Lots of problems, here's the latest

[roxxxy]

Hi to all the good folks of these forums, I have received soooo much help here and I thank you all! But I need advice again ...

A quick background of what has been going on:

--- Algae bloom, about a month ago, the water turned so green I couldnt tell if there were any fish in it unless they were right by the glass! It's still green. but not quite as bad, all I did was turn off the lights, but didn't do a complete blackout.

--- One of my hoses leaked water all over my floor (carpet). I have both hoses replaced now, just did it an hour ago, but the filter was turned off for about 3 days. (work, couldnt get to LFS). And I didn't realize it until an hour ago, but the heater was also inadvertantly unplugged the past 3 days also, so the temperature dropped to about 73.

--- After replacing the hoses and filling the tank back up, I turned the light back on and noticed that one of my silver dollars as a white cottony spot on it, just below the fin on top. It's hard to tell because of the green water, but it looks like it's just the one fish.

My 55 gal tank with Fluval 304 filter is stocked with 5 silver dollars, 2 tinfoil barbs, 2 goldfish, 2 moonlight gouramis, 1 rainbow, 1 pleco, 1 algae eater. I've been told it's a strange mix.

I ran tests on the water and came up with:
ph = 7
ammonia = 0.6
nitrite = 0.3
nitrate = 0.3

That's all the test kits I have.

My questions are, what caused the algae bloom and what can I do to control it? And what sort of disease does my poor silver dollar have, and how can I heal him? And are there any dire consequences to the lack of filtration for 3 days, and the lowered temperature? Is that what maybe caused the nitrate and nitrite readings?

Thanks again for all your help, hopefully one day I'll get good enough with my aquarium to be able to answer some questions instead of asking all the time!!

[TKOS]

How old is the tank again? Your readings suggest it has not cycled properly or something has interupted the cycle and there are ammonia and nitrite spikes. That would be the filter interuption and it needs to regrow the good bacteria. First I would do a water change and get those numbers down (the nitrate is fine). If you haven't been doing large routine water changes then do many small ones. It is most likely the excess food (ammonia) that is leading to the green water.

The next thing to worry about is the white cottony spot on the silver dollar. Since it is hard to diagnose that for me right here I woudl suggest you look up fish disease on google and find a site that has good quality pictures of diseases. There you might find what you have. If it is a fungus you may have luck just using heated water and salt as per the ich treatment Dave talks about in the article section. Otherwise you may need something like maracyn 2.

the problem is that most meds don't want a water change during treatment and with you tank recycling you need to do water changes to keep from having fish with permanent damage. The algae bloom is secondary at the moment and not a worry in and of itself. Its cause is a worry and is most likely linked to the ammonia levels. That is why getting those levels to zero before you start any medications is important. Though from what I understand the dechlorinator Prime will help keep ammonia and nitrites non toxic for periods of time. So dosing with that during treatment may be the key.

Finally if you start doing a treatment such as Maracyn-2 you can easily combine that with a blackout period. Completely cover the tank for the duration of the treatment. And though you will be tempted leave it covered. Don't feed the fish (it will be 5-6 days) either. Just drop another tab in, best at night. That may also help your algae bloom. Good luck.

[roxxxy]

Thanks for your reply, the tank has been running for almost a year, it was a last year's christmas present. The readings I posted were taken after I replaced the hoses and started the filter back up, I didn't take any before the filter was shut down, so I guess that's the reason for the spikes. I turned up the heat a couple of degrees, hopefully that will take care of my silver dollar. I'm not an expert by any means, but that white spot has a "fungal" look to it. I'd rather not go with meds, about 4 months ago a couple of my silver dollars got popeye and I medicated the tank, and the water took on a really ugly orange color and a ton of foam on top that I had to remove every night just to feed them. It was ugly.

So, water changes are the answer for now then, and see what happens. I had been leaving the light turned off and only feeding the fish every 2 or 3 days to combat the algae bloom, and was doing frequent water changes, 1/4 or so every 3-4 days. I have a bottle of Prime, I'll drop some in and see what happens.

Thanks for your help, I'll get back in a couple days hopefully with some good news...

[TKOS]

When it comes to lack outs you really need a true black out. Cover the tank to keep all light out. Algae is very good at being able to use any amount of light, much more than other plant life. Also be aware that water changes can and probably do feed the algae, so it just bounces back. It is tricky to battle 2 things at once. As for the heat I would also suggest adding salt to the tank. 1-2 tsp per gallon of water dissolved slowly over a few water changes.

good luck.

[liv2padl]

though you didn't ask (and nobody pointed this out to you), goldfish are temperate water fish (temperature = high 60's to low 70's) ... the rest of your fish are tropical (temperature 78-80°). your goldfish will not thrive in a tropical tank. they need their own tank with lower temperatures.