Am I doing this right?

Owens- Welcome!

Like said, it sounds like a bunch of possibilities going on. Too bad you didn't join on well before starting up your tank. To give a recommendation to your original "am I doing this right" question, it's hard to say. Given your stocking choice for this smallish tank, I'd say no. Again, like said, the balas should be re-homed ASAP. Male/female livebearers are never a good idea unless you're equipped to handle multitudes of babies. You will be quickly overrun with platys and guppies. WAAAY beyond the bio load ~40g worth of water should handle. Hopefully at a minimum, you're doing 50%+ weekly water changes. I do this on all my tanks, even if nitrates are well under 20ppm.
 
Bear with me here...



Byron Amazonas said:
I agree with others that a photo would be a big help. One white spot on a fish is not necessarily ich, and frankly not that likely to be ich. And something I missed earlier, the white spots on the tank walls, also probably not ich. You need to definitely ID the issue (if there is one) before going further.
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Ok, the images are there, orientation may be off.

So the one bala that had the white spots doesn't seem to have them now. But his eyes look swollen. WTH is going on?

i think I got an image of the white spots in our "monkey bars". I took the decoration out for a few days, the spots turned a brownish color. Now that I put it back in the spots are white again- I can't tell if they are the same or new.

Within a few weeks of starting the tank we added a hill stream loach. It lived for about a week and a half. After that we added a bristle nose pleco, same thin happened in a week and a half. I suspected the oxygen content may not have been sufficient, so I added the air stone.

i now know I was given bad advice on the monthly water changes, I will remedy this immediately. I'm also considering altering the substrate, as the lava rocks came in the tank. I want them gone anyway- maybe add a substrate that will be habitable to living plants- and maybe some clams?

i appreciate all the help. Like the title of the thread says, I want to do this right!

Bri
 
Believe be me, the platys completely surprised us. One day we noticed little baby "something's" hiding in the rocks. We had to wait for them to mature some before we knew what they were! We were assured by the Petco sales person they were all same sex. Well, no they weren't. When the babies are big enough they will go to the local fish store. Same with the common pleco, and we are thinking of getting another larger tank to house the Balas- my youngest son picked them out, so getting rid of them would be problematic.

No doubt, we went into this very uneducated. But we want to make it right- we all love the fish!

FreshyFresh said:
Owens- Welcome!

Like said, it sounds like a bunch of possibilities going on. Too bad you didn't join on well before starting up your tank. To give a recommendation to your original "am I doing this right" question, it's hard to say. Given your stocking choice for this smallish tank, I'd say no. Again, like said, the balas should be re-homed ASAP. Male/female livebearers are never a good idea unless you're equipped to handle multitudes of babies. You will be quickly overrun with platys and guppies. WAAAY beyond the bio load ~40g worth of water should handle. Hopefully at a minimum, you're doing 50%+ weekly water changes. I do this on all my tanks, even if nitrates are well under 20ppm.
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Welcome! It sounds like you have your hands full. First doing 30-50% water changes weekly is a good suggestion as long as you treat the new water and that your filter bio-load can handle it. Your filter should have a sponge or some sort of fabric material that water filters through as well as houses small beneficial bacteria that makes new water safe for fish. If your tank has been running for a while then it should be fine. I would hold off on buying any new fish until you have sourced the problem of dying fish. If it is ICH, Kordon is good as well as ramping up the temperature between 80 and 85 degrees for three days then a water change. Always treat your water after a water change and add it slowly to tank. As far as plecos go don't depend on them to balance your algae. That is something that has to be fixed with the amount of light and nutrients in the tank. Try leaving the light off for a week straight letting it only get ambient light. A piece or two of driftwood would be a great addition to the tank especially for any plecos. They love to gnaw on driftwood. It can add comfort and hiding places for them if you have a couple. Keep those Platy baby fish! They are probably the best ones to survive anything you or your tank can throw at them and if they do survive will be very hardy for the future. And lastly live plants would do wonders with pea gravel or pool filter sand. Plants can also be tricky to keep up without good water parameters as well. I suggest on reading up on keeping plants extensively to save trouble in the future. You may also get some ideas for your new planted tank. Best wishes.
 
Do you have a good liquid test kit, such as made by API? Current Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH readings would be nice.
 
Byron Amazonas said:
I agree with others that a photo would be a big help. One white spot on a fish is not necessarily ich, and frankly not that likely to be ich. And something I missed earlier, the white spots on the tank walls, also probably not ich. You need to definitely ID the issue (if there is one) before going further.
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If the "tiger snails" are nerites, the white spots on the glass are probably just nerite eggs.
 
I know I'm new-ish to the hobby, but have you ever considered having marimo balls? I have them in my nano tanks & my little puffer tank hasn't had an algae issue. I do keep up with the water changes though & also clean the sides weekly. I have java moss, java fern & marimo balls so far. Not sure if this would help, but thought I'd mention!
 
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