Help!! I think I killed them all..

heatherz

I'm a newbie with a planted 18 gallon freshwater aquarium. It's been established and doing well for a number of months now but I have yet to figure out a proper light cycle and I've had some really brutal algae outbreaks.

The aquarium guy recommended algae fix for the planted tank and informed me that it would not harm the fish or the plants. I grabbed the WRONG bottle on accident (I'm a distracted mother to 2 toddlers, what can I say) and got Algae Destroyer on accident. I added 1 tsp to my tank. I got a sinking feeling that something wasn't right because the water didn't look like the fish guy described to me, went and double checked the bottle and realized my mistakes. After I did a quick google I saw that the stuff will kill plants! And probably my fish for that matter!

Any suggestions or are they a goner? I immediately did a 20 percent water change but was hesitant to do any more.

BTW..it's planted with a couple swords, java moss, and those long straight grass things..I can't remember the name. It's been doing so well - minus the algae.

Thanks for any help, I know stupidity really isn't an excuse, but I don't want my plants or my fish to die!

Jay

Hi Heather...Welcome to the forums and to the Planted tank forum

Right off the top you are going to find that the relationship between algae, plants, light etc. is not a casual one paragraph post. I would encourage you to do some reading in the forum and ask questions about what is unclear.

You are also going to make a decision on what type of planted tank you have.

A tank with a few plants low tech
or
A planted tank High tech

There are some major differences in how you manage each type.

The Chemicals...

Both products you mentioned will kill everything in your tank. If not sooner, than down the road a bit. I know what it says on the label but your plants will suffer and some will never flourish.

Some Quick Help with the algae.

A 72 hour complete blackout of your tank (NO LIGHT) will kill the algae. The nuisance green algae you have has no way to store energy from light and will die if deprived for 72 hours.

Do a search on blackout and read the threads.

What you will learn is that you need to address the root cause of the algae outbreak. Amount of light, overfeeding,
water quality, overall health of the plants etc.

You could post a complete set of tank parameters to help us understand what is going on in your tank. There is a sticky post at the top of the forum that will be helpful.

We look forward to hearing from you

Regards,
Jay

heatherz

The tank is an 13 gallon acrylic and I'm going to assume right off the bat it's a low tech. I'll give you as much info as I can but I don't have test for most of these. I can get one if needed.

pH = 7.6 - i didn't realize it was so alkaline
Nitrite = 0
Ammonia = 0

I have an aquaclear 30 filter.
My lighting system consists of a 36 watt T5 Fixture - 18 Watt 460nm Actinic Lamp and a 10,000K T5HO lamp. I realize the actinic is normally made for salt water but they have not made the freshwater bulb yet in 18" so I'm just waiting for that. The light is on 6 hours a day.

The temperature is maintained around 79 -80 degrees. I have a heater but it is not on very often. I live in a very warm climate.

The tank itself is planted with a 'Nana' Anubias, moss ball, Glossostigma, about 10 Valisheria, java moss, and a Kleiner bar Sword.

I also have a small pice of Malaysian wood.

The substrate is Eco Complete Plant.

I've been plagued with blue-green "algae" which is my understanding that it's not an algae but actually a bacteria, brown algae, and this furry tufty like algae that makes long strands. My tank is in front of a window but the shades are closed most time, it has a black back.

I do 10 - 20 percent water changes once a week. I use the filtered water from the aquarium shop for water changes. I supplement with Seachem Equilibrium in the appropriate measurement when I do water changes.

The tank is stocked with freshwater shrimp, a variety of tetras, an oto and micro rasporas. I have a couple little snails that have sneaked in on one of my plants.

I feed once a day with micro pellets, just a tiny amount, my fish are little, and twice a week I feed a sliver of frozen fish food.

I hope this helps. I am just hoping I could save my plants now. They are beautiful and would hate to see them die.

Jay

Sounds like the algae are out of control.

You are going to need a multi front attack here. Cyanobacteria and the other algae (sounds like bba) are handled in different ways.

Cyanobacteria usually consists of a multi algae colony not just the cyano. My first step would be a 72 hour black out to kill off any green algae. I notice that you have a good plant mass for the size of the tank, but no nutrient dosing.

A deficiency of nutrients in a planted tank with 2 wpg and above can trigger various species of algae. You might want to look into dosing ferts for the plants.

The 72 will eliminate green algae and the green algae in the cyano colony. It will not eliminate the cyano or the BBA.

While the tank is blacked out, go to the lfs and buy some eurithromycin antibiotic, enough for 10 days. When the tank is uncovered do a large water change, and clean your filter. Then start treating with the antibiotic. Eurithromycin will not harm your beneficial bacteria, but it will kill the Cyano.

If the tufted algae did not die in the blackout, you can be fairly sure it is BBA. This is a tough one to deal with. You need to prune it out. Infected leaf by leaf. Vacuum it off the substrate. You may also want to dose Seachem Excel at twice or three times the recommended dose for 7-10 days. That will hurt the BBA and stop it from spreading. <- the rule of common sense applies here. If the fish start to act goofy, back off the dose. It is possible to have a fish casualty with an excel od, it has never happened to me, but it can happen.

Please be considering you nutrient dosing routine and carbon needs of the plants while this is going on.

Well...there are some "save the plant" strategies for you. You will probably want to keep in touch as you proceed.

Regards,
Jay