DarthRevan

Oh yeah I’m fine with some algae for my fish to graze on, but it had completely taken over my tank (see the before photo above). So I’m looking to keep that down as much as possible. I think the main issue was overstocking + not trimming my plants which allowed the algae to take over. The left side of the tank was supposed to be like a “bonsai garden” theme but all the Monte Carlo died and then the algae killed off the Java moss I had in the tree lol. I’m going to eventually take this all down, get rid of the livebearers, and redo the whole thing with less reproductive fish lol.

Finally got a day off work and clinicals at the hospital lol. Here’s the result of a couple hours of maintenance! (Not sure why it’s posting upside down lol) I would still like to get the bits of algae I couldn’t remove by hand with something like API algae fix. I’m also calling around to some local stores to see if they want any free platy’s to ease up on the bio load, they just keep breeding endlessly and none of the babies get eaten 😂

This is all great advice! My only issue is time. I currently work 7 days/80 hours a week (I am working full time while doing my clinicals for MRI school, which is also full time but unpaid lol) which is why it got this bad to begin with. I’m mainly at this point looking for something quick to get me by until I finish school in 6 months. As for the overstocking, I had a betta in there but some of the more aggressive male platys beat him up and he didn’t make it. I also can’t find anyone to take them even for free lol, but I don’t want to just outright euthanize them.

Thank you for the advice sir! I have a ton of bacopa, a few pogostemmen octopus, some crypt parva, a big crypt that I don’t remember what it’s called, and a few epiphyte plants (not sure if I spelled some of them correctly). The tank is pretty overgrown even with the regular plants, do you think trimming them and replanting would help them suck up more nitrates? And my biggest problem with manual removal is that it’s so entwined with the plants I’m not sure I can get it all. Should I remove as much as possible and then use an algaecide for the bits that are left? And then do a couple big water changes once it’s dead?

I have a huge bloom of green hair algae in my tank (and by huge I mean it’s completely taken over my entire tank). I’ve tried reducing the light and feeding less but my tank is overcrowded with platy’s and I can’t get rid of enough of them to get the nitrates down. They’re not at toxic levels but the algae is outcompeting my other plants for the excess. I’ve kind of let the tank go lately due to being busy and general laziness, so I’m just looking for a quick fix if possible to keep it under control until I have time to work on the tank. I see API and some others make algaecides, has anyone ever used these and if so did they harm your fish or plants? I’ve seen some horror stories on YouTube so I’m hesitant to try it.

I appreciate the help! The only reason I thought water quality wasn’t the issue was because she’s never returned to normal in the 6 months I’ve had her. She came to me pregnant but has had a pregnant belly ever since, and I know there’s supposed to be a period after they have babies where they “deflate” and go back to normal, then usually 30 days later they can get pregnant again. She’s been pregnant for 6 months straight and she’s released like 50-60 fry in that time frame. I did a water test today and the nitrates are pretty high around 40-50 so it’s time for a water change, but none of my other fish seem affected. As far as filtration, it’s a 40g breeder, heavily planted with stem plants and Java moss, and I have a Seachem 55 filter on there packed with sponges and a pre filter sponge from the Co-op which I clean once a month. The tank is getting very crowded though so that might also be an issue, I’ve gotten rid of some of her fry but at the moment there’s like 7 adult platies and about 50 fry plus some snails and 2 Otos.

@Coluquick question, my platy also had dropsy and died today. She was pregnant when I got her 6 months ago but she just kept releasing babies over the course of that 6 months and she never went back down from being swollen and pregnant looking. I didn’t notice her scales had started pineconing until I removed her today (they were definitely not like that last week). Could she have had a pregnancy complication that would’ve caused that or do you think it was more a water quality issue.

I’m not super hopeful since it doesn’t seem to do much lol, I’m hoping if it is just bottled catappa tea it’ll help my lil guy’s fins grow back easier

Well it seems like everyone else is thinking what I was lol. After looking it up online, it’s still pretty vague to what it actually is. But @dasaltemelosguyif you’ve used it and didn’t have any problems, and it was recommended by an ichthyologist, I might as well use it all up since I can’t return it now 😂 Definitely not buying this again though. Thanks for your help everyone!!

So my betta has pretty serious fin rot, after being beat up by platies. He’s in his own fluval flex now, but he still is losing his fins. I made another post and it was recommended with how severe it is that I use Kanaplex. When I was at my LFS to get it, I also explained the situation, he initially had recommended this product called “The Fishkeeper,” I’ve never heard of it and to me it seems like it’s just bottled botanical water. Is this person selling me a useless product or is this helpful in the healing process after I’ve treated Kanaplex? I still got the Kanaplex too so I can make sure I treat any bacterial infections.

Thank you!! I will try this ASAP

Definitely worth a shot! I was just hesitant to medicate him again if he didn’t need it. Also will Maracyn work or should it be Kanaplex? I used Maracyn before because it was snail and bio filter safe.

He did initially have fin rot after the first two chunks had been taken out of his dorsal fins, that was treated and went away. The platies in his tank at the time kept taking chunks out of it though and that’s why his dorsal fins are gone now. They are actually looking ok now, they’re still gone but getting better. The issue right now is his tail fin and parts of his bottom fins, they’re deteriorating and I can’t see why. It doesn’t seem like fin rot, as it’s only affecting those specific areas.

So my betta used to be in a 40 gallon community tank with a bunch of platies. He started losing his fins after about 2 months in there, and I assumed it was platies since it seemed like perfect half circle bites had been taken out of the fins. Unfortunately I didn’t have money to set up another tank at the time, so he ended up losing his dorsal fin. During that time he did get fin rot with the classic cottony growths, so I treated that with Maracyn packets as directed and it seemed to stop (the fin rot at least). Then he started having bites taken out of his tail fin (it didn’t seem like fin rot anymore cause whole sections would disappear overnight), but I finally had the money for another tank and set him up on his own in a 9 gal Fluval Flex. He seemed to be doing better for about a week, but now it’s progressing even worse. His tail fin is almost halfway gone, and his bottom fins are starting to go too. I don’t think there’s anything sharp enough for him to tear them on in there. He does sleep right on the sand and it is a courser grain (imagitarium black sand from Petco) but in my opinion it doesn’t seem rough enough to be causing the damage (also his tail fin doesn’t touch the sand, in his bottom fins.) Also today he tried to jump and smacked his head on the lid, which he has never done before (I work from home for 10 hours a day and both my tanks are in my office so I have a pretty good idea of normal behavior). I’m pretty sure he doesn’t bite his own tail either because he’s a dumbo plakat so his tail isn’t super long and flowy. I’ve posted water parameters and photos below. I’m not sure what to do at this point. Side note: he is much less active in this tank, I think cause it’s smaller and he’s alone. I’m getting 5 Pygmy Cory’s as soon as I can, but he does eat normally and interact with me when I come up to it. Water: pH 7.6 Nitrates 5ppm Hardness ~250 on an Aquarium Coop test strip Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 KH/Buffer 161 ppm (API master kit reading) Water Temperature 79-79.5 Also here’s what he looked like about 1 week after I had him.

Never mind I ended up finding a post on here lol! I didn’t see a way to delete topics so if a mod can do that it’d be appreciated.