Fed Up With My Aquarium. Need Advice On How To Save It.

My lighting - a marineland LED, plus a fluorescent growlight for plants.
My filtration - Fluval canister for up to 55 gallons. ( My tank is 33 gallons ), also an aquaclear (small) overhanging filter.
Fish - 4 tetras, 2 khulI loaches , one big raphael catfish
Gravel - standard

water chemistry - unknown. I don't measure pH, hardness, etc.

I do 25% a water change every 2-3 months. Lighting stays on from 6 am until 9 pm.

It's a swampy looking tank, overgrown with sludge. Plants are not doing well. I'd like to invest in getting this tank back on its feet - ideally with freshwater plants, and more fish.

 

Right away I would start doing water changes weekly, I can't imagine how my tank would look if I only changed water that often.

Also, I would say your lights are on way too long, cut that down to about 8 hours a day, that's going to help prevent algae growth. You may need to be remove the plants you have and start with new ones. Depends if you can clean them or not.

I am not an expert on stocking, but both the kuhlies and tetras will be happier in larger numbers. Do you want to keep the fish you have and add more? Or basically start again?

 

Yes, a 25% water change every 2-3 months definitely won't cut it. That needs to be done weekly. I'd suggest less light too. If you want to scrap and start over with your stocking, I'd consider giving the fish back to a store. Then I would find a method for removing the algae from the plants. If you remove the plants from the tank then what I would do is put a blanket over the tank for around a week to keep any light out. The fish will obviously also have to be gone for this as by feeding the fish you are providing the algae with food. So for a week with no light or food. See if this helps improve the situation

 

I'll prolly stick with tetras...so just add onto the group. Thanks for the advice !

 

cyanobacteria (apparently that is an automatic link, not mine)

 

Yes, a 25% water change every 2-3 months definitely won't cut it. That needs to be done weekly. I'd suggest less light too. If you want to scrap and start over with your stocking, I'd consider giving the fish back to a store. Then I would find a method for removing the algae from the plants. If you remove the plants from the tank then what I would do is put a blanket over the tank for around a week to keep any light out. The fish will obviously also have to be gone for this as by feeding the fish you are providing the algae with food. So for a week with no light or food. See if this helps improve the situation

Will the week without light kill off my plants ? thx...

 

I think you've fallen into the old trap, you've let your tank deteriorate for one reason or another & that has then led to a loss of interest which has in turn led to more deterioration, I don't mean that as criticism or as judgement, just a statement of fact. You really need to get on top of the tank, I'd say strip it down & start again, do you have anywhere you can keep your fish while you do that? If you try to clean up all that mess with the fish still in it you'll probably kill them anyway. The question you need to ask yourself is why did this happen in the first place so that you don't fall into the same trap again, was it lack of time? A 25% water change every 2 to 3 months is nowhere near enough even if you have a state of the art filtration system.

 

I don't know if it will kill them but I wouldn't suggest leaving them in there during the process. Like Algae, plants need food and light too.

 

As stated before, water changes need to be done on a weekly or maybe bi-weekly basis.
Things happen and sometimes I just can't do it every week, but I never go more than 2 weeks without doing a PWC and even then, I feel like a bad parent.

Btw, don't get discouraged. This is a great place and with the advice you'll find here you can get your aquarium the way you want it to look. It's a learning process, trial and error, but the good thing is you don't have to do it alone.

 

Not taking all this personally...I fully agree with your opinions. It seemed for a long time, doing water changes every 2-3 months didnt affect anything.
The tank was thriving, then all of a sudden, things went bad - fast. I guess that's how it goes.
I'll take your advice, which seems very unanimous...one other questions, do I need extra water circulation, or anything else to discourage algae growth and encourage plant growth ? Is regular gravel adequate for plants ? I don't wanna get all complicated and start measuring water chemistry and setting up a CO2 system...unless its required...

 

Yes, a 25% water change every 2-3 months definitely won't cut it. That needs to be done weekly. I'd suggest less light too. If you want to scrap and start over with your stocking, I'd consider giving the fish back to a store. Then I would find a method for removing the algae from the plants. If you remove the plants from the tank then what I would do is put a blanket over the tank for around a week to keep any light out. The fish will obviously also have to be gone for this as by feeding the fish you are providing the algae with food. So for a week with no light or food. See if this helps improve the situation

You really only need to black out the tank for 3-4 days, (wrap a blanket around the tank.. etc. *NO peeking!!* ) and you can leave your fish in the tank while doing this. Your fish will be fine without food for 4 days. Promise!!!

