Tank stock

[Byron]

Snails do contribute to a healthier biological system, but they are not much use with "problem" algae and cyano which they will not touch. But snails eat the organics (within reason, obviously they have limits) like fish excrement which breaks it down faster so the various bacteria can deal with it. I've never had nerite snails so I can't say how effective they are, but the small harmless snails like pond, bladder and Malaysian Livebearing are very useful. But again, nothing is going to deal with a problem, you can only rectify the cause and go from there.

 

[Clancey Fritsch]

I

Snails do contribute to a healthier biological system, but they are not much use with "problem" algae and cyano which they will not touch. But snails eat the organics (within reason, obviously they have limits) like fish excrement which breaks it down faster so the various bacteria can deal with it. I've never had nerite snails so I can't say how effective they are, but the small harmless snails like pond, bladder and Malaysian Livebearing are very useful. But again, nothing is going to deal with a problem, you can only rectify the cause and go from there.

I've thought about getting those snails but last time I kept pond snails they overproduced and I had to eventually get rid of them. I dont feel like having an infestation of snails again. Do thinking a good cleaning of my driftwood would help?

 

[Byron]

I

I've thought about getting those snails but last time I kept pond snails they overproduced and I had to eventually get rid of them. I dont feel like having an infestation of snails again. Do thinking a good cleaning of my driftwood would help?

The problem here is the organics in the water, not driftwood. Until you reduce the organics, and I do think the light duration, nothing else is going to matter much, though you obviously don't want to add to the problem.

Snails will reproduce according to the available food. Without food, they can't. Which brings us back to the organics.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

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

You can certainly do that. But, in my experience you can just suck it out with a siphon hose that you would normally use for a water change. Bit less complicated.



But... this is a cosmetic fix, not a fix of the root cause.

I agree with Byron regarding decreasing the organics in the water.

 

[lyn Pisces]

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

Re: Aquarium stocking, sounds like you have too many fish for a 29 gallon tank. To be sure I recommend this website for tank stocking advice and recommendations: http://www.aqadvisor.com/

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That website is not a very good resource for determining stocking levels, nor compatibility, or at least it wasn't last i saw of it.