ravvlet

Update I tried the black out method, completely covering the tank with blankets for about four days. I uncovered it to this. I laughed a bit. I’m perplexed, and I’ve got several fish who’ve been waiting to be moved in here! I regret trying to vacuum the algae out, that’s for sure.

🤔 well, the algae isn’t on the substrate and plants anymore, at least…

Well I went ahead and gravel vacc’d as much as I could - and now I’ve got green water!! Time to add some daphina eggs 😂 mostly kidding. I have read that otocinclus are better for algae than plecos, but they prefer mature tanks, which this isn’t. How long should a tank be ridding for an oto? Or am I borrowing trouble and should stick with a pleco? I’ve got Repashy bottom scratcher (ordered it on accident, meant to get Soylent green) on hand already. However, this is a cold water tank, around 68-70 degrees, and AFAIK pleco prefer warmer temps.

Wanted to update to say the little gal is swimming completely normally today, and is eating great too. Still have her in the small tank on daily water changes, but I caught her playing in the sponge filter. No more spinning in circles or backflips, and the meds and salt should be nearly all out of the water due to water changes now.

That’s clever. I’ve been sniffing the water and it smells ok, I’ll have to scoop some up and try that. I like it in some areas, but it’s getting to be a bit much on the gravel, and the hair grass doesn’t seem to enjoy it. Would a catfish eat any of this stuff?

It is the kind with the settings, but I’ll have to dig out the manual because I can’t remember how to adjust the color temp. I know my other ones are all on default because I’m exceptionally lazy and I only occasionally get algae on the back glass that can be taken care of with a scraper. It’s why I was so shocked at how intense it’s gotten in this tank! I kind of assumed it was just a new tank issue; but at the same time none of my other tanks running similar lights have ever had this much algae growth! I also don’t think it’s cyno but didn’t want to rule it out because I don’t think it’s one I’ve dealt with personally. Since there isn’t anything in it besides pink ramshorn snails, it won’t hurt to leave the light off for a couple days and then run the gravel vacc. This tank is my first time using seiryu stones and I also wonder if they’ve messed with the TDS/gh/kh in some way, which would explain why the shrimp all kicked the bucket, and the mystery snails had to be moved out when they started looking peaky. I’ve just been busy with other things and didn’t test anything besides ammonia and nitrite for the purposes of cycling.

I have a 75 gallon running a single hygger 48in light on a day cycle, glass lids, a Fluval FX4, and as many plants as I could cram in there. The filter has a spray bar and I have a single large size sponge filter in the center back. Background pogos, a couple swords, some dwarf sag, a couple Val. Mid ground some buce and ludwigia repens I think on the “red” side along with a tiger lotus, on the side with stones I’ve got pennywort, and a few plants I’ve forgotten the name of. There’s moss on the rocks also, under a hairnet. Center of tank is all dwarf hairgrass. Tank has been running a month and was started with used filter media, and is fully cycled. Only thing in there at the moment is snails; the shrimp I had moved into it all perished, even though they’re fine in all my other tanks. I have fertilized with Thrive and root tabs. Which brings me to the algae - or Cyanobacteria; I’ve no idea. It’s big, it’s green and brown, some of its hairy, some of its not. It doesn’t have any quit and seems happy to overtake everything, including the floaters! I am a bit stumped as none of my other tanks have this problem. What did I screw up? Here are some photos for reference: At least it’s not terribly ugly from a distance:

Sounds good. I’ll keep up the daily water changes as the tank is quite small. At least it will give me time to deal with the ridiculous algae.

I’ve got salt in the tank now at the conditioning dose and it seems to be working. I combined it with antibiotics because there was a known ongoing issue in the source tank, and swim bladder issues can also be secondary symptoms of a bacterial infection. I have not been doing salt baths, but she was swimming almost completely normally this morning. Is it safe to move her directly into the 75? Or is the flow going to be difficult for her? How long should she stay in the medicated tank to be sure whatever caused the problem doesn’t have a flare up once the antibiotics and salt are stopped?

Please read to the end! Took in a shubunkin in from a big box store whose tank had been in quarantine for weeks, fighting a bevy of illnesses due to issues with the filtration. We’d had our eyes on this little gal for a while because she’s only got one eye, but lovely calico markings, and unfortunately last Thursday was found floating on her side with little swim control. We took her home that day and have been treating with Fritz salt, metroplex, kanaplex, and a bit of pimafix. She’s really small (about an inch and a half) so for the moment she’s in a 2.5gal I used to use for shrimp breeding with a sponge filter. I am doing 50% water changes every day, reapplying meds/salt to match the concentration it was at previous - which is admittedly a bit confusing since metro/kana according to the label is supposed to be dosed every other day up to three times. I think effectively I’m on my third “dose” if I give a full and not half at the next water change? I have not tested parameters. I know they’re whack, it’s a shubunkin in a 2.5; I’ve been dosing the tank with Prime when I do water changes and vacuuming all waste. Feeding one small cube of Repashy Bio Gold per day, to try to keep the water cleaner; when she’s in a bigger space I’ll feed her 3x a day like we did when our other goldfish was a juvenile. The good news: she is mostly swimming normally! If she gets excited because I come into the room she still does a few spins/cartwheels, but more and more I am seeing her able to swim up from the bottom, and she has completely stopped floating on her side. Because of the number of water changes I’ve had to do, and the ludicrous size of the quarantine tank, obviously it’s not going to establish a nitrogen cycle. My questions are as follows: 1.) How long do I keep her in here & on meds so that I’m sure she is fully recovered? I have a fully planted out 75gal that’s been running for a month ready for her to go into, which leads me to my next question - 2.) The 75 has a ton of plants and an FX4. Even with reduced flow rate and a spray bar, it’s got a current going. She’s a tiny fish. I know how fast goldfish grow (we have another planted tank with a black moor) but I’m worried even with a feeding funnel and tray she’ll struggle to get around and find her food. Should we set up a smaller interim tank? 3.) if we do make her a quarantine tank (well, I could also stick her in with the shrimp in my 20g tall, but then I can’t medicate it because of the shrimp), how long should we keep her there before we move her? Thanks for reading! Photos to follow. Obviously no idea if this fish is female, my kid named her Anna Banana so I’m going to go with it until she sports breeding stars or something else obvious. short term quarantine jail: I know she looks awful but believe me, she looks better than she did when we got her destination tank: Did you know algae is a carpeting plant /sarcasm my other goldfish, so that you don’t think I’m a heartless monster that regularly sticks them in 2.5gal aquariums (we did not expect to be bringing her home on the verge of death):