The other option for getting rid of the Cyanobacteria (blue-green film "algae" that's covering your gravel ~ not algae, it's actually bacteria) is to use erythromycin. Look up dosages for that though.

Other wise, just clean/scrub the algae off the plants and hardscape, and start doing 25-50% weekly water changes. That's all!

Oh, and DEFINITELY less light LOL! Only leave the lights on for 8 hrs MAX.

 

I don't know about the gravel for the plants, I have sand, but I am low tech. There are some easy, hardy plants. My Amazon Sword has been doing great, growing fast and beautifully. The only thing I added was fert tabs by the roits once evry 2 or 3 months. A week ago I sarted adding liquid ferts because I added more plants.

 

Not taking all this personally...I fully agree with your opinions. It seemed for a long time, doing water changes every 2-3 months didnt affect anything.
The tank was thriving, then all of a sudden, things went bad - fast. I guess that's how it goes.
I'll take your advice, which seems very unanimous...one other questions, do I need extra water circulation, or anything else to discourage algae growth and encourage plant growth ? Is regular gravel adequate for plants ? I don't wanna get all complicated and start measuring water chemistry and setting up a CO2 system...unless its required...

I think you were typing while I was LOL!

Gravel is fine for plants, you can add fertilizer tabs around the roots of your plants (I like seachems root tabs) because gravel doesn't contain any nutrients, so that's what the root tabs will provide. I don't know if extra circulation will help, it's not heavily planted, so I'm gonna say no right now. You definitely don't need a CO2 system for the plants you have. Only other thing to do for your plants, is to fertilize (liquid fertilizer). I use Thrive by nilocg (got mine on Amazon ~ worth every penny!!) it's got all the nutrients your plants need so they can grow and outcompete the algae.

 

Not taking all this personally...I fully agree with your opinions. It seemed for a long time, doing water changes every 2-3 months didnt affect anything.
The tank was thriving, then all of a sudden, things went bad - fast. I guess that's how it goes.
I'll take your advice, which seems very unanimous...one other questions, do I need extra water circulation, or anything else to discourage algae growth and encourage plant growth ? Is regular gravel adequate for plants ? I don't wanna get all complicated and start measuring water chemistry and setting up a CO2 system...unless its required...

You can generally avoid testing water by doing more maintenance than actually necessary to ensure the water is safe. That's a method chosen by some, but it certainly won't save any effort.

And honestly I would bust that tank down and start fresh if it was mine. As soon as you kill that algae it is highly likely to spike ammonia so be ready for very frequently and large water changes for awhile.

 

You don't have to use ferts so long as you stick to easy plants. Although gravel itself isn't very nutritious for the plants (at all), the waste products that have built up in the gravel may be what is feeding them enough to keep them alive.

Were it me I would pull the fish out and put them in a five gallon bucket with an airstone running in it, and then take that opportunity to pull out all the plants, set them aside, then scoop out all the gravel and rinse it a couple times. You'll probably also see all the gunk youve stirred up so it may be time for a fairly large water change.
After the gravel is rinsed I would put it back in the tank, refill, replant (see if you can't gently wipe some of the gunk off the plants before putting them back in) and then add the fish back in. Then wrap the tank for four days so you get no light in there. The sudden drop in available nutrients plus lack of light should be enough to kill the cyanobacteria.

After the tank is cleaned and free of the problem cyanobacteria, if you wanted to keep your rooting plants happy get some root tabs and insert them into the gravel around the roots of the plants. Do that once every three to six months. Easy as pie, no measuring, no frequent work on that. But keep up on water changes.

 

you need to decrease your lighting to about 6-8hrs a day and do 20-25% water changes monthly. Every 2-3 months is way too long.

 

Awesome advice ! Just to note - I did treat the tank a few times with erythromycin, as I suspected it was cyanobacteria. It grew back pretty fast tho, within 2 weeks.

 

You don't have to use ferts so long as you stick to easy plants. Although gravel itself isn't very nutritious for the plants (at all), the waste products that have built up in the gravel may be what is feeding them enough to keep them alive.

Were it me I would pull the fish out and put them in a five gallon bucket with an airstone running in it, and then take that opportunity to pull out all the plants, set them aside, then scoop out all the gravel and rinse it a couple times. You'll probably also see all the gunk youve stirred up so it may be time for a fairly large water change.
After the gravel is rinsed I would put it back in the tank, refill, replant (see if you can't gently wipe some of the gunk off the plants before putting them back in) and then add the fish back in. Then wrap the tank for four days so you get no light in there. The sudden drop in available nutrients plus lack of light should be enough to kill the cyanobacteria.

