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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

Newbie needs help - a few problems

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27 Jul 2008 00:23 #1 by MoonHunter (Emma Lawlor)
Newbie needs help - a few problems was created by MoonHunter (Emma Lawlor)
I recently set up my aquarium (about a month ago) and while I thought I was well on my way, with the hairgrass and Cabomba starting to grow, tonight I discovered a few problems.

First off, I've got snails. What treatments can I get for them and their eggs? I don't have fish yet, so maybe that might widen the selection I might have. Also, will any treatments destroy the eggs? Must I then remove the dead snails or are they safe to leave in the tank? It'd be such a pain trying to remove the small creatures!! :unsure:

Next, I noticed that there is a fur-like alagae growing (exclusively) on the hairgrass. What type of algae is this? What causes this particular type? How do I prevent this as it's choking the hairgrass (while there are new leaves growing, the old leaves are dying and covered in this hairy algae). :angry:

And finally, I noticed these white things in my tank. Lots of them, small and thread like, floating in my tank. At first I thought it was dust or something, but after I realised it wasn't just the filter flow moving it around, and that it was moving itself too, I bacame worried. They're tiny white, worm-like 'things' and there's lots of them. Any ideas what they are? How'd they get there? Are they safe? How do I get rid of them? :ohmy:

Any information or help would be greatly appreciated :laugh:

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27 Jul 2008 01:09 #2 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
Replied by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens) on topic Re:Newbie needs help - a few problems
Can't really help you with the algae or the snails, but the little white guys should be harmless enough, at least nothing to lose sleep over tonight. Strange that they have appeared before you have put in the fish, they usually occur when you hae over fed or the filter needs cleaning. Someone else may know the reason they have appeared before you start feeding, but as I say, nothing to lose sleep over.

BTW welcome to the forum.


Daragh

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27 Jul 2008 09:28 #3 by serratus (Drew Latimer)
Replied by serratus (Drew Latimer) on topic Re:Newbie needs help - a few problems
Little white worms are prob. planaria, as Daragh says harmless, usually seen with big fish, oscars, tinfoils etc... they feed on the excess food particles, a sign that the tank/gravel may be dirty/filters not able to cope with waste, overfeeding. was the tank or gravel secondhand?
The algae is prob. hair algae, check Nitrates and Phosphates, how old are the bulbs? Protolon 707 by Esha will get rid of it-really great stuff!!!
Snails will come in on plants as adults or eggs, theyre lots of products that are available or you could use clown loach, however they are really only likly to eat them when you dont feed them!!!! I should have assassin snails (anentome helena) in a few weeks, they predate on other snails, very little is known about them as they are a new species from Burma/Myanmar!!!!!!!

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27 Jul 2008 11:29 #4 by komalley (K OM)
Replied by komalley (K OM) on topic Re:Newbie needs help - a few problems
Hi,

The snails will have come in on your plants....I've used Esha Gastropex with some success to get rid of an infestation in one of my tanks. Here's the link to the product. www.eshalabs.com/gastropex.htm Success came by x3 the recomended dosage and it took about 3 weeks to completely clear the little buggers.

Hope this helps

kom

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27 Jul 2008 12:36 #5 by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods)
Replied by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods) on topic Re:Newbie needs help - a few problems
i would suggest you use a product to remove snails as komalley suggested!

but some questions!

how big is the tank?
How long are the lights on?
how often do you do water changes?
what food are you adding to the tank and how much?

and any test results you have!

snail shells will come out when you hover up the debris from bottom of the tank. they will also brake down over time

What are you hoping to but in the tank or do you mean to keep it as a dutch tank (plant only)
Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods

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28 Jul 2008 10:00 #6 by MoonHunter (Emma Lawlor)
Replied by MoonHunter (Emma Lawlor) on topic Re:Newbie needs help - a few problems
Thanks Daragh for the welcome! Good to know I don't really need to worry about the white 'things'.

serratus wrote:

Little white worms are prob. planaria, as Daragh says harmless, usually seen with big fish, oscars, tinfoils etc... they feed on the excess food particles, a sign that the tank/gravel may be dirty/filters not able to cope with waste, overfeeding. was the tank or gravel secondhand?
The algae is prob. hair algae, check Nitrates and Phosphates, how old are the bulbs? Protolon 707 by Esha will get rid of it-really great stuff!!!

The tank and gravel is all firsthand. Everything is brand new. Even the bulbs - only a few weeks old now at this stage! I've got two filters, an internal and external, both new.

mwdragondk/mickey wallace wrote:

how big is the tank?
How long are the lights on?
how often do you do water changes?
what food are you adding to the tank and how much?

and any test results you have!

What are you hoping to but in the tank or do you mean to keep it as a dutch tank (plant only)

The tank is a 32gallon. I leave the lights on for about 8 hours. I've done water changes once every week - so that's been 3/4 changes so far since setting up the tank. And so far, no food has been added - i don't have fish yet to feed, and I won't start adding nutrients and Co2 for the plants yet until everything's a bit more settled in the tank (to try prevent too much of an algae bloom).

The latest test results (done yesterday) show both nitrate and nitrite levels at 0. Ammonia is 0.25 or lower (I can't seem to tell whether it was 0 or 0.25 when comparing the sample to the colour card)

My water's soft, and the pH is 7.2, but will be slightly acidic when all the plants are finally in it, and with the Co2 being added. so the water should suit soft water acidophiles. I'm hoping to add:
Rummynose tetra (Hemmigrammus rhodostomus)
Adolfo's cory (Corydoras adolfoi) or Nanus cory (Corydoras nanus)
and something a bit more colourful, like Cockatoo dwarf cichlid (Apistogramma cacatuoides)...if it will get along with these - I'm getting mixed opinions on this.

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28 Jul 2008 11:55 #7 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Replied by platty252 (Darren Dalton) on topic Re:Newbie needs help - a few problems
If you have a small amount of Ammonia in the tank this could be the cause of the algae. Although i find algae will try take hold around the 4-6 week mark.
Do some large water changes every second day for a week or so and gradually reduce them. This should help with the algae.
For snail control i use puffers. The dwarf puffer Carinotetraodon travancoricus will quickly rid your tank of snails.
These should be fine with the rummynose but i wouldent mix with the cacatuoides.
If you do go for puffers for the snails you need to make sure there is no traces of Ammonia or Nitrite. They just cant handle it.

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