Too MUCH algae/ Mysterious fish DEATH/Lonely fish?

[FishyLuva]

I have another problem.My fish tank has alot of algae on the walls and on the gravel and I had to scrub the algae off alot recently and I'm not sure if thats normal or not.Also my chinese algae eater wasnt eating alot and then died a few weeks later.My algea eater was still young and I wonder how it could have died.Also I had 2 orange platies.But one of them had dropsy.So I gave it some medicine called Fungus Clear, Tank Buddies.How ever it died when I arrived home from school.Also I've notice that Rena my orange platy was being finniped I felt bad for it and it got a broken fin.So I gave Fungus Clear, Tank Buddies too which treats dropsy, pop eye, infection, swim bladder disease, white fungus spots on fishes and treats red streaks on fishes.Is there anyway to prevent fish from finnipping Rena?
I want to know what happened to fish and why theres lot of algae in my tank.If I did anything wrong please tell me so I dont do it again.
Please help me answer my problems.
*Info*2 black skirt tetras, 5 serpae tetras, 5 zebra danios, 1 orange platy with whisper filter and about 20 - 25 gallon tank.

[FishyLuva]

Sorry this was suppose to be in Freshwater - Brackish water discussion. Just to make sure

[rob28]

have you tested water perameters?
is the tank by direct sunlight?
how many hours per day do you leave the light on?
how old is the tank? did you cycle the water?

[Zagz]

I'm sorry for your loss. Dropsy is usually incurable and caused primarily by less than perfect water conditions. Have you tested for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? How often are you doing water changes and how much each time?

Likely your tank isn't cycled and it is the ammonia and nitrites that are killing your fish. If you have cycled the tank make sure to test the parameters.

As for the algae, direct sunlight and leaving the lights on in the tank too many hours can cause algae. Also if your nitrates are high due to infrequent water changes, algae feeds off that.

[FishyLuva]

My tanks next to a window and I keep the light on when it starts to get dark and I turn it off when I go to bed which is around 11:00.I clean my tank every other week and I change about 1/4 of the water.My tank is about half a year long.

[rob28]

lots of direct sunlight can deffinatley be contributing to your algae problem. sounds like you have a well established tank so im sure its cycled. You still didnt answer whether or not you have tested your water....please do so and post the results. In cases where your fish are gettin sick and droppin off like that i would deffinatley do more than a 25% water change...do at least a fifty.
tetras can be fin nippers but this behavior is usually only brought about by sickness in the fish being nipped.

[FishyLuva]

0.0 for nitrite and amonia.ph 6.6 is that good? And ppm is it under 15.

[rob28]

Originally Posted by FishyLuva

0.0 for nitrite and amonia.ph 6.6 is that good? And ppm is around 15.

what test kit are you using? are you using drops or strips?

[FishyLuva]

im using strips.Did I do something wrong? If i did please tell me so I can fix it right away!

[rob28]

thats what we're trying to figure out.

on the charts for your strips what are the colors and the numbers for each color?

[FishyLuva]

ppm is white and 0.0 and amonia yellow which says 0.0 mgL and ph is greenish yellow 6.6.

[rob28]

ok...im not sure bout where exactly that is on the scale but you want the ammonia reading to be under, .2 ppm. if that is not the case , do a pwc of at least 25% and retest.

[bluerose]

Ditch the strips- they are notoriously incorrect- and get yourself some reagent tests... API's Master Freshwater Test Kit is a pretty good one.

We need ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte readings to know if your tank is cycled.

Water changes are best done about 25% weekly- most sicknesses occur because of poor water quality- and after adding so much medication I would probably do a 50% change. Make sure you're using a dechlorinator to treat the water before adding it to the tank and keep the temperature as close as possible.

[rob28]

+1 on what blue rose said.

[FishyLuva]

ok sure ill do what bluerose says but ill have to wait so I can save up some money for the test kit.It should take only a couple days.