After the tank is cleaned and free of the problem cyanobacteria, if you wanted to keep your rooting plants happy get some root tabs and insert them into the gravel around the roots of the plants. Do that once every three to six months. Easy as pie, no measuring, no frequent work on that. But keep up on water changes.

I agree with this. I do feed my plants. Once established plants will out compete algae. I have about 5 planted tanks and none of them are very old. Everytime I set up a new planted tank algae tries to start up, and then it becomes far less of a problem as the plants take over. Way too much light will trump any effort though. That always needs to be approximately correct and it takes a minute to figure it out.

 

Awesome advice ! Just to note - I did treat the tank a few times with erythromycin, as I suspected it was cyanobacteria. It grew back pretty fast tho, within 2 weeks.

Not surprising, given the frequency in water changes the tank water is nutrient rich and the lighting is on too long. A recipe for algae to grow.

 

Awesome advice ! Just to note - I did treat the tank a few times with erythromycin, as I suspected it was cyanobacteria. It grew back pretty fast tho, within 2 weeks.

Anti-biotics will kill cyano but it won't solve the food source problem in your substrate from basically no water changes for a very long time. Actually it will added more as the Med creates more decaying matter

The only shortcut to tank maintenance is a huge plant population and a tiny fish load. It has to be grossly in favor of the plants , and then they will do some work for youif they have adequate nutrients and light.

 

I guarantee, if you do a large water change now and do a 20-25% water change monthly and limit the lighting to 8hrs a day the problem will be gone in no time. You just need to keep up with the water changes to remove the algae's food source.

 

Great ! This gives me some hope - I'm getting excited to "re-boot" this aquarium. I prefer more plants and a lower fish ratio, like it is in natural ecosystems.

 

Great ! This gives me some hope - I'm getting excited to "re-boot" this aquarium. I prefer more plants and a lower fish ratio, like it is in natural ecosystems.

It will take a bit of patience and some work in the beginning but you can build an aquarium that doesn't require an extraordinary amount of maintenance time. I won't tell you change XX% of water every XX days and all will be wonderful. There is no such magic formula that applies to every tank. If you have an LFS have them check your water a few times after you reset if you don't want to test water yourself. Figure out what it takes to keep the water reasonably clean. Start with some fast growing plants. They will consume nitrogen in all forms much faster than a slow growing plants. Many fast growing plants are still simple plants. You don't need CO2 or crazy high light. As I already "preached" lol, they do have some minimum nutrient needs. They could get much of that from fish if stocked heavily enough, but you are back in the same old problem.

You did provide the perfect environment for an algae epidemic. We aren't the least bit surprised what happened.

 

you need to decrease your lighting to about 6-8hrs a day and do 20-25% water changes monthly. Every 2-3 months is way too long.

Monthly? Is not enough. It needs to be done weekly..

 

you need to decrease your lighting to about 6-8hrs a day and do 20-25% water changes monthly. Every 2-3 months is way too long.

A monthly water change of 20-25% is not enough. That's what got him into this situation. If you perform monthly water changes and miss for a week or two you will end up where you are now. Try to get on a weekly and 10 day water change on a regular basis. Once on that schedule if you miss a week but go back to weekly or 10 days your tank will not deteriorate like it did now.

 

I am more curious about this case than anything else,
would you mind replying to some questions I have?
1) How long this plant has been running with 25% water change every 2-3months?
2) When was this tank first established?
3) Have you lost any fish recently or after starting 25% water changes in the 2-3months time frame?

4) what was the stocking when you started this tank?

The reason I am asking these questions is because, I would like to know what kind of equilibrium the tank has achieved.

You should have technically sky high nitrates, unless the Cyanobacteria you see there is doing a good job in absorbing nitrates.

I would really do a proper analysis before doing anything drastic. Most importantly, I am afraid removing the fish from there if they have been in that tank for many many months, would probably kill them of Nitrate shock.

So I would suggest check water parameters before doing anything at all. I have a feeling that you have established a sort of fragile eco-system, which up on disturbing can cause catastrophic crashes and loss of fish.

 

No prob -
1) How long this plant has been running with 25% water change every 2-3months? About a year and a half like this...no more than 2 years
2) When was this tank first established? 2 years ago
3) Have you lost any fish recently or after starting 25% water changes in the 2-3 months time frame? Hard to say - I mostly had neon tetras, and glowlight tetras.
Mortality rates werent drastic - just a fish would die off every month...randomly. I didnt replace any fish when I noticed cyanobacteria starting to over-populate.
The plants you see on the log were purchased and despite being covered with cyano, I would take them out and scrub off the slime by hand every few months.
Other plants were actually pulled out from a local lake....rinsed off under the sink and planted. I realize this is a big no-no, bu they did thrive for a while.

