Matt_95

I LOVE iwagumi style. I thought Amano came up with the style though? You could do that with a NPT, you would have to have layers of tiles under the substrate to build up height and different levels, you can't have the substrate to deep. Also because you use a small shallow rooted ground cover the nutrients need to be close to the surface (in my tank with glosso I mix sand and Amazonia together.) To take up the nutrients you will need floaters like frogbit, this is what Diana used to take up the waste in her tansk with only ground covers. Doing a DSM will be easiest I would think since it gives teh glosso a chance to get established before it is flooded. Glosso is probably the best choice, HC doesn't grow all that well without CO2 while glosso will still go crazy.

Maybe it was the stocking rates that caused it?

Where the fish put in with the filter while you were setting the tank up?

The milky water could have been a bacterial bloom. I honestly don't think you could have gassed them with a waterchange and diy, people use much higher amounts of CO2 and do waterchanges and don't expeieince that. What did you do with the filter during the waterchange? I'm thinking the bacteria you removed in all those plants and teh gravel caused a small ammonia spike which the filter soon took care of. Rummynose are very sensitive to ammonia. If you didn't run the filer on a tub or something the bacteria could have starved, they begin to die off at 4 hours. Or if you left it shut they quickly run out of oxeygen as well.

How are their gills this morning? CO2 really shouldn't burn their gills. I add my fish the same day as well, never lost a fish.

Here he is: Also, you can't turn them into salalmders because they already are, they are morphed into terrestrial salamders.

Have you seen them? If so, what do they look like? Are ther albino and melano ones aswell as speckled ones? If so they would be morphed axies. If you ever get some in I would be very interested in getting one.

I don't think CO2 burns, it just suffocates them, could it have been ammonia? Alot of the nitrifying bacteria are in the substrate, on the plants and wood ect, could it have been that while the bacteria in te efilter multiplied to handle the load?

You can quote his message and get the link from that :)

Salts will do it, salt isn't kust NaCl, NO3 is a salt, that is nitrates ;)

Thanks Paul, I figured it out.... I unplugged the chiller thinking it was something else and it got to over 28 degrees. A very generous person on AL sent me some new ones though :D

For an axolotl to metamorphise without hormone injections does require them to be kept in much less than optimal conditions.... I don't think it was anything Sarah did, she has had 3 morph now, I think they may all have come from the same wholesaler and they were kept in less than ideal conditions. The biggest problem will come in keeping them cool, are you just going to fridge them Sarah?

its wierd if the java fern is pearling, it doesn't really grow fast enough to pearl, could it be algae on the leaves? Or just air bubbles trapped on the leaves somehow?

If it does cark it I'll have another one here for you.

I think iodine helps in the production of thyroxine? or its made up of iodine or something. http://cshprotocols.cshlp.org/content/2009/8/pdb.prot5268.abstract

Its not iodine that is injected Sarah, it's thryoxine, I think I spelt that wrong... I believe it is made up of iodine.

Looks good paul! The lotus should be fine, they're as tough as old boots, can't kill em'.

This is a good read about morphing axies: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-beginner-newt-salamander-axolotl-help-topics/f48-axolotls-ambystoma-mexicanum/f57-axolotl-general-discussion/80111-hard-metamorph-axolotls.html and this one http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-beginner-newt-salamander-axolotl-help-topics/f48-axolotls-ambystoma-mexicanum/f57-axolotl-general-discussion/80111-hard-metamorph-axolotls.html

I'm not sure, I've only heard rumors and I'm not sure if they are legal ones. You can morph an axolotl but it is cruel as they arn't ment to and puts lots of stress on their bodies and reduces their life span. Sometimes it happens for no apperent reason though like Sarahs. Usually morhping is a last attempt to survive and they usually die during the process. They can be injected with hormones to induce them to morph but it is still not a good practice, most peopel do not have acces to teh proper chemicals needed anyway.

Sarah wont mind, we discuss this often. Not the chinese one, Andrias japonicus, the japanese one, they are captive bred.

I did a fair bit of research on this, it seems the only salalmders we can keep are axoltls and giants salamders, to keep them you need an aquaculture permit I'm pretty sure as you can only use them for reseach and food. They are to big to keep for most people anyway. I am trying to figure out who I should email regarding salamders though as I hear we do have some stil in Australia before they wer banned from being imported, I've been looking for some newts and can't finf their status in Asutralia. If you are interested here is the risk assesment for the tiger salamder. http://www.feral.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Ambystoma_mavortium_VPCendorsed_270410.pdf

I shoudl get some pictures later now the elatine has grown in... I woke up this morning to dead CRS and nitrites at over 5ppm, not sure what Idid wrong :(

Thanks, it's one of my best, I'll be getting rid of the more patchy ones soon. They do go to the 1/3 mark, it will definatly look better when the carper has grown in. I like the view from my bed better, much more depth and the plants look fuller as opposed to the shoved in a corner look you mentioned. I don't view it from the front so when I'm planting plants I look in the side. When I move it I probably will extend it as then it will be viewed from the front. Will see how it goes!