Sick Amano's,Ninja, and Cherry Crystal's

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Noob
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Sick Amano's,Ninja, and Cherry Crystal's

Post by Noob »

sorry if this is really long.. lol

i have two tanks. One being a main tank, and one is a shrimp tank. about 2-3 weeks ago i bought some plants (dwarf sag, hairgrass, watersprites and java moss) when we first got them, they already didnt look so hot, but being as impatient as i was, i put my sags and my java in my tank. soon, the java started to die and the sags started to brown and got black spots. at this time, i had one albino cory, and two pygmy cory's. about a week later, i bought a ninja and a two more pygmy's. also, m shrimp tank had already been cycling for weeks, and before, my main tank was being cycled too. but anyways, my ninja didnt look so happy, he jsut sat in the water sprite not doing anything. but then i did a mass trimming of my sag's and removed all my java moss and put it in my shrimp tank. i hoped that the shrimp would help heal it... instead, both my tanks started to recycle. both tanks had about 40ppm of nitrties and my ninja seemed to almost be dead. and in my shrimp tank, there was also 40 ppm of nitrates. Somehow, the shrimp tank seemed to recylce itself instantly after i removed the java moss. both tanks now have about 5-10 ppm of nitates. and no nitrites. all my shrimp are now in my shrimp tank. the acidity is about 6ish in both tanks. the shrimp seem to be scratching itself alot near its tail. the ninja looks 1000x beter than it did before. yesterday, the ninja was lying there, twitching. today, he still has a bit of energy to move around very slowly and the same iwth one of my crystals.

overall, my questions would be
-is there a way to speed up the healing process?
-by raising the ph will the shrimps not scratch themselfs?.
-is there any way to get rid of algea? my corrys dont seem to be doing it.
answers will be read no matter how long they are :wink: =]
i will reply as soon as possible with any answers
BiffMalawi
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Re: Sick Amano's,Ninja, and Cherry Crystal's

Post by BiffMalawi »

Wow I have to say that I am quite confused by what seems to have happened here.

It is certainly possible that a large scale removal and/or trimming of plants can effect the cycle of the main tank.

Adding the moss to the shrimp tank should not have increased the nitrates unless there was alot of dead organic material in there. and it's subsiquent removal should not have caused a immediate drop in nitrates. Water chemistry just doesn't react that fast.

What water changes did you do during this time, were the tanks fully cycled before you added the plants, what is you maintainence schedule, are you testing the water, if so what kind of test kits are you using?

The only way to help the process is to maintain perfect water quality and let nature take it's course.

A Ph of 6 seems low but I am not sure it causing the "scratching" try adding crushed coral to filter or substrate . This will slowly increase Ph and add to hardness which is always a good thing.

Cory's are not really algae eaters. The only way to deal with algae is a well maintained and balanced tank. Which is a not an easy thing to accomplish, for now removal by hand is the best option and remember your shrimp need to eat it.
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Re: Sick Amano's,Ninja, and Cherry Crystal's

Post by Noob »

ive been using a 6 in one test kit. it tests for nitrates, nitrites, chlorine for some reason, ph, hardness and kh. i also have additional ph and amonia test kits. im currently at work right now and i am unable to check the chemestry of the water. the hardness is quite hard to test since all the colors are prettymuch ther same color. my brother and i have acused the java moss t be the catalyst for the shrimp tank, and the mass trimming to be the catalyst of the main tank. i have taken old folter cartidges from my other tanks and ptu them into my main tank. all the nitrties and nitrates have droped. but i am still mad about the agea. its so unatractive. i plan to change EVERYTHING. i lpan to keep very little gravel and comely clean the tank but keep about 25% of the water and do a mass trimming of my sags AGAIN since the laeves have started to brown again. the algae is stuck on rocks the gravel and since this morning, its been stuck on the sies of the tank. ive thought about changing the substrate to sand. do you tink this would be a good idea?

respond asap plox =]
BiffMalawi
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Re: Sick Amano's,Ninja, and Cherry Crystal's

Post by BiffMalawi »

Changing to sand is not a great idea it will show algae way faster than gravel. Algae grows when there is to much nitrates and light that is not being used up by plants. Often a sign of over feeding or under maintaining.

If you want live plants you need at least 2watts per gallon of light and you have to plant heavily from day one and if possible add some really fast growing plants. When I start a new planted tank I fill every exposed inch of substrate with some sort of plant. Plants like water sprite can be planted or floated and will grow right before your eyes. You use plants like these to suck up nutrients until the other plants become established and spread. After this you can cut back on the fast growing plants and allow the others to keep growing.

If you don't want live plants you should cut the amount of light way down to less than 1 watt per gallon and you will have to clean algae on a regular basis.

In both senarios I change 50% of the water every week and pull or scrape any unwanted algae.
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