Blood Parrot Gal

Have a 75 gallon tank with 2 blood parrots, and 1 bumble bee, and 1 pelco. 3 live plants and a few fake plants, lots of rocks and caves.

I have been having problems with this tank, first my leopard peed in it when it was on the back deck, so i cleaned it several times with bleach to get the cat pee out.. Thats been about 5 months ago.
Then it kept getting alge... Got it under control then my blood parrots got black spot. Now these are fish I've had for 3 yrs. without ever getting sick. Got that under control then the other day I noticed a small alge spot about the size of a pea and I thought oh man not again.
But then it was gone, so i figured the pelco did his job.

Then the next day I walked into my dining room where the tanks at and my water was green. (I could still see my fish, they appeared normal) Ok so I know this is a alge bloom, knew it wouldn't really hurt my fish, had things to do like work and such before i could get to the tank to do a water change that night. Well by the time I got home, The water was so green I couldn't see in the tank.

So I quickly changed the water, 1/4 of it, but it really did nothing. So I changed again the next night 1/2 and it clears it up a little but a hr later as dark as before. NOT stirring up the gravel with my vacuum, just removing water. This has gone on for 6 days now with a water change every day. It keeps coming back.

I also noticed (i knew there was a couple sails in there cuz I seen 2 one day, months ago) nearly 200 sails, that have been hiding. All a sudden they are out till i turn on the lights then they hide.

So things that were different:
1. I got new windows and it took me 2 weeks to put wood blinds on the patio door in the dining room. (had to wait for the order to come in).
2. I did not hardly turn on the lights on the tank during this time as it was so much more light in the room without blinds on the windows.
3. one of my blood parrots got ill. Got bloated and swam upside down for 2 months, I hand fed her, medicated her on and on, finally moved her to another tank till she died. But the other fish were never effected by her being sick.
4. we had 110 degree weather for 3 weeks.

So.. How do I get rid of the algae bloom?

And How do I get rid of the snails?

I haven't had a sick fish or a fish die on me in 15 yrs. (yes thats right, I even had my silver tip sharks for 17 yrs.)

Is there something wrong with this tank maybe? I bought it used. I believe by the residue inside of the oak cabinet that it was used as a reef tank or a salt Tank, and the lights that are inside the oak canopy are the full length of the hood and 4 lights wide. 2 white 2 blue. (I really think they are reef lights but My fish guy at the wet spot said they were such and such salt lights. (I am not that up to date on lights for salt and reef tanks.)

They get really hot, but i installed a fan and it cools things down alot.
I did ask if it would hurt to use on my fresh water tank and was told it would be ok to use them as they are.

I had to come back and edit cuz I forgot to mention.
No algae on the glass of the tank. Altho there is some on the outside of the gravel (crushed gravel & shells) against the glass.

I run 2 110 aqua clears on this tank and one 35 gallon internal whisper filter.
1 aqua clear the tube that hangs in the tank was plugged and had algae in it and in the sponge and the charcoal bag.

The other had algae in the sponge, and the bio media bag. I don't run a charcoal bag on this one.

The whisper was covered in algae, as was the charcoal part of that filter.

I cleaned them all up , changed one completely, and rinsed the whisper filter.
SO would like to get this taken care of. Like yesterday.

So please Help!!!

Thanks in advance,
Blood Parrot Gal

bolivianbaby

Welcome to Fishlore

Unfortunately, the problems you've been haying are way beyond my experience level, but I'm sure another member will be along shortly that can help you.

Just wanted to welcome you to the forum.

Shawnie

im so sorry for the loss of your parrot its so hard to loose our babies...also parotts will get black spots and markings through out their entire life..its just what they do....although the swimming issues isnt part of it as you know rip parrot baby!!

I can give you my advice on what ive done...first off , the algae as you know was from the sunlight ....so removing that source is a must....blinds dont always cover that because indirect light can still seep through....is moving the tank an option? I would do a big gravel vac and 40% water change and add new filter floss or a new carbon(one is a must at this point)..either one will make a huge difference on removing the green from the tank..feed them minimal while getting rid of this as overfeeding can cause it as well...

as far as your snails, put a big piece of lettuce in the tank at night weighed down on the bottom....an hour or so later, turn the light on and you should see a total snail frenzy on that lettuce and just pull it out....

as far as your lighting, unless you are heavily planted, 1-2 watt per gallon is good and much more would also contribute to the green algae but as you said, the lighting has been kept off allot ...

good luck!

