$ct=mcrypt_cbc(MCRYPT_TWOFISH128,$key,$ciphertext,MCRYPT_DECRYPT); will return a string with null characters at the end of it. This defies common sense. I end up having to run the returned string trough a for-loop to remove the null characters.

i.e.

		for($i=0;$i<strlen($ct);$i++)
		{
			if(ord($ct[$i])!=0)
				$nct=$nct.$ct[$i];		
		}
		return $nct;

It does not matter what type of encryption is specifed.   Thanks, zend rocks so far!