a few problems !!!!

[nickylu]

Hi ive had my tank running for about 4 months now. 1 of my neons developed dropsy (thats what it looked like) and died. what normaly causes it and should i treat my other fish, they seem ok.

Also ive had a algae problem for a while. a brown dirty film of algae covers every thing i have to scrub the front glass alot. The live plants need cleaned with a tooth brush and are not looking their best. i have reduced the lights timer to only 8 hours and bought a plec. this has helped alot but now a new type of algae is causing a problem. It is dark green and covers the gravel. i only cleaned the tank last night and already there is big patches forming.

I bought a filter bag thats for helping with algea. it seems to be filled with clay and i placed it at the bottom of my juwel internal filter. what else can i try?.

i do regular tests and they are always fine.

one more thing what company is reliable for buying fish over the internet. it wont be for month or two but it will give me a chance to do some home work.

Thank you.

 

[Alurny]

If you can fit another plec(bristlenoses are great) it will help the algae situation. Are your plants plastic or living? It sounds as the algae is out competing the plants for CO2 ions etc. If plants are real make sure they get the required light and if your tank is in direct sunlight id advise moving it to reduce algae growth. im pretty much a noob so i wouldn't take everything i say to be corerect. The nature of drpsy makes it hard to treat and its notr really known what causes it. You could try searching in forum for related articles. or look in emergency forum. Im not sure if is contagous.

 

[glolite]

Could be specialist neon disease in which case only the other neons are at risk.
Agree with Alurny bristlenose plecs excellent for algae.
You could try giving your plants a fertilizer, available at your lfs as this will encourage healthy growth and help protect against algae.
8 hours light a day is fine.

 

[Alurny]

ooo im learning! ^__^ Good luck with your tank!

 

[iggy01]

this has helped alot but now a new type of algae is causing a problem. It is dark green and covers the gravel. i only cleaned the tank last night and already there is big patches forming.

It would be good if you could i.d. the algae. Try searching the web for blue green algae, or cyanobacteria. I hope its not this because I've been struggling with it for a while! Its often found in tanks with low nitrates or high phosphates and no algae eaters will touch it.

 

[glolite]

Mmmm .... not sure to be honest ( I'm still learning too). Will research for you but try CFC (could PM him ) has loads of experience.

 

[chad1989]

i have a tiny patch of brownish stuff on my bogwood, what could it be i have no algea eaters yet will that be ok?

charlie

 

[glolite]

i have a tiny patch of brownish stuff on my bogwood, what could it be i have no algea eaters yet will that be ok?

charlie

Brownish algae is ok and most plecs/catfish seem to eat it and guppies too. Shouldn't add a catfish until it's cycled but when you do bristlenoses are excellent algae eaters.

 

[gale]

It would be good if you could i.d. the algae. Try searching the web for blue green algae, or cyanobacteria. I hope its not this because I've been struggling with it for a while! Its often found in tanks with low nitrates or high phosphates and no algae eaters will touch it.

Shoot this is what my two tanks in the living room have. Blue green algae. Do I need to add a phosphate remover then? I can't limit light since the room has lots of natural light during the day.

 

[iggy01]

[/QUOTE]Shoot this is what my two tanks in the living room have. Blue green algae. Do I need to add a phosphate remover then? I can't limit light since the room has lots of natural light during the day.

Hi Gale, I would suggest you test your water parameters before you add phosphate remover. I tested mine and I had 4.mg/l which is miles too high. My problem is I have 3.5mg/l coming in through my tap water.....nightmare! It would be a good idea also to read up as much as possible on cyanobacteria ( BGA ). But a word of warning ......there's lots of conflicting info out there. Good Luck.

 

[iggy01]

This link may help cyano

 

[gale]

Thanks for the link. I scraped some of the algae off the glass tonight and it came off in big sheets. Very weird. Tomorrow is a pwc so I'll siphon as much out as I can. The weird thing is that the two tanks in the living room get this algae but my 20g tank in the other room does not. It just gets the brownish algae. They all use the same water so I can't imagine it's a water issue at all. It *has* to be related to light since these two tanks get tons of natural light and the other gets none.

So now I need to go find a phosphate test? I don't have that in my kit.

 

[iggy01]

So now I need to go find a phosphate test? I don't have that in my kit.

You could always get the water tested at your LFS if you don't want to go to the expense of buying a phosphate kit. Do you know what your nitrate levels are?

 

[gale]

So now I  need to go find a phosphate test? I don't have that in my kit.

You could always get the water tested at your LFS if you don't want to go to the expense of buying a phosphate kit. Do you know what your nitrate levels are?

Actually I was just thinking about that last night after I logged off. My nitrates in my 20g tank are always around 10 and that tank doesn't seem to have the blue green algae in it. My 10g for some reason has less-it's usually zero - 5. Maybe that's why it's got the algae.

I'll call my lfs and see if they can do a phosphate test.

 

[sylvia]

To reduce phsophates, you can just add lots of fast-growing plants. They keep nitrAtes low too.