Help with 2nd tank/ guppy, fry, and algae

[LAR_PA]

Hi, I wish I had found this forum before I started! Please help me. Here's my story:

we started our first 10 gallon in December. I didn't know anything about tank cycling. It was an aquarium setup that we got from a friend. It included a whisper junior size filter. The stuff had been in storage for awhile. I cleaned everything up, used new gravel, filled the tank, conditioned it, put in new filter media and let it run for a few days.

We then added 3 platys (platies?). Everything was fine and we went along for awhile. The water was a little cloudy but not too bad. Then I let the kids pick out 2 snails and I got a few live plants at the same time. The girl at the [acronym:221ededfda="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:221ededfda] told me they wouldn't eat the plants but she was wrong . After a week, the water was looking very cloudy. I removed the shredded plants and did a few water changes and things were okay. I still hadn't learned enough from my reading to get the proper test kits. I checked pH and ammonia and they were okay.

Then we went through a period of white bloom of some kind and very cloudy water. I did water changes every other day and things got clear again. After a few more weeks we added 3 guppies. Well, it wasn't long before one of them had fry. We "saved" about a dozen in a net breeder (WHAT was I thinking?) and they are now about a week old.

BUT I have terrible algae /green bloom. I know we overfed a lot when the mother was having the fy, to keep the other fish away. I also did not have the tank in the best place; it was getting light from a small arched window so we moved the tank. More partial changes.

What do I do now? I got a 2nd 10 gallon and put it on the stand below the first. I ordered an eclipse hood and another heater and a sponge type filter. I was thinking of putting the eclipse on one tank and using the the current hood/light and the sponge filter on the other. Then moving either the big fish or the fy out of the tank.

a) what can/should I do about the algae bloom?
b) which fish should move?
c) do I have time to cycle the new tank or am I too overcrowded as it is and is better to get someone out quickly?
d) can I use water/gravel/filter media from the first tank to start the 2nd or is that not good since the first tank is having problems?

My eclipse AND a freshwater deluxe test kit should arrive tomorrow. Then I can give more numbers if that would be helpful.

Thanks in advance for any advice! [ETA: both snails have since died]

Laura

[TankGirl]

Welcome to Aquarium Advice, Laura!!

All of your questions can be more easily answered after you test your water. Let's be optimistic and assume that the first tank is cycled, which means you will have zero ammonia, zero nitrate and some nitrate showing up, maybe even high nitrate (40-80 [acronym:f40d78a5aa="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:f40d78a5aa]). You can move the fry to the new tank, but what I would do is run the sponge filter in the old tank for 2 weeks before moving the fish, and then put the sponge filter in the new tank to "seed" it.

If you have guppies and platys you are going to have fry just about all of the time, so you need to decide what you want to do with them. You can leave things alone and let natural selection determine your population (which still might outgrow your two tanks over time) or you can raise the guppies fry in the second tank. They will begin having babies, too.

The algae bloom is right now a cosmetic issue and is not harming the fish and is separate from what you do with your fish and your second tank. Frequent water changes, like maybe 10% every day OR a blackout (cover the tank totally and completely - not even a glimmer of light in there for three days solid) might solve the problem. I have cured green water on a 10gal with water changes but sometimes it is pesky to get rid of.

Another thing you could do is to separate the females of both species in one tank, and the males in the other, so you can control your population. They should get along fine like that. The females can have several batches of fry even after being separated from the males, as they store the milt, but when those fry get some size on them you can again separate them male from female into each tank.

Post back with your test results and we'll take it from there.

[aquazen]

Good advice from Tank Girl, as always. I ran into the same problem, sans the algae bloom. I now have all the guy guppies in one tank and all the girl guppies in the other tank with the fry. I just move the growing males to the guy tank once I'm sure of the sex. If you want to try instant cycling, you can use Biospira or Seachem Stability. I have no experience with Biospira, though I've heard many good things about it. Stability, my product of choice, has worked quite well for me. When my guppies had fry, I bought a 10 gallon (sound familiar?), filled it with water, started the filter, added Stability, and then the fry and hour or so later. They all grew up fine. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with all the darn guppies. Rabbits, I tell ya. They keep popping out like rabbits.

[LAR_PA]

thanks for the replies! Looks like my shipment will be delayed a day because of the snow. I will post my test results as soon as I have them.

Laura

[LAR_PA]

Well, what do you know? my package actually DID make it today!

Okay, the test results are as follows:

high pH: 8.0 (!)
ammonia: 0
nitrite:0
nitrate:between 10-20, probably closer to 10

I have had a phos-x filter in for a few days.

when I do frequent water changes, is it okay to vacuum the gravel or should I be just changing water?

[TankGirl]

Looks like you can be vacuuming the gravel, since you obviously do not have a tank that is in the middle of a cycle and you don't have excess nutrients in the water in the form of nitrate. Phosphate is hopefully your problem, but I was really expecting to see higher nitrate. The water params look good to me in terms of water quality so let us know how the phosphate remover works.

[LAR_PA]

the water was looking a lot better today. The phos-x and the whisper filter were both very very green! I took the filter contraption over to the sink to rinse it out ....and dropped the whole thing on the tile floor . I didn't notice the crack in it until it looked on my carpet.

so now I have the new eclipse hood and filter running on the existing tank. I threw the phos-x and the old media in there too. I hope I don't mess things up.

I was thinking I was going to hook the old filter on the new tank, but now that's not possible. I have the tank filled and heating but I need a hose for the airpump filter I have (using this tank for raising the fry). any suggestions? I just spotted one brand-new fry running loose . I'm trying not to look...

[LAR_PA]

Is it my imagination or are these carnivores scouring the bottom for fry? they follow the mother around and intently study the gravel...

[FancyGuppyGuy]

yep they will eat the fry as soon as they fall. and they do look for them when they smell them being born.