Tank stock

I currently have 1 apistogramma bitaeniata male along with 9 black neon tetras, 6 julii cory catfish, and 10 or so ghost shrimp in a 29 gallon. Is this tank understocked. I would like to add about 5 otocinclus because I'm getting a bad algae problem and I have the good bacteria on my driftwood which is unpleasant to look at. Thank you

Clancey Fritsch said:

I currently have 1 apistogramma bitaeniata male along with 9 black neon tetras, 6 julii cory catfish, and 10 or so ghost shrimp in a 29 gallon. Is this tank understocked. I would like to add about 5 otocinclus because I'm getting a bad algae problem and I have the good bacteria on my driftwood which is unpleasant to look at. Thank you

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First, what type of algae is it? Fish like otos will only eat common green algae (the stuff you can rarely see but it is there) and diatoms. They will not touch "problem" algae like brush/beard, etc.

On the driftwood, can you be more specific? You cannot see bacteria, but you can see some of the other stuff the biofilm attracts, sometimes.

Pictures of what is on the drift wood. Its killing the java moss on my driftwood

The grey/brownish fluffy stuff is a type of brush algae. The green film in photo 1 looks like cyanobacteria. The latter is caused by high organics in the presence of light. Brush algae means there is a light/nutrient imbalance.

Otos will not have any impact on either, but ironically make it slightly worse as they will add to the organics. We need to know more about this tank. Light (be specific), any external light (bright daylight), duration of the tank light; any plant additives. A photo of the entire tasnk would help as it will tell us the plant load which is part of the balance we need to restore. Water changes, how much volume and how frequently.

Having said that though, the brush algae on wood is something I would not worry about; when this gets on plants you have a real problem, but we can still work to reduce it, and that comes down to the light/nutrient balance.

Black background along with blacked out sides so no sun light. I also changed my light lact night from 12 to 10 hours hoping that would help. I do about a 25 percent water change ever 3 or 4 days

Light I standard with the rank and I'm trying to get duckweed and amazon frogbit

Thanks, now that I've seen the tank, and your additional data, this should be relatively easy to resolve.

First, reduce the light to 8 hours. Use a timer so it is the same 8 hours every day (this is important for fish as well as plants). It can be any 8 hours, usually when you are most often home to view the aquarium. Provided there are several hours of total darkness (example, from midnight to 6 am or whatever) the 8 hours can be any time during the normal day.

Second, floating plants will help, and you intend these so good there. Water Sprite is especially good if you can find it.

Are you using any fertilizers now? Plants do not look bad, and the light is probably beyond what they can use which is why algae is troublesome.

Water changes...one larger change weekly would be more beneficial for fish and plants and algae control. Change 60-70% of the tank volume once a week (same day each week). Vacuum into the substrate in the open areas. The idea here is to remove some of the organics as this is what is feeding algae and cyanobacteria if that is what I see in thee earlier photo (is it slimy?).

Don't expect to see much change over a few days, it takes time when you are adjusting light/nutrients/conditions for the effects to be obvious. But the algae should not be increasing, and that is what you want to see.

I used seachem flourish but stopped after I saw this algae. And yes it is slimy and has killed the java moss that it touched.

Clancey Fritsch said:

I used seachem flourish but stopped after I saw this algae. And yes it is slimy and has killed the java moss that it touched.

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That is cyanobacteria, caused by organics in the presence of light. Make sure you keep the filter very well rinsed, and vacuum the open areas of the substrate. The larger volume water change will also help here. Feed sparingly, only once a day, missing one or two days a week won't hurt the fish.

Given the plants you have, the Seachem Flourish Tabs might be a better option as these will feed the plants but not enter the water column above the substrate. Once you have floating plants, you could use the Flourish Comprehensive Supplement sparingly. And by "Flourish" I hope you mean this product; the others in the Flourish line are not needed and can easily make things worse.

I do use the seachem root tabs and funny story I have actually had them leach out into my water column and it caused a huge mess. I also have a dirtied tank so I use them sparingly

Also do you think I should add a bristlenose pleco? I heard they help with biofilm and since I'm not keeping a malted pair of apistogrammas I'm thinking it would be good

In my experience, you can just vacuum out the cyanobacteria with a siphon hose... if you've dealt with the cause, it won't return, if not it will return and quite quickly.

This is a good way to test whether your changes were successful.

Clancey Fritsch said:

I do use the seachem root tabs and funny story I have actually had them leach out into my water column and it caused a huge mess. I also have a dirtied tank so I use them sparingly

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Two things. First, by "leech" into the water column I mean the nutrients get into the upper water column which can feed algae. I do not know how Flourish Tabs are manufactured to prevent this but they do seem to not do it. So algae is not being fed. What you describe is something else, and will occur with any substrate tab/pellet fertilizer. Never disturb these, push them down and leave them.

Second, dirt is one of your problems here. The organics in dirt is what is feeding your cyanobacteria, and the algae. The other issues like light and such are still part of the equation, but dirt is certainly a major factor.

Clancey Fritsch said:

Also do you think I should add a bristlenose pleco? I heard they help with biofilm and since I'm not keeping a malted pair of apistogrammas I'm thinking it would be good

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Pleco are notorious waste factories, and this is not what you want with everything else. Snails would be a better option; they graze all surfaces eating algae (not "problem" but common) and many fish will pick at the biofilm.

eaglesaquarium said:

In my experience, you can just vacuum out the cyanobacteria with a siphon hose... if you've dealt with the cause, it won't return, if not it will return and quite quickly.

This is a good way to test whether your changes were successful.

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I was thinking about taking the driftwood out and giving it a good cleaning would that be good?

Byron said:

Two things. First, by "leech" into the water column I mean the nutrients get into the upper water column which can feed algae. I do not know how Flourish Tabs are manufactured to prevent this but they do seem to not do it. So algae is not being fed. What you describe is something else, and will occur with any substrate tab/pellet fertilizer. Never disturb these, push them down and leave them.

Second, dirt is one of your problems here. The organics in dirt is what is feeding your cyanobacteria, and the algae. The other issues like light and such are still part of the equation, but dirt is certainly a major factor.



Pleco are notorious waste factories, and this is not what you want with everything else. Snails would be a better option; they graze all surfaces eating algae (not "problem" but common) and many fish will pick at the biofilm.

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I have 3 nerite snails but they are nocturnal and seem to not do much cleaning