Plant Or Algae Problem

[Midnight Rose]

pH - 6.8
Ammonia - between 0 and 0.6 mg/l
Nitrite - less than 0.1 mg/l
Nitrate - much less than 5 mg/l

(I only have the nutrafin essential mini master test kit which doesn't tell you exactly. I'm saving up for a posh kit.)

The tank has been running for two months, I cycled with fish because I'm an idiot and hadn't read your articles on fishless cyling. I thought this was how you cycled tanks, I'm so outdated No fish died though and I hope I didn't cause them to suffer too much.

In the tank at the moment I have -

14 neons
8 peppered corys, a mix of youngsters and adults.
2 clown plecs, they are tiny, about a standard length of 2cm. They are so cute, I could watch them all day.


I added 4 neons and the clown plecs a week ago.


I have a weird thing going on that I've never seen before, admittedly I've only kept 4 other fish tanks in my lifetime so I'm only a novice.

What is this 'root' stuff all over the place? Is it ok to have it there? Is it part of the fern? Is it bad? If it is how do I get rid of it?


Thank you very much, can you tell I haven't kept many plants before?


P.S. I apologise for the quality of the photos, I took them with my phone as my camera battery is dead.

 

[Midnight Rose]

Just to say that this stuff is growing very fast, there is more of it today than there was yesterday.

But my java ferns are sprouting babies so they can't be too unhappy.

 

[Underwurlde]

1/ Your tank is very immature, good idea really to stop adding fish, esp so many in one hit.
2/ You should see NO ammonia, espcially in a planted tank!
3/ You're seeing ammonia because: too many fish in one hit, tank is struggling to recover due to its immaturity.
4/ Excess ammonia = algae (consider this an 'instability).

So, what to do?

A: Get rid of the ammonia (manually remove as much of the algae first).

How: water changes perhaps (but this is only a short term response).
Better: Get some fast growing aquatic 'weeds' in there!

GL,

Andy

 

[Midnight Rose]

Better: Get some fast growing aquatic 'weeds' in there!

Water change was done yesterday after the readings.

I have weeds in the post!

Thanks

 

[Underwurlde]

OK, good. But remember, water change (as advised) is good to get some of that (possible) ammonia out, but in doing so it is still creating an instability in the tank because 'things' will have changed - this is good for algae.... Better to get that ammonia out though, for both alage food and fish health whixh is why I suggested it.

Good you have got some plants in the post (you know what you're doing I suspect ). When I say get some fast growing plants in (aka 'weeds') I meant to also say ALOT of weeds. 75% coverage really. Once they establish themselves and the algae goes, then GRADUALLY replace them with plants that you do want.... But hey, you might just like those fast growers...

Andy

 

[BBrain]

Whether the tank's overstocked or not depends on its volume, and I don't see the tank size stated in your posts. That said, it's true that too many fish added at first produces too much ammonia for the budding colonies of biobacteria to fully decompose. The presence of both ammonia and nitrite indicate too much biomass for your system. It's good that you're testing water quality!

How much light do you have, both electrical and natural? Algae love light.

How much are you feeding your fishes and what is your water change regimen? Overfeeding and lack of water changes may build up excess nutrients in the water, which may cause excess ammonia, which I believe may encourage algae.

By the way, that sure looks like "Staghorn" algae, which is impossible to physically pull off plants. You will just rip the leaves if you try. I've had success eradicating it with hydrogen peroxide, which didn't harm my fish, although it killed shrimp. Well, not exactly "eradicting", but killing it anyway. The dead stuff (reddish) remains attached to plants and other surfaces. My Siamese Algae Eaters ate some of the dead stuff; the rest I had to vigorously scrub off of hard surfaces, and the infested leaves I trimmed off. Flourish Excel also works, I hear. Sorry, I don't have dosages handy, but a search on this forum or the net should quickly tell you.

Edit: Look at the last post here: <a href="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...9&hl=shrimp" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...9&hl=shrimp</a>

And if you want to add some fast-growing, nutrient-absorbing plants, I highly recommend Hygrophila species, Ceratopteris(Water Sprites), or Hygrophila difformis (Water Wisteria).

 

[Midnight Rose]

Thanks guys

Whether the tank's overstocked or not depends on its volume, and I don't see the tank size stated in your posts.

The tank is 72x20x24 and looks like this at the moment -

How much light do you have, both electrical and natural? Algae love light.

There is little to no natural light as we have a fightank room so we keep the curtains shut. The electrical light I haven't worked out but I have one Power-Glo bulb and one Aqua-Glow bulb in reflectors at the moment. I also have another bulb that I've had years that I just use to have a low light effect late at night when I'm sitting watching the tank, just before I turn the main ones off as the tank is beautiful with little light. This bulb probably adds very little usable light to the tank.

How much are you feeding your fishes and what is your water change regimen? Overfeeding and lack of water changes may build up excess nutrients in the water, which may cause excess ammonia, which I believe may encourage algae.

I water change 20% once a week and have been water changing RO water back into the tank. I change it using the gravel cleaner, so disturb the sand while removing water. Is that enough water to change?

I feed them a very little bit of flake twice a day and drop an algae wafer in once a day, the plecs eat this very quickly. A few times a week I give them frozen food (cyclops or red mosquito larvae at the moment) instead of the flake. Is that too much food? Or even too little? There is usually no flake left over but a few mosquito larvae are sometimes left on the bottom until a cory comes along

By the way, that sure looks like "Staghorn" algae, which is impossible to physically pull off plants.

I think I'm going to just throw the infected leaves/plants out, it's only on the java fern, and maybe get more once the algae is under control.

I've got Gymnocoronis Spilanthoides, Egeria Densa, Hydrocotyle leucocephala and Limnobium laevigatum coming, hopefully that will sort it out. Do you think?