Algae problem, fish dieing

[jmeister]

So i got 12 white cloud minnows a week ago, and put them in my established 20g long tank i've had running for a few months with plants, and a dirt and gravel substrate. These are the first fish i put in here. I have the aqueon hob 55/75 filter, and the fish seemed to keep being sucked to the intake, and dieing, so i tried multiple things to fix this. In the end, i had a 6" long pvc piece with holes and filter floss on it. The fish didn't stop dieing, and i eventually started seeing brown algae growing on the gravel, and walls. So i took them out, the 5 that were left, and put them in a bucket with a airstone, until i could kill all the algae.

what i want to know is how this happened after putting the fish in, even though the tank was clean for the months it didn't have fish in it, and also why the fish were dieing in the first place.

 

[molliwopp]

What are the parameters of your tank? The algae would be more help than a cause as it only an eye sore and actually uaea exceas neutrients in the water. Im going to guess at ammonia created by the fish and their waste. Only unheathly fish generally get sucked into the intake and definitely would expect minnows to as theyre fast good swimmers.

Do you have a test and did you cycle the tank before hand?

 

[GreenLily]

What are your water parameters? What did you use for the dirt part of your substrate? Did you complete a cycle (I assume you have since you said it is established)?

 

[jmeister]

i did cycle it, but i didn't test the water parameters. The dirt is organic potting soil.

 

[HN1]

The tank wasn't cycled if they were the first fish put into the tank. Unless you cycled fishless by adding a source of ammonia.

This might help.
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice


The good news is that a lot of us have been there at one point and it is a lot more fun when things run right. Welcome to AA!

 

[Wiggles24]

The brown algae sounds like diatoms which is also a good indication that the tank might not be as established as you think...

 

[jmeister]

so i threw in some algae eliminator, and plan on getting a testing kit.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Chemicals hardly ever work IMO. (For algae, anyways)

 

[molliwopp]

I would rather have algae than use chemicals to eliminate it. Its harmless really, yes it can b an eye sore!

 

[HN1]

The algae exists only because something is out of balance. Light, food sources, etc. Find the cause of the algae and correct that. Diatoms will happen with sand. They usually consume the available silicates within a few months. You can speed that up by doing large regular water changes. That will also help to establish a true "cycle" on the tank if fish are involved.

Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice

 

[gilpi]

Algae is not your problem. Using chemicals... not good. Water changes...YES!
Does not matter how long you had the filter running, if there were no fish in the tank your filter never cycled.

 

[cmwalters]

Algae is not your problem. Using chemicals... not good. Water changes...YES! Does not matter how long you had the filter running, if there were no fish in the tank your filter never cycled.

Exactly. If the tank was just running with water and plants, there would not be an ammonia source to start the cycle and keep the cycle going.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

The algae isn't killing the fish, algae is harmless and natural, and the filter isn't the culprit either. The filter is just sucking up the already dead fish. You don't need to take the fish out if/when you treat with algae remover. You really shouldn't use any chemicals, they are just to make money off of people in my opinion. With a new tank you should always add fish slowly. You didn't have any built up beneficial bacteria in the tank so when you added all of those fish at once it was a overload of bad bacteria. If you add those fish slowly, let's say 2-4 every 3 weeks you should be fine. The algae should fix itself with regular water changes.

 

[thebritishbloke]

High nitrates/phosphates could also be the cause. Are you doing regular water changes (not just topping up the evaporated water!). Get an algae scrubber if you don't like the look of it, rather than using chemicals to get rid of it.

You could be feeding too much food and have an inadequate bacterial colony to deal with the waste products.

 

[cmwalters]

The brown algae is diatoms, which feed off of excess silicates in your substrate. Because of this, they are limited by the amount of silicates in the system and, once all the silicates have been used up, will die off. However, diatoms are a sign of a newly established aquarium. Regardless, algae is not really a problem, but more of an eyesore. Get a good magnetic scrubber and scrub the glass when it gets out of hand. All of my tanks grow algae like it's going out of style. Algae produces almost 80% of the Earths oxygen anyways!