[jgrillout]

I have been pleased with how my tank looks since I set it up a few months ago. The water was clear and not much algae. But last week I noticed a black algae on the plastic plants and starting to spread to the gravel. It was easy to take out the plants and clean them. I did not know the best way to clean the gravel. Rather than remove the gravel, I decided to put my fish in a bucket with water from the tank. Then I drained 90% of the water. Then I stirred the gravel up and agitated it a lot to hopefully clean it up, then I suctioned out as much as I could of the remaining filthy water. I refilled the tank and added some stress relief that is suppose to remove any chlorine etc. I put it all back together and put the fish back along with the old water. I thought the 5 gallons of old water and the bio-wheel would provide enough beneficial bacteria. So it's all back together and looking clean again. However, the fish haven't been as active. I checked all the parameters and they are good. But they are not as excited to eat like they were in the past. They used to swim up to the top and wag their tails and would eat the food before it sunk to the bottom. Now they don't do that. They don't appear to be stressed. the breathing is normal. The are timid and shy. What is going on?

 

[DJRansome]

Maybe the parameters of the new water are a little off. If that is all it is they should recover in a day or two.

 

[jgrillout]

I retested just now. Here are the results. pH 8.4,Amonia 0.12,nitrite 0, nitrate 5. Are these acceptable?

 

[DJRansome]

It's not what they are now. It's how the before-change water and after-change water compare. Remember consistency is key.

 

[jgrillout]

oh i didn't know that, makes sense thanks. So in the little bit of time that has passed sense I reported the water parameters, I noticed my bumble bee was on the bottom and struggling breathing. I took him out and put him in my isolation tank and he is looking better. What is the world could be going on ?

 

[Old Newbie]

oh i didn't know that, makes sense thanks. So in the little bit of time that has passed sense I reported the water parameters, I noticed my bumble bee was on the bottom and struggling breathing. I took him out and put him in my isolation tank and he is looking better. What is the world could be going on ?

Check your ammonia, ammonia poisoning will cause breathing difficulty. Stirring up the gravel and deep cleaning the tank the way you did could have reduced the beneficial bacteria; it could take a while to get back in balance. If ammonia is present do daily water changes until it is back under control.

 

[jgrillout]

thank you. So how do you handle preventing or rectifying when the gravel gets a black algae on it. It's no problem to remove the decorations and clean them.

 

[Old Newbie]

thank you. So how do you handle preventing or rectifying when the gravel gets a black algae on it. It's no problem to remove the decorations and clean them.

Don't have the light on so much; no light equals no algae, little light equals little algae. I keep my lights on a timer and have them on from 5:30 am to 7:00 am for feeding and to enjoy the fish before I leave for work. I then have them come back on at 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm to enjoy the fish after I get home. That's 6 1/2 hours total lights daily; I get some algae, but Mbuna are vegetarian and enjoy grazing on it, so I just leave it alone until it gets on the glass and use algae magnets to clean it. I don't use gravel either, I use sand; Mbuna dig continuously so there is no algae growth there.

 

[jgrillout]

Thank you. I lost another fish today and almost another. The one I saved by just moving to another tank. I took my water to the pet store to see if my testing was correct. They said it was fine. Regardless, I drained the tank. put in new water and this time I bought some API Quick Start. I added the quick start and a stress coat to remove any chlorine. I Let that run for 2 hours and put the fish back in. So far so good.

 

[Old Newbie]

I'm not an expert in the field, but, I don't like products like Stress Coat for routine water changes; I prefer products like Prime or Safe. The "slime" that is supposed to replace the fish's protective coat can clog up filter media and make it less efficient. Not saying that is what happened here...just saying...

 

[marten]

I clean my glass and sand with every water change, and I think it helps make sure that beneficial bacteria ends up in the filters as much as possible. If you don't have a strong reliable cycle, you can neutralize the ammonia and nitrite with prime until your cycle is good. While you dose the extra prime, just keep up your normal maintenance. It's how I dealt with a problem in one of my kid's tanks, it only took a week for the cycle to correct itself, and all fish were fine.