hensonc4098
Fish Herder
Ok Claire, deep breaths before we start. In... and out.
Right.
This is the lowdown;
~We have 2 tanks: a 100L hexagonal and a 35L rectangular.
~We have just returned from a 3 week holiday.
~Good news - the 100L is fine apart from a bit of algea on the glass which was quickly wiped off with a sweep of my glass cleaner.
The bad news - the 35L is far from fine
I walked into my bedroom and nearly broke down in tears. The tank had housed a batch of about 100 kribensis fry. At a first glance I could see 3. The feeding block which I had left them had hardly been touched by the kribs but was now covered in snails, as was every other surface of the tank. There must have been about 40 in that little tank The HC Cuba which I had left floating around the tank in a breeding trap thinking that it would be fine with lots of light and unlimited CO2 - I was wrong. It had turned into a Nitratey mush. The cabomba which I had in the tank had been stripped bare in some places presumably by snails as well as a blooming of green spot and brown algea that would have made Mother Nature proud.
At once, I whipped out the 1/4 eaten food block, the mushy HC and the snail infested cabomba and binned them pronto. I was too scared to test the water and see how bad it actually was. Then I went on a manic, possesed snail hunt, taking out the adults and crushing the babies to the delight of the remaining Kribs. After removing rocks and filter, I turned the sand over to a non-brown bit, cleaned out the filter and did a 1/2-1/3 water change. Then I added 2ml of easycarbo to try and kill the algea off, bacteria suppliment to try to boost what bacteria could have remained through such an onslaught and a little fertiliser to try and revive my Pheonix moss which has went a bit dodgy looking. I'm loathed to take it out though after what it cost me
So now everything is up and running again. I have upped the airiation a bit to help circulate the tank until it gets back on its feet and also I was very pleased to find when I put the light on the tank with its little rock cave and 2 rocks with moss that there was not just 3 kribs left, there is actually (I think kindof hard to count when they're zomming about all over the place) 7!! I know, no big deal but it's better than 3
I'm quite depressed though It still looks really horrible and bare although the kribs seem happier now they have food they like. I don't know why they didn't eat the food block as when I left, they were keenly taking flake. I guess they just didn't like it and decided to eat each other instead
Sorry about such a long post. I just needed to get it off my chest to people who actually care.
Right.
This is the lowdown;
~We have 2 tanks: a 100L hexagonal and a 35L rectangular.
~We have just returned from a 3 week holiday.
~Good news - the 100L is fine apart from a bit of algea on the glass which was quickly wiped off with a sweep of my glass cleaner.
The bad news - the 35L is far from fine
I walked into my bedroom and nearly broke down in tears. The tank had housed a batch of about 100 kribensis fry. At a first glance I could see 3. The feeding block which I had left them had hardly been touched by the kribs but was now covered in snails, as was every other surface of the tank. There must have been about 40 in that little tank The HC Cuba which I had left floating around the tank in a breeding trap thinking that it would be fine with lots of light and unlimited CO2 - I was wrong. It had turned into a Nitratey mush. The cabomba which I had in the tank had been stripped bare in some places presumably by snails as well as a blooming of green spot and brown algea that would have made Mother Nature proud.
At once, I whipped out the 1/4 eaten food block, the mushy HC and the snail infested cabomba and binned them pronto. I was too scared to test the water and see how bad it actually was. Then I went on a manic, possesed snail hunt, taking out the adults and crushing the babies to the delight of the remaining Kribs. After removing rocks and filter, I turned the sand over to a non-brown bit, cleaned out the filter and did a 1/2-1/3 water change. Then I added 2ml of easycarbo to try and kill the algea off, bacteria suppliment to try to boost what bacteria could have remained through such an onslaught and a little fertiliser to try and revive my Pheonix moss which has went a bit dodgy looking. I'm loathed to take it out though after what it cost me
So now everything is up and running again. I have upped the airiation a bit to help circulate the tank until it gets back on its feet and also I was very pleased to find when I put the light on the tank with its little rock cave and 2 rocks with moss that there was not just 3 kribs left, there is actually (I think kindof hard to count when they're zomming about all over the place) 7!! I know, no big deal but it's better than 3
I'm quite depressed though It still looks really horrible and bare although the kribs seem happier now they have food they like. I don't know why they didn't eat the food block as when I left, they were keenly taking flake. I guess they just didn't like it and decided to eat each other instead
Sorry about such a long post. I just needed to get it off my chest to people who actually care.