G.A.

Kk. Ordered some paracleanse from Co-op. I also lost the last of the new cories since earlier post. 😿

I was just wondering the same thing about my neon tetras, except mine also has what looks like white poop trailing behind. I had 2 of the 3 cories I added on Weds pass. I’m worried I introduced parasites to my healthy fish. Link to video of tetra with white string: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ma4J8TQAVHtgMfx87

Now I’m thinking maybe hair algae cause it has these little hairs sticking up. I tried to get a picture of those above but it wasn’t that great. I may just have to let it grow more so I’ll know what it is and which algae eaters would be best I guess.

Hello fish folks, newbie here with a 4 week old tank. I have this yucky brown stuff growing on my java fern and amazon sword. Is this diatoms or some sort of hair algae? I read diatoms you can suck up with gravel vac but that didn't work very well. I also tried rubbing it off one leaf and some of it came off but I was afraid to rub harder and maybe damage my fern. What is this and how do I fight it? I'm on the tail end of a fish in cycle but should be able to add some more clean up crew in the next couple weeks. Depending on what this is any recs? 20 gallon long, I have 9 neon tetras, 3 Cory and 1 nerite snail right now. Heater is preset at 78. I've got 1 Aqueon Day White and 1 Aqueon Colormax LED in my hood on for 10 hrs per day. Should I cut down on hours?

I think I have success! 🥳 The nitrite levels have started dropping on their own. Over the last 2 days they've dropped to below .5. If my nitrite drops to 0 by then would I be okay adding 2 or 3 fish on Friday? I'm hoping to get some clean up crew to help fight this brown stuff that's growing on my plants.

Just wanting to check that I understand fish in cycling now. I'll keep doing these daily water changes until I get the nitrites down to .5 or 1? Then keep testing daily and water changes if ammonia or nitrites build up again. Eventually nitrites should go back to zero as bacteria colony grows and then I can add a few more fish?

Day 2 50% change done yesterday and nitrites appear to be down to about 3. Everybody still alive and kicking. Yay! Do I need to be adding more bacteria when I do these water changes?

After water change ammonia is less than .25, nitrates are reading 5.0 ppm using test tube kit or 20 ppm using test stripes. I'm having a hard time reading the nitrites but I think they're between 5 and 10 ppm. I attached pictures of both nitrite tests in case anyone is better at reading these.

Meant to attach these to main post. I'll go do a 50% change tonight. If I'm still having issues should I skip my next dose of easy green fertilizer on Saturday?

I had it running for 1 week after the initial dose of microbelift special blend. I found the water test report card from day 7 done at big brand pet store and ammonia was 0, nitrAtes between 0 and 20 and nitrites was between 0 and 0.5. Okay, I will cut back more on feedings and keep adding Prime for now. I did test at least once a day for the last several days, the nitrites have been darker than the highest reading of 10.0, nitrates were between 40 and 60 and ammonia has been less than .25 for the last few days. Last water change was Saturday about 30%.

I thought I had, but from the problems I'm having now I'm guess either it wasn't complete or was done incorrectly. Cycling just means waiting for the bacteria that eat ammonia and nitrates to bloom right?

Hello folks, first time poster here. I'm a first time fish keeper with a 3.5 week old tank (wow, I thought it had been more like 5 weeks!). We started with 20 gallon and microbe lift special blend and some live plants from local big brand pet store and added 10 neon tetras, 3 Cory Doras and a snail 1 week in. (The associates at one local big brand pet store have thrown some shade at the other big brand for letting me take home more than 3 fish at once, oops.) We shortly lost 1 neon tetra to the filter I had installed incorrectly missing the pipe/guard thing. Added some mail order aquarium coop plants at about 2 weeks. Also installed an aquarium co-op sponge filter, I'm just leaving the other filter in for now, so tank has 2 filters. The original grass seems to be growing but the 2 original anubias didn't make it. The aquarium co-op plants seem to be doing okay, I think I'm seeing the little sprouts on the ferns but also some brown growth of some sort and no growth on the other Co-op plants. I had what I think was an ammonia spike (nitrites also high) about 1 week ago. Did 50% water change but still high. Per local pet store added salt and zirconia crystals and went from 2 or 3 times per day feeding to once per day. I also changed the filter bag thing and hanging filter sponge at this time. Ammonia has since dropped to ideal/safe levels but nitrite has been off the chart since Saturday. I got some Seachem Prime and added 3ml on Sunday. Levels have not gone down. Added 9ml more on Weds. Threw in the last 20ml of microbe lift today (it's usually added on the weekend) after some internet research, nitrite levels a few hours later still at or above highest readable level. Help please!