Plants stopped growing and are dark plus algae trouble

Ah yes that is hydra.

They won't kill amanos, they can barely kill baby shrimp so if you don't have tiny creatures then no need to worry. They should go away in your tank assuming no overfeeding.

The amano death is due to something else though, it's hard to say what as you don't have a CO2 regulator

I assumed it was a molting issue. All levels were fine (I checked them that day). I'll cut back on feeding a bit. I only feed once a day but I may have been adding more food than necessary so I'll feed every other day for the moment in less amounts. And I have a CO2 Fluval set right now and the knob to adjust it is just unreliable. Likes to turn itself off. I've got a 5lb canister with a proper regulator but I need to get it filled and can't right now. Until then I'm doing what I can. This tank has caused me issues ever since I got it while the 2 tanks I just took over and my betta tank are doing great and I got them more recently. So, just bad luck I suppose.

 

So...hydra was the easiest problem apparently and was dealt with in a matter of 2-3 days... the staghorn is crazy though. I've been home more often and am trying to stay on top of the CO2 staying constant. And while all the plants are all sprouting new leaves, the buce is covered in staghorn algae as is the center java fern. Not only that, but even with some hardcore vacuuming, I'm still finding a whole lot of debris tucked in my stratum substrate. it's tough clearing it out with all the nooks and crannies the rocks create but also without uprooting the monte carlo.

that being said, I'm considering something.... drastic. I want to take out the rocks, wood, and attached plants and clean them up as best I can from the staghorn algae. I've got CO2 liquid booster that I can spray/smear on it (which I started to do last water change) and that kills it off a bit to where I can just pull it off the plants. But I also want to take out the stratum, clean it up, and put it back before capping it with sand. I feel this will help keep debris from getting caught underneath, keep monte carlo from getting uprooted, and make it easier to clean. I've got extra white and black sand that I could use and feel this might help. I will try to get the larger CO2 canister filled as well, hopefully within the next week or so.

that being said, I know this is drastic. I know it might mess with the tank's cycling. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do this with the least amount of long-term issues, especially since I'll be on a month-long trip in June and one of my sister's will be tasked with caring for it. I'd like it to be just a simple "feed the fish, dose for plants, weekly water change" thing for her but at the moment it's a whole lot more than that with my struggling to deal with everything.

So.... thoughts? I just want to know if this is the worst possible thing to do or if it's one of the better options I have at the moment.

 

All I can say is I never clean anything in this hobby...so it's not the approach I would take.

That debris in your stratum is good stuff... theyre nutrients for your plants. I wouldn't gravel vacuum planted tanks

Also, not sure if I mentioned this but mollies eat a lot of algae.

 

Welp, I redid the tank today. Lightly rinsed old stratum and put in baggies, sprinkled root tabs, and capped with sand. Brushed the rocks and left everything else. Bit of rearranging so the wood I had wasn’t making a big gap in the back like before and the tank is cleaner with more room for the fish and the Monte Carlo to carpet better. Though the swordtail tried to throw itself out of the water trying to catch it and then got itself stuck for a minute when it tried to hide without realizing it can’t hide in its old spots.

I switched out the large crypt that was in there as it was outgrowing the tank and put in some reineckii I had in another tank instead. Not entirely pleased with the plant placement but once things grow out a bit it should help me figure things out (there’s a stem plant in the back left that I’d like to actually see but it needs to grow more I think). Hopefully this is solve my debris and some of my algae issue and make things easier for me cleaning wise.