Fuzzy Mushroom

Wow I wasn't expecting such a swift response thank you. In regards to my ph I will be trying to lower it a bit if it doesn't come down over time my well water is around 7.4 ph so water changes may bring it back down naturally if not I can add a few catappa leaves. Will a 10g with ~3 in of substrate be able to sustain 1 beta 6 neon tetras and 6 otos? That seems like a bit of a strech. perhaps I'll add a few more snails and just do the beta and tetras. Once again thank you for youre suggestions. Sincerely, nick

Hello everyone I'm new here and to the aquarium hobby. I have a 10 gallon soil and gravel substrate planted tank that just finished cycling.(I just had to do a significant water change to remove the majority of a heavy algae bloom) so nitrite levels are up a bit at the moment. I intended to keep a beta as the main fish in the tank with some shrimp breeding in there as both extra algae controll and as a snack for beta (hopefully primarily the baby shrimp) but I ran into a snag, I added a little bit of merecal grow to the soil for the plants without relising it contains a bit of copper. I only just received a copper test kit in the mail and have tested the water unfortunately the test isn't accurate enough to determine if the water would be safe enough for shrimp despite showing close to 0 ppm (test jumps from 0 to .25ppm) my research indicated that harmful levels of copper for shrimp is around 0.01ppm. So I started looking into oto cats and or corydoras but with the substrate the available space in my tank is really only 7 to 8 gal and i don't want to add fish to the tank if they aren't going to be comfterble and happy. I have 1 small new zealand mud snail in the tank at the moment to help with the remaining algae. My water parameters are ph around 8.2 was 7.4 prior to adding a thin layer of sand(preparing for oto cats or corys which as it turns out may not be my best option due to tank size) I will add some driftwood or something to lower it back down a bit if necicery. Kh roughly 110 to 130ppm gh roughly 280 to 340ppm. Water temp sits around 76 to 78 °F. The tank is equipped with a sponge filter. Being new to the hobby I can only go off of what I find in my research so I don't know how accurate all my info is. What can I add to the tank to help controll algae that will (at least as adults) be safe for/from a beta that i would realistically be able to care for at my skill level. I am trying to keep bio load in mind. And I don't want things to feel cramped for whichever species of fish I get. PS: I have also looked into guppies and mollies as options but have herd that with a beta booth sides can get a bit nippy. PSS: I don't have room for a larger tank otherwise I would set one up and use my 10g as a qt (maby in the future). Any and all advice would be much appreciated, thank you all in advance. Sincerely, nick