beautylovetruth Posted November 26, 2012 Report Share Posted November 26, 2012 (edited) Found some string-like growth on my snail's back as well as in my gravel. I'm wondering if this is a bacterial bloom, algae, or what. Any help is appreciated ETA: Current water conditions are listed in the second post. Edited November 27, 2012 by beautylovetruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted November 27, 2012 Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 this is likely an algea, but we would need much more information to help you. 1.How long has this tank been running? 2.What are the water perameters? (ph, temp, municipal water - well water, any new additions (plant or animal) 3.What light / co2 do you run and how many hours of each a day the more specific you are, the better we can help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted November 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 (edited) I guess we'll see if this can be figured out. 1) Tank has been running for about 4 weeks (started October 29) 2) Temp stays around 27oC without a heater (my apartment is warm), municipal Edmonton water, have 5 pristella, 5 red phantom and one ivory mystery snail in there. Tetras were added about a week into cycling and snail was added just a week ago. 3) Lights are typical fluorescent bulbs as I have no live plants. Generally on from 5 am - 9 pm 4)Water Parameters as of right now: pH=8.0 Ammonia= 0.5 ppm Nitrite= 2-5ppm Nitrate=40-80ppm I'm going to be doing a 50% WC pretty soon, these parameters are not healthy. Will let you know what they are after the change. Edited November 27, 2012 by beautylovetruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted November 27, 2012 Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 Something has happened to your cycle - there should be no readable ammonia or nitrite. What kind of filter are you using? If it is one of those filters that have replacible cartridges, you're removing your biomedia every time you replace them. For those types of filters, I usually fill the filter chamber with scrubbies and put a sponge over the intake. The sponge can be rinsed under the tap any time, as it just acts as mechanical filtration. Never rinse the biomedia under the tap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted November 27, 2012 Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 Jvision is on to something with the "stop wiping out your bacteria colony" I would also say that having the light on that long is not helping you at all. Anything over 8 hours on in a day will contribute to algea growth. 8 hours is plenty for your plants to be healthy. Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted November 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 (edited) Jvision - I'm using a AquaClear 30 and have not rinsed, replaced or even moved the filter since the tank has been set up. Possibly the water changes are replacing the water in that chamber and removing the bacteria? cullymoto - I was kinda thinking that was what was happening but wasn't sure how to fix it. I'll be putting my lights on a timer since I do like to at least see my fish and sometimes my days are long (12-13 hours). So the big question: I've done a 50% water change and now what is my next course of action? Edited November 27, 2012 by beautylovetruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted November 27, 2012 Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 Your lights don't need to be on continuously. Even my planted tanks have a broken light cycle. My timers are set to give 12hrs of light with at least a 2hr break in the middle. One tank has two 2hr breaks. With just fish in the tank, I'd just turn the lights on when I was home - ambient light is good enough during the day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted November 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 Okay, I'll make sure the lights are only on when I'm home. What about water changes though, should I leave it for a day or two with no feeding and see how it goes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 I would stay with your current W/C program, but deff. reduce feedingsif it is algea, your fish will eat it up once they get hungry. an idea to help reduce on the algea's food is to go get yourself a marimo moss ball. they are cool, and out-compete algea for nutrients. also they have no roots so you dont plant them. they are around $8 and nearly indestructable. When your doing your maintenence take some paper towel and wipe down every surface you can. throw the paper towel away once it gets too nasty and this will help to quickly rid your tank of algea. Another idea is to go find yourself an amano shrimp (algea eating shrimp) these guys are worth their weight in gold and are around the 5 dollar mark. .... my discus think all shrimps are food, otherwise i would have several of these guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted December 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) So I've been staying with the 50% WC, no media changes program. Here are my readings for tonight: Uploaded with ImageShack.us Am I reading these correctly? I'm reading 0.25 for ammonia, 2/5 for nitrite and 5-10 for nitrates. These readings have been similar for about a week. Thoughts? Edited December 7, 2012 by beautylovetruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) What are you using to treat your tap water before putting it in your tank or are you aging it? Edited December 7, 2012 by cainechow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) i re-read the whole post. I dont think your tank is cycled. your experiencing the middle stage of the ammonia cycle. organic matter + water = ammonia amonia in water + time = nitrite nitrite in water + time = nitrate. I think your in the middle stage there, it is a bit wierd to see nitrate that high if i am correct perhaps its coming in with your tap water. A dose of "seachem prime, or seachem safe" will take your water parameters down to 0 - 0 - 0 without a water change. another thought is that if you are not using a de-chlorinator (such as safe - prime) you will never be able to have a BB colony grow since the chlorimine in the water is killing it off. I dont know if you use it, but a suggestion is to start dosing a cycle additive. products such as "nutrafin cycle" or "big al's bio support" etc etc etc. any product containing live nitrifying bacteria is what you should be after. This stuff is a necessity for starting out a new tank, and your tank is new. Hope that helps Edited December 7, 2012 by cullymoto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted December 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Thanks guys! I've been using Top Fin Water Conditioner with every water change but perhaps I'm not putting in enough? I've been following the instructions to a T on that bottle and stopped adding the bacterial supplement. I'll test my tap water tonight (I'm in Edmonton and I know we have a habit of adding more chemicals to our water during the winter due to runoff, etc) and add a little more dechorlinator. Thank you again for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) prolly not cyled but u are close. I would keep up with the 50 percent wcs use prime or a similiar product. I would buy a bottle of seachems stability to help ride out your cycle. Edited December 7, 2012 by PistolPete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Znaika Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 How about testing your tap water? Does it read 0-0-0? Add your water conditioner to the tap water and test again. Does it read 0-0-0? If not, throw away your water conditioner. Cullymoto is right that you are mid cycle, but it looks like your cycling takes abnormally long time. It should not take longer than 4 weeks, usually less than that. And you've been doing it since October, right? Something is slowing your filter bio filtering. Can it be that the tap water has excessive level of chlorine/chloramine or you do not add enough conditioner, or the conditioner does not bind chlorine quickly enough, in which case chlorine suppresses your filter maturing? Aging water for a couple of days in an open bin would resolve this. On a side note: adding Prime will NOT remove ammonia or nitrite. It will convert them into a less toxic form. However your test kit will still detect such converted ammonia and nitrite. Do not expect to see anything different from what you see before adding Prime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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