Soupysteve's 40gallon breeder journal

Of course, as soon as I make a post about my tank looking better, I wake up to find a dead neon - it was all tangled up in one of the two areas in my tank that still has the hair algae. Can just being tangled up kill a fish? I've never had something like this happen before.
 
I have found quite a few dead fish tangled in hair algae...not sure if they are dying ANYWAY and become entangled...or vice-versey

I have seen one live fish tangled in hair algae, & I freed it. Lived a normal life.

Best hair/staghorn algae control I've found is a pair of small sharp scissors and a toothbrush to wind errant strands on.
 
You really shouldn't use pure RO water on it's own :eek:. It contains no minerals at all and can is prone to wild pH swings, especially with peat and all that bogwood. Mix it 50/50 with dechlorinated tap water. Also agree - buffer salts are great for holding the pH but they are basically phosphorus based and algae just LOVES high phosphate levels.
 
Yup, a while back when I asked if the water was pretreated that's what I meant-if trace minerals and KH buffering was added to it. While the water should still stay fairly soft, it is bad for both the animals and the fish not to. There are very few fish that can survive in basically pure R/O...I have some of them, lol.

Though, I do know that Gluongirl uses basically pure R/O in some of her tanks. I would PM her-she has several successful tanks like this.
 
I just read the whole thread, and here are my thoughts. Yes, cutting the photoperiod down is liekly the cause for the reduction in hair algae. My ottos don't seem to do much with that stuff. I read elsewhere that sword tails will eat it, but don't know their origin regarding your biotope design, nor if this claim is accurate. The 50/50 tap/RO mix might be a bit "thick" considering your description of your tap water, but I'd mix it at a lower ratio using less tap than RO. Maybe 10-25 % tap. My own experience with neons as well as cardinals has fluctuated in the store tanks where I've worked, some weeks getting a batch that crash almost completely within 3 days and other orders dropping only a few here and there over the course of weeks, which says something for these groups, being that they go into overcrowded undersized sale tanks with no cover and kids taping on the glass all day, evading nets, and all sorts of other stress points. More often than not the batch crashes though, so IMO they are a hard to keep species, both of them. If the problem persists despite all efforts, I'd switch to glow lights or something like that which are hardier. I couldn't suggest a specific species to stay within your biotope limitations though. I've never had much luck with neons or cardinals myself in my personal tanks and gave up on them long ago.

For those posting about the cleaning of used tanks, pre-setup; avoid ANY sort of detergent please. 9 times out of ten you will get a residue on the glass to SOME degree which will eventually, if not immidiately, cause massive losses. Vinegar will remove hard water stains but will take a little longer. Pour it directly onto the stains, let it sit a few minutes, then wipe aggressively and repeat as necissary using a razor to scrape the glass between treatments while wet. I've done this with several used tanks successfuly, but it takes patience and effort. This advice is for glass only. I don't know if vinegar would damage plexi, but the razor certainly would scratch plexi up pretty bad. It's much better to go slow and do it in a fashion that is less likely to kill fish later. Also, any sort of PH up or down products, avoid. If you want to increase and stabalize your water, put some crushed coral/shell in the filter or hidden in a reasonably high flow area within the tank.

Good luck. :)
 
KJ5KB - I really like the toothbrush idea! I've been using a turkey baster (unsuccessfully). I will take your suggestion and try it out tonight!

6.5x55 - I thought everyone was crazy for suggesting the addition of tap; as I've looked through the forums, I see that this practice is common. I guess I got spoiled with my reef tank and topping it off with RO/DI. I try not to add any chemicals - that includes buffering agents.

