algae? overstocked??

[indrani987]

Advice please! I set up an aquarium with no fish for about 3 weeks, and added bacteria from the fish store. I added some plants, but one of them had brown algae (I later realized), which spread - I was told by the fish store that it is really hard to get rid of, so I just got rid of the plants and tried cleaning off my rock, but it is still growing there.

Over a week or so, I added 5 danios All seemed well, and my water chemistry tests were fine. Then I added 3 cory cats. The third morning after I added the cories, suddenly my aquarium walls were covered in tiny little pale green spots, all moving around with the current. I tried using the algae scraper, but they seem to almost not be touched by the scraper - many do come off with repeated scraping. if it's algae, will my cory cats eat it? Also, my ammonia is suddenly up (between .25 and .5 ppm) as are the nitrate (20ppm) and the nitrite (3ppm). I did a 30% water change and changed the filter bag, but it doesn't seem to have affected it.

Should I be worried? And what should I do - try adding plants again, or just keep scrubbing? Did I just wait too long to change the filter? is it overcrowding? Should I return the cories?

Thanks for your input - I'll keep checking back to look for advice - I'll be very, very sad if any of my fish die!

 

[tkos]

You added bacteria from the fish store but didn't feed it so your tank is cycling right now. Do water changes to get rid of excess ammonia and definatley the nitrites which are killing your fish right now. Those readings should always be as close to zero as possible. By changing the filter bag you got rid of any bacteria their so you will keep having problems. Instead you need to leave that filter bag in the tank and during water changes just rinse it out with old tank water.

Your wtaer tested fine when you put the fish in because you hadn't gone through a cycle yet and nothing had been happening.

Cories are bottom feeders and do not eat algae. They need to be feed bottom feeder pellets.

Adding plants will help get rid of extra ammonia and nitrites and hopefully will compete with the algae. In the end there is always going to be a little algae but hopefully you can keep that to the smallest amount.

 

[Allivymar]

*nods and agrees with tkos*

Yeah, your tank is cycling. I'm guessing you don't have a handle on the cycle yet (I'm talking specifically of the nitrogen cycle); take a gander at this article: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html . Lots of good info and explains the cycle nicely. What tkos said meant feeding the bacteria, is the nitrogenous bacteria thrives on ammonia and nitrites. If there is no ammonia, they starve. Also, what bacterial starter did you use? The only one I have found to be truly effective is Bio-Spira, but it must be added WITH the fish to a new tank.

As for algae, most tanks have some degree of algae and some type of algae in them. At the site mentioned above is a nice article on algae as well: http://faq.thekrib.com/algae.html .

I strongly do NOT recommend using algaecides. Nasty stuff and not good for the fish either.

What size tank do you have? If its a 10g, you may have room for an otocinclus or 2. Nice little fish, and eat primarily algae. If your tank is smaller tho, you've about topped out your bio-load and theres no room.

 

[indrani987]

Thanks for the speedy reply I guess I will scrub the algae for now, and wait for the bacteria to build up, and do small water changes (any recommendation on how much to change, how often, if the tank is still cycling?). I'm figuring I should wait before I take out the fake plants and try to put in some new ones. My poor fish are getting scared every time I approach the tank after I vacuumed and changed the water and the filter as fast as possible before heading out to work this morning! Hopefully that will give them some down time too..

Okay, I've actually got a bunch of new questions - hope some people will be willing to tackle them....

About the brown algae - will the green algae or the plants I'll add later on out-compete them? Or should I wait for the bacteria load to build up, then just clean/get rid of the big rock that the brown algae is growing on?

Also, about the cories. I've got some sinking pellets and brine shrimp to feed them. The pellets take a while to dissolve, and the corries don't seem interested in eating while I watch - so I don't know how much pellet food they eat in 5 minutes. I haven't actually seen them eat anything but the brine shrimp. Are there tastier foods than pellets that I could feed them on a daily basis? Or if pellets are good, how many should I give per fish? (They're about 1.5 inches long - and so cute!) I try removing the uneaten pellets with a net, but that makes all my fish flip out, and I figure that stress can't be good - if I could just feed them something else they'd like as much as brine shrimp, it might be easier to not overfeed.

Should I just feed my fish once a day while the tank is cycling?

Okay, last question! If all I've got in the tank right now are fake plants, do I need to be turning on the flourescent lights for 8-10 hours per day? Or is having natural daylight that comes into the room during the day enough?

THANKS BUNCHES!

~indrani

 

[indrani987]

Thanks for the articles - I'll definitely be using this info from now on. You asked the size of my tank - it's a 10 gallon. I would get the fish you mentioned, only I'm afraid with 5 danios and 3 cory cats I may already have too many fish! Plus, I'm a little annoyed cuz the guy at the pet store told me the cory cats would eat the algae in my tank - but that's okay, I wasn't getting them to take care of the algae, I just think they're adorable and figured they'd do okay with the danios

 

[Allivymar]

OKey dokey *grin*

First off 1 time a day feeding is plenty, especially for those lil guys. They won't starve; well fed fish can go upwards of a week without eating although I don't recommend that one a regular basis LOL I would suggest 1x a day as well to reduce any foods rotting on the bottom and upping your ammonia levels.

The tests will guide you to water change amounts. High levels of ammonia? Big change (although I wouldn't do more then 50%). Low levels = smaller changes ( maybe 10-20%).

The sunlight is probably whats causing the growth of green algae. Does any hit the tank? Reduced light levels will help rid the tank of some of it. Problem is brown algae isn't algae at all but it diatoms. High levels of light help reduce it LOL

Again, what size tank is it? A small algae eater will really help (of course, you cannot add it until the tank is fully cycled. But if you buy it now and quarantine it for a few weeks, the tank should be ready once quarantine is over). Again, adding one would depend on tank size.