To Pleco Or Not To Pleco?

[xostrawberryox]

My tank has been fine with just my 3 mollies and betta, test results have thrown up nothing abnormal. I introduced 5 neons, unadvised by the LFS of the fact they prefer older tanks and mine has only been running a month, so 2 have died already and the other 3 arent looking fantastic but they dont seem to be bugging the other fish at the moment so i'll leave them in there and see what happens. The same lfs has advised i get a female brittlenose pleco on saturday to deal with the algae. Is it advisable to add any more fish whilst my neons are dying off? If the plecos are quite hardy it should be fine- right? At the moment i have 6 tiny snails in there which appeared after i added my live plants, im leaving them in there at the moment to help clear some of the algae which isnt getting picked up at the moment.. I take it they aren't causing any harm? Cheers, Jo

 

[jarmado]

i suggest waiting for the tank to fully mature before adding any more fish.
you will be surprised how fast the snails and mollies breed.

 

[xostrawberryox]

i suggest waiting for the tank to fully mature before adding any more fish.
you will be surprised how fast the snails and mollies breed.

Yes, i started off with 2 snails, now have 6.. and both of my female mollies are preggers. Had one lot of fry who all turned out to be a tasty snack for the parents, you live and learn!

 

[sussexgirl]

Yes, i started off with 2 snails, now have 6..

I started off with 2 snails and 2 months later now appear to have hundreds, get them out if you can, I wish I had and now they're everywhere. Don't want to use a snail chemical, I'm just religiously gravel cleaning every week and picking them out when I see them on the glass.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

My tank has been fine with just my 3 mollies and betta, test results have thrown up nothing abnormal. I introduced 5 neons, unadvised by the LFS of the fact they prefer older tanks and mine has only been running a month, so 2 have died already and the other 3 arent looking fantastic but they dont seem to be bugging the other fish at the moment so i'll leave them in there and see what happens. The same lfs has advised i get a female brittlenose pleco on saturday to deal with the algae. Is it advisable to add any more fish whilst my neons are dying off? If the plecos are quite hardy it should be fine- right? At the moment i have 6 tiny snails in there which appeared after i added my live plants, im leaving them in there at the moment to help clear some of the algae which isnt getting picked up at the moment.. I take it they aren't causing any harm? Cheers, Jo

If you fish have been dying recently or the tanks water quality is not stable, i would not get a pleco or any other fish for the matter. Algae looks a bit ugly but is essentially harmless, a BN plec will eat the algae but there are plenty of other ways to get rid of algae without buying an algae eating fish .
What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrates recent test results?

 

[xostrawberryox]

PH- 8.0
Ammonia- 0.1mg/l
Nitrite- 0.0mg/l
Nitrate- 25mg/l

I'm not gonna get a plec ive decided til i know whats happening with the neons, i think it may be the stress of moving and living with a large betta, i suspect he has nibbled one of their fins

 

[jarmado]

PH- 8.0
Ammonia- 0.1mg/l
Nitrite- 0.0mg/l
Nitrate- 25mg/l

I'm not gonna get a plec ive decided til i know whats happening with the neons, i think it may be the stress of moving and living with a large betta, i suspect he has nibbled one of their fins

your ammonia should be 0.

 

[xostrawberryox]

Not that I'm a fish bof but since my LFS's PH is 8.2 I woulda thought 8.0 would be a good PH for me, plus ideal tropical fish PH is 6.5-8.5, no?

 

[Bignose]

if the pH is stable (you get the same readings every time you test) then 8.0 is fine. Mollies like the higher pH, the betta will be fine with it, and if the neons seem healthy in the future (good color, vigor, behavior, eating well) then they have clearly adapted as well. Fish are typically pretty adaptable to pH that may be outside of the listed 'preferred' range. My 1st suspicions of their problems would be the ammonia reading.

It is far, far, far more important to have a stable pH than to get the perfect pH by using chemicals that cause the pH to fluctuate a lot.

That said, check the ammonia frequently. It needs to be consistently zero every time. Do frequent water changes to keep the concentration of ammonia low. If the ammonia gets high, do a large water change. So long as the temp is the same, and the pH and hardness are pretty close, you can do almost as large of a water change as you can handle.

0.1 is pretty low right now, but that may be a lot bigger problem in the not-too-distant future.