This morning I pulled out a small white worm that was swimming on a rock. I pulled it out immediately and killed it. What could it be? I didn't take a picture of it. Also I feel like there's a dead fish in the tank that I can't find... Wondering if the dead fish is decomposing in the tank.. I'm gonna remove some rocks today.. Also will seachem metroplex help with this stuff? Ordered that to quarantine the fish because I had one die on me which seem to be internal parasites.
Small White Worm??
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Before I removed the worm it was swimming on both sides? Very small and white. Looks almost like a white thread at first or possibly a shape of fish poop. It was white and thin.
Did a water change a couple hours ago. Found 2 of my oto's dead. They seemed to have die for a couple days because the water smelled pretty foul. Removed one of my rocks and found a danio erythromicron stuck in a hole that's in the rock. Don't have a clue how it got stuck there, but that one looked very recent. As it was still fully colored when I pulled out the rock to pull it out the hole.
Changed about 60-70% of the water because the tank was pretty filthy. Going to stick with once a week 50% weekly water changes now. I was trying to test and see if I could skip a week, but that turned out with dead fish somehow..
Tested the water after the water change:
0ppm of Ammonia
5ppm or less of Nitrates
I'm going to test the water again tomorrow to see how things have settled. I'm thinking it's giving me low readings because of the big water change today. My nitrate readings were pretty high several weeks ago.
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might be detritus worms? they are small white translucent worms that swim in a S shape when in the water column. They typically live in the substrate decomposing fish waste.
You said there was a foul smell? was it like rotten eggs - might be anaerobic gas in the substrate.
Yeah, it was definitely swimming in a s shape as well as translucent white.
It did smell like rotten eggs mixed with rotting fish. But after the water change the smell isn't there. I'm wondering if that's what killed the 2 otos because of the anaerobic gas.. How would I fix this problem? I didn't think my substrate was that deep.
Also, do you know what this is in the front of my tank? I scrubbed it off completely and now this morning is back. But not as bad in this picture.
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The white stuff looks like spider mites or fungus - not really sure though. If your talking about the green spot algae on your glass, that is probably due to too intense lighting or too long of lighting. Also the hair-algae is a giveaway of excess or imbalance of nutrients as well as lighting.
The anaerobic gas can be prevented by MTS snails, using a chopstick to sift the substrate, or just more oxygen into the substrate (ie: healthy root plants). I don't know for sure if it's anaerobic gas but if you are getting detritus worms running to the surface plus a foul smell - then there is probably air pockets of the gas killing off in the substrate. I've had small pockets before and it can happen in shallow substrate as well as deep. It's the fact that micro-organisms (aka BB or beneficial bacteria) are living in the substrate and when not about oxygen is being supplied through the substrate - you have a kill off of BB which creates anaerobic gas from the decomposing.
I would suggest only 20% water changes every few days - tanks need stability and changing out 50% is probably causing more harm than good. If your looking to skip water changes, invest into an RO unit and some dry fertilizer to control your water parameters. This will reduce the algae problem your having drastically and put your plant growth into over-drive (I personally used to have this problem when using de chlorinated tap and your water is probably as hard as mine) Check out this youtube video of Reverse Osmosis. You can also experiment slowly by buying RO water from your supermarket and using it for evaporation top offs. Just remember, it's all about small changes with anything.
The anaerobic gas can be prevented by MTS snails, using a chopstick to sift the substrate, or just more oxygen into the substrate (ie: healthy root plants). I don't know for sure if it's anaerobic gas but if you are getting detritus worms running to the surface plus a foul smell - then there is probably air pockets of the gas killing off in the substrate. I've had small pockets before and it can happen in shallow substrate as well as deep. It's the fact that micro-organisms (aka BB or beneficial bacteria) are living in the substrate and when not about oxygen is being supplied through the substrate - you have a kill off of BB which creates anaerobic gas from the decomposing.
I would suggest only 20% water changes every few days - tanks need stability and changing out 50% is probably causing more harm than good. If your looking to skip water changes, invest into an RO unit and some dry fertilizer to control your water parameters. This will reduce the algae problem your having drastically and put your plant growth into over-drive (I personally used to have this problem when using de chlorinated tap and your water is probably as hard as mine) Check out this youtube video of Reverse Osmosis. You can also experiment slowly by buying RO water from your supermarket and using it for evaporation top offs. Just remember, it's all about small changes with anything.
Well I did a bigger water change yesterday because of the fact that I had two dead fish rotting in my tank. The water was starting to turn color as well. (water wasn't clear)
After some thinking and watching my plants grow. My light seems more of a medium to high light. I would raise the light if I was DIY savvy, but I'm not. I do dose 3ml of Excel everyday. The only plants that I see growing very well is the Ludwigia Repens. The S. Repens that are my foreground plants are starting to get established very well. I did shorten my photo period to 9 hours I will probably cut back another hour depending on how bad the algae gets again. I do a 4 hour on 5 hour off and 5 hour on.
I heard going with RO water is very expensive. Last time I checked my pH levels it was 7.6 I'll test it again with my high pH range tester to see where it sits. If it reads higher I will let you know. I've never used a GH and KH test before let alone know how to read them.
Also, are you saying that 50% water change once a week is too much for the tank? I have a 10 gallon that's heavily stocked now with 9 pygmy cories, 4 emerald danio erythromicron, and 2 oto catfish. Planning on adding more emeralds to the tank soon.
After some thinking and watching my plants grow. My light seems more of a medium to high light. I would raise the light if I was DIY savvy, but I'm not. I do dose 3ml of Excel everyday. The only plants that I see growing very well is the Ludwigia Repens. The S. Repens that are my foreground plants are starting to get established very well. I did shorten my photo period to 9 hours I will probably cut back another hour depending on how bad the algae gets again. I do a 4 hour on 5 hour off and 5 hour on.
I heard going with RO water is very expensive. Last time I checked my pH levels it was 7.6 I'll test it again with my high pH range tester to see where it sits. If it reads higher I will let you know. I've never used a GH and KH test before let alone know how to read them.
Also, are you saying that 50% water change once a week is too much for the tank? I have a 10 gallon that's heavily stocked now with 9 pygmy cories, 4 emerald danio erythromicron, and 2 oto catfish. Planning on adding more emeralds to the tank soon.
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RO isn't just about pH, it's about PPM's as well. The video I linked to in the previous reply talks all about how RO water works efficiently with delivering the right about of nutrients to your plants (the concept is exactly the same with aquariums, it's just we submerge our plants lol).
50% water change all at once is too much. Because the water in the tap versus the water in the tank are going to have different parameters. changing 50% of it is considered a drastic change and can cause stress to fish as well as plants (I've seen crypts melt from water changes that were too much). I get that doing frequent water changes suck but trying to keep stable parameters without RO water is difficult.
I know we are still trying to figure out why you have two dead oto's but from the picture it looks like an imbalance in the tank.
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