Elodea Alternatives

[simpsona]

Hi, I have a tank full of platys, mollies and guppies with a couple of different plants in it. I have elodea and 'purple waffle' I think the second type is. Every week I am having to add more elodea as the fish are stripping it completely of its leaves. I have had some problems with phosphates in the past (courtesy of some overzealous feeding by students) so want to keep something in there that supplies a good amount of oxygen. Does anyone have any suggestions for plant alternatives that the fish won't eat so readily or alternatively suggestions on how to grow the stuff with limited resources and money?

 

[Jallen]

Moss balls are good at reducing nitrate and producing oxygen.
Java ferns and anubias are very hardy plants which are tied to wood or rocks and they wrap their roots around them (if planted in the substrate they die). They grow with ease and very few fish will attempt to eat or attack them, they both have very tough leaves.

 

[aaronnorth]

Hi,

purple waffle is a non-aquatic so i would remove it otherwise it will rot in about 3months. If it has been in there longer then it may be a different specie or you are one of the lucky few.
I cant see what problems you can have with phosphates? It is a vital nutrient to plant growth and in no way does it affect fish health.

some quick growing plants, which should outgrow the eating speed of fish lol

hygrophillia polysperma
egeria densa (surprised this didnt work)
floating riccia fluitans

tougher plant species, but quite slow growing

anubias sp
java fern
cryptcorynes sp
echindorous sp

these are usually grown emmersed so they may die back initially but they will regrow.

 

[simpsona]

You are right in saying that a certain amount of phosphates is ok. I am new to the fish game but from my research too many phosphates suck the oxygen out of the water and this is exactly what happened. Some of my fish literally suffocated, saw them lying on the bottom of the tank gasping before passing on! The kids did empty a huge amount of food and within about 30 mins of it happening (an estimate from building a timeline) the tank was extremely cloudy and the algae had already started to bloom.

 

[Mr Bliss]

The cloudiness was caused by heterotrophic bacteria that multiply extremely fast after gross overfeeding. They can deplete oxygen from the water if water circulation is poor, and as they metabolize the fish food they release CO2 and ammonia in the water. The ammonia and CO2 spike probably triggered the algae outbreak. The fish most likely died of ammonia poisoning, possibly in conjunction with reduced oxygen level in the tank. I doubt phosphates had anything to do with it.

 

[Jallen]

The cloudiness was caused by heterotrophic bacteria that multiply extremely fast after gross overfeeding. They can deplete oxygen from the water if water circulation is poor, and as they metabolize the fish food they release CO2 and ammonia in the water. The ammonia and CO2 spike probably triggered the algae outbreak. The fish most likely died of ammonia poisoning, possibly in conjunction with reduced oxygen level in the tank. I doubt phosphates had anything to do with it.

Unless the phosphates were the cause of the growth of the heterotrophic bacteria, which if they are caused by overfeeding is most likely, since fish food has a very high level of phosphates.

 

[aaronnorth]

You are right in saying that a certain amount of phosphates is ok. I am new to the fish game but from my research too many phosphates suck the oxygen out of the water and this is exactly what happened. Some of my fish literally suffocated, saw them lying on the bottom of the tank gasping before passing on! The kids did empty a huge amount of food and within about 30 mins of it happening (an estimate from building a timeline) the tank was extremely cloudy and the algae had already started to bloom.

i doubt it would be the PO4, but more likley the rotting food producing ammonia which is toxic and can trigger algae
Thanks, Aaron