New and need a little advice... :)

[algae-eater]

Hello everyone! I just joined and have some questions.

I have one golden chinese algae eater. He is about four inches right now and lives in a five gallon tank. When he gets bigger I will upgrade it.

Anyway, I have some problems.

1. I feed him algae wafers, but now algae is growing on everything and he doesn't eat it! He eats the wafers for the most part, but as for algae growing on his log and fake plants, nope. Could it just be that he is still too nervous to come out and eat it? I've only had him here a week.

2. Cloudy water. Yeah, the algae wafers are clouding everything. He doesn't eat them until nighttime, and by then they make everything messy. Should I try a different brand? Right now I'm using the kind they have at Walmart.

3. The filter. It seems that water is kind of bubbling over so to speak. It looks like it's about to come over the back of the tank. My mom would not be very happy about that... Do I need to change the filter cartridge?

Thank you SO much! Please respond quickly, I really need help!

 

[CharlieKlein]

I'd say the cloudy water is because the bioload size isn't being handled by the filter: this fish gets nearly a foot, and should b in a 55 gallon or bigger if I'm not mistaken. And a 5 gallon reall is only suitable for a betta, or a few other nano fish. But anyways, if you cannot upgrade soon he could get shocked and shorten his life. I've heard they aren't the bet algea eaters and even in big tanks don't do a good job

 

[algae-eater]

I'd say the cloudy water is because the bioload size isn't being handled by the filter: this fish gets nearly a foot, and should b in a 55 gallon or bigger if I'm not mistaken. And a 5 gallon reall is only suitable for a betta, or a few other nano fish. But anyways, if you cannot upgrade soon he could get shocked and shorten his life. I've heard they aren't the bet algea eaters and even in big tanks don't do a good job

Thank you for your prompt answer! But um, what's a bioload? I don't know that much about aquariums. Please help me learn!

 

[CharlieKlein]

No problem! Bioload is the amount if waste produced. For example, a 4 inch pleco has much more bioload then a school of 12 neon tetras, therefore making the pleco need a larger tank with Bette filteration. I'm not very helpful with the individual fish you have, but I do know they get large so I would assume they have a decent bioload size. What filter do you have? Generally, you want a filter that produces 10x the the amount of gallons in your tank per hour. For example. You would want a 50gph(gallons per hour) filter, and it never hurts to get more. But anyways, the fish really needs a bigger tank, and the sooner the better!

 

[algae-eater]

No problem! Bioload is the amount if waste produced. For example, a 4 inch pleco has much more bioload then a school of 12 neon tetras, therefore making the pleco need a larger tank with Bette filteration. I'm not very helpful with the individual fish you have, but I do know they get large so I would assume they have a decent bioload size. What filter do you have? Generally, you want a filter that produces 10x the the amount of gallons in your tank per hour. For example. You would want a 50gph(gallons per hour) filter, and it never hurts to get more. But anyways, the fish really needs a bigger tank, and the sooner the better!

I'll get on the bigger tank as soon as I can! I'm not quite sure which filter I have. It's by Whisper, and it came with the five gallon aquarium kit from Walmart. Aqua Culture Aquarium Starter Kit - Walmart.com

The box didn't say what kind of filter it had. Ugg. It is for 5 to 15 gallon tanks.

Thanks so much!

 

[thomasina]

I'll get on the bigger tank as soon as I can! I'm not quite sure which filter I have. It's by Whisper, and it came with the five gallon aquarium kit from Walmart. Aqua Culture Aquarium Starter Kit - Walmart.com

The box didn't say what kind of filter it had. Ugg. It is for 5 to 15 gallon tanks.

Thanks so much!

Hello! I just wanted to chime in a bit about the filter you have. I also got a kit from Walmart. This was in the beginning of Oct. It just didn't clean the water. I am currently running two filters - added an AquaClear 50 so that it will cycle in, takes about 6 weeks, then I will remove the Walmart filter. I have a 20 g. tank. My water is so pretty now!! As far as a smaller tank, 50 and under, I have read that Otos are very good at the algae. I have two red finned otos and the minute I put them in, they started going at it!! I also have two pepper corys that scour the bottom keeping the gravel clean. In this tank there are 3 nerita snail, they don't bread and they really get into places the other don't get to! I have a full load of fish - 6 guppies, 1 German blue ram, 6 tetra, 2 glo dinnos, and the others aforementioned. I do a great deal of reading so I really suggest doing so. The Chinese cats, (which I had two before I knew about them) really cleaned, however they got too big. They went in a 55 gal. tank at my daughters. Didn't mean to be so long winded. Hope this helps!!

 

[Rivercats]

First off you need to be doing weekly 50% WC's in the tank. I'm sure the filter needs cleaning if not replacing. Remove the cartridge and rinse it in old tank water in a bucket to see if it will clean. If not you might have to change it. Also the reason the algae eater won't eat algae is your feeding it. Why work on real algae if your giving it food. Also if it eats at night give it about a 1/2 tablet about every 3rd night. As in put it in after the lights are tuned off, don't feed during the day since it isn't eating. Also if your having an algae issue you need to only be running your lights 6-8 hours a day max. Your way overfeeding which is also contributing to the algae problem.

 

[algae-eater]

I went to Petco today and purchased some anti-aglae stuff. It is called "No More Algae" and it's made by Jungle.

I put it in and removed the filter cartridge like the bottle said to do. So now I just wait to put the cartridge back in tomorrow and pray the stuff works.

Thanks for all your suggestions. If the filter continues to be naughty, I'll look into replacing it. Any suggestions for what kind to get?

Thanks!

 

[Rivercats]

Sorry but that is not a good thing to do. You could have gotten the algae under control without chemicals. You still need to clean up the tank and practice good aquarium maintanence which will get your algae under control.

 

[algae-eater]

How do you clean the tank? Do you mean do a full water change?

Thanks!

 

[Rivercats]

You need to be doing 50% WC's on the tank weekly. Its easy to do in a small tank. You should also be rinsing your filter cartridge weekly in the old tank water you remove from your WC. Run lights 6 hours daily until the algae is under control then you can slowly increase lights up to 8 hours max as long as no algae appears. And as I stated above cut way the heck down on feeding that fish. He's too big for the tank as it stands. Do you have any test kits? Do you know you ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings?

 

[algae-eater]

You need to be doing 50% WC's on the tank weekly. Its easy to do in a small tank. You should also be rinsing your filter cartridge weekly in the old tank water you remove from your WC. Run lights 6 hours daily until the algae is under control then you can slowly increase lights up to 8 hours max as long as no algae appears. And as I stated above cut way the heck down on feeding that fish. He's too big for the tank as it stands. Do you have any test kits? Do you know you ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings?

No test kits. I don't really know about all those readings.

Yes I was giving him two algae wafers a day but I'm going to cut it down to one and see if that helps.

Thanks!

 

[Rivercats]

No test kits. I don't really know about all those readings.

Yes I was giving him two algae wafers a day but I'm going to cut it down to one and see if that helps.

Thanks!

You really need to get an API Master test kit and start using it. It is a very important tool to use. Also 1 tablet a day is too much! Do a half a tablet every other day. All that excess food is doing is fouling the water and the fish has to live in that water. Fish need very little food, he won't starve, and he might actually start eating some of the tank algae. Here's a good article that might help you understand things... I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

 

[Fishlover24]

Hey I would say to stop feeding him algae waffers and just let him eat the algae in the tank. And I would put in on a bigger tank. A 20 gallon would be perfect. Ten gallon would be the smallest. And the thing about biological load is that there is too much waste in the water then what the filter takes out.