Deminox
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2014
- Messages
- 80
Tank has been established for about a year now. There were some problems last summer, lost 2 goldfish. Since September all levels have been fine. (I get the water tested at least once a month, pet store does the liquid drop tests for free). I have a 29-gal, 2 Ryukinfancytails, about 3inches each (body not tail) and 1 small bushynose pleco ( hes grown to 4 inches now). I have one live plant, a long tangly mossy thing.
I obsessively check their water, and even when I think something might be wrong (fish bottom sits) everything checks out. (ends up the bottom sitter was being stressed, female, by the other fish, male. trying to mate. showed video of their interaction , he's got breeding stars and she's semi fat on one side.). I noticed the temp had spiked from its usual 74 (not too high for a goldfish but good for the pleco) to about 80... I guess I accidentally incited breeding instinct. So, turned the temp down. (its supposed to be on a sensor, I shouldnt have had to do that, but whatevs. Important thing is temp is back to norm) and their behavior is back to normal. My boy Klauss isnt chasing Callie around anymore (they swim together, but no "butt sniffing chasing") and she has stopped stressing at the bottom.
That's all a lot to say, but I'm just setting up the fact that if I even THINK there might be an issue, I get the water tested. Lost power for 6 hours no filter? waited 2 days for any spike to occur and tested. Levels fine. Happy fish.
So now it is spring again, nothing has changed in my cleaning or feeding habits for them, there was that one brief temp spike. Yet.. Brown Algae? (I know it's not REALLY algae. That's just what everyone calls it). Happened last year this exact time too.
Water levels fine, no excessive Nitrates (or Nitrites or amonia) that could cause it, no extra food or debris in the tank, A bit more natural sunlight from the window, but I compensate by reducing the time the aquarium light is on. Should be even. Here's the kicker. Set up a 10gal tank with 4 neon tetras, 3 small live plants and a moss ball. Cycled for a month now, and suddenly, same exact timeframe... brown algae in THAT tank too. I dont share nets with the two tanks, and I scrub the gravel vac and pump hot water through it between every use. No chance of cross contamination. It's even in a different room, so it's not the same light source.
Any possible reasons besides season change/natural light increase for this to occur, and is springtime a normal time for brown-algae outbreaks?
Oh, and I do water changes by having a bunch of 1gallon jugs of water pre-filled with stress-coat mixed in, let it sit for a full day for the temp to balance and the stress coat to work its magic. (it says instant, but that only affects the chlorine. There's extra particles when the chlorine breaks down that the stress coat also breaks down, a bit slower. from what i've researched.) and YES I replace the salt per/gallon ratio of removed water only, not evaporated.
I obsessively check their water, and even when I think something might be wrong (fish bottom sits) everything checks out. (ends up the bottom sitter was being stressed, female, by the other fish, male. trying to mate. showed video of their interaction , he's got breeding stars and she's semi fat on one side.). I noticed the temp had spiked from its usual 74 (not too high for a goldfish but good for the pleco) to about 80... I guess I accidentally incited breeding instinct. So, turned the temp down. (its supposed to be on a sensor, I shouldnt have had to do that, but whatevs. Important thing is temp is back to norm) and their behavior is back to normal. My boy Klauss isnt chasing Callie around anymore (they swim together, but no "butt sniffing chasing") and she has stopped stressing at the bottom.
That's all a lot to say, but I'm just setting up the fact that if I even THINK there might be an issue, I get the water tested. Lost power for 6 hours no filter? waited 2 days for any spike to occur and tested. Levels fine. Happy fish.
So now it is spring again, nothing has changed in my cleaning or feeding habits for them, there was that one brief temp spike. Yet.. Brown Algae? (I know it's not REALLY algae. That's just what everyone calls it). Happened last year this exact time too.
Water levels fine, no excessive Nitrates (or Nitrites or amonia) that could cause it, no extra food or debris in the tank, A bit more natural sunlight from the window, but I compensate by reducing the time the aquarium light is on. Should be even. Here's the kicker. Set up a 10gal tank with 4 neon tetras, 3 small live plants and a moss ball. Cycled for a month now, and suddenly, same exact timeframe... brown algae in THAT tank too. I dont share nets with the two tanks, and I scrub the gravel vac and pump hot water through it between every use. No chance of cross contamination. It's even in a different room, so it's not the same light source.
Any possible reasons besides season change/natural light increase for this to occur, and is springtime a normal time for brown-algae outbreaks?
Oh, and I do water changes by having a bunch of 1gallon jugs of water pre-filled with stress-coat mixed in, let it sit for a full day for the temp to balance and the stress coat to work its magic. (it says instant, but that only affects the chlorine. There's extra particles when the chlorine breaks down that the stress coat also breaks down, a bit slower. from what i've researched.) and YES I replace the salt per/gallon ratio of removed water only, not evaporated.
