Plants Look Dirty, Yellow Water, Pregnant Dalmation Molly

[andrea.mcmillan]

Hi all, I've been given this 120 litre tank with large fluval filter and bubble making thing (?). I have a feeling its over stocked, but I really don't know anything about this..its a hobby forced upon me (although I am enjoying it) as my friend emigrated and left it with me. My questions are..why are the plants looking dirty? kinda like they have a fluffy coating (only the fern like ones). I clean the filter out once a fortnight (is this right) and its always really slimy! The water looks yellowy but then I do have a sunglo light and a moonlight bulb for night times. I do a 10% water change once a month (again, is this right?) but the water still looks yellowy(except at night when just the blue light is on). I bought some stuff that you put in to supposedly take the yellowy colour away, but its not really doing much. I have some of those strips that checks the water but haven't a clue what to do with them?

I had a heavily pregnant dalmation molly, and put one of those net cages in, but she got so stressed whenever I put her in it that I decided to only put her in it when she started to lay on the gravel (lfs said thats a sign of imminent birthing) but when I woke this morning she was super slim, with no sign of any babies. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Larissa]

If you could give us a list of all the fish in the tank that would be helpful as well as any tank decorations.
If you think it is overstocked, you probably need to do a 10% - 25% weekly water change rather than once a month - using dechlorinator to remove chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals from your tap water.
In terms of cleaning the filter, you should rinse the sponges in old tank water every two to three weeks - make sure you do not wash it with tap water because the chlorine will kill any good bacteria. You need this good bacteria to covert the ammonia from fish waste into nitrite and then into nitrate.
Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish and can potentially kill them so it would be a good idea to get a set of liquid test kits to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH if you don't already have them.
It sounds like you have some algae growing on your plants - how long do you leave the lights on every day?
Start be answering these questions and we can help you out some more.

 

[BigC]

Hi,
You certainly have a lot going on there.
For starters I would drain off half the tank, Take out you filter sponges and give them a good rinse in the water you have just drained and replace. the top filter floss or pad should be really mucky. you can discard this and replace with new. You will not be fully cleaning all the pads again for a good few months only the top pad/Floss will be changed more frequent. Replace and top up the tank with fresh water. Clean the glass and hoover the gravel.
You need to get yourself a good chemical test kit/lab, dont use strips, they're next to useless. Perform a 25% waterchange on a weekly basis and add Stresscoat or the likes to new water before it is added to the main tank. The fluffy stuff that you describe on your plants is most likely algae and is due to many factors including too much light entering the aquarium and too much neutrients available in the water that is feeding the algae. Cut down on lighting hours and cut down on feeding a little and see if that helps. There are more drastic measures for algae removal which I feel would be too much monetary outlay and time for you to bother with at this stage. Buying some algae eating fish will also help. I would advise against buying common algae eaters such as Gyrinocheilus aymonieri because they get too big and can suck scales of other fish if bored. A small Plec would be beneficial.
As for the Molly, If you really want to collect fry then the small commercially available breeding traps sold today are really no place for a heavily pregnant molly. They are just too small and stress the fish. Another small tank would really be better. As it stands now most or all fry will get eaten (given certain inhabitants of your tank). If you want to atleast save a few then more plant matter such as Java Moss and the floating plant Salvinia will help.
I hope this has gone someway to helping you
Regards
BigC

 

[andrea.mcmillan]

If you could give us a list of all the fish in the tank that would be helpful as well as any tank decorations.
If you think it is overstocked, you probably need to do a 10% - 25% weekly water change rather than once a month - using dechlorinator to remove chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals from your tap water.
In terms of cleaning the filter, you should rinse the sponges in old tank water every two to three weeks - make sure you do not wash it with tap water because the chlorine will kill any good bacteria. You need this good bacteria to covert the ammonia from fish waste into nitrite and then into nitrate.
Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish and can potentially kill them so it would be a good idea to get a set of liquid test kits to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH if you don't already have them.
It sounds like you have some algae growing on your plants - how long do you leave the lights on every day?
Start be answering these questions and we can help you out some more.

Hi Larissa, ok here's the list, but i'm no pro so I'm gonna have to describe the ones I don't know the names of!

