Hello! I've been reading this forum for quite awhile, and it was invaluable as I set up my first 75g tank. So thanks to everyone who's contributed and I hope to do the same.
In any case, I've got a problem with my tank.
Here are the specifics:
- 75g
- cycled two months ago using fishless method
- co2 injection (only one 2 liter, diy, with reactor)
- 6 tiger barbs, 4 black barbs, 3 corys
- planted with 1 amazon sword, 3 crypts, 3 apongatas, and some floating plants
- fluval 405 with standard filtering media - 2 biomax and 2 carbon filters
So I brought my first batch of fish home. Everything was going well until the water got cloudy, the ammonia started to spike (.25 ppm), and within a day I had an epic algae bloom. I started with aggressive water changes (30%) and the ammonia died away within a day or two and seemed to stay gone but the bloom wouldn't go away. (it's hard to read the ammonia tests when the water is green...) The tigers went nuts because they couldn't see each other to school up...
Well, I wasn't about to have a new, beautiful tank be a large, green brick, so I got a UV filter. It was pretty efficient, killing the algae in about 5 days. I've done two water changes to remove the dead algae and have cleaned the filter and tank twice with gentle gravel cleaning under the rocks... the filter was totally loaded with nasty back water on both occasions.
So now I have ammonia that won't go away and the water changes and stress from the algae have claimed two fish and is working on two more (it looks like they have a bacterial or fungal infection)... Brutis, one Tiger that was aggressive from the day we slapped him in the tank? Yeah, he was the first to succumb to the stress.
So long story short
1) What next, more water changes? I've added Cycle and stress coat on the last water change to get rid of the ammonia and hopefully restablish the bacteria... I've got .25 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, 10 Nitrates, 6.6 ph, 2 deg. KH (too low?), and a GH of about 9 deg.
2) One of the black barbs is GONE - I mean GONE - during the last water change *when I could see* I looked everywhere for him - took everything out - is it possible for the corys to have completely eaten him? Or should I keep looking?
3) The biomax is covered in green algae - should I slowly replace?
Any advice, would be greatly, greatly appreciated. By me, and by my wife, who is *tired* of hearing about this fish tank!
Geoff
Sorry about the long post!
In any case, I've got a problem with my tank.
Here are the specifics:
- 75g
- cycled two months ago using fishless method
- co2 injection (only one 2 liter, diy, with reactor)
- 6 tiger barbs, 4 black barbs, 3 corys
- planted with 1 amazon sword, 3 crypts, 3 apongatas, and some floating plants
- fluval 405 with standard filtering media - 2 biomax and 2 carbon filters
So I brought my first batch of fish home. Everything was going well until the water got cloudy, the ammonia started to spike (.25 ppm), and within a day I had an epic algae bloom. I started with aggressive water changes (30%) and the ammonia died away within a day or two and seemed to stay gone but the bloom wouldn't go away. (it's hard to read the ammonia tests when the water is green...) The tigers went nuts because they couldn't see each other to school up...
Well, I wasn't about to have a new, beautiful tank be a large, green brick, so I got a UV filter. It was pretty efficient, killing the algae in about 5 days. I've done two water changes to remove the dead algae and have cleaned the filter and tank twice with gentle gravel cleaning under the rocks... the filter was totally loaded with nasty back water on both occasions.
So now I have ammonia that won't go away and the water changes and stress from the algae have claimed two fish and is working on two more (it looks like they have a bacterial or fungal infection)... Brutis, one Tiger that was aggressive from the day we slapped him in the tank? Yeah, he was the first to succumb to the stress.
So long story short
1) What next, more water changes? I've added Cycle and stress coat on the last water change to get rid of the ammonia and hopefully restablish the bacteria... I've got .25 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, 10 Nitrates, 6.6 ph, 2 deg. KH (too low?), and a GH of about 9 deg.
2) One of the black barbs is GONE - I mean GONE - during the last water change *when I could see* I looked everywhere for him - took everything out - is it possible for the corys to have completely eaten him? Or should I keep looking?
3) The biomax is covered in green algae - should I slowly replace?
Any advice, would be greatly, greatly appreciated. By me, and by my wife, who is *tired* of hearing about this fish tank!
Geoff
Sorry about the long post!