Plant help

[BettaGal]

Alright. Rookie mistakes have repeatedly been made. When I first decided to plant my 10 gallon, I got bamboo. Bad idea. Just removed it a couple days ago and was advised by someone on here to get more plants to help clean up my mess from the bamboo. Got anacharis in the back. The guy at the store also gave me peacock fern, saying he liked those plants where they were due to no snails being introduced. Stuck it in and was soon informed that its not an aquatic plant and needs replaced. So, before I pull all my hair out, what are plant suggestions from you guys? Where can I get the suggested plant(s)? My tank is cycling and has uncontrollable ammonia levels. I've done everything I can and they're still high.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

What kind of light are you using on this 10g? What about the substrate? Anyway, generally speaking... Nice and forgiving beginner plants are the low light tolerant variety. Plants such as Anubias, Java Fern, Swords, Java Moss, and Crypts are great options. I would also suggest getting root tabs for the Swords and Crypts as these are heavy root feeders. Also a good liquid fertilizer such as Seachem Flourish and Excel are good for dosing. Just call around the local fish stores.

I wonder why your ammonia is so high? Is your tank overstocked with fish?

 

[blert]

Plants are NOT a quick fix for ammonia issues. It takes time for the plants to use up the ammonia and even then you will need all other nutrients and light in balance and heavy planting to see any appreciable uptake.

The only way to get your problem under control is finish "cycling" the tank. This is going to take work on your part. At least daily 50% water changes and close monitoring of toxin levels. As I told you in your other thread, there is NO quick fix.

 

[BettaGal]

I am looking into more plants at the advise of someone else to help with my tank. The guess is my ammonia is so high due to the rotting bamboo. I never said I was using plants to clean up the ammonia; I was only stating that I had high ammonia for people that were making plant suggestions. Please, stop the lecturing on a "quick fix".

I know Petco sells anubias, crypt-something, but I'm not sure on any of the others.

 

[tamtam]

I am looking into more plants at the advise of someone else to help with my tank. The guess is my ammonia is so high due to the rotting bamboo. I never said I was using plants to clean up the ammonia; I was only stating that I had high ammonia for people that were making plant suggestions. Please, stop the lecturing on a "quick fix".

I know Petco sells anubias, crypt-something, but I'm not sure on any of the others.

crypt is just short for cryptocoryne. I would suggest your easiest bet is to google the mentioned low light plants and get a familiar with how they look. Then go look around the pet store and see what is there. I know most often my pet store doesn't have them labeled and it's hit or miss on if the worker actually knows which plant is what.

Swords, crypts, wisteria, water sprite, anubias, jave moss/fern are all good low light plants that shouldn't give you much trouble if your lighting is good enough. Google them all, see what they look like, see what they need. Some can float, some need planted and some need tied to something. Then go to the petstore and see what they have. Java fern is a pretty common plant so you will prob have no trouble finding that at your store.

I'm guessing this is a fish in cycle? Sadly fish in cycling a 10 gallon can be a serious pain. Toxins are going to build a whole lot faster in such a small volume of water. Large daily changes are going to be needed. Once you get them down to a safe level it should be easier to maintain but getting there may be tough. 2-3 big back to back changes(same day) of 50% or more are probably needed. Just do them an hour or so a part. Test after the hour and keeping that up until you get around .25 ppm. After you get there it should be a bit easier for you to maintain. You can cut down on the amount you are feeding too to help. once every 2-3 days is plenty at this stage in the game if you haven't cut back already.

 

[BettaGal]

I cut back to once a day recently. I will try the many water changes in a day, but it might take more than you think. The conclusion was the bamboo did it, so maybe if I can get it down this time, now that there's no bamboo, it will be better. I'll look all those plants up after the first water change.

 

[blert]

You are just starting now on the water changes that were recommended to you two days ago?
I wish you the best of luck. Signing off.

