From Blooming to dead, I need help to start new

[fish_4_all]

I was growing ancharis and java moss with some great success and then the crash. They all died within 2 weeks and now I have to start over again. I also developed a serious, glass blackening algae on the glass about the same time. It is not green but a very dark, dark green/black algae. I will be getting BN soon to see if they will eat it.

What did I do wrong? I don't have anything but test strips but will hopefully have a good test set soon, if we get a tax return. The nitrates have been high but nothing outrageous averaging 60-80 regularly although they have dropped a little since I removed the plants. Now they are regularly 40-60. As accurate as this is with the cheap test strips. Someone needs to make a sticky letting people know that they need the good chemical drop test kits and not the test strips.

All I want is something for the fry of both the BN and my C. Trilineatus to hide in and play as well as something that will grow. Something as a good bottom cover and something that will grow high and I can trim. Low Light, 1.5 watts per gallon, 1 15 watt fluorescent on each 10 gallon tank.

I just want to have happy, low maintenance plants that will make happy home for my fish and grow like there is no tomorrow. I don't mind trimming!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

If you have a small piece of driftwood, java moss and java ferns are good. With that lighting, the java moss should do good, and be a place where the fry can hide. There's also Christmas moss that some people get as well. I believe hornwort will do good too.

 

[travis simonson]

More info please. Please see the sticky on this forum descirbing the info we need from you to help you diagnose tank problems.

Just from what you're saying it sounds like you may have a really nasty BGA outbreak going. Does the algae on your tank walls just reek if you wipe it with your finger and smell it? If so, you need a blackout to reset things, and then need to rethink your water parameters. But please, first provide us with some more information: tank size, light wattage, NO3, PO4, KH, and other levels. Best of luck.

 

[fish_4_all]

Both tanks: 10 gallon with 15 watt single bulb flourescents.
Tank 1: NO3 40-50 NO2 - 0 GH - 100 or so KH - 120 pH - 7.2
Tank 2: NO3 - 30-40 NO2 - 0 GH - 120 KH - 120 pH - 7.2
PO4 is unknown and have no test for it. I can not find them locally and will be getting one soon. My LFS doesn't even have a test for it.
Ammonia - 0 both tanks always
no sunlight, ever!, not even ambient, if there was any sunlight here right now anyway,
I only turn the lights on every other day and then for only 3-5 hours now to try and control the algae and it still grows faster than anything I have seen.


The algae does not stink. It has vcery little odor at all and doesn't even smell as much as the algae wafers. It is very dark when it starts, goes to brown and then to black. It comes off in thin sheets when I use the magnetic scraper. I can scrape the sides every week and I have to do it every week so be able to keep the front clear, 2 weeks and the sides are green, 3 weeks they are brown and black. The java moss failed after the algae invaded it. It litterally took over the moss and would not come off. The anacharis simply died. I was dosing with leaf zone until Mid December when the algae started to get bad. I stopped and it has since gotten worse.

Can I put the java moss and java fern on a piece of ceramic? I will be getting a couple pieces of driftwood soon.

Oh, that reminds me, the java fern is now growing better than it has since I got it even with the algae problem. Go figure. The ones I thought were doing best are now dead and the one I thought I couldn't get to grow is now doing better than I ever thought possible.

 

[Simpte]

NO3 is outrageously high. More waterchanges are needed. If it is that high there is no need to test for PO4. It has bottomed out. The glass is covered with green spot algae. An indicator to low PO4. Adding more java moss will help. Anacharis is a good easy plant to grow also. Try Wisteria also. For a source of PO4 you can get some from http://www.gregwatson.com or go to your local pharmacy and get some fleet enema.

 

[sherry]

simpte why would po4 bottom out in the presence of high nitrates.. I'd think that po4 grows as nitrate grows .. usually from either too big a fish load and or inadequate water changes.

I would at the very least TEST before I added more.

also isn't spot algae from higher po4?

can keep my PO4 very high by most many standards. I can also keep my NO3's very high and have moderate PO4's. Both together seems to bring out Green spot algae combined with Trace elements. But I've done it without to big a problem. You can pick which nutrient, NO3, Fe, PO4, CO2 even, each has it's trade offs.

Tom Barr

http://www.aquariumgardeners.org/quest/010426_quest.htm

 

[fish_4_all]

Good discussion, but it isn't spot algae. This algae grows in sheets across the panes of the glass. I change the water once to twice a week, 1/2 each time. I don't know if I can change it much more often and not stress out my fish too much. The bioload, as it has decreased over the past 2 months, the algae his gotten worse. The nitrate levels don't change, even after a large water change. I know it is the test strips giving an erroneaous reading. It can't stay that high after 1/2 water change, or can it?

I have also been told elsewhere in the forum that my PO4 is likely the cause of an algae bloom I had a month ago.

I guess the biggest quesiton is, why did all anacharis die and the java moss get taken over when the growing conditions seem so good for growing algae? Also, why is my java fern, my LFS calls it a miniature, is growing so well. It has quadrupled in size in the last 3 weeks. Also, I know this is kind of a different topic, but if my test strips are correct, why are my fish so happy and breeding like rabbits? Wouldn't the high NO3 levels, if they are correct, cause illness and make my fish not want to spawn?

To give you an idea, I have lost 1 fish in the last 2 month short of a betta. No signs of illness in any fish and the levels of NO3 always test that high. The fish was a neon tetra that was about 3 years old.

I will, I promise, get a liquid drop test kit as soon as I can afford it and find one that is complete. I have found a lot of them, very good ones, but I can't afford to spend $50 on a test kit. I don't spend that on fish.

 

[czcz]

Assume your terst strips are incorrect. The ~$15 AP set online is an adequate test set for your needs. Will your LFS test your water with a liquid reagent kit for you?

It sounds like BGA. You have to do the black out correctly, instead of just turning off the lights for a couple days. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=70586

THe moss probably died because, as you said, it was covered by BGA. Java fern can take a bit to get going and is undemanding. Anacharis will wilt with higher temps and such. I would not infer too much from this until beating BGA, fwiw.

 

[fish_4_all]

My local fish store test it when i take it in and it always within normal limits. Never too high.

What is AP?

I have never found a kit online that tests PO4 and everything else for less than $50. Maybe I am not finding the right sites.

Will do a black out befor eI get my Bristle nose plecos, that is unless you think that they will eat it all and I won't have to worry about it.

 

[Purrbox]

AP = Aquarium Pharmaceuticals

Here's a master kit with everything you should need by Hagen at BigAl's for $40. It's the one I use, and I'm very staticefied with it.