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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

sick fish here too

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21 Dec 2008 19:38 #1 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
hi guys ... woke up this morning and went downstairs to check on my tank .... i noticed that the 2 clown loaches in my tank were lookin very sick ..... also had 4 floating salmon discus ..... everything seemed fine lastnight and there was no sign of any problems .

the 2 clowns were covered in what can only be described as a coating of what looked like dust







i have since then done a 50 % water change and have treated new water with primafix and a treatment of stress coat ....... unfortunately the 2 clowns didn't make it and died this evening ...... everything else in the tank is very active although one or 2 of the fish seem to be showing a few spots

i have no idea what it could be so any help would be appreciated

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21 Dec 2008 19:39 #2 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
gettin really annoyed at this pic posting thing

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21 Dec 2008 19:41 #3 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)






there ya go
Attachments:

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21 Dec 2008 19:42 #4 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
Attachments:

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21 Dec 2008 20:47 #5 by derek (Derek Doyle)
clown loach as scaleless fish can be parasite magnets until they settle into a new tank or if new infected fish are introduced. u will have to treat the tank for whitespot as the fish with a few spots could develop full blown infestation as the parasites drop off and multiply. the parasite can not be harmed while attached to the host but is easily killed when it drops off if dye /medication is in tank water at this time.(72 hour cycle)normally dye is added on days 1,2 and 3 to cover 72 hrs and finnally on day 6 to catch any survivors.
you have been a bit unlucky with your tank and if u treat now or soon this parasite problem should be sorted easily enough.
best of luck and keep the chin up.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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21 Dec 2008 21:09 #6 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
so ya reckon it is white spot then ...... just doesn't look like white spot that i've had b4

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21 Dec 2008 21:11 #7 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Sorry to hear the bad news Duzzy.
It dose look like white spot so keep the temp up 28.5c+
As suggested by Derek treat the tank with a white spot treatment (formalin & mamachite green). The pimafix wont do it.
There is another parasite that looks similar to white spot except it is a more golden colour, called velvet (Oodinium). This is treated the same as white spot with the only difference been the parasite or flaglets of Velvet can use light as a food source so if it is Velvet the tank should be darkened during treatment.

If you are having trouble putting up pictures and are in a hurry just put up a link to flicker/photobucket.

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21 Dec 2008 21:16 #8 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
cheers guys .... i'll pick up some white spot treatment tomorrow so

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21 Dec 2008 21:16 #9 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Duzzy just looking at your last picture again, is it on your whiptail (sturisoma)as well? If it is how much of the whiptail is covered compared to the loaches?
Do you have pleco's in the tank? Are they infected?

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21 Dec 2008 21:18 #10 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
the whiptail only seems to have one or 2 spots on his tail so far .... my plec seems fine from wot i can see ... he's kinda elusive at the best of times

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21 Dec 2008 21:24 #11 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Ok it sounds more like white spot. Velvet seems to be able to attach to plecos a lot easier than white spot. Your plec's may not get it at all.
I think why it is on the tail of the whiptail is it is a lot smother than the body. The parasites seem to have a hard time attaching to the rough body of the plecs and whiptails.

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21 Dec 2008 21:31 #12 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
workin 10 - 7 tomorrow so will pick up some white spot remover ( sounds like a washing powder ) on my break

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21 Dec 2008 21:36 #13 by derek (Derek Doyle)
looking at pics again, it could be the much more annoying velvet as platy suggests, although spots look a bit big for velvet. what size are fish in pic.
armoured catfish and scaly fish are not as badly affected by whitespot (mostly the soft fins) but velvet can more easily infect and smother the gills of plecs.
as platy says if velvet, darken tank and higher temp. if whitespot higher temp to speed up life cycle. both parasites operate on a similar time cycle.
treatment such as waterlifes protozin (bio degradeable) will sort out either parasite.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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21 Dec 2008 21:57 #14 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
the 2 clowns were about 4.5 inches long if not 5

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21 Dec 2008 22:33 #15 by derek (Derek Doyle)
its the much more common whitespot so and thats the lesser of the evils. so just get your meds and start the treatment and you'll be grand. just remember these parasites are crustacaens, so remove any pet shrimp or crabs before adding dyes/meds.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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21 Dec 2008 22:38 #16 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
will do ... first thing tomorrow .....
only just happy with my tank ... don't wanna loose any more fish

