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I was hoping that you might be able to give me some advice on a problem I have with my pond. I have had a new filter installed and am having it enclosed in the same brickwork as the pond itself. Obviously it is right up beside the pond and I am rather concerned that cement may fall in when the bricks are being laid.
Could you please tell me whether there is any special cement on the market that is not harmful to Koi or Goldfish, as to remove them all before hand would be very difficult for me and extremely stressful for them. Many thanks for your help in this matter.
Kindest regards, Pam England (Mrs)
Obviously you can use water-proofing additives in cement but that's not what your concern is about. I don't know of any 'Koi-safe' mortar or cement I'm afraid but this should not worry you unduly.
As the pond contains Koi I am assuming that it's of generous proportions.
Compared to the total volume of water a few dollops of misdirected mortar should not adversely affect water conditions too much.
Once the brickwork of your new filter enclosure is finished, it can be rendered and then sealed with something like G4 to prevent any lime leaching out of the mortar.
On a practical note, maybe you could drape a large sheet of plastic across the edge/end of the pond where the construction is occurring then any cement that drops would be caught before it reaches the water? Just a thought.
Your fish should soon be feeling the benefit of your new filter, but remember that it will take a little time to mature even if you 'seed' it with some of the existing filter medium.
My guppy is put into a small milk carton and my teacher put water without chloride. My guppy looks similar to this picture, but it is much smaller and does not have colour on it. I think it is a baby.
Its eyes are only two dots without a corona. Could you please send a picture of the guppy you think I am talking about. It also has a skinny tail. It is not spread out. It also looks like a tadpole.
I do not have a tank.
I do not have its food.
I do not know what plants it eats.
I do not know what kind of fish I have.
I do not know if I have to put it under light or not.
I do not know if it is a male or a female.
I do not know how to take chloride out from water.
I do not know what other kinds of food it eats than plants.
I know it eats algae, but what kind?
I do not know how big of surface it needs.
I do not know if it is pregnant or not.
What about sickness?
What do I do if it is pregnant or sick?
Hopefully you will know what fish I have from my description and send a picture and info.
Thank you sincerely, Meera
What a lot of questions!
Let's start off by saying it is not possible to give your Guppy any particular type name because all male Guppies are different to each other. You can tell if it's a male (and it sounds like it is) by looking at the fin underneath the body: if the fin is fan-shaped then the fish is female but if the fin looks more like a pencil then it's a male. (see the Know Your Fish article on the Really Useful Page on this website)
You will care for your Guppy best by giving it a tank to live in. It won't need a very big tank (unless you're planning to add more fish) and something 30cms long by 25 cms high 25cms front to back will do fine.
As the Guppy comes from tropical waters you will need a heater and thermostat unit to keep the tank water at the correct temperature. A covering hood with a small light fitted in it will help make the tank look nice and any water plants to grow. Complete aquarium kits (of all sizes and prices) can be found at your local aquarium store.
Guppies do not eat plants although they might nibble at the algae on them from time to time. You can get proper fish flake food at your store too.
You can take any chloride (chlorine) out of the water by using products called something like Tap Safe or Aquasafe; all you do is add the correct dosage to any water you want to use in your aquarium.
If your fish is a male, then it won't become pregnant and if it is a female then it will only give birth to baby Guppies if it was pregnant when it came from the shop. You can tell when a female Guppy is pregnant as her tummy gets bigger and a dark patch appears near to her vent just in front of the single fin under the body.
If your aquarium has some bushy plants in it, when a pregnant Guppy gives birth the young babies can hide in the plants and not get eaten by their mother (sorry, but this kind of thing does happen).
It is unlikely that you fish will get sick if you follow these actions.
1. Never give more food than the fish will eat in two or three minutes.
Any uneaten food will make the water dirty.
2. Change some of the aquarium water every three or four weeks - say around 10-15%.
3. Leave the tank lights on for about 10-12 hours each day, especially if there are plants
in the tank.
The most common illness fishes get is something called White Spot Disease. This is easily recognized - look for lots of very tiny white spots on the fish's body and fins - but is easily treated using a remedy available at your store.
"Sea Monkeys" have been around for many years as an educational toy although most fishkeepers quickly realised that they were Brine Shrimp eggs, Artemia salina. Triops are not quite the same species and apparently can be traced back for millions of years.
Providing the usual steps are taken to rinse the food in fresh water (to remove the salt water used to rear them) I can't see why tropical fish (freshwater or marine) couldn't benefit from this meal and, as you say, this alternative living food is free of disease. The only snag is that the food is very tiny and best reserved for feeding baby fry from any breeding that you might do. It seems hard work to raise the shrimp up to adult size just for an occasional mouthful!
If you look at our 'Really Useful Page' you will find optimum details of How to Hatch Brine Shrimp, courtesy of Brine Shrimp Direct, a major supplier of Brine Shrimp eggs. They also supply quality Flake foods also based on marine sources of natural food such as plankton etc.
You have put us in a it of a quandary on two fronts with your query.
Firstly, it seems from your email address that you are not resident in the UK and so importation of aquatic plants to you may be governed by different legislation.
Secondly, Parrot's Feather – Myriophyllum aquaticum - has been put on a banned or restricted list here and so would not be readily available.
Looking on the Internet, the following address came up which may offer more help to you than we can at this stage.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/exponds/msg0314593429661.html