 

[tamtam]

I cut back to once a day recently. I will try the many water changes in a day, but it might take more than you think. The conclusion was the bamboo did it, so maybe if I can get it down this time, now that there's no bamboo, it will be better. I'll look all those plants up after the first water change.

Where is ammonia at now? and what do you have in the tank?

If it was the bamboo than once you get it down it should be a lot easier to keep it there though if you have something else going on you may still face the same issue.. Personally I'd cut the feeding down even more. Fish don't really need to eat daily, it's more for us. every other day or 3-4 times a week is plenty for now and will help in not adding to your toxin levels and make your life a bit easier in the mean time.

I read an article on this site once about % of water change to ppm of ammonia and it was a bit surprising. It will take a lot of changes. something like .5 ppm needed 50% change to bring it to .25. If you are up in the 2 or more range than it will take several changes as you can imagine. You could go higher, to 75% or so and try to cut those down. Just be sure you are temp matching well of course.

I fish in cycled my 20 gallon and was so fed up with water changes near the end of it. lol

 

[BettaGal]

You are just starting now on the water changes that were recommended to you two days ago?
I wish you the best of luck. Signing off.

I do water changes every day. I was saying I was starting the ones the above person said. If all you're gonna do every time I ask something is criticize me trying to fix it, then please, sign off.

 

[BettaGal]

Where is ammonia at now? and what do you have in the tank?

If it was the bamboo than once you get it down it should be a lot easier to keep it there though if you have something else going on you may still face the same issue.. Personally I'd cut the feeding down even more. Fish don't really need to eat daily, it's more for us. every other day or 3-4 times a week is plenty for now and will help in not adding to your toxin levels and make your life a bit easier in the mean time.

I read an article on this site once about % of water change to ppm of ammonia and it was a bit surprising. It will take a lot of changes. something like .5 ppm needed 50% change to bring it to .25. If you are up in the 2 or more range than it will take several changes as you can imagine. You could go higher, to 75% or so and try to cut those down. Just be sure you are temp matching well of course.

I fish in cycled my 20 gallon and was so fed up with water changes near the end of it. lol

I'm planning on fasting them today. At least it's a start. I'm one of those people that are anti-cruelty fanatics, so it might take a moment to get that one through my head. I just completed a 50% change and am testing my ammonia now. It looks like it's gonna be a lot lower than it has been recently, so that's a plus. Hopefully now it will be controllable.

 

[tamtam]

I'm planning on fasting them today. At least it's a start. I'm one of those people that are anti-cruelty fanatics, so it might take a moment to get that one through my head. I just completed a 50% change and am testing my ammonia now. It looks like it's gonna be a lot lower than it has been recently, so that's a plus. Hopefully now it will be controllable.

I know the feeding thing seems strange. When you think about it though fish in the wild don't eat daily. Some have to go days without feeding and they are perfectly healthy. Fasting can actually be pretty beneficial to fish to allow them the chance to clean out their systems a bit. I usually feed daily now with 1 day a week of fasting but during my cycle I was feeding every 2-3 days, I also found turning off my filters during the process helped the food stay at the surface longer so there was less waste.

Lower levels already is a good sign.

 

[BettaGal]

Looks like they're at .5 now. Amazing. So one or two more water changes today and they'll be happy. Hooray! Lol.

 

[tamtam]

Looks like they're at .5 now. Amazing. So one or two more water changes today and they'll be happy. Hooray! Lol.

woot! Hopefully now regular daily changes should keep it on track. If you are really lucky maybe every other day. Just keep testing and changing as needed.

 

[BettaGal]

It's about time ammonia got in check. Now we can have fun with this thing. Lol.

 

[BettaGal]

I got a crypt. They had what was labelled as water primrose, but I went with what I knew for sure was an aquatic plant.

 

[BettaGal]

I got a crypt. They had water primrose, or so it was labelled, but I went with what I knew without a doubt was aquatic.