New To Aquariums

[saltydog999]

I have a 180 ltr aquarium and added 2 platys after a few weeks and the tank looked like it had cycled after water tests etc. They were fine and after a month I added 4 guppies. all was fine, but after 2 weeks, the algea seemed out of control, and was all over the plastic plants and ornaments I had in the tank. The shop I bought the fish from said the best thing to do was to get a few catfish to eat all the algae. Did that and added 4 catfish a few days ago. One of my platys is stressed now and is either hiding under the ornaments at the bottom or floating at the top near the heater & he is not eating. I have done a couple of 10% WATER CHANGES and added some Aquasafe, as my ammonia levels were up to .50, but he is still not eating and not himself after 4 days. Any ideas?? It is flapping a bit and making erratic movements. I have not added any food yesterday or today.


ammonia has gone up a little bit to .50
added aquasafe with the 2 water changes

 

[CrystalClear16]

Firstly, algae is usually caused by overfeeding and leaving the lights on too long. Reduce your feeds and switch the lights off after 8hrs to significantly reduce it. But be aware that ornaments will natually acquire a 'weathered' look in a tank and will not stay new-looking forever, scrubbing them it going to get rid of helpful bacteria.

Secondly if you have high ammonia levels you need to be doing much larger water changes (50%) - daily.

Thirdly, (just in case you are) do not wash your filter sponges out using tap water. Also don't change them. Your sponges contain good bacteria that break down the ammonia.

Also, what type of test kit are you using? Strips or liquid?

 

[saltydog999]

Firstly, algae is usually caused by overfeeding and leaving the lights on too long. Reduce your feeds and switch the lights off after 8hrs to significantly reduce it. But be aware that ornaments will natually acquire a 'weathered' look in a tank and will not stay new-looking forever, scrubbing them it going to get rid of helpful bacteria.

Secondly if you have high ammonia levels you need to be doing much larger water changes (50%) - daily.

Thirdly, (just in case you are) do not wash your filter sponges out using tap water. Also don't change them. Your sponges contain good bacteria that break down the ammonia.

Also, what type of test kit are you using? Strips or liquid?

I am using liquid API master test kit. My filter does not need touched for a few months as it is a motorised filter. What size do you think the catfish will grow to? They are about an inch long just now.
What do you think of the food Nutrafin Max?It has dried worms in it.Should I use it or just stick with the regular aquarium food.

 

[CrystalClear16]

Your arn't cleaning your filter? Well that could be the issue! After a water change, use the tank water in the bucket to rinse your filter sponges (give them a few squeezes) to get rid of excess muck. How often you clean your filter depends on your tank and stock, when I had an internal filter I rinsed it once a week. Now I have an external I do it every fortnight.

What kinds of catfish are they?

Nutrifin Max should be ok. I have never heard of problems caused by dried food - only by over feeding.

Edit: Hang on, I may have misunderstood what you meant by 'motorised filter' Do you know what the model is?

 

[mattlee]

externals dont need cleaning every 2 weeks, i do mine about every 3 months

some catfish will grow massive and some stay small like otocinclus and corys, just stating that you have catfish is a bit vague..... also only a few will touch algae the most common ones are otocinclus and bristlenose ancistrus.

with ammonia levels at 0.50 its nowonder your fish arent looking wellas they are slowly being poisoned by their own waste products that are breaking down giving the ammonia levels recorded. at this level you need to be doing 75% water changes then re test to see what the levels are at after an hour.if you still have ammonia then do another change of the relevant amount to get it to 0. you will have to keep testing and doing water changes until the filter can cope with the fishes bioload by itself and this can take weeks.i hope you have lots of dechlor.....

if the algae is brown in colour then it will be diatoms. this is caused by ammona levels in a tank and is quite common in new set ups especially non cycled tanks and overfed tanks. it should clear by itself once the filter is cycled, otherwise you can wipe it off the glass and decor quite easily. i wouldnt worry about cleaning the decor as the amount of bacteria on them will be very minimal and in a non cycled tank 0.