Complete disaster - help needed
-
- Junior Member
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2020 17:21 pm
- Has liked: 5 times
- Been liked: 1 time
Hi, we bought our son a fish tank for Christmas and spent 5 weeks getting it ready for the fish. Everything was great for about a month and then algae started to appear, we are changing 20 per cent of the water each week and treating it with the bottles that the fish shop sold us. We got rid of most of the algae and then made the mistake of introducing a bubbler. The whole thing then went different shades of green, the white sand on the bottom is a mess and long green strands have appeared everywhere. We dont know what to do next. I cant imagine that this tank is ever going to look clear again. I really want to get all of the white sand out to replace it but is this possible? I would dearly love to get all the fish out, clean the whole thing and start from scratch but where would we put the fish in the meantime... We have one Japanese fighter fish, some neon tetras and two coreys catfish. Obviously priority is keeping them healthy but we dont know where to start - any advice welcome.
- fr499y
- Admin - TOTM Winner
- Posts: 8356
- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2018 16:04 pm
- Location: West Midlands
- Has liked: 1785 times
- Been liked: 4200 times
Welcome! What size is the tank? How long are the lights on? What filter are you using? This will give us a starting point to know what is wrong
-
- Junior Member
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2020 17:21 pm
- Has liked: 5 times
- Been liked: 1 time
thank you! The tank is a fluval 60 litre that came with a built in filter that sits at the side of the tank, its a foam filter block, the lights are left on the whole time although we have started turning them off at night in the last few days.
- mikeyw64
- Posting Legend
- Posts: 2396
- Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:17 am
- Location: Cardiff originally now Hindley Green
- Has liked: 424 times
- Been liked: 1275 times
that's probably a large part of your problem, too much light.
I would suggest cleaning out as much as you can manually (I used a toothbrush to tease it out) , do a 50% water change afterwards then black out the tank for 3-5 days plus stop feeding the residents for the blackout period.
Once yo ulift the blackout do another 25% or so water chnage.
I would suggest cleaning out as much as you can manually (I used a toothbrush to tease it out) , do a 50% water change afterwards then black out the tank for 3-5 days plus stop feeding the residents for the blackout period.
Once yo ulift the blackout do another 25% or so water chnage.
-
- Junior Member
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2020 17:21 pm
- Has liked: 5 times
- Been liked: 1 time
Thank you, I will do a good clean out tomorrow and change half the water. Can I ask why we need to not feed the fish for the black out period? Is it because they will feed on the algae or is too much food perhaps part of the problem? I just googled the algae and it looks like 'thread hair'. I like the tip of using an old toothbrush, thank you!
-
- Junior Member
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2020 17:21 pm
- Has liked: 5 times
- Been liked: 1 time
At the moment we have taken out all of the fake plants, barrel for the fish to swim in and out of and the bubbler out of the tank, would you recommend leaving it all out until the tank is clear? Also, is white sand a stupid thing to have used in the first place? Perhaps gravel is better?
- mikeyw64
- Posting Legend
- Posts: 2396
- Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:17 am
- Location: Cardiff originally now Hindley Green
- Has liked: 424 times
- Been liked: 1275 times
As you have Corys sand is better, they don't care about the colour
Overfeeding can increase the nutrients in the water column which help feed the algae.
Dont worry about the fish starving, they won't
Overfeeding can increase the nutrients in the water column which help feed the algae.
Dont worry about the fish starving, they won't
- mikeyw64
- Posting Legend
- Posts: 2396
- Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:17 am
- Location: Cardiff originally now Hindley Green
- Has liked: 424 times
- Been liked: 1275 times
oh and I would leave the bubbler ( I presume you mean airstone) in
- mikeyw64
- Posting Legend
- Posts: 2396
- Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:17 am
- Location: Cardiff originally now Hindley Green
- Has liked: 424 times
- Been liked: 1275 times
and we need pictures, we like pictures
-
- Junior Member
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2020 17:21 pm
- Has liked: 5 times
- Been liked: 1 time