i need algae and snail help

[ivorysnowg]

i have something going on with my freshwater tank and no pet store owner around here knows whats going on.
i have a 29 gallon tank. in it i have 4 large tinfoil barbs, 3 small, and 1 small irredecent shark. i have had the tank for 2 years and the fish are beautiful and healthy!
my problem is algae eaters and snails! i have algae in my tank(of course)! about every month i have to buy algae eaters! they live for around a month or a little more. one will die and the next day or two the other one will die! what's up with that???
i decided to try snails to see if they would have a longer life span in my tank and guess what? i just went to feed my fish and two of the four snails are floating around!!! can anyone tell me what is going on or what i may need to do differently???
please e mail me with any information you have at ivorysnowg@yahoo.com

 

[ivorysnowg]

can anyone help me or refer me to someone who may know

 

[ivorysnowg]

any help would be greatful!!!!!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Hey Ivory, when was the last time you did a water change or a gravel vaccum of the tank? Also, do you acclimate the fish (let the bag float in the water) for a while before you introduce the fish? Sounds like shock. Either your levels are so high, and your other fish are just used to it, or the temp difference is killing them, in my best guess anyways.

Also, on a side note: 7 Tinfoil Barbs and an Irridescent Shark is WAY too much bioload and fish for one 29 gal tank. Tinfoil Barbs will get HUGE! My thoughts, if you like the tinfoils, see if your LFS can take back 4 of them, and keep three of them. This might help a lot.

Answer the above questions, and I'm sure someone will be able to help!

 

[LittlePuff]

Were your algae eaters otos?

Kim

 

[thetmaxx]

what kind of algae eaters are they? if you had 2 4" CAE they can eat a lot.. maybe your starving them... ottocinclus' are a lot smaller, and seem pretty hardy, ime. maybe you could try 2 of them.

 

[mitche8359]

what kind of algae eaters are they? if you had 2 4" CAE they can eat a lot.. maybe your starving them... ottocinclus' are a lot smaller, and seem pretty hardy, ime. maybe you could try 2 of them.

You think that ottos are hardy??? I have only read the opposite. I just lost an otto tonight after one week of him being happy in the tank. I'd love to know your secret.

 

[Fluff]

Just wanted to say that just because your snails are floating, doesn't necessarily mean they are dead. Some snails will do this while resting. What kind of snails are they? Can't help you with the algae eater problem. Could be your water, your acclimation process, your lfs, etc. Maybe you are just buying bad fish.

 

[thetmaxx]

um, aclimate it to the tank, it gets chased around by a yellow cichlid for about a month, yellow cichlid was removed... water quality is ok, but could be better... water is very cloudy, cant get rid of the couldiness... tank is plum full of algae... so really i dont do much... lol maybe its the poor water quality? lol i dunno.