fishless cycling help please!

[jlk]

The brown stuff is diatoms and pretty normal in a new tank. They wont hurt anything and wipe off easily (do this prior to a water change). Just unsightly. They typically burn themselves out as a tank establishes itself and matures. If your starting to see some green algae, then I would do some investigating into its cause such as excess light or nutrient imbalance.

 

[Illetrop]

So far
3 rainbow fish
3 zebra danios
4 red cherry shrimp
1 skunk Cory
1 sterba's Cory
1 Otto catfish
2 praecox rainbow
1 male beta
Got them online. Didn't realize how young they'd give to me. What do you guys feed your fish I got blood worms. And flakes from tetra. For some reason the rainbows spit it out. But they have kept some in. Anyone know why?

 

[jlk]

I dont keep tropicals but I would try a better quality food for them. Also, give them a few days to adjust- right now, they may be too stressed from their travel to be interested in food. Make sure you keep a close eye on your tank numbers as well. Newly cycled tanks can be a bit tempermental and if there is ammonia/nitrite present, this will can cause fish to lose their appetite & spit out food as well. Congrats on your new fish!!!

 

[librarygirl]

Give them some time to settle in.

All of your fish would benefit from higher group numbers; they'll feel more secure with more of their own kind.

Supplement the Otto diet with some algae wafers and fresh blanched veggies (zucchini, cucumber, etc); toss in a piece at night after lights out and remove anything uneaten the next day. Corys also like to eat at night after lights are out and some shrimp pellets, algae or veggie wafers would be good for them.

Freeze-dried foods tend to cause bloat and other problems in fish. Soak it in some tank water first. Frozen foods are a better source than freeze-dried but either once should be offered as a treat once or twice a week, not as a staple food.

Try rotating the flakes with a higher quality food like Hikari or New Life Spectrum community fish pellets.

Also watch the betta; he may not like the other tank mates or they might go after his fins too, especially rainbows who tend to swim toward the top like the betta.

 

[Illetrop]

Thanks for the info. So just got home and my last otocinclus catfish died. Not sure why all the other fish ate doing well. He wasn't fully grown at all are they frail fish? Had three one arrived died last two died in my tank. The had algae wafers too. Not sure the deal

 

[Illetrop]

So I read that those liquid fertilizers for plants are bad for shrimp possibly for fish too. Since most of them got metals. I supposed to have 7 shrimp but rarely see them. I use seachem fllora excell I think it is liquid co2. And florapride. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks

 

[librarygirl]

Otos are notoriously sensitive and can be pretty hard to keep from what I've heard. Excel can be hard on shrimp but it depends on the dose; most people use it without problems unless you overdose. With your stock I'd suspect the shrimp are afraid to come out because they know they'll be eaten; you'll probably hardly see them. I've never heard of Florapride until I just Googled it; it says it's high in iron and it provides some of the minerals but not all; it'll depend what's in your tap water too. It may just cause algae, it may be fine; you'll have to just see how it works for you. What plants do you have and what lighting? That usually depends on how much to dose nutrients. If you dose too much without enough light you get algae. I use Seachem Comprehensive with shrimp and they are fine although I only dose a few times a week.

 

[Illetrop]

Lost my skunk Cory today 2nd Cory I lost. Woke up this morning and his barbs were gone. Same thing happened to my sterba. I don't know what's going on. Lost two ottos earlier. Some reason I'm not having luck with catfish. All my other fish are thriving and starting to get there colors. I got Eco complete as substrate. And water perimeters are good. I don't understand. Anybody else go through this? I wonder if its my beta.