2 clown loaches (one big, one small)
2 yellow sucker fishes?? (they have orangey spots on their faces/heads?)
1 angel fish (female cos she lays eggs then eats em)
6 neons
1 red tailed shark
5 hatchet fish
3 correys
4 little yellowy fish with silver tips on their fins
6 male guppys (v small)
shrimp (no idea how many, one of them is red with a line down her back)
1 cameroon armoured shrimp (he's fab but always hiding)
2 rummy noses
2 moonlight (i think gouramis)
1 gold big gourami
1 small red gourami
2 dalmation mollys
1 tiny red clawed crab

None of them dislike each other but the golden gourami is territorail and chases the other gouramis away, i've seen them "kissing" but I know thats fighting. Theres 1 bogwood (i think!) few stones with holes that my shrimp live in. 2 plants that look like spider plants you get indoors, but they look healthy. 2 plants that look like dock leaves, 2 ferny type plants of which one I removed this morning cause it looked a mess. Temp is 26 and I put the lights on in the morning, when its dark I just have the bluey light on til I go to bed, then the lights go off. I have got the strip things, but don't know how to read them!? I always use the tetrasafe chlorine stuff, but I have'nt been rinsing the filter sponges in the tank, cause they're always so dirty and slimy!

I've not added any fish myself, but I did lose a beautiful blue with reddish stripes gourami to mouth and fin rot. He'd just recovered from Ich, so he was a bit weak I think. I used the anti fin/mouth rot meds, but he died within a couple of days. All of the fish look healthy, but some of my guppys have had some serious nipping of their fins (i think this may be the crabs doing?).

Does that help?

Thanks, Andrea

 

[andrea.mcmillan]

Hi, and thanks for your help..I've got a gravel hoover, so i'll give that a go. How long should the lights be on for? Is there any way of getting rid of the algae that on the plants? I confess i gave em a bit of a shake and the filter has cleared the murkiness already! I don't even know how much I should be feeding them. You've seen the creatures i've got, what do you think. I use tropical flakes, and some algae wafers for the sucker fish. There was a plec in the tank too, but he was huge and kept wrecking the tank! Lfs swapped him for some plants. I want to do this properly so all your help is appreciated

 

[Larissa]

Hi Andrea,
Ok. Where to start...
1. You need to get a set of liquid test kits (strips are useless) to test for ammonia, nirtite, pH and nitrate. API or Nutrafin are good brands. Once you cary out a set of tests on the tank you can post your results here and we can help you analyse the results.
2. 120 litres is about 31 gallons of water. A general stocking guidline is 1 inch of fish per gallon so you can have about at total of 31 inches of fish. This means you are overstocked. I would recommend taking these fish back to your LFS:
- 2 clown loaches as they need more space than a 31 gallon and get BIG
- The red clawed crab. I think they might try and eat your fish.
- The red tailed shark. They get BIG and need 200 litres at least.
- 2 Dalmation mollys. They are brackish fish and breed like crazy.
- 2 yellow sucker fish. I think the might be chinese algae eaters and if this is the case, they get big, agressive and might harm your other fish.
Start with these and see if your water gets clearer-it may be yellow because your filter cannot cope with all the fish waste.
3. Do a 25% weekly water change and vacume the gravel when you do - this will also help the water stay cleaner.
4. Reduce the lighting time to around 8 hours and see if this helps the algae issue. Also, make sure no direct sunlight hits the tank. Eventually the lights can be on for around 10 hours a day.
...alright, thats all for now. Keep us updated! and feel free to ask more questions.
-Larissa

 

[andrea.mcmillan]

Hi Andrea,
Ok. Where to start...
1. You need to get a set of liquid test kits (strips are useless) to test for ammonia, nirtite, pH and nitrate. API or Nutrafin are good brands. Once you cary out a set of tests on the tank you can post your results here and we can help you analyse the results.
2. 120 litres is about 31 gallons of water. A general stocking guidline is 1 inch of fish per gallon so you can have about at total of 31 inches of fish. This means you are overstocked. I would recommend taking these fish back to your LFS:
- 2 clown loaches as they need more space than a 31 gallon and get BIG
- The red clawed crab. I think they might try and eat your fish.
- The red tailed shark. They get BIG and need 200 litres at least.
- 2 Dalmation mollys. They are brackish fish and breed like crazy.
- 2 yellow sucker fish. I think the might be chinese algae eaters and if this is the case, they get big, agressive and might harm your other fish.
Start with these and see if your water gets clearer-it may be yellow because your filter cannot cope with all the fish waste.
3. Do a 25% weekly water change and vacume the gravel when you do - this will also help the water stay cleaner.
4. Reduce the lighting time to around 8 hours and see if this helps the algae issue. Also, make sure no direct sunlight hits the tank. Eventually the lights can be on for around 10 hours a day.
...alright, thats all for now. Keep us updated! and feel free to ask more questions.
-Larissa

Hi Larissa, thanks for the info, its helpful but I'm gutted Inhave to get rid of some of the fish! I love the clown loaches and dalmation molly's. And beavis and butthead (the sucker fish) look so harmless..i mean they're fast and like to chase each other, but I've never been seen them try and hurt any of the fish. My crab kinda just sits on top of the heater..i suspect he's the fin nipper, but he's so much fun to watch. And as for the dalmation molly's its cool to watch the male showing off in front of the lady! Are you sure I have to get rid of all of them? I've put a new carbon filter in between the 2 sponges, and thats helped tremendously with the murkiness. I'll have to contact my lfs and see if he'll take them. Don't I need some sort of algae eating fish tho?

