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Tank is getting out of hand! Help!

956 views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  DaveKS 
#1 ·
I need help getting my tank to a manageable state ASAP!

I have ick. I have some tiny worms in the water. I have green water and algae on everything. I leave town on Monday 10/21 for up to a month. My wife will be here but she’ll be managing three kids 6 and under.

What can I do to get this tank to something she can manage reasonably well without me?? Can I move the fish to a bucket and vacuum the whole thing out down to the rocks and start with fresh water or is that too much for the fish?

I’ve already run through one full regimen of API Super Ick and am on my second round of Tetra Ick Guard. Tomorrow I’ll do a smaller water change and run a dose of API General Cure for the worms I guess.

I left the tank unattended from Monday midday to tonight (Friday). Everybody’s alive but the tank looks rough. I just adjusted my light timer to run about 7 hours in 2 sessions throughout the day, down from whatever I had it at to try and make he plants grow quicker. What other options do I have for 2 days of effort before I leave?
 
#4 ·
Leaving for a month is rough. I agree you should just focus on fish health. The plants may or may not make it assuming your wife is not going to do things like manual removal of algae, plant new stems as needed and in general just do all the upkeep you would do if you were at home. Just get a system set up that she can follow (feeding, water change if possible, if not hope for the best). When you get back deal with the fallout.
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
What does frogbit do? Sounds cool.

Assuming the goal is fish health, aglae and some detritus worms aren't necersarily bad for fish and you are already treating for ick. IMO just feed light while you are away and make sure any dead fish get removed unless you have a killer scavenger crew.
Leaving for a month is rough. I agree you should just focus on fish health. The plants may or may not make it assuming your wife is not going to do things like manual removal of algae, plant new stems as needed and in general just do all the upkeep you would do if you were at home. Just get a system set up that she can follow (feeding, water change if possible, if not hope for the best). When you get back deal with the fallout.
Roger that. Thanks. And as of right now I’ll be gone under a week then home almost a week then out for 2.5 weeks. We’ll see if that holds, but that’ll definitely help the fish if it works that way! And my wife too...

What's your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? What size is your tank? How long has it been cycled? What fish do you have?

The worms are almost definitely a sign of overfeeding - how much do you feed and how often?

Bump: What's your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? What size is your tank? How long has it been cycled? What fish do you have?

The worms are almost definitely a sign of overfeeding - how much do you feed and how often?
Sorry for the slow response. I checked this for the first day or so I had it posted and haven’t had a chance to check today or last night.

Your answer: cycled for over a month. Fish have been in around a month or so. I have a ghost shrimp, at least two ramshorn snails, 1 Denison barb, 1 rasbora, 2 otos, 3 platys, 3 mollys, and 4 neon tetra. The tetra were most-affected by the ick it seems as they’ve all been covered in white spots and one (of an original 5) died. The barb and otos never showed any spots and the mollys and platys seem to be clear now after having a few each.

Parameters tonight are 0/0/0 with a pH of 8.1 and 371 TDS. dGH is in the neighborhood of 0-1 and dKH didn’t get tested tonight but usually runs about the same. Water temp is low to mid 70s (no heater). Low tech, nothing but a hob filter and an LED light. Organic potting mix capped with gravel, planted with anubias nana petite, dwarf baby tears, java fern and moss, moneywort, ludwigia repens, jungle val, and hygrophilia sunset.

Edit: I feed twice a day but don’t have a measured amount. I usually feed flakes and the fish have always seemed to eat what I feed but it’s very possible I feed too much. Sometimes I’ll feed vegetarian pellets but the fish don’t eat those as well as the flakes
 
#10 ·
With simple fact that you have green water and algae all over the place they could only help your tank parameters as it stands. Sure they can grow and overtake whole top of tank, cutting light to plants underneath but it takes less than 5min to thin them out to usable colony.

And whole time their growing and spreading they will be cleaning your tank water better than any submerged plant ever could because of their supercharged metabolism.

Frogbit when properly kept/thinned provide a light shade underneath because of open area between leaves. Other smaller floating plants like salvinia or duckweed completely block out light underneath them. Dwarf water lettuce is another good on that provides light shade when properly maintained.

You basically want about 1/4-1/3 surface of water covered, no more. Even your wife can be trained to grab the planting tongs and scissors and throw a few in trash while your away, she doesn’t even really have to get her hands wet.

I mean at this point with green water and algae covering everything your plants are going to probably end up dead anyway. Even Walstad herself recommends having 1/4-1/3 tanks surface covered in floating plants for a healthy soiled tank.

Light shade and your fish will love the overhead cover.
 
#11 ·
Even Walstad herself recommends having 1/4-1/3 tanks surface covered in floating plants for a healthy soiled tank.

Light shade and your fish will love the overhead cover.
Cool. Thanks for the info. Two more questions: do you do anything to keep it away from the HOB filter output or just let it float and do its thing? Do you have clippings you’d be willing to share?
 
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