Thanks Violet, have been a bit slack on the peas/veggies thing recently but just about to give them some now! I'll think about getting that filter, it seems pretty amazing.

Thanks for the advice everyone.


Re: Hugo changing colour
It seems a bit odd that it's just his cap/wen that's changing colour. I've seen plenty of oranda's much older than Hugo and they all still have their red caps.

Re: Floaty Peter
He's still looking peaky, but he ate some bloodwork the other day and he'll be getting some peas later on.

Re: Water conditions/Filter
Our tap water is really high in nitrates anyway, between 20 - 40 ppm but we keep levels down in the tank with lots of plants. This hasn't been an issue so far. Our water readings are consistently good with no spikes seen in the past 5 months since we moved. I'm sure as the fish get bigger we'll consider upgrading the filter and water changes but, for now, they're fine I think!

Again, thanks for the advice, I'll let you all know if the situation improves.

Hi everyone, I know it's been a while! Everything has been going swimmingly with our goldies. As a brief reminder... We have a 200L tank with a 1000 L/H + UV external filter. We've got a load of plants in there + four fish.

I know, I know, four is too many for 200L BUT hear me out! We had a calico ryukin (Peter, now 1yr) to start with then added our red cap oranda (Hugo also 1yr) and a fat little pearlscale (Morgan about 6mth). THEN we went to my aunt-in-law's and she had a 2 year old fancy goldfish in a 4 litre tank with no filtration and you couldn't even see through the sides it was so limescaley and covered in algae. And the water was pink! And poor little Jane (as she's called now) had only swam upside-down for the past 6 months. And she was only 5cm long. We had to save her. So yeah, we have four.

Water parameters have stayed steady with weekly 60L changes - 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 20 - 40 nitrite (our tap water is pretty high to start with) and pH 8 temp 21c - 22c. The MTS have got a bit out of hand so we've recently (maybe a month ago?) added 5 assasins, but that's the only thing that's changed.

Now we've noticed that for about a week Peter's fins have been down and he's been really floaty and lazy. Then yesterday we noticed that Hugo is losing the red from his cap, starting at the middle back. The water is still fine, they're still eating and the other two seem unchanged. Any ideas what might be wrong? Should we be panicking?

Also, getting the carpet taken up in the room the tank's in this week or next so we're going to have to strip the tank, I'm hoping that's not going to freak the fish out too much...

OK cool, new house is only 20 minutes away so should be fine then! I will take pictures along the way.

Right, Thursday is the big day. This is the plan...

Tonight
* Transfer fish and plants into 80L tub with tank water and external filter.
* Empty gravel into a bucket, give the tank a good clean and dry.
* Got some DIY to do on the tank - sticking suction cups on with silicone - so we'll do that tonight too.

Thursday
* Take plants out of tub and put into plastic bags.
* Take sponge from external filter and put into old internal filter in the tub.
* Move tank, gravel, external filter and plants to new house and set up with fresh water (must remember to dechlorinate it!) and some fish food to keep filter bacteria well fed.
* Fish stay at old house.

Friday
* Bag the fish and take to new house with as much water as possible and filter.
* Put sponge back into external filter.
* Slowly introduce fish to tank.


Thoughts?

Hi everyone, been a while! We've just got the APS 1000EF + UV filter to replace the little one which came with our tank. I think we've set it up according to the instructions, but just a few questions to make sure.

1) The 'spray bar' does not spray. It sits about 5 inches below the water surface and, whilst it does pump the water out, there is little to no water movement and definitely no spraying. Is this correct?

2) This is an incredibly quiet filter which, combined with the lack of visible water movement, means that if the filter was to stop working we wouldn't know. Bit scary... ideas?

3) The media included with the filter was ceramic rings, bio balls and activated carbon in the three different layers.. We've added the sponge from our old filter in with the top tray (carbon) to kick start the new cycle and hopefully avoid any disturbance to the bacterial colonies. That's OK right? And in a few weeks time if we just remove the carbon and leave the sponge in there that's OK yes? Or should we chuck in some of the BiOrb media we have hanging around?


Other than these little filter teething issues all fairs well with our guys. We now have a little orange and black Pearlscale called Morgan with the troupe and the snails are thriving. x

Not sure what everyone else thinks but, as to the original question regarding the new filter, could you just put that filter in your current, cycled tank? That way your tank would get some extra filtration for a while to help deal with the build up of nastiness in the water and you should get a good colony of bacteria in the new filter. Flow might be a problem though so you'd have to turn them down a bit I would have thought. Just a thought anyway... good luck with the sick fishy. x

He does seem OK I just worry about whether it will affect him in the future at all!

Aha! Got the video up!

Skip to about 0:40 for a good shot, and excuse his floaty-ness - my 4 year old had just given them a big pinch of un-soaked pellets because she thought they still looked hungry!

Hey everyone, I've noticed that Peter's tail is a bit odd, doesn't seem to be causing any trouble but wondered if it's more likely to be a natural deformity or due to his first few weeks of life being in a BiOrb?

Basically, as you look at him from the back, the left of the two big tail fins goes upwards (so a straight line from tip of one fin, down to body, to tip of other fin) rather than an upside-down v shape (as in tip of fin, up to body, down to tip of other fin). I've tried my hardest to get a good picture but these are the best I can manage. I have got a vid but can't get it off my phone at the moment!

Thoughts?