4) what was the stocking when you started this tank? I had a school of about 10 neons and 5 glowlights.

 

No prob -
1) How long this plant has been running with 25% water change every 2-3months? About a year and a half like this...no more than 2 years
2) When was this tank first established? 2 years ago
3) Have you lost any fish recently or after starting 25% water changes in the 2-3 months time frame? Hard to say - I mostly had neon tetras, and glowlight tetras.
Mortality rates werent drastic - just a fish would die off every month...randomly. I didnt replace any fish when I noticed cyanobacteria starting to over-populate.
The plants you see on the log were purchased and despite being covered with cyano, I would take them out and scrub off the slime by hand every few months.
Other plants were actually pulled out from a local lake....rinsed off under the sink and planted. I realize this is a big no-no, bu they did thrive for a while.

4) what was the stocking when you started this tank? I had a school of about 10 neons and 5 glowlights.

From what you stated and the sporadic nature of losing fishes, I think there is a high chance that your nitrates are very high in the tank. Could be in several 100s.

If that is the case removing fish to any other environment all at once, may result in fish suffering from Nitrate shock and dying.

So before you actually attack the Cyanobacteria problem, I would suggest start doing 10% water changes daily for at lest a week, followed by 20% water changes for every other day for another week.

Fishes should be given 2 to 3 weeks of very gradual Nitrate reduction exposure. The longer the better. While you are doing this you should change feeding regimen to every alternate days in strictly adequate quantities.

By end of this regimen, if possible get an API master test kit and test the water parameters.

Once the nitrates are in 80 or less you can do higher % water changes more quickly and bring it down to less than 40. Once there you are free to move fishes to anywhere you want at once. I know this is a pain in the “where the sun doesn’t shine” exercise, but I can only think of this way to avoid Nitrate shock.

More experienced members can chip in, whether any better way to manage a possible Nitrate shock scenario.

 

Not to mention a TDS change from a bazillion to very little, comparatively, will knock out their ability to breathe if moved.

I would leave them in the tank. For now, 20-25% water changes daily. Get the water back in check. I would personally add a mystery snail to get the cyano off the plant leaves, and get more plants. Things that grow quickly. But again, only after the water is under control.

 

Not to mention a TDS change from a bazillion to very little, comparatively, will knock out their ability to breathe if moved.

I would leave them in the tank. For now, 20-25% water changes daily. Get the water back in check. I would personally add a mystery snail to get the cyano off the plant leaves, and get more plants. Things that grow quickly. But again, only after the water is under control.

Oh yeah TDS too. Actually all water parameters will change drastically if he tries to move the fish. I would really recommend not doing anything drastic at all.

IMO 20% daily PWC will still be a bit drastic.. 10% is what I would suggest for first few days. 10% is quick and manageable too. 5minutes everyday for next 7days.. Then can up to 25%.

And also please don't change the lighting or cover with carpet thingy now. you can reduce lighting hours to 4hours a day may be. But only very gradually. Because I believe your tank hangs by a delicate thread. Any major disruption, fish loss would be the outcome.

 

wow, good to know, so I'll start water changes asap, and gradually over the holidays I'll isolate the fish, clean up the tank...maybe do a 50% water change ?
Then cover the tank for 3-5 days ....with a blanket. I realize all the decaying blue green algae will create a lot of nitrates. Let the tank cycle for a while, before adding fish back..
and buy some rapid growing plants...

 

Do not do a 50% water change. Small daily changes are the only way to clean up your tank without killing your fish at this point. Once you have parameters in check, you can move the fish to a temporary holding tank and clean out your tank, then reacclimate them. I wouldn't dump any of the old tank water in, as you could get the cyano started again if you do.

 

Do not do a 50% water change. Small daily changes are the only way to clean up your tank without killing your fish at this point. Once you have parameters in check, you can move the fish to a temporary holding tank and clean out your tank, then reacclimate them. I wouldn't dump any of the old tank water in, as you could get the cyano started again if you do.

I think he meant after 10% to 20% water changes for a week or so, during the holidays he will do a 50% water change after moving the fish. That's what I understood reading his post. Hope that's what he meant too

 

I think he meant after 10% to 20% water changes for a week or so, during the holidays he will do a 50% water change after moving the fish. That's what I understood reading his post. Hope that's what he meant too

Haha I hope so too

 

Yes ! exactly...50% water change would be big shock for my 4 tetras, 2 khulI loaches and the rafael catfish.

Once all this is done, I'll post photos of the new tank..prolly after the holidays.