Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics

I did some maintenance yesterday and found where a large mystery snail appears to have died after wedging himself under an arch in my spiderwood that rests on the substrate. I was baffled. I never thought one of them would get caught under there.

I had Green Spot taking over my Anubias. I lowered my light intensity and added nerites. Now I’m clear! May not be that easy for you, but my strong light was the culprit.

I’ve been in the same boat. There are a few trading clubs in my area, but I hadn’t found a fish club before COVID. I started a Facebook Group for my area in hopes to meet other aquarists and to eventually consider forming a club. Then the pandemic happened and we are still a Facebook Group. We currently have 140 members in the East Tennessee region, despite my declining membership requests daily for not accepting the rules.... How is that so hard? Of the 140 there are only a handful of us active on the group. I hope that as things continue to improve we might be able to consider a meet up of some kind in the future.

The stem plants I just pulled out were a red Ludwigia. I hated pulling it out, but there wasn’t much left. Maybe once I’ve defeated the Black Beard I can try some stems again. I’ll see if I can find a picture before the imbalance. I am not dosing CO2. I prefer to stay low tech and try to find balance instead of adding CO2. I do run a couple of sponge filters to help with Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. I do like the idea of a red sword.... I might just include a Melon on my next Co-Op order. I really enjoy trying things and seeing what works. The “island” look right now is bothering me because at one point it was really thick on the left side of. Here is a pic from a couple of months ago. Before the Green Spot /Black Beard became an issue.

The 75 should be about the same length and height as the 55, but you will have more front to back depth. 6” will give you a lot more room for plants. I have a lot of Cryptocorynes, four Amazon Swords, two Anubis Barteri , Java Fern, several Anubias Nano Petite, several Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus, Dwarf Chain Swords, Vallesineria, floating some Warer Sprite, and I just added some Crypt Parva. I’ve been trying various plants trying to determine what I can grow successfully.

Welcome to the forum! It’s a great place for support and community. Last year I upsized from a 25gallon to a 75 gallon. It’s been amazing! I went with the 75 because I wanted to do a planted tank. Can I ask why 55 gallon? The reason that I ask is because the 55 has 12” from back to front, and if you want a planted tank that 18” depth (front to back) makes planting so much more enjoyable. My 26g had 12” front to back and I was constantly running out of room. If a 75 gallon is a possibility you might consider the benefits. Either way, I am sure you are going to enjoy the new tank!

Lots of changes this weekend. last week I adjusted my light schedule. I have starved off the Green Spot Algae, but I still see some black beard algae. All of my stem plants fell apart. I’ve been picking out leaves for weeks and the stems started to melt. It might be my mix of plants. I have some lowlight plants and these stems obviously need more light. I’ve given up on trying to balance between them. So all of the stems were removed. To replace them I moved a small Amazon Sword that hasn’t done great to the back on this side, and I moved a bunch of crypt offshoots. These are Wendtii Green and Bronze. They look great in the middle of my tank and I can’t wait for them to spread across the whole center. My Java Fern is still struggling. I’m sure the lack of fertilizer isn’t helping. I’m only dosing half the recommended Easy Green while I have been starving the algae. I’ve never seen Java Fern take off like most people say, and it’s always kind of browned on me. Maybe I will give up on it too. I had hoped these plants would grow thick and tall to cover my sponge filter. I also added some substrate to the front. I had originally sloped it, but I realized it was too thin. The majority of the black beard has been here, and I’m wondering if thickening the substrate will help the plants along. I added one Crupt Parva. I know it would take forever to grow in, but I wanted to see how the plant would do with my setup before I buy a bunch of pots. It’s so tiny! I would like to step up from Parva to Dwarf Chain Swords (which are doing great!), and then the crypts and swords. Lastly, I added four Gold Dust Mollies that have been in QT for weeks. They appeared to have some parasite after a couple of days watching them in my QT. So they are going through a couple of rounds of Paracleanse. I lost one during the process, but I felt comfortable moving the remaining four into the 75 gallon yesterday. I know it’s been a while since I did an update, but not much other than chasing balance was happening. Oh! I am considering removing the Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus. I’m not really in love with it in the middle of the tank. I’ve moved some cuttings to the left to see what I think... but I’m not sure it works in the all crypt and sword tank.... with Anubias on the side. Haha.

