Sudden clown loach issues.

[wayneb64]

Last week I had five happy clown loaches but this week all hell has broken loose. One jumped out of the tank and died sometime before Tuesday. I just found a dead one today and another clearly in severe distress, laying on it's back at the bottom 'panting'. I saw another one just hiding but it didn't seem ill. I have not hunted for the fifth one.

They used to come out every morning for feeding, 4 out of 5 anyway, one is kind of shy. That stopped Tuesday and I figured they were upset about their friend missing. I know how crazy their behavior can be. Clearly something I have done has made them ill. No visible signs. My other fish in the tank, glow tetras, are all fine.

I have been struggling to get my plants to thrive and control algae growth and this other black stuff that grows if I use Algae Fix. I was afraid I overdosed with Algae fix or Excel.

My nitrates have been stable at 10-20, I did two changes last weekend and another emergency change today. My PH is about 6.8 or so. Phosphates at 1-2 ppm. I also have CO2 injection which I started about two weeks ago and nearly killed my fish on the first day, but that has been well under control since then, 2 bubbles/sec or less and only on 1 hour ahead of lights being on/off. I have never detected ammonia or nitrates. Any ideas what I should test for or do? (Going to do another water change shortly.)

 

[Autumnsky]

Algae fix is bad for fish, from so many reports from aquarium keepers.

Do a few pwc's to get that out of there asap.

Say if you do 2 - 50% pwc you do not actually change 100% of the water.

Try 4 - 50% water changes as soon as you can. Do a couple back to back and then do 2 more after awhile like 8 hour/next day. Then try and do another during the week and another next weekend.

By then you should have got that stuff out.

Also you can add a pouch of activated filter carbon.

And add a air bubbler for additional aeration.

There are some other ways to address algae issues.

 

[wayneb64]

I did two 33% or so water changes today, and yes I understand the math. I have six air stones already. I plan to do a couple more water changes over the weekend and yet more algae/whatever this stuff is cleaning. I have read so much on controlling this algae and tried so many things but I just can't seem to beat it or get my plants to 'beat' the algae/black gunk. I can't even identify this black stuff, it doesn't match the description of anything I read about.

 

[Autumnsky]

I don't exactly understand the math, but someone smarter than me laid out the info in a easy to understand way..... so I get the general idea.

As for the algae, can you post a pic or 2 of it? Black Beard algae?

Do you know the K - Kelvin rating on the light? How old and what kind of light is it?

The light color spectrum in some warmer tone lights green and yellow are more present, lower K rating. The cooler tone lights like "daylight" bulbs tend to run up higher in the K rating. (PAR - Photosynthetically active radiation, is a better way to measure light but not that many people have a PAR meter and more can read the side of the light bulb and see what they have.)

Under 3500K would be bad for growing aquarium plants. It seems someone was able to sustain the very low light plants at 4500K. 5600K to around 7500K would be better for low to medium light plants.

Some bulbs especially florescent will wear out. Lose the colors plants like more and end up with the more yellow green colors, which I guess algae can grow well from.

There are a few other algae management options.

Light is usually a big concern.

 

[wayneb64]

I built a custom set of LED lights into what was a fluorescent hood. I got tired of the bulbs wearing out and I also had problems even finding bulbs for my old hood.

I have two types of LEDs, these:

TrueLumen Pro LED Strip Light, 12, 000K Diamond White

and these:

TrueLumen Aquatic 10-Inch 4-453nm Blue LED

I run everything on during the day from 8AM to 7PM and then from 7PM to midnight it's just the actinic blue lighting.

These are old pictures and the worst case of the black stuff. I don't get the bubbles anymore. If I don't use the Algae Fix I don't see to much of the black stuff but then the algae growth is worse. Since these pictures I have made a number of changes.

I added a power head which helped and I have a nice heater which allows me to dial in any temperature I want (currently 77F). I have a UV filter. I also got a new RO system so I start with almost pure H20 and add measured amounts of Magnesium, Calcium, and Potassium.

I add Aqueon Plant food and recently tried Thrive Plus when my nice green leaves all of a sudden developed large jagged holes which research showed meant I was missing macro nutrients. The Thrive has Nitrates and Phosphates which I thought I was trying to eliminate as I had these both at zero for a while which I thought was good but turns out the plants need them. Not sure how to add just Potash which is a macro nutrient right? All in all, totally lost on what I should or shouldn't be adding to keep my plants happy.

 

[Autumnsky]

this might end up a duplicate post.....

This looks like dinoflagellates. A phytoplanton familly member.

Anyway, I can't recall exactly what to do about it. But it is a tough one. The marine treatments probably don't work on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinoflagellate

not familiatr with the store whatsoever but the advice on getting rid of Dinos might help even it it could bfor the reef types.

The 10 micron filter sock might help and remove things and treat with the H2O2 after a black out. And looks like dosing what you are increasing is ideal too.

https://aquariumstoredepot.com/blogs/news/how-to-get-rid-of-dinoflagellates

 

[wayneb64]

I don't think it's Dinoflagellate as I have never noticed anything 'stringy' accept normal green algae that has grown stringy on one of my worse algae weeks.

The tank is fairly clean again, scrubbed off all the green/brown and a little black gunk. The only additive I have is one pump of Thrive Plus which I will boost with a pump or two of Flourish later in the week. Temp is 77F with about 1.5 bubbles per minute of CO2. No Excel or Algae Fix.

I did order some fast growing plants, Hornwort and Micro Sword.

Are 12K lights not really that great for plants? I only have plain gravel, is there any type of 'aqua' pot I can plant something in as I don't really like the idea of actual sand or something like it on the bottom. The gravel is easy to vacuum.

BTW I have under gravel filtering and a standard over the side filter.

 

[Autumnsky]

Was thinking of the bubbles that's why I was thinking Dinos, but if the plants are pearling in that pic then maybe not. The algae test is something you could try.