Would love some advice on my planted tank!

[doink]

Hello best aquarium forum on the internet! I would love some advice on what's going on with my planted tank, especially if it may be harming my fishs' health. The tank is about 6 months old. I started out with some Java Fern, Amazon Sword, Water Wisteria, Pogostetum Stellatus Octopus. Added some Vallisneria a couple months later. Things started out nicely, I replanted some plants after it seemed like old growth was dying out. It used to be the main problem was some leaves turning white, but now I'm noticing a lot more dead/dying leaves, a lot more algae (?), just kind of looks like a mess. My my concern is if it may be harming my fishs' health. I had a honey gourami die last week all of a sudden. All the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, temp) were fine..could it still be all the excess dead foliage? I do what I can to take out the dead leaves during my weekly water changes, but it's a lot. I used to use Seachmem Flourish/Excel. I just switched to Coop Easy Green and Easy Carbon a couple weeks ago (my fish died a couple days after first dose of the Easy Carbon..I hope that's a coiincidence). I currently use an Aqueon LED Deluxe Full Hood wiht lights on during the day. Since the sun has been out more, and the aquarium is right by the window (only place to put it), maybe I should skip using the hood light? 

 

Edited May 10 by doink

[johnnyxxl]

Well first what are your numbers for pH etc, fine is not really helpful for us to figure out what might be affecting your tank.  Because pH can affect how something can impact your tanks health.

For example.

 

 

[doink]

On 5/9/2024 at 8:53 PM, johnnyxxl said:

Well first what are your numbers for pH etc, fine is not really helpful for us to figure out what might be affecting your tank.  Because pH can affect how something can impact your tanks health.

For example.

 

 

PH is 6.8. Water here is pretty soft so I have some crushed coral in the filter or else water gets even lower than that.  0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. Nitrates usually between 20 and 50

[johnnyxxl]

On 5/9/2024 at 11:58 PM, doink said:

PH is 6.8. Water here is pretty soft so I have some crushed coral in the filter or else water gets even lower than that.  0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. Nitrates usually between 20 and 50

Do you know the water hardness and calcium numbers, how long do you run your light?

[doink]

On 5/9/2024 at 9:36 PM, johnnyxxl said:

Do you know the water hardness and calcium numbers, how long do you run your light?

I don't recall the exact Gh/Kh but I recall it being low due to local tap water.  I measured it to figure out why my ph kept on dropping when I first cycled my tank.  I keep my light on while I'm gone for the day... so about 8 to 9 hrs a day?

[johnnyxxl]

I'm going to assume that the plants have been in long enough to convert from immersive growth to submerged growth.  Because that's common for rooted plants.  This is a different die off of leaves.  

[doink]

On 5/10/2024 at 5:04 AM, johnnyxxl said:

I'm going to assume that the plants have been in long enough to convert from immersive growth to submerged growth.  Because that's common for rooted plants.  This is a different die off of leaves.  

Ya..there was a period of time when the immersive growth leaves died off and the submerged growth was coming in that things looked pretty good/green. So not sure how to deal with this die off. Any ideas?

[EricksonAquatics]

I’m thinking that the plants dying and the algae shouldn’t be the cause of your fish death. If your tank is established enough, a few plants dying shouldn’t cause an ammonia spike and kill any fish. Did you make any other changes recently? I’m not sure the Easy Carbon would have done it unless you overdosed like crazy (which I’m quite sure you didn’t!😂). 
if your KH is really low, that can easily cause a big pH swig which is pretty stressful to fish. That’s the only possibility I can think of at the moment. I would test your KH if possible.

Were any of the other fish affected or just the Honey Gourami? 

On 5/9/2024 at 6:26 PM, doink said:

Since the sun has been out more, and the aquarium is right by the window (only place to put it), maybe I should skip using the hood light? 

