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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

URGENT HELP REQUIRED

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15 May 2008 18:54 #1 by nonie (leonie troy)
I did a 20% water change yesterday and when I came home today 4 fish were dead. I have a 90l tank with 4 minnowa 1 pleco - which all died and 4 guppies and 4 tetra which are both fine. Did water check and the parameters are:

Ph 7.5 - 8
Ammonia 0
Nitrate- 10-20
Nitrite - 0

They were all fine ths morning. BTW I fed the pleco 1 algea wafer last night. It was the 2nd time I tried them- the 1st time the other fish ate it so i put it in when the lights went off last night.

Does anyone know what may have caused this of give mem any advice.

NONIE

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15 May 2008 19:01 #2 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
How long have you had the fish,are they newly added,is temperature alright and also is the tank fully cyled ?

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15 May 2008 19:06 #3 by nonie (leonie troy)
yes had the tank since January and the fish bout 3 wks later. temp is 24C the pleco was added Sat week and has been fine since we added him.

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15 May 2008 19:11 #4 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
you could add another degree to the temperature I think but this wouldnt of caused its death to be honest. The Pleco may of bought something with him when he was introduced, did you quarantine the tank ? However it seems strange that all of the fish died overnight, it seems like something happened rather suddenly as opposed to a build up of something. Im guessing the fish were behaving as normal before they died, the only thing that seems to have been a possibility is the algae wafer may of been contaminated or something. Its a strange one alright, I think someone like Darragh or Goldy may be able to offer more of a help on this. They have tons of experience.

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15 May 2008 19:26 #5 by nonie (leonie troy)
Thanks Fishowner for your help. I didn't quarantine the pleco when i got it and the fish were fine this mornign. (I ahve a habit of checking them in the morning and when I get home from work!!). It does seem really strange that so many died over night.

Has anyone used algea wafers before and could this have been the problem.

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15 May 2008 19:30 #6 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
I use algae wafers for my bronze cats who love them and they have all been fine to date. I even gave them a boiled pea tonight but its messy enough when they all go at it. I dont know if anyone else has had problems with algae wafers. Its seems rather mysterious, keep a close eye on the remaining fish, try and see if they have any problems by looking at them.(ie. are their scales normal, etc).

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15 May 2008 19:42 #7 by nonie (leonie troy)
I checked all of them and they seem fine. They are looking helthy, feeding and swimming fine. I have just checked the water coming from the tap and that seems fine -no changes in it. It is a complete mystery as to what happened. I only lost 2 mollie a few weeks ago after feeding brine shrimp. I think I should give up the hobbie!!! :( :(

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16 May 2008 08:14 #8 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Firstly please dont give up. Everyone has problems at the start and during the course of fishkeeping, you learn one thing and then discover another that you need to learn!
Don't give up on the little buggers just yet. Do you dechlorinate the tap water that you add to the tank ? Also can you advise size of tank, filter, heater etc....as well as its inhabitants. Trying to get an overall idea here so we might be able to help you out.

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16 May 2008 09:24 #9 by nonie (leonie troy)
I never declor the water from the tap because I was told from the lfs it is great for the fish. I have a 90l tank. fluval 2+ filter, 100w heater, airpump, 4 guppies, 4 tetra, (had 4 minnows and 1 pleco.) artificial plants and 1 ornament. As i said before I have had them 4 months or so and no probs!!

I do the same water change every week and rinse out one of the filter pads every now and then. I used a polyfilter pad the last few weeks but that has neer caused a problem!

Thanks for the support Fishowner,

Nonie

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16 May 2008 10:04 #10 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Ok first of all tapwater is NEVER great for a fish..your LFS is copmlety wrong there, chlorine kills fish so I would suggest you get some dechlorinate drops for the water you are adding. (i presume you bring the temp of the water up before adding it to the tank?)
Also when cleaning the filter pads, clean it in some water taken from the tank, dont clean it with tap water for the same reason as above,and you dont wanna kill the beneficial bacteria that you worked hard to get during you cycle.

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16 May 2008 10:45 #11 by nonie (leonie troy)
Fishowner wrote:

Also when cleaning the filter pads, clean it in some water taken from the tank, dont clean it with tap water for the same reason as above,and you dont wanna kill the beneficial bacteria that you worked hard to get during you cycle.


This is what I do all of the time. I also put Cycle into the water when I do a water change!!

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16 May 2008 10:53 #12 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Ah see you do know abit already about it.....dont even think of giving up!

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16 May 2008 21:55 #13 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
As fishowner said you need to use a dechlorinator or an alternative method of removing chlorine. Chlorine may be fine for us humans but it's bad for the fish.
Without any obvious signs of illness with the remaining fish you may have to wait and watch how your fish behave. Watch for jumping at the surface, scratching of surfaces of rocks/ plants, gasping for air at the surface, lying around on the bottom, loss of colour/appetite or any other odd behavior.
There is a slight possibility that when you did the water change some thing was introduced in the water. This is rare and i only ever experienced it once in four years.
I would also suggest checking the ph of the tap water. This changes from time to time. It is not so bad if it is slightly higher than the tank water but if it is lower i would hold off and post here before a water change. I dont want to confuse you with the whole ph thing at the moment. You have enough to think about.
Keep using the polyfilter. It is great stuff.
Dont add any new fish for roughly a month.

If you are not happy with the remaining fish being in full health you could dose the tank with Esha Exit and Esha 2000 as a precautionary measure. These are both good med's. that you could use at 1/2 dose as a precautionary measure.

Last but not least, dont give up. This is only a minor set back that most go through.

Darren.

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20 May 2008 09:48 #14 by nonie (leonie troy)
Hi guys thank you so much for your help. Just to bring you all up to speed. The remaining fish are all fine even the fry are fine :) which I have in a hatchery in the tank. I kept a very close eye on them over the weekend. I did treat the tank with p-clear as there is an algae bloom starting again and did a 25% water change the next day.

So all seems to be well and I am definately going to wait at least a month before I put knew fish in.

Once again thank you all so much for your help and encouragement,

Leonie

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