Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
HELP ASAP
- nonie (leonie troy)
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Just wondering if anyone can tell me what happened?
I did a water change on Sat - where I used OA but have been using it the last 3 months. On Sun all the fish - (4 cardinal, 4 red eye, 5 guppy, 3 clown and a pleco) were all fine.
I put some floating plants in on Sun and today the clown and pleco are dead. The water parameters are all fine:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 10 - 20ppm
PH - 7.
Was it the plant that done it. This morning I took them all out and did a 25% water change!!
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- LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
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How are the rest of the fish looking?
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sorry to hear this!!! i would have to say the plants would be my first choice for cases like this. i would suggest you treat with esha 2000.
plants should be treated like new fish isolation first for a few weeks.
Mickey
Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods
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- nonie (leonie troy)
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@Mickey Can I use Esha 2000 with Organic Aqua? I will give it go when I get home!!
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It should be ok you could also use the AQ health treatment as well, just remove any carbon etc do if you are using AQ you won't have any silly me (habit)
plants can bring many things snails being most common also Hydra ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(genus) )but there are many others including diseases that may be carried.
Mickey
Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods
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- nonie (leonie troy)
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DO I NEED TO DO ANYTHING WITH THEM BEFORE I PUT THEM INTO THE TANK?
@Mickey, thanks for the help. I am off home praying there is no other fish dead. I will put some Esha2000 in and keep you posted.
Thanks for all the help
Leonie
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if you get plants change them in to your tank water in the isolation tank treat with with esha and any copper based treatment for snaills use water from water changes to top up but place them where they get enough light on a daily bases and heat of course.
i always place new items in some other container first be it bog wood or plant this allows me to see anything unwanted or may need treatment. i use water from the tank i will place it in, this means anything unwanted does not enter my tank.
thus reducing any stress to the fish and me.
but if you need any advice there is always people here willing to help
Mickey
Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods
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- Valerie (Valerie)
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Sorry to hear about your loss. Just a small question (or two) ...
When you added the plants to your tank, did you rinse the plants beforehand or did you just add them straight in?
I don't know if this helps but I always rinse mine and so far haven't had any issues (only for a few snails). You have me worried about what can come in with plants ...

Another question ... I thought that while using OA, the water parameter readings are not accurate. Am I right or is there a specific test kit available for OA water ?
Again, I hope this is only a once-off and that you came back from work to a peaceful tank!
Good luck
Valerie
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- nonie (leonie troy)
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@Mickey I had the plants in a container with some tank water for 4 days before putting them into the tank. I did not see any changes in them so I thougth I would put them in.
@Valerie As you see I quarentined the plants but did not use Esha2000 or anything eles when I quarentined them. As for the OA when I started using it the Nitrates rose but this is usual over the last few weeks they have dropped to normal levels.
Got home a few mis ago and 2 more fish are on their last fins so I am going to have to euthanise them, there is no hope. The tetra are all fine but the guppies are not looking to well. I have put in Esha2000 so fingers crossed there are no other casualties!

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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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Gavin
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- nonie (leonie troy)
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Just want to say a big thank you to all of you that helped me out.
Aabout 2 hrs after putting the Esha2000 into the tank some of the fish started to look alot livlier/healthier with the exception of 2 guppies. but this morning they all look great, back to their old selves again, swimming straight up to me as I approached the tank looking to be fed.
Thanks again to everyone that helped me with this and gave me suggestions to help the situation. I guess I can noch it up as a steep learning curve and a mistake I certainly wont be making again.
Leonie
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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Gavin
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- nonie (leonie troy)
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