, all you had to do was go to the nearest slough, pond or tributary and you would find me somtimes pits deep in mud or water, searching for all kinds of specimens to add to my collections back at home. It didn't do my social life any justice, but I found it quite rewarding and I still do!

Other than the sponges, I have used reusable media bags with a large variety of combinations. I have found that things like ceramic tubes or lavarock worked well as pre-filter material. Activated carbon and zeolite can be bought in large quantities at many gardening centers. Do use caution and make sure that the materials purchased have not been treated with a fungicide, herbicide, or pesticides. Although I have only found peatmoss to have that issue as they use a wetting agent to keep it moist and this additive can be harmful to fish. Make sure you do not over fill the chambers with media as compaction will either reduce the effectivness of the filter or it could cause backpressure and either burnout the motor or even cause a connection to part onto which a flood will occur. Just use an old bag of media to gauge how much media should be put in each chamber. I usually fill mine 3/4 of the way full. That is one thing I like about Fluvals, is they are versatile and allow the user to customize their filtration requirements. The reccomendations are more for marketing and warranty issues as no manufacturer worth their salt would ever recomend that you can use anything other than their line of acessories to be used with their product lines simply for the sake of their bottom line. This also protects them from liability as some people may use the wrong media or too much media.

If you pull up anything out of substrate in an established aquarium, you will get a bit of a cloud form. It is reddish in colour. This cloud is from predominantly decomposed organic material called Mulm. Mulm is nutrient rich and is a good fertilizer for aquatic plants. When pulling do as slowly as possible. If you disturb the substrate too much, a slight bacterial bloom will occur. This may make your tank cloudy for a few days. With the aquatic soil, many people think that the medium breaks down because the 'soil' and mulm are similarily coloured. I can faithfully say that you that once it has been rinsed clean of dust, it will not break down and create more sediment.

I used to sell this product at the nursury that I worked at. It performed very well as it allows for nutrients to easily pass to the roots of the plants. The granules are a good size as they off er a huge surface area while still allowing water flow through the root systems. It does not compact as you can use it as a soil breaker for your flower beds which keeps the soil loose for years after one application. It is fine, so to avoid any from washing out of pots, fish digging, etc. you shold cap the top with some larger, washed gravel. Make sure you rinse the product well before puting in a tank as the dust is not astetically pleasing. Being fired in a kiln makes the product very inert and did not promote algae or change water chemistry. All the plants in the display pond did extremely well and were all planted in the aquatic soil. This product is totally inert, so there is no nutrient value to it what so ever. For more robust plants, you may want to use a fertiliser. I have never heard of this product causing harm to any aquatic life.

It would be hinged, as they need to be able to move....like a fish!

Because they have cartillagenous skeletons, except for what I beleive is shown in your picture. What I think is in those pics is the main bony plate that creates the dorsal ridge of it's bony plating, which is about 1/3 the total length of the spine and what is left of the main bony plate covering the head.

I also want to ask, did you transfer any ornaments, plants, driftwood from one tank to the other? If you did, you might have had a hitchhiker.

Some more angles with less glare would help. First thought, armoured cat or plecostomus.

Yeah, I still consider practical as education though. So basically 6 years of class and lab and 4 of practical to specialise. Curiously, in warmer climes, Ichthyo-vets are more common. You can find them in California and Florida. It does make sense as there are some seroius collectors in those areas.

I used to think that vets should know everything about domestic animals/pets, thats why they go to school for 4 years right? Actually, I believe it is eight years for general, 10 to specialise.

What fish are you keeping? With african cichlids, they are continuously digging and moving the substrate so there will be little opprotunity for algae to develop. In this 10g, is it near a window? is it a new set up? is it a mature setup? Are you running live plants? Check your nitrates and ammonia levels....what do they read? I can guarantee you that the phosphate levels are elevated. Is all the food eaten within a 2 minute period, because if there is excess food left in the tank, then it can raise the N03 and NH3 and food can also raise the phosphates. Any dead, organic material can also contribute to the nutrients that this algal bloom is feeding off of.

This site has some good information: Seahorse Care This a portal site and can find infinite amount of sites from here: http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/seahorse/9.html

Never is easy to loose an fish like that. Sorry to hear that. Curiously, I have found bottom dwelers to be one of the hardest jumpers. It is a good thing that they don't do very often. I remeber one 6"sailfin pleco that I had. One night I was awakened to a big snapping noise. I went out into the living room where it seemed to come from. That sailfin hit the canopy hatch (Hagen fluorescent) and broke the pins right off and I found him walking across the carpet! I have found my lid open many times from other plecos and catfish ramming the lid so hard when they jump.

I remebered another choice. Bunacephalus kneri, The Banjo catfish. Banjos spend the day buried in the sand. They get upto 5 to 6" in aquaria. This is a real odd looking species of fish and is a treat to see as it is somewhat reclusive. It is an unusually tame fish which I have handled, underwater of course, with no problems. Do use caution as Banjo cats have spines like any other cat.

Oops, forgot, this is south american. Thanks for remiding me. The hatchet fish would probably jump too much due to the active members that would be in the tank and They really don't get that big and if memory serves me correctly, Cap'n was looking for large specimens.

For companions, how about Anostomus anostomus, a pencil shaped characin that does like vegetation, but I have found that they do little damage when there is algae in the tank. Anostomus get up to 6" to 8" in length and are a schooling fish so keep at least four. They are a fairly benign member of the tank that hold their own and rarely are aggresive themselves barring the odd fin nip which they seem to do omongst themselves more so. Care must be taken that they are getting food if they are to be kept with more gregarious species. You also need to make sure there are lots of hiding spots for this species. Leoporinus is another head stander that is an interesting member of the headstander family. Pretty well the same requirements as Anostomus, but are a little more aggresive and a little harder on the plants. They have small mouths that can only nip. Or Acanathodoras spinosissimus (talking catfish), they getup to around 6", they can create a croaking sound from a modified air bladder. They do have a painful sting from their spines, so handle with care and also, being a catfish, they will eat anything they can stuff in their mouths, so no little fish, except maybe some feeders once in a while. If nn on the feeders, do not worry, they will take just about anything. They do like to burrow lightly. A Synodontis angelicus is a rare and I am not sure how expensive addition that is worth while to save up for. It is a beautiful cat that is balck with white polkadots and huge eyes that are tres cool. Start looking. Pretty well any plecostomus species, barring size, could be considered. I also want to add that the more timid specemins should be added first followed by more aggresive, territorial species. This forces the aggresive and territorial species to carve out a territory in a part of the tank as opposed to having the whole tank as it's territory.

I had bumped all topics that were before that spamer idiot came on to the site so that his posts were not the headliners in the forums. I figued that any guests and light browsers did not need to see that first on the site. I see that it has been deleted complettly soooooo..... Un-bump, I guess...? Just trying to be decent was all.

That is very unfortunate too see that situation go that way. Never nice to loose fish in that magnitude and add insult too injury, monetary loss with no offer to appease my loss, not even once as a loyal cutomer. :cuss: :cuss: :cuss: :cuss: :mad: :mad: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont' blame you after that experience.