Hi all Bill - Thank you so much for posting your G. baldianum photo, Wow very nice I'm jealous. CP - It was very exciting waiting for my order to arrive as not many of the nurseries here in Townsville sell cacti, or if they do they are sad looking plants. I would love to know where you buy your plants from. I have purchased many of my plants from Max Holmes at Thornwood Gardens in South Australia. If you want to email me I'll send you his details. Michelle

G'day dancacti, try Thornwood Gardens P. O. Box 282 Strathalbyn S.A. 5255. (Max Holmes). Max sells cacti Mail order, and they are nice healthy plants. His new list is due out this month I think, for 4X50c stamps he'll send you his catalogue when it's ready. Hope this helps. :) Cheers, CP

http://www.cssnsw.org.au/ go to buy plants, and find "Lester Meyers" These are very high quality, he has 20 or so species of ferocactus, worth a try. Found him by accident just looking at that website. Does Thornwood gardens have a big list of cacti?

An update, comments welcome please... So following the return of the two poorly koi back to the petshop for a full refund, one of my established koi caught what we think maybe carp pox. This was a month or two ago now and I have been watching the fish carefully, no change in habits or feeding, and no signs of trouble. However the pox doo seem to have grown from yellowish waxy bumps to protuding white spots about 3-4mm. not on the tail & fins as with the returned fish, but on the right side of the body. I don't 'think' the number of spots is growing but they are getting bigger. Here's a photo: Other photo's at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sulley/tags/pox/ I thought the warm weather may help, but then came the rain. I have noticed a tiny spot on the tail of one of the other fish - Im not sure what flavour this fish is, it looks like a fantail goldfish but has very strong colouring, perhaps you can enlighten me. So I ask in desperation once again, are my fish ok? I dont have a quarentine tank, should I ditch the poorly fish for the sake of the greater good? Should I heat the pond to 80f? Is carp pox exculsive only to koi and I have a parasite? I feel hopeless and dispondent. This is my 1st year as a hobbiest and I worry about the fish like my own children (very sad I know, but they need me!) My pond water stats: pH-8 Amonia-0 Nitrite-0.15 Nitrate-2 KH-8 GH-11 Test taken with NTLabs Pond kit, all seems acceptable Thanks again Paul Here is a link that might be useful: more photos