Aquarium Crisis!!! Please help

[Justy213]

First a brief history:
I have been an aquarium owner for 7 years and have never had any major problems other that fish dying, which happens. Last year, I upgraded from a 10 gal. to a 30 gal. I bought it from the local Petco and got free fish. OK, so far so good. Then all the new fish stared to die. The store blamed it on my Ph level. Ok, fixed it. Then all my old fish stared to die. Plus I had a bad hairy algae problem. Nothing killed it. By the time a PetSmart came into to town and pinpointed the problems to diseased fish, all my old fish (which I had had for years) had died and I was left with only one lonely new fish.
So I flushed it, ripped apart the aquarium, cleaned everything, boiled the gravel and started over.
End of problem. Nope!
I was constantly changing the water! It would turn green in a week and a half! I would go to PetSmart and of course they want to blame it on me whom they assume, doesn't know what she's doing. They recommened a power head for my undergravel filter. OK, it was clear for a month and a half and since then. I have to change the water and filters in my backpack filter system EVERY WEEK due to green water.
I don't know what to do. Having an aquarium is supposed to be a relaxing hobby but I am ready to pull my hair out! I don't want to get rid of the setup because it was a gift and I've only had it for a year and I don't want to turn it into a terrarium.
Please help!!!
Thank you.

 

[Ghost_knife]

It seems to me the problem is not the tank or the gravel but the filter system, the undergravel system would not be too good for a 30 gal, they are most effictove in larger tanks, for the tank I would get an external filter and put it on there, I had the same problem when I started out, it's fixed by getting a diff filter,

 

[tricksterpup]

Justy, from what it sounds like you have a problem with Old tank syndrome. This is something that pops up with older running tanks for more than a few years. I will have to post more on this.. its late.
jim

 

[Ghost_knife]

it could be old tank syndrome, in that case you would have to wash the whole tank and let the water set without fish for about 1-2 weeks while the water cures and then test your levels and see if any adjustments are necessary

 

[TKOS]

Old Tank Syndrome is when a tank has been running for too long without adequate water changes. It doesn't require restarting the tank and is easy to fix, but that is too late now.

Undergravel filters work perfectly fine. Your problem right now is an algae bloom. That is simply caused by an imbalance of nutrients in the tank. Algae like an plant needs three things to grow, food, CO2 and light. It will be the food that is too great. This can generally be easily fixed so I will go through a few things.

1. Is your tap water high in phospahtes and or nitrates? Can you check that out? If so that is a great food source for algae.

2. Are you using a pH balancing product? Like Ph up or down? If so you really should stop as these products work using phosphates to balance the pH, which leads to algae blooms. You can easily control pH through water changes.

3. Too much food for the fish. Most people overfeed fish. Excess food turns into ammonia and nitrates which are prime food sources for algae. Most adult fish need only to be fed once per day, a tiny pinch of food. And most community tanks can easily survive and thrive with a once a week non-feeding. My minnows and catfish are 4 years old with this system. But again there are some fish that won't thrive well.

4. Is your tank fully cycled? I mean, is there no trace of ammonia in the tank? If there is any ammonia present then the tank is not cycled and what is happening is that as the week progresses the ammonia levels are feeding the alage. This seems likely in your tank.

5. Lack of water changes. Lack of water changes leads to high levels of nitrates, which as mentioned can lead to alage.

Solutions:

As far as I can tell there is really only one good solution to almost all those problems. Good weekly water changes. All tanks need weekly water changes to reduce nitrtaes, restore water buffer (lack of which leads to pH crashes), reduce organic residues like hormones etc.. that can lead to stunted growth in fish, and also if the tank still isn't cycled it will reduce ammonia and nitrIte levels to less harmful levels for the fish. A good water changes should include a gravel vacuum to help remove a lot of gunk that builds up under the plates of a UGF. Most around here do at least 20% a week, but some of us do at least 30-50% a week which is a better choice. The fresher the water the happier the fish.

 

[indiginess]

i have one question... you mentioned it was a gift. did it house fish before?

must sleep

i too will devote more time if required

 

[thaskitz]

Might soung like a simple question but its not situated on a window ledge or somthing?
My friend did this and we helped to sort it with a carbon and nitrate remover element for the filter!

 

[TKOS]

A tank near a window may experience algae growth but not without an excess of food. Removing that excess will always help reduce algae.

 

[ergo sum]

What is in the tank? What is the water chemistry like?
Green water is reputed to be caused by ammonia, or ammonium.
I don't really know if that is true but there definitely has to be a chemical imbalance that feeds the algae.
So either the tank is underfiltered, or over stocked for the filter or you have a tap water problem, or something similar that is causing the problem.
Step one would be to test the tap water. Then test the tank water.
Assuming there is not a major problem a simple solution would be to put some fast growing easy to care for plants in the tank to compete with the algae.

 

[DreamingAloud]

You say you flushed your last fish. Flushing a live fish is an absolutely horrific way to condemn it to almost endless suffering (it likely won't die from flushing, but instead be stuck in the water system until it dies from starvation or a disease) and flushing a dead fish, particularly one that died from infection, is not good news for your local water supply.

In future, if you MUST euthanise a fish, there are far more humane ways to do it (I won't mention them here since they can be quite disturbing; PM me if you want to know, or googling will give you some answers). Bodies can be disposed of in normal trash or, if you have a garden available, buried.