Schitzotypalvamp - I'm having trouble getting a consensus as to the exact parameters I should strive to achieve. Looking at information about my tank's inhabitants, it would appear that the most South American fish like soft, low-pH water; that was the reason I dumped in all the peat. The LFS I frequent says that I should try LESS to simulate their natural environment, and instead, try to simply keep my water parameters stable (so that when I do my water changes, I stress the livestock as little as possible). I see the point he's trying to make though. He says he's kept all his fresh water fish (Breeding African Cichlids AND Discus is his bread and butter) in our tap (de-chlorinated, obviously) and it is 7.8 - almost 8.0 and VERY HARD.

nchoe123 - I added fish on posts #21, 30, 55, and 61. There are two LFS in my area I visit (several I won't). They sell their neons for $2 each or $15 for a dozen. EVERYTHING I've read about small, schooling tetras mentions that they should be kept in groups of 6 or more. Even though I KNOW that adding that much bio-load CANNOT be good, I know I can buy 7 for $14 or the dozen for $15, it's a no-brainer. I guess I COULD HAVE set up a quarantine tank for the neons and added them slowly. From the reading I've done here and on various other freshwater aquarium forums, neons have a reputation of being "hit or miss". Some have suggested that aquacultured specimens have grown weak throughout the years because the breeders have a relatively small gene-pool to work with. Whatever the case, my neons are no longer dying at such a mind-blowing pace.
I think the first round of deaths were due to the tank not being cycled - the second round due to overfeeding/constipation AND getting a "bad batch". The last batch I got the third week of October are still kickin' just fine - and are happy they weren't in batch one or two... and I've learned that these guys are dumb enough to eat themselves to death.

Mindcrime121 - "I just read the whole thread, and here are my thoughts." Thanks for reading it all. People reading only the posts on the last page before they post irritate me... then I have to smoke and look at my fish tank(s). The Ottos and rubber-nose in my tank seem to enjoy grazing on the short, soft, green bushy stuff quite a bit. It is the long, staghorn (?) stuff that no one wants to eat (and looks the nastiest to me). Your points about the neons being placed in sale tanks and being stressed at the LFS is well-taken. Maybe I should get ask for the neons in the tank that is above where the toddlers can tap!
I've read that mollies and swords will do a number on the hair algae as well. I had considered getting one molly for a temporary fix, but after looking around I think I'd rather have a "green" swordtail over any molly I've seen! Can swordtails go in a saltwater tank like mollies? I ask because I don't think I could keep either in my tank after they had cleaned it up without me going nuts telling my friends about my tank; "This is my attempt at a section of the Amazon. I have tried to make it so these fishies won't bump into another fish they wouldn't see back home... with the exception of THAT ONE!"
I may construct a sock to put a handful of aragonite in - and toss it in my filter box to naturally buffer the tank. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
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yes, i read through the thread.

I'll definitely say that your first addition of 24 tetras, and a bunch of misc. others, was definitely a little overly aggressive.

maybe the per-fish cost goes up if you don't get them a dozen at a time, but how many have died? if you divide the total cost by the number of survivors, do the numbers support it? I didn't do the math, just a suggestion.

I know, I've killed two dozen tetras myself-- though I used Bio-Spira, and they didn't die of a cycling error-- just gradually over a year. never again!

I have eight cory cats, three oto's and a pleco all in my catfish haven tank (along with a female betta and a half dozen threadfin rainbows as top-/mid- water swimmers). they definitely like swimming in groups, I'll agree.

I love my 50 breeder. its size is great. IIRC they're called that because they have a much greater surface area for their volume, so they're really good for oxygenation of the water.
 
Cutting down on the photoperiod has really seemed to do the trick. The staghorn algae isn't growing anymore. The other hair algae seems to have lost the ability to stick to the rocks - and gets sucked up through my siphon when I do my water changes.
I haven't had a single death now in quite awhile.
After seeing this tank mature so quickly, somewhat easily, and without costing an arm and a leg (even with a bad batch of neons), I have decided to convert my 110g in my dining room into a discus tank of sorts. Time to do some ready and thinking outside the box...
GOOD TIMES!
 
Glad to hear things are going well. I bought what is supposed to be a female lyretail sword before going down to help my dad get back on his feet and take care of my mother over the hilidays, and since then I've hed little to no trouble with the hair algae that had begun to grow somewhat extensively across a few of my plants. "She" looks more like a male lyretail molly to me, but she's doing good work, so I'm not worrying about it for now, LOL! The only prob I'm having is that my GBR seems to REALLY dislike her.
 
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