brown film taking over tank ???

cklein85 · 11-05-2007, 10:45 AM

i woke up this morning and noticed my pleco was dead a a brown film on the glass rocks and fake plants and some brown spots on a couple of the mollys .
tested the water with a test strip last night as i seem to do weekly and it was all normal this morning with the death and brown film i re-tested nitrates in the 200 and nitrites is 10 . mollys are acting normal and live plants growing extremly fast . what should i do about the film on everything and the high leves of nits?

Jay · 11-05-2007, 02:01 PM

Hey cklein85...Welcome to our forums

We need a little more information on the tank in order to help.

Is the tank Cycled?
Size of tank
Filtration
KH GH pH NO3 PO4 Ammonia Nitrite readings in ppm or ml/L
Tap water readings for the same
Water schedule change and amount
Light in watts per gallon and type
CO2

A picture of the Algae would help...sounds like it might by Cyanobacteria.

Waiting to hear back

Regards,
Jay

Tommy Gun · 11-05-2007, 02:04 PM

Hey cklein85, welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about your troubles though.

First, assuming that your test strips are even remotely accurate (which sometimes they are not), I suggest performing a water change ASAP, probably in a slightly larger amount....but be careful because if it has been a while since you have done so, you do not want to change the water chemistry too dramatically since this could shock your fish. Since that places the ball in your court, my best suggestion would be to do as large of a water change as you safely can...perhaps up to 75% or so.

While doing that water change, assuming that you will be doing so with a gravel vacuum, try to scrape and remove as much of the brown slime as you can since, if you are planning on killing it, if left in the tank it will only add to your nitrate problem.

Regarding the brown film, since it sounds as though it appeared in your tank rather suddenly, my initial guess would be that it is cyanobacteria; which doesn't really explain the sudden death of your pleco, nor the high nitrates and nitrites, but could be a secondary result from all three. To help get a better idea of what is going on, I suggest taking a look at the article which you can view by clicking HERE, and subsequently, trying to provide us with as many answers to those questions listed under the heading "Freshwater"...while at the same time, trying to provide any additional information which you feel might help.

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Oooops, sorry Jay! Must have been replying at the same time as you.

cklein85 · 11-05-2007, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay

Hey cklein85...Welcome to our forums

We need a little more information on the tank in order to help.

Is the tank Cycled?
Size of tank
Filtration
KH GH pH NO3 PO4 Ammonia Nitrite readings in ppm or ml/L
Tap water readings for the same
Water schedule change and amount
Light in watts per gallon and type
CO2

A picture of the Algae would help...sounds like it might by Cyanobacteria.

Waiting to hear back

Regards,
Jay

jay i have a 55 gallon tank been up and running with no problems for 6 weeks then had a green puffer go from calm as can be to btingin fins off of 6 fish got rid of him all injured fish went to a smaller tank in hopes they will heal but all died restocked the 55 with the mollys and plecos 2 weeks ago i have a pengiun 200 bio wheel filter
Tank water reads
ph = 6.8
kh = 80
chlorine = 0
gh = 75
no2 = 10.0 (if not higher using test strips and this is max on color chart and its turning a little brighter so im guessing more )
no3 = 40

tap water reads
ph = 6.8
kh = 80
chlorine = 0
gh = 150
no2 = 0
mo3 = 20

i normaly change out about 5 gallons a week with a good vacume of the gravel

no special lights just some bulbs i got from walmart hope this helps you help me !
ill get a picture of the tank and film up very soon camera is in g/fs purse....

Jay · 11-05-2007, 05:57 PM

Wow, well with those numbers I agree withe Tommy Gun. A few back to back large water changes are going to help.

The tank is in the process, for whatever reason, of cycling, and the fish left need some relief from the high ammonia and nitrite. Water changes and salt (NaCl) table salt are going to help. Off the top of my head I cannot remember the correct amount of salt. Tommy will see this post and jump in with links, I hope.

I cannot get my hands on the article on fish cycling to send you there, I hope Tommy can tell you where it is. The high ammonia, and nitrite readings are probably killing fish right now. Give this stuff a quick read and act soon.

The NO3 reading of 20 ppm out of the tap is way high. I would consider using an alternative water source for water changes. Some LFS sell RO water for that purpose.

Now to the algae..It really sounds like CyanoBacteria the primordial stuff that is responsible for our atmosphere today

Good for the planet, looks like crap in the aquarium

A picture would really help. It is easy to kill, but we will need to talk about keeping it under control

Keep in close touch

Regards,
Jay

cklein85 · 11-05-2007, 07:29 PM

you can see the brown the best in these it is on the glass alot worse cant get a picture though does not show . the rock in the first picture was all white or a sand color when put it as the third picture shows.

Jay · 11-06-2007, 06:05 PM

The algae in the pics looks like the common garden variety, nusience algae, we are all plagued with from time to time.

I would just pay attention to keeping the tank glass, equipment, etc as clean as possible.

Frequent water changes, and filter media changes.

Watch over feeding.

If this stuff gets really out of control, a 72 hour complete black out will wipe it out. At least for a while, until you can get the feeding, light, routine equipment cleaning etc. working for you.

Hold the phone here! Who said running a well maintained tank did not require WORK.

Regards,
Jay

Tommy Gun · 11-06-2007, 07:40 PM

Jay is certainly right...when I read "taking over", I thought the stuff was walking out of your tank, getting a beer from the fridge, and hopping back into the water. HOPEFULLY the good news here is that, by nearly anyone's standard, your tank is amazingly crisp and clear.

Just to echo some of Jay's thoughts though, you should be prepared for a lot more algae to come, especially since your tank is so new, or otherwise unestablished. However, this can be viewed as somewhat of a good thing, and there is a lot you can do to keep it to a minimum. For now though, you need to address the water quality issues and move on from there, IMHO of course.