Aglea water tests posted

[mrmike]

Ok so here are my water tests. Note I am undergoing the salt and high heat right now to battle the Ich, which I must say I'm winning :D . Here they are. Ph 8.2, Ni 0, Na 20, Am 0, Po 0 - 0.25, hard to read the Po. Temp is 84.9F and salt is in. Does this help with determining my algea woes? I'm going today to look for some Potassium additive like Angelmom suggested. Any comments please??? Having blotches of bright geeen in spots and reddish hazes appearing in spots on the glass, and on some plants leaves. :HP Note: after i did the tests i just did a 25% water change to lower the Nitra, and then readded salt to bring it back to specs.

[AngelMom]

Phosphates are a tad high, but not too bad. I find I need to keep them under 0.15 to keep the BBA away. Without iron or potassium tests, it's hard to say on the other for sure.

[mrmike]

here are some pics of my aglea. its looking like rust coating plant leaves, tank glass, and rocks. I'm assuming my iron is high cause I do have well water. I looked for flourish excel, could not find tonight, or potassium, none found either. Might have to order online, but i hope my tank won't be looking bad by then :eek: I'm sure the high heat i'm running is speeding up the algea growth also. I've read online someone said that The flourish excel did the trick for controlling his algea, where he had too much iron, but that was for BBA. I'm not sure what i need to do. I've also read that people stop ferts. thinking they are feeding the algea, but actually that makes them grow more then. So should I start dosing more often??

[AngelMom]

Ooops ... let's take a step back. I'm glad you posted the pics because that "red" algae looks like it might be diatomaceous (sp?) "algae". Is it red, or more of a brownish slimy color? If it is diatomaceous algae, it is totally normal for a new tank (and I forgot this is your newly cycled tank) and will go away without any intervention.

On the other (green) algae, adding potassium should help assuming it is the start of hair algae ... it's hard to tell from the pics, but the bright green (not the grass colored green that is green spot algae) would be hair algae IME,

As far as dosing ... you're going to have to lay with that. The idea is to get enough ferts so that you have all the elements the plants need to keep growing well. Once one element is used up, the plants stop feeding and the excess of the other elements feed the algae.

[mrmike]

Well the color is reddish brown, if that helps, :o definitely not bright red. It doesn't look slimy it looks more like powder (i did not feel it though). The one pic, was it on the leaf, the other pic was a side shot across the tank back, so you see some reflection but it lets you see how it has "dusted" the back glass in blotches. I'' have to order the potassium then online. What about Flourish Excel? The plants definitely look like they need more ferts, i just added more today. And have been keeping a record also. Ps. I think i see no more ich today!!! :D So I'm going to double check tomorrow and then count down 10 days :rolleyes: And so far everyone is happily swimming along :rolleyes:

[AngelMom]

Glad the babies are doing better.

And yep, that's definitely diatomaceous algae ... don't need to do a thing hun, it'll go away on it's own in a couple of weeks. ;)

[mrmike]

Whew :D That makes me feel better.. :) All Signs of the Ich are gone, so I'll just keep it up for 10 more days to be sure.... :rolleyes:

[mrmike]

Ok well hopefully i'll be lowering the tank temp back to the guys norm this weekend, i beat the Ich it seems. :D How should I go about lowering the salt in the tank. A couple 50% water changes? Or should it be slowly done? I think i'm staring to get the BBA I ordered the potassium, so i should get it soon. Also this salt and high heat seems to be taking a toll on my plants they look bad. Is that normal heat and salt bad for plants? Hopefully they will get better in time.

[AngelMom]

Yeah ... most plants don't deal well with heat, let alone the salt. The two together pretty much makes them very unhappy.

On the salt removal ... 30% water changes will reduce it without stressing the fish out too badly. Any more than that and you have to pretty much exactly match the pH, GH, and temp.

[mrmike]

ok 30% but how often to get it all out??? Or how many times since your only removing 30% of total volume each time, its like it will never be all gone. Like the half life of a radioactive isotope. :D

[AngelMom]

Pretty much. ;)

I don't think it ever gets completely removed, but after a few water changes most of it should be gone.

[mrmike]

Another last post here, I just found some local Agazzi Doube reds, he said he doesn't think he has any females left though. How important is it to get a pair m/f? Would 2 males be ok, or just one? Its really hard to find them locally, so I was anxious to get them...Thanks. Angelmom you are really like an aquarium personal advisor to me ;)

[AngelMom]

LOL ... it's too bad most folks have gotten busy, it used to be pretty active here.

I've not tried to keep two male dwarfs in the same tank. My guess is that they'd either fight or ignore each other. Probably both as they would each set up their own territory and start looking for females.

[mrmike]

well I picked up a pair of Orange A. Caucotitides< spelling? Male and fem. they are young/ small right now, the male is about the size of my female ram. Everything else is good. Ich's gone. Still waiting on ferts to arrive by mail to help with the bba starting. My neons are now down to 4, They have been dissappearing? Did not look in the filter yet, will this weekend. And the loaches haven't been seen in a week or so either........ Don't know if the angels have been snacking on the neons. I think if they all go I will get a larger neon to stay safe..

[mrmike]

oops i meant larger tetra.. :rolleyes:

[oscarbartoni]

Something that yo should be doing before adding any new fish is t quarantine them for at least a week before you put them in your main tank. This will help to see if they are sick before adding them to your tank and having the whole tank get sick.A ten gallon tank is good for most fish to live in.It is actually not good to put new fish in a tank that you are treating until you are sure that the illness is completely gone because when you net a fish and put it in a bag and then into a new tank, you will stress them and lower their resistance to diseases.