I bought a cup to see how it does in my water/setup before I buy a bunch. It’s so tiny!

The night I dosed the second round of Paracleanse I lost one of the Mollies. After another week in the QT tank everyone else seems fine. I moved them over to the 75 gallon yesterday evening. Everyone still looks good this morning. Now... what to buy for the QT...

Green Spot Algae is defeated! I don’t see any in the tank. My stem plants have all fallen apart. I became tired of picking out leaves and floaters so U removed them all yesterday. I’ve replanted several crypt offshoots to the other side of the spider wood. I also have an Amazon sword back there. It’ll be full in no time. I have increased the light period one hour now that the green spot is gone. I hope some of the plants benefit. I tried increasing my fertilizer recently and saw more black beard pop up. I’ve reduced the fertilizer back to what I was doing and I’m going to tweak the light. shew! Balance can be hard.

Congrats everyone!

I would like to add that I am really enjoying the fish room videos. I know they slow progress, but they are a lot of fun. Seeing you guys just have fun in the hobby is inspiring.

It does escalate quickly. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome Steve!

Wow! I’m envious of that Java fern.

Welcome back to the hobby and the forums!

Not at all! I appreciate the help.

Thank you @Koi I definitely understand that balance is not the absence of algae. I’ve kept otos for years, and enjoyed leaving my lights on a little longer just to make sure I was producing some algae. The Black Beard and Green Spot algae has continued to disappear. I am currently dosing 4 ml of Easy Green twice a week as I am trying to limp the stem plants along. They are looking thin though. I am seeing new growth, and hope to get them going again once I’m rid of the BBA. The most stubborn spot is the front of the tank on the substrate. And that area is a little thin... I may pull up the Dwarf Chain Swords and add some gravel to that area. I think the swords would benefit from it, and I’d really like to get them carpeting again. Anyway, I am continuing to win the fight. Pressing on.

That’s why I do it after two weeks. I have always heard two weeks between treatments to get rid of the next generation. I haven’t seen three weeks. I’ll have to do some research.

Great idea! I’ll keep this is mind if I ever go back to using one of my Aquaclears!

QT’s parameters ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate <5 pH 8 temp 76 I know the store that I bought them from uses RO water and I’m not sure if they re-mineralize their freshwater tanks. I have a hard time finding good looking Mollies in my area. Petco always has the nicest. I knew a couple of these looked thin, but after a couple of days I was seeing clear and stringy poop. After dosing Paracleanse I noticed the stress. I guess I assumed it was the meds, but it could have been the tank My pH in this tank is always 8. As for hardness I’ve never tested it but my water is thick. I can cut it. LoL. I have a 75 gallon tank full of Mollies and fry, and rarely have any issues. I did have an ammonia spike in the QT after adding four mature Mollies. It only hit .25 when testing I did one 50% water change and it has read 0 ammonia ever since. The ammonia reading was before I dosed the Paracleanse. There was 0 ammonia when I dosed the med. I’m currently working from home and really invested in adding these females to my male heavy display tank. So I was testing multiple times a day for a couple of days. Thanks for the response Cory. I’m a huge fan of the Coop and community.

I normally wait two. Is there a reason you wait three?

Oh yeah, these are low light plants and they don’t need that much. Especially if you have a strong light. out of curiosity, is the rhizome glued to a rock or something? Too much glue on the rhizome can cause some die back. When you get a chance squeeze the rhizome carefully and make sure it’s not soft. If the rhizome is rotting you may lose the plant. Is that one leaf turning yellow? I would spend $15 on an outlet timer at Walmart or Target and set it for 6-8 hours. If it is diatom it’s going to go away eventually, but with that much light you will end up with another kind.

I agree it looks like diatom, but the leaf closest to the camera on the left looks like it is yellowing... Is that correct?

Everyone seemed to be doing well so I treated the tank with the second dose last night, and everyone still looks good today. I’ll probably fast them again today. Tomorrow is the water change and I’ll be ready to give them some frozen brine.