Black 'muck' in sand of tank.

[Natty_Bear]

Well, hi, Im new to all of this and have a few concerns. I have a 2 week old 1.5 gallon tank with natural sand in the bottom, it has 4 ghost shrimp and a nerite snail and a small fern in it. Recently, the water has gotten cloudy and a black... muck has started to show up under the sand next to the glass, under the shells i have as decoration, and next to the plant. I wasent worried, my friend told me it was black algae, but now its getting worse, its growing EVERYWHERE and now its on my shrimps. The tank smells now too. I dont have any PH readings or anything for it, mostly because I dont know what to get to do that, im new at this. I can take pictures if needed, what should I do to fix this if it is even a problem.

 

[rmiller]

I can't imagine having that much build up of anything in such a short time with your stock, but to accurately diagnose we need a little more info on your tank. How long each day is your light on? How often and how much water are you changing? When you clean your tank, do you use a siphon to vacuum the sand?

 

[GodFan]

Well, hi, Im new to all of this and have a few concerns. I have a 2 week old 1.5 gallon tank with natural sand in the bottom, it has 4 ghost shrimp and a nerite snail and a small fern in it. Recently, the water has gotten cloudy and a black... muck has started to show up under the sand next to the glass, under the shells i have as decoration, and next to the plant. I wasent worried, my friend told me it was black algae, but now its getting worse, its growing EVERYWHERE and now its on my shrimps. The tank smells now too. I dont have any PH readings or anything for it, mostly because I dont know what to get to do that, im new at this. I can take pictures if needed, what should I do to fix this if it is even a problem.

Nerite snails are filthy IME and should be kept in 10 gallons plus

 

[Rivercats]

That almost sounds like cyanobacteria which can be a variety of colors from black to red, bluish green and even purple. Is it growing in sheets? Can you post a picture? If it is cyanobacteria you need to get some Erythromycin and treat the tank for 5 days. It's going to be hard to do in a tank that small.

Go to this link and scroll down to the Blue Green Algae which is the 2nd article. Look at the pic's and see if this is what you have except for color.... James' Planted Tank - Algae Guide

 

[Mebbid]

If its on your shrimp then there's a serious problem. Generally the black pockets form underneath sand that compacts and creates anaerobic areas. It's just a coloring of the sand not any type of algae. If there is black growth above the sane then we need more information and a picture.

What's your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate at?
What's your water change schedule?

Also, nerites are not filthy. They have next to no bio load and eat very little. The snail isn't the cause of your problems.

 

[GodFan]

If its on your shrimp then there's a serious problem. Generally the black pockets form underneath sand that compacts and creates anaerobic areas. It's just a coloring of the sand not any type of algae. If there is black growth above the sane then we need more information and a picture.

What's your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate at?
What's your water change schedule?

Also, nerites are not filthy. They have next to no bio load and eat very little. The snail isn't the cause of your problems.

I beg to differ as have had one crash a 5 gallon tank. However agree that a picture could help.

 

[Mebbid]

I beg to differ as have had one crash a 5 gallon tank. However agree that a picture could help.

define "crash"

 

[GodFan]

define "crash"

After I put him in there was snail poop EVERYWHERE the water got really cloudy and would not go away. I had a nickle sized one though not one of those little pin head size ones.

 

[Rivercats]

I keep nerites in my 6g tanks and they are of substantial size. I never notice poop anywhere but I do 50% WC's weekly as small tanks get toxic buildups quickly.

 

[GodFan]

I keep nerites in my 6g tanks and they are of substantial size. I never notice poop anywhere but I do 50% WC's weekly as small tanks get toxic buildups quickly.

Its been a long time ago this happened. I wanna say it was less than a week but to be straight I cant remember lol

 

[Natty_Bear]

Thank you very much for replying! I went to a aquarium shop and told them about it, they told me to do a complete tank change, so I did. Gravel instead of sand, filter running 24/7 (I would leave it off for a few hours to dirty the tank up for the snail a little bit, stupid me) and how to not overfeed with my nutrient rich food. It was just a mess of a tank. And it was for sure cyanobacteria because I dropped some hydrogen peroxide on it when it was out of the tank and it bubbled, which is a way I read you can tell.

 

[Mebbid]

After I put him in there was snail poop EVERYWHERE the water got really cloudy and would not go away. I had a nickle sized one though not one of those little pin head size ones.

The cloudiness was a bacterial bloom from an uncycled tank. Any sort of ammonia in the water will cause it. Keep in mind a tank "crash" is when everything in it dies. Your issues with a nerite is most likely from a tank that wasn't cycled properly and didn't receive proper water changes. I have 4 adult nerites in my 10g and have absolutely no problems with them.

Thank you very much for replying! I went to a aquarium shop and told them about it, they told me to do a complete tank change, so I did. Gravel instead of sand, filter running 24/7 (I would leave it off for a few hours to dirty the tank up for the snail a little bit, stupid me) and how to not overfeed with my nutrient rich food. It was just a mess of a tank. And it was for sure cyanobacteria because I dropped some hydrogen peroxide on it when it was out of the tank and it bubbled, which is a way I read you can tell.

That's quite a drastic measure to take care of a tank. There are much easier ways of taking care of issues like that than completely redoing your tank. I would say that the lfs told you a bit of bad advice with switching to gravel though. Sand is far easier to keep clean than gravel is and with some proper siphoning the sand would have came perfectly clean of the cyano.

 

[GodFan]

The cloudiness was a bacterial bloom from an uncycled tank. Any sort of ammonia in the water will cause it. Keep in mind a tank "crash" is when everything in it dies. Your issues with a nerite is most likely from a tank that wasn't cycled properly and didn't receive proper water changes. I have 4 adult nerites in my 10g and have absolutely no problems with them.

That's quite a drastic measure to take care of a tank. There are much easier ways of taking care of issues like that than completely redoing your tank. I would say that the lfs told you a bit of bad advice with switching to gravel though. Sand is far easier to keep clean than gravel is and with some proper siphoning the sand would have came perfectly clean of the cyano.

Not to be rude but how do you know it wasnt cycled? It was as a matter of fact and wasnt 2 weeks without a pwc. Also when the snail moved to a 20 gallon it pooped all over it as well.

 

[Mebbid]

Cloudiness isn't caused by snails. Unless you had an algae bloom the cloudiness was from free ammonia in the water which is indicative of an improperly cycled tank.

Sorry if I came off as kind of douchy

 

[GodFan]

Cloudiness isn't caused by snails. Unless you had an algae bloom the cloudiness was from free ammonia in the water which is indicative of an improperly cycled tank.

Sorry if I came off as kind of douchy

Its all good. Maybe I should have clarified the water turned a green cloudy. I could not clear it up until I took the wholr thing down. The snail put out ALOT of waste. Maybe I just got unlucky though. Their may have been to much food (algae) as well.