Blood Parrot Gal

I did change the carbon filter in the one 110, and the sponge. The other one I just cleaned them. And the internal one I cleaned them also. Didn't want to get rid of all of my bacteria.

I will do a gravel clean later today.

I put a blanket over the Tank leaving it in total darkness, wil leave there for a couple days to see if it helps.
The wood blinds do a good job of keeping the light out and moving it is not an option as I have a 185 gallon tank in my living room and a 250 in my family room, a 45 gallon show tank in my son's room and a 55 gallon in my office.

This was the last tank I bought, got it for so cheap with oak stand, & hood with the lights (I was told the lights were worth 300 bucks alone) But I can't say for sure as I said I don't have a reef or salt tank so never dealt with salt lighting before. So this was the only place I had space for it. I used to have a 55 gallon hex tank in there which I gladly gave away I hated that thing, it was harder to clean then my 2 big ones put together.

So I guess we will just have to see. I put 2 pieces of lettuce in there about 10 min. before I sat down to reply to your answer. So we will see what happens.

It's always hard to loose a fish, I was really attached to baby girl, she was very comical, she would watch TV when the tv was on, she would flip over and act all funny to get my attention, she just really wormed her way into my heart. She would eat out of my hand, she would let me pet (touch) her. Just a one of a kind fish. Since my sharks died within 2weeks of each other I have not really gotten to attached to any of them till baby girl came along. She was a rescue, Someone bought her and her (mate) Yes I know they are sterile, and they quickly outgrew her tank, she had them advertised for $75 for the two saying they were 4" big. I got there and they were closer to 7" big each, and in a 30 gallon tank. She just gave them to me. I first put them in a 55 gallon tank in my office but I knew they were going to need to go in a bigger tank. But I found the 75 gallon for so cheap i got it for them and Charlie my bumblebee. Anyways when I moved her to the 75 gallon she went like all dormate on me. The other 3 fish were fine, but she just acted funny, swimming upside down not quite realizing when It was feeding time, for a minute or 2, stuff like that.
Anyways I need to get out to the barn, I'll let you know if theres any changes.
Thanks for the reply.
Blood Parrot Gal

Gouramiguy17

I've never tried this but I have heard it works, get some willow branches and set the bottoms in your tank, they will use up alot of posphates and other nutrients that algae thrives on. After a while you should be able to take them out but wait until someone else corrects me if um wrong.

Blood Parrot Gal

Thank you,
I signed up a while ago and asked about if it was safe to use the tank after my leopard peed in it, and got some good answers, but really never say to much on here.

I just feel I've been very fortunate to not loose any fish in 15 yrs, till my sharks died at 17 yrs of age and then baby girl. Oh I forgot I bought another pair of silver tip sharks and they died also, one within 2 days of purchase, so of course I took him back and they got another one in for me, then that one died in a month and then the 2nd of the first pair I replaced died after 3 months. I know they are very hard to keep alive when they are babies, but boy it makes a person mad to loose fish like that. Over here they are costly.

I got so frustrated I was in petco the other day buying fish food, when i walked over to see how the panther grouper was doing. (he's salt water fish) and as cute as ever. They have had him there since december in a little salt tank, about 5-6 gallons. I told them he was gonna get to big after i read up on him cuz I was thinking about setting up a salt tank for him, till I read up on him, they said they knew but he would sell...
Well he hasn't sold, and he's about 9" big now. He was laying in the corner, looking so lifeless. I stuck my finger in there just to make sure he was alive and he barley moved.

So I went looking for the "Fish Manager".. Whom I found, I was very polite about it, but when she told me she couldn't put him in the bigger salt tank cuz then it would over crowd that tank and she had been the Salt water manager for 4 yrs and she knew what she was doing. I just went off on her.

I actually told her off and then when I went to my normal fish store I buy from I spoke to the owner about her and the panther grouper, he told me he would call and speak to them but for me to check and see if they did anything with the grouper by Monday and if not for me to purchase it, and bring it to him and he's reimburse me the cost I had to pay. So I will there's no reason to keep or have a fish in you can't keep the correct way.

Anyways I do have to get out to the barn just wanted to say Thanks for the welcome.

Blood Parrot Gal

aquarist48

Good morning BPG...hate to hear about the loss of your Baby Girl. I know how difficult that had to be for you.
Congrats on trying to rescue the grouper!
Ken