Thanks, I'll keep you posted

 

[Larissa]

Hi Andrea,
Would it be possible for you to post pics of Beavis and Butthead (lol) - then we can tell for sure what they are. Or, under the species index you could take a look at the Chinese algae eater and see for yourself - look at the yellow one. When algae eaters are young they are harmless but as they mature they get agressive and try to eat the slime coat off other fish - especially slow moving and deep boddied fish like gouramis. The clown loaches have to go - they need like 75 gallons I think, Sorry . I guess you could keep the crab since he probably is not a big waste producer - but if you notice any guppies missing he is probably the culprit, also keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get too big. As for the mollies, (are you sure they are not platies just to double check) they need slightly salty water (brackish) to do their best while the rest of your fish don't - plus they will breed like mad, further increasing the population of the tank, it would be best to take them to your LFS.
I know its hard to take back fish but if anything, the loaches and the red tail shark HAVE to go (and possibly Beavis and Butthead).
As for having an algae eater, you could get a few otos. They are small suckermouth catfish and only get about 3cm big.
How is that liquid test kit coming - the sooner you get one the better. Have you decreased the lighting time to deal with the algae? What's the update?

 

[andrea.mcmillan]

Hi Andrea,
Would it be possible for you to post pics of Beavis and Butthead (lol) - then we can tell for sure what they are. Or, under the species index you could take a look at the Chinese algae eater and see for yourself - look at the yellow one. When algae eaters are young they are harmless but as they mature they get agressive and try to eat the slime coat off other fish - especially slow moving and deep boddied fish like gouramis. The clown loaches have to go - they need like 75 gallons I think, Sorry . I guess you could keep the crab since he probably is not a big waste producer - but if you notice any guppies missing he is probably the culprit, also keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get too big. As for the mollies, (are you sure they are not platies just to double check) they need slightly salty water (brackish) to do their best while the rest of your fish don't - plus they will breed like mad, further increasing the population of the tank, it would be best to take them to your LFS.
I know its hard to take back fish but if anything, the loaches and the red tail shark HAVE to go (and possibly Beavis and Butthead).
As for having an algae eater, you could get a few otos. They are small suckermouth catfish and only get about 3cm big.
How is that liquid test kit coming - the sooner you get one the better. Have you decreased the lighting time to deal with the algae? What's the update?

Hi again Larissa, well the good news is that B&B are safe, they are definitely not chinese algae eaters. I can post pics soon, waiting to get my camera back! B&B basically spend most of their time with the mouths stuck to the glass! They are fast and fun to watch. They are a solid yellow colour apart from a few orangey spots on their geads, about 4 inches long. Any idea now??

 

[Larissa]

Do B&B look anything like this?:
[URL="http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Gyrinoc...aymonieri_2.php"]http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Gyrinoc...aymonieri_2.php[/URL]

(Just to double check)

 

[andrea.mcmillan]

Do B&B look anything like this?:
<a href="http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Gyrinoc...aymonieri_2.php" target="_blank">http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Gyrinoc...aymonieri_2.php</a>

(Just to double check)

Hi Larissa, yep, they're the fellas..please don't tell me they will turn into fish eating monsters, they are such good fun!

 

[Larissa]

Do B&B look anything like this?:
<a href="http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Gyrinoc...aymonieri_2.php" target="_blank">http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Gyrinoc...aymonieri_2.php</a>

(Just to double check)

Hi Larissa, yep, they're the fellas..please don't tell me they will turn into fish eating monsters, they are such good fun!

Hi Andrea,
Take a look at this thread: <a href="http/www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical...re-Aggressive-/" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical...re-Aggressive-/</a> you have to read the whole thing to get the idea.
Personally, I have no experience with Chinese Algae Eaters but I have heard horror stories. They start out like the best fish in the world and end up being a pain. They get agressive, and potentially dangerous to other fish. Plus, they get quite large - too big for your tank I think.