Lethargy, conditioning and algae

[ostrow]

I posted something about conditioning elsewhere but here's the deal.

Couple of days ago my 6 livebearers started looking a bit sluggish. Saw some white dots on a platy. So I put some Aquarisol and a small amount of Aquarium Salt in the tank. Now I'm about to do a partial water change, adding conditioner to the new water to remove chorine, etc.

The other post is whether all these things (Stress Coat, Aquarisol, etc) in combination is a stupid thing to do.

But just now I looked at the tank and saw small brownish-green round dots on the inside of the tank. Algae, I presume. Should I remove this from the walls? What about the rest of the tank?!? Or is this good for the fish.

The tank has a biowheel filter system and is small (Eclipse System 6).

Thanks all...

 

[Dennis]

Hi Ostrow!
Sounds like algae to me. I would usually remove it from the glass of the tank, although it doesn't do harm to fish and most of the fish would feed on algae. The problem is that it spreads pretty fast in favourable water and lighting conditions and then it doesn't look too pretty in your tank. I prefer to keep my tank clean
As to the condition of your fish, looks like they've got white itch desease. This has to be cured as fast as possible and takes some time. I had a similar problem and it took me about three and a half weeks to cure the fish and water in the tank. Don't worry though, it's a common desease, just take your time and use proper doses of medicine. I will check exactly what I used and will let you know in the evening.
Good luck!

 

[William]

I would recommend strongly getting an oto or two at max. They are the dogs ... for eating that brown algae and will have you tank cleaned in a couple of days hence I would recomend just 1 especially if your tank is quite small.

Let us know how you get on.

William

 

[adeyc]

Aquari-sol is a good choice for getting rid of ick. If you raise the water temp to 80/85 F that'll help. But if that doesn't work to well try some Maracide. There are far two many "cures" on the market to mention.
As for your algae problem can you answer a couple of questions. How often to you change the water? vac the gravel? What chems do you add to the tank on a regular basis? How long is the light on for or is the tank situated in sunlight? Have you checked your water parameters(ammonia, nitite,nitrate etc)? How often and how much do you feed your fish? And finaly How is your tank stocked(fish, liveplants)?

As William suggested an Otto or two is good for cleaning the algae but the trick is to prevent the stuff from growing. So we need a better idea of your water conditions to be able to help.

 

[ostrow]

Thanks to all! I was going to change water because after putting conditioner in for the lethargy, I saw the ick signs and the brown algae.

The tank is fairly new ... a month or so, and now I see the brown algae is common in new tanks. So I plan to change some water, vacuum the gravel and scrub the sides.

Will that keep it away or is it likely to come back?

Tank is small -- Eclipse System 6 -- I have a couple Wag Tail Platies and a couple Blue Variatus and one Molly. Tank has sealed hood with Bio-Wheel and standard flaurescent light which I keep on about half the day -- a good 12 hours. Water is around 71.

Thanks again. I'm hoping the brown algae is a passing phase...

 

[William]

Add a few live plants to the tank. The green dots on the glass are h##l (otos won't eat them ) So you must stop the cause, add a few plants to compete with algae. IF you already have plants then I apologise for not reading

 

[adeyc]

K Ostrow. Cut down on the time the light is on for, say to about 8 hours. Check any med's/addatives to see if they contain plant extract. If they do it might be an idea to change them for something else. Apart from the tapwater conditioner and the med's for ick don't use anything else at the moment. Raise the temperature(about 74/75 F), don't overfeed, do regular water changes and things should be fine.
If you haven't already got one get a testkit for Amonia, PH,nitrate,nitrite. They are the main ones to keep an eye on.

 

[ostrow]

Thanks adeyc! Will do all but the temp (no heater! at least for now).

Having already added aquarisol and aquarium salt, do I need to add more? Neither has much in the way of instructions. I put more salt in the new water that I just changed in. But do I need to continue adding Aquarisol? How often?

Again, the bottle says nothing about frequency of use!

No prob if don't know. I think I'll just back off of everything now and see how things settle.

 

[adeyc]

Stop using the salt! . Sorry I just replied to you're other post about salt etc. There should be instructions on the container to tell you exactly how much aquarisol to add. All med's by law should have the ingredients and instructions with them.

 

[ostrow]

You'd think! All it says is how many drops per gallon. That's all the box said, too. There was no instruction "booklet". The website for the manufacturer gives no additional info. Very odd. I'm gonna wait a week or more and see what happens.

Interesting on the salt. I only put 1 tbsp in the new water (left it out overnight, and put some ClorOut or one of the others -- I have a few for reasons that aren't important but only used one that eliminates both chlorine and chloramine (sp?)). I put salt in because I was removing 20% of the water in the tank already.

Every other place I've looked recommends a bit of salt quite highly for platies and mollies. In fact, they recommend like 1 tbsp per gallon. I'm using 1 tbsp per 6 gallons. So I am trying to be cautious.

But I won't put more of anything in for a while as I said.

MOSTLY I'm not worried about the Ick but the brown algae. Not much response to that problem so far... I did wipe down the side of the tank and vaccuum the gravel, etc. I'm hoping the BioWheel kicks in and other algae take over and get rid of the stuff. The brown algae, as I gather, isn't really algae and fish can't/don't eat it.

Thanks again.
Joel

 

[adeyc]

If you try to answer some of the Q's in my original reply, then we can see about what to do about the algae. it's all down to water quality.
Cutting down on the time the light is on will help but we really need to see what you're nitrite leves are.

 

[ostrow]

All I can check for today is ammonia and that is in the safe zone. I need to get a nitrate and nitrite tester. Thx

 

[adeyc]

Oh yeah. Does the tank smell musty at all?. It'll help if you get this before you buy the tests

 

[ostrow]

I don't think so. Course, I just changed the water.

Put it this way, when I had the top open, I wasn't knocked backwards or anything.

But I also didn't exactly taste the stuff :laugh:

 

[pete]

Nearly all fish will eat brown algae in my experience , at least all of mine do lol :laugh:

As has already been posted cut down on lighting add some plants if you dont already have some and as well as that cut back on your feeding as excess food will only feed the algae, i would recommend cutting feeding down by 50% ie if you feed your fish once a day then feed them once everyother day as this will also help with the algae problem.........also if the fish are ill with whitespot they wont be feeling like consuming their normal intake of food

Hope this helps m8 and dont worry too much about it as its not the worst thing that can happen when keeping fish