white sand substrate turning red. What is happening?

[KittenFishMom]

I put white pool sand in my half cylinder tank 6 to 8 weeks ago. The first time I tried to vacuum, things got very messed up and most of the plants came out. Originally there was a slop, low in front, high in back. Since them, I have been careful to just hover the syphon over the top of the sand. I have lake seaweed that drops leave like hornwort, 2 yoyo loaches, 3 kuhli loaches, a male betta and a ton of snail and empty snail shells.

Now the sand has been leveled out by the loaches. The area at the front of the tank is turning red. It is looking rather dirty and gross to each side. You can see the line that was the original surface. I feed the fish in this middle area.

What is causing this, and how can I prevent the substrate up against the glass from getting this dirty look?

red in middle

original

right edge of color change

left edge of red

left edge of color change

from a distance

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by KittenFishMom
added photo from distance

[SandSea]

Green red or brown cyanobacteria, is common in a relatively new setup.

antibiotics, or water changes and fluffing up the sand. Commonly grows in dead areas where there is not a lot of flow like in sand for an example.

 

” cyanobacteria can produce cyanotoxins …  Cyanotoxins can also accumulate in other animals such as fish and shellfish, and cause poisonings such as shellfish poisoning. “ Stewart, I., Webb, P.M., Schluter, P.J. et al. Recreational and occupational field exposure to freshwater cyanobacteria – a review of anecdotal and case reports, epidemiological studies and the challenges for epidemiologic assessment. Environ Health 5, 6 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-5-6

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by SandSea

[Patrick_G]

You can take a credit card and gently pull the sand away from the glass, them use the card to scrape the algae away. It might be difficult in the half cylinder so you might need to try using a flexible scraper, maybe something like a plastic or silicone kitchen spatula? 

[KittenFishMom]

@SandSea Is it harmful? Does it need to be removed or treated?

@Patrick_G Will it resolve on its own or will it always look bad?

Edited November 26, 2022 by KittenFishMom

[SandSea]

Welllllllll, yes. See the addendum to my original answer.

maybe it just needs a good cleaning and re-planting on account of the snails they poop so much lol

[nabokovfan87]

It could be food.  What food are you feeding?  Is it red?

On 11/26/2022 at 2:43 PM, KittenFishMom said:

What is causing this, and how can I prevent the substrate up against the glass from getting this dirty look?

Usually it's just why tanks have that bottom rim.  To try to hide that look.  It's normal for sand substrates to have a line across them.  Siphon it, see what it looks like after that.

[Patrick_G]

Brown algae will usually just go away on it own and it’s easy to vacuum out. 
I don’t have personal experience with Cyanobacteria but here’s the co-op blog post on treating it. 
https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/blue-green-algae

 

[KittenFishMom]

@SandSea So I shouldn't eat my pets? 

@nabokovfan87 I feed xtreme nano, Betta bug bites, sinking pellets, algae wafers, frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, a lot of snails from other tanks. Just not all at once, each day it is a little different. I put an algae wafer in a slotted ladle in the other tanks to attract snails, and remove the ladle while there is still wafer left, It is an easy way to thin out a tanks snails. Those snails go in the yoyo loach tank. Most don't seem to get eaten, but I am seeing more empty shells.

@Patrick_G most of the plant in that tank are from the lake. I shake the water out, but the lake has HABs so it make sense that they made it into the tank.

Edited November 26, 2022 by KittenFishMom

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/26/2022 at 3:32 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@nabokovfan87 I feed xtreme nano, Betta bug bites, sinking pellets, algae wafers, frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, a lot of snails from other tanks. Just not all at once, each day it is a little different. I put an algae wafer in a slotted ladle in the other tanks to and remove the ladle while there is still wafer left, It is an easy way to thin out a tanks snails. Those snails go in the yoyo loach tank. Most don't seem to get eaten, but I am seeing more empty shells.

Yeah, then I would lean towards the bacteria based algaes.  Try to siphon it and see if you can easily remove it.  That's one way to resolve it among other methods.  High silicates in the sand means that you just end up with certain kinds of algae and stuff.

[KittenFishMom]

I'll move things around in the tank and try syphoning/vacuuming that area and see what happens. I have been cleaning the filter media in the HOB 2 or 3 days, so the intake filter doesn't slow down. I put a lot of plants in planning to use them in my build. I'm sure that slowed the water too. 

Thanks so much for you fast help !!!