And I would definitely keep that hood light on. You may not need it on for such a long period of time, but your plants are probably going to continue to die off if the only light they’re getting is the light through the window 🙂

[doink]

On 5/10/2024 at 4:23 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

I’m thinking that the plants dying and the algae shouldn’t be the cause of your fish death. If your tank is established enough, a few plants dying shouldn’t cause an ammonia spike and kill any fish. Did you make any other changes recently? I’m not sure the Easy Carbon would have done it unless you overdosed like crazy (which I’m quite sure you didn’t!😂). 
if your KH is really low, that can easily cause a big pH swig which is pretty stressful to fish. That’s the only possibility I can think of at the moment. I would test your KH if possible.

Were any of the other fish affected or just the Honey Gourami? 

And I would definitely keep that hood light on. You may not need it on for such a long period of time, but your plants are probably going to continue to die off if the only light they’re getting is the light through the window 🙂

Just the Honey Gourami. Well..I had an Oto also pass recently…but I think I just don’t have much luck with Otos. My kh is pretty low I think..about 50ppm? I could put in more crushed coral in my filter. 

[EricksonAquatics]

50 isn’t horribly low but it definitely is on the lower end. Typically you want your KH anywhere from 70-140ppm (4-8dKH).

So I would probably add a decent amount of extra crushed coral into your gravel or filter. That will raise the KH and help the pH remain stable. 

That may not have been the exact cause of death for your poor Honey, but it’s my best guess. Preventing pH swings in the future is a good idea however. Good luck 🙂

[johnnyxxl]

I have soft water, low pH my plants do well what I have been doing is 8-10 hours of light dose 2 times a week with easy green and chelated iron now.  I also use root tabs monthly near the rooted plants. 

     I think the whole keep things stable helps here just like the fish.  Adding the crushed coral in the substrate where you can see it will help raise and is stable for the tank until you change water in unless you will do small changes.

[Pepere]

Top two tanks are CO2 injected, bottom fish bowl is not.

All three tanks running on 1 degree KH, 4 degrees GH.

 

I have very soft tap water which is 1 degree KH, 1 degree GH.  I supplement the tap water with 2 teaspoons of Seachem Equilibrium in about 15 - 20 gallons of new water to raise calcium and Magnesium when I do a water change.

Crushed Coral only adds Calcium and Carbonates and does not add magnesium.  Crushed coral will slowly raise kh and gh over time which means you get significant fluctuations when you do water changes.

Based on my experience over the past year or so, I dont think your plant health or animal health is being affected by low KH.

Since I stopped raising KH a year ago, (I had been raising KH with Seachems Alkalinity Buffer to around 4-6 degrees KH) I have not noticed any issues with fish health, behavior or mortality.

All 3 tanks are pretty much free of visible Algae. I never use Easy Carbon or liquid carbon Gluteraldehyde products.  I never perceived that they did much of anything despite using them daily for months.  I had Algae infested tanks when I was using it and never got tanks free if visible Algae until months after stopping using it.  The product is a known health hazard and in my opinion not very helpful and totally unnecessary if your goal is to have tanks free of visible algae.

[Pepere]

On the bottom of this page are links to several articles on reducing algae.

I did not purchase a single item sold by this company, but simply put in to practice information described on these pages to get good results.

 

https://www.2hraquarist.com/pages/algae-free

 

[Jeff]

Are you using any root tabs and/or fertilizer?

 

[doink]

On 5/12/2024 at 6:06 PM, Jeff said:

Are you using any root tabs and/or fertilizer?

 

I am using Easy Green now. Was using Seachem Flourish before. I've also used the Flourish Tabs. The instructions said every 3-4 months..but maybe that's not frequent enough?

[johnnyxxl]

On 5/13/2024 at 11:33 AM, doink said:

I am using Easy Green now. Was using Seachem Flourish before. I've also used the Flourish Tabs. The instructions said every 3-4 months..but maybe that's not frequent enough?

I poked around with my tweezers for my root tabs at 1 months and they were gone so I dose them about 1 5 months so that if there is anything left it gets absorbed 

[EricksonAquatics]

With root tabs, I personally just throw some in whenever my heavy root feeders start to die back or slow down in growth. Not the instructional way but it works for me😂

Especially around things like bulbs, crypts or swords I put three or four around them to target feed.