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
sick fish
- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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In 2 of my tanks fish have developed what a white bit on their mouth, just like they kissed concrete. I thave throughly tested these tanks over the last few days and have seen nothing strange. I've only added some homemade coconut caves recently into 3 tanks.
60 ltr tank
1 juvenile male SFF - he was the first to have this white kiss and moved in a listless fashion so I euthanized him yesterday.
5 young females SFF - 1 died this morning, she had been sitting on t substrate quite a bit but did not appear uneasy.
1 adult male SFF - all okay - looking great fins are in great shape
had 5 WCMM ( 3 are golden) = all look okay, but fin tips are showing stronger colouraation
4 panday cory = all ok
120 ltr tank
3 leopard danio (1 female had been staying in the corner near the surface and only sometimes swam around with the others (found her last night floating on surface (not all colouration had gone and showed no signs of this white kiss
2 zebra danio = 1 is showing signs of this white kiss.
SFF fry tsnk appears fine
70 ltr soft n slow = all normal
Please help/advise further
Andrew
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- karlo (karlo kennedy)
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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what is cause and affect?
what can i do to treat this?
I am perplexed as all tanks water tests are okay.
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- karlo (karlo kennedy)
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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heres a link to add to your fav's for the future
www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Diseases1.htm
Seamus
Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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Andrew
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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any "how to guides" for the salt bath remedy out there ?
also what could the root cause be? the coconut caves

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- sheag35 (Seamus Gillespie)
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Seamus
Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
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- serratus (Drew Latimer)
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I would never put "foreign objects" in an aquarium, if you do, i would be very careful..may not be the reason but....
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- Xeon (ioan micu)
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A few hints to keep your bettas healthy.
Try to keep them at a stabile temperature above 24°C
If you are using a heater try to cover the tank so you won't have a big diference between the water temp and the air temp above.
Add some aquarium salt to their water.
The rest I think u kind of know.
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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there are now 3 fish infected from 2 different tanks - 2 SFF(male & female) & 1 danio
1. Can/should I put them all in together in the salt bath for 10 minutes ?
2. How long do I leave them in their quarantine tank for?
3. What do I do about the tanks I removed the fish from, should I do total clean or >50% water changes?
I have removed the coconut caves (it was fun making them last week, even more fun trapsing around shops after halloween trying to find some!)
Anyone know where to get some small terracotta plant pots from?
Andrew
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- Valerie (Valerie)
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Anyone know where to get some small terracotta plant pots from?
I get mine in my local garden centre. Though it's a smallish shop, it has tiny pots too. I boil and brush them before I put them in the tank.
Hope this helps.
Valerie
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- derek (Derek Doyle)
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coconut shells should not cause any problems. i have used them for years as they make ideal caves for resting or breeding fish. just clean out the shells and rub off most of the hairs with sandpaper and then scald them and they are ready for use.
all affected fish can be given salt bath together and returned to tank.
small quantitys of tonic or cooking salt can be safely added to most tanks to the benefit of all occupants. i have always added 1 teasp. salt per 10 gal to angel and most other fry tanks as a tonic. (not corys or malawis)
just one other point. fish sometimes get white lips from jaw locking and if this is the case they heal up quickly.
30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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- Loggser (Loggser)
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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Andrew
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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They are still in the hospital tank and I stopped the treatment after 6 days so I guess it could be more of a bacterial infection but am not sure.
Should I risk putting them back in the tank (future species tank - still toying with what is going in there)
Andrew
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- Valerie (Valerie)
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I would restart/continue the treatment until no visible signs of illness and then keep them isolated in quarantine for a few weeks to be sure, to be sure!

Valerie
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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- Valerie (Valerie)
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- Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
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As the tank has been receiving doses of medicine for the last 2 weeks, what do I do now about cleansing it? the reason being is that I'd l;ike to change my current hospital into a breeder and vice versa.
I guess i need to empty all water from hospital tank, clean filter and sponges in water from a cycled tank, put some cycled water into the hospital tank, let it cycle for a few days, change 20% or more of water each day and then I can put switch all contents around, i.e. breeder water and filter into the former hospital. So then the current "Infectiouos Diseases & Tropical Medicine Ward" gets a refit and becomes the all new "Maternity and Paediatrics Ward", see i have been paying attention to ER.
All advices are most welcome.
Andrew
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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Id do a water change also if your in no rush to use the tank.Maybe someone else will let you know whether to do partial changes or one whole change.Id imagine partial changes would suffice?
Gavin
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