If you don't mind, I have another query on the above. I added a small tub of dwarf water lettuce (I was told it was a type of salvinia at the time but that's another story) to my tank a month or so ago and it has since spread like wild fire. I was planning on removing some but should I wait until after my ammonia/nitrite levels settle before doing this? I was thinking it might feed on some of the baddies so perhaps I should leave it for now?

Also if anyone in the Glasgow area would like some of this when it does come out, then it's going for free as you'll be saving it from the bin so PM me and we can arrange a handover.... http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Decor ... arf%20Water%20Lettuce.htm

Thanks for the advice. I was eying those ammonia alerters up last week. My LFS have them in a lot of their tanks but didn't have any in stock for sale. They look great so I'll try the LFS again tomorrow and if not order one online.

Ok now i'm thinking clearly and out of panic mode here's the plan:

1. Daily water tests
2. Daily 25% water change
3. Light feeding
4. Get one of those thingmys.

Thankfully I have pretty hardy fish (zebras and wcmm's) although I'm a little concerned for my cherry shrimp. Let this be a lesson to you all, don't stuff too much stuff in your filter and trim the excess off the bag or you'll end up running about like Corporal Jones like I did half an hour ago.

Bad news, I have just dicovered that my filter had become blocked by some excess material from a filter bag and had stopped functioning. I'm not sure how long it was out of commision for as I only popped into the flat briefly this morning to put on the light and feed and although I didn't notice anything untoward then it's taken me half an hour of sitting right beside the tank to notice now!! It's therefore possible that it has happened sometime during the night. I carried out a water test and have a slight ammonia (0.5ppm) and nitrite (2.5ppm) spike. I have since got the filter up and running again and changed 25% of the water. Any advice on where I should go from here?

Have you tried the filter out in different locations to see if there's somewhere in the tank that it has a less dramatic effect? This is easier if the filter has a spray bar because you can angle the spray bar slightly towards the glass to take the sting out of the flow although I had a google and it doesn't look like the Eheim 2010 has one. Perhaps if you have an ornament you could put a few inches in front of the outlet to take the brunt of the flow this might help.

Red bit on a neon on starts halfway back, cardinal red bit goes the length of the body. Ich bin der cleverclogs!

A planted only tank sounds like a good idea fishy-fishy. I appreciate it's not the ideal sized quarantine tank but I'm really pushed for space as I only rent a small single room in a flatshare. When I move somewhere bigger I'll probably get one of those foodsafe plastic storage boxes people talk about on here but for now I'd rather quarantine in the biorb for a few weeks with plenty of water changes than not quarantine at all. I already keep a few big lumps of biorb filter in the other tanks filter for just such an occasion.

Thanks for the offer on the Red Ramnshorn's coolboy but if I go down the snail route for the bigger tank then I think I'll go with 1 or 2 nerites. I just prefer the the look of them and as they won't breed in freshwater won't have to worry about ending up with more than I need.

Thanks again for the advice people.

I understand nerites are quite a bit smaller than apple snails though? There doesn't seem to be a huge amount of info on them online, certainly nothing that seems definitive so unless there's an expert out there I'm inclined the veer on the side of caution and will consider the candle. Sounds like nerite snails are effective algae cleaners though so I might still get one for my bigger tank.

It'll take some convincing on the triops, those things give me the heebie jeebies.

Thanks for the help.

Hello again,

I have a 15l baby biorb which I’m currently using as a quarantine/hospital tank. At the moment it sits empty in the corner of my room when not in use which looks fairly depressing and also means I need to go through messy filter material swapping when I want to get it up and running for a few weeks quarantine. Is their anything I could keep in there that would keep my filter bacteria healthy between quarantines? I thought shrimp/nerite snails but am not sure if a) it is big enough for either or b) these would keep the filter bacteria going? I know some people recommend triops for tanks this size but whether they’d keep the filter bacteria healthy or not I’ve seen all of the Aliens movies and I’d never sleep in the room with the thought that one might somehow get out, attach itself to my face and suck out my brain. I know they’re only small but then so is my brain.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Excellent, I've had my eye on the Pearl Danios in my LFS for a while now! I also saw Golden Clouds in there so will consider 1 or 2 of those to brighten up the minnow school.

Thanks again for the advice Noodle, it's very much appreciated.

I take it these would school ok with the fish i have currently? I.e. if I added 2 Leopards or Pearls they would be happy in one big danio school with my Zebras rather than having to build up 2 schools of 6 of each to keep them all
happy?