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21 Dec 2008 22:39 #17 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Its not whitespot, I was over at duzzy's house tonight, these clowns were from my 160L tank and in great condition. Velvet sounds about rite
Here’s a pic I found and it’s exactly what it looked like



So best thing to do now is Raise water temperature, Dim lights for several days, Add aquarium salt and use a whithspot treatment :(

LB

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21 Dec 2008 23:48 #18 by derek (Derek Doyle)
you are most likely right lb, because duzzy was losing loracarids recently and this alone would indicate velvet as whitespot is less of a problem to these armour plated cats.
even extremely healthy clown loachs or other botias are extremely vulnerable if exposed to either parasite because they are scaleless and the whole body is quickly attacked.

anyway the damage is done and the problem can be sorted now without further losses as long as treatment is in water when parasites dislodge from hosts. each spot can become 1000 new pests and thats why they can be so dangerous if left to proliferate.
good luck duzzy and dont forget to reduce or even stop feeding while medicating.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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22 Dec 2008 01:04 #19 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
I agree with Derek that you should stop feeding. Velvet not only attacks the skin and gills, in a worst case scenario it can attack the gut. The fish wont eat and you will only pollute the tank by feeding.
It is important to black out the tank. These parasites can use light as a food source just like algae dose.
If you do add salt (i wouldn't) only use a small amount. The loaches wont tolerate the salt to much.

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22 Dec 2008 09:08 #20 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
thanx again guys .... up at eight this morning and already been to the Lfs .... white spot treatment bought .... and also picked up anti slime and velvet treatment .... gonna dose the tank now and then turn out the lights for a few days ...... fingers crossed eh !!

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22 Dec 2008 13:22 #21 by cardinal (Lar Savage)
Duzzy
Best of luck with your treatments
Lar

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22 Dec 2008 16:09 #22 by derek (Derek Doyle)
duzzy. dont use more than one treatment at the same time. just add one or other of the treatments and remove any carbon from filters.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

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22 Dec 2008 20:49 #23 by gerryberry (Jeff Daly)
Best of luck Duzzy hope all goes well, keep the chin up.

GB

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22 Dec 2008 23:32 #24 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
so i bought 2 treatments and then figured out i couldn't use them together .... so treated for velvet ... turned up the heater and blacked out the tank ...... hope to see the fishies b4 new years !!!

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22 Dec 2008 23:36 - 22 Dec 2008 23:37 #25 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran)
Thats all that can be done ;)
Last edit: 22 Dec 2008 23:37 by LimerickBandit (Donal Doran).

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22 Dec 2008 23:50 #26 by Orca (Eoin Walsh)
Hi duzzy,
I got white spot a few weeks ago in my tetra tank and went to the AV and got some tetra contraspot it worked very well.I had three outbreaks of white spot and this product sorted it in 5 to 7 days.I am now four months with no new outbreaks.

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23 Dec 2008 00:01 #27 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
cheers for the replt orca .... the situation so far is ..... i got up early this morning and went to the LFS ....... bought some whitespot ( which i figured out a while later i couldn't use in conjunctionn with ... ) and velvet treatment . dosed the tank , turned up the temp ( thanks to the advice of forum members ) , and covered the entire tank with a few towels to block out any possible light .

even disconnected my new co2 supply , and ceased all feeding . although stupid as i might be called ..... a pinch on christmas day is a necessity ( spelling ) ... just a pinch i promise ...

so from here on in its a case of sitting and waiting !!!!

if i loose my breeding pair of keyholes , then i reckon there may be a 120 litre tank for sale in limerick fairly soon

say some prayers for me ..

martin

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23 Dec 2008 00:21 #28 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Hopefully you will have no problems. It will be no harm to check on them every day. Just resist turning on the tank lights.

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23 Dec 2008 00:23 #29 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
thanks platty ... i have the light unit unplugged and even after one day ... its proving hard to resist turning it on to take a quick look to see how they are doing ......

the treatment says 7 days for completion !!

any ideas ??

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23 Dec 2008 00:31 #30 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
You will have to resist turning on the lights.
What treatment did you get?
After the seven days do a water change and vacume the sand/gravel.

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