I have had fish in my 20 gallon aquarium for about 3 weeks now, with a fishless cycle done before. My aquarium is heavily planted, and right now I have 1 pygmy cory, 2 longfin leopard danios and 2 gold zebra danios. The filter I have, from the Elite line, is, I believe, rated for 30 gal.
However, in the last several days, I have noticed beginning growth of brown algae on the glass, and the water itself seems very dirty (not bacterial bloom, but small floating particles.) I do 20% water changes once a week, I am very careful about overfeeding and remove any uneaten food. I switch between flakes, mysis shrimp, and blood worms, as well, dropping a bottom-feeder pellet down for the cory. Now my plants seem to be dying, the leaves are getting large brown spots on them and falling off the plant (I remove them as soon as I have noticed they have separated from the stalk).
I am looking for some help, I'm at a loss of what to do. I am thinking about maybe getting several standard-sized cories to help with cleanup, as well as 3-4 otos. Should I do water changes more frequently? Or should I remove a larger portion of water when I do them? Is something perhaps wrong with my filter? I rinsed the filter media in tank water when I first noticed the tank becoming dirty, and it was a very muddy-brown colour, could this be a problem?
Thanks in advance, I really love my tank and want to get it looking its best again.
However, in the last several days, I have noticed beginning growth of brown algae on the glass, and the water itself seems very dirty (not bacterial bloom, but small floating particles.) I do 20% water changes once a week, I am very careful about overfeeding and remove any uneaten food. I switch between flakes, mysis shrimp, and blood worms, as well, dropping a bottom-feeder pellet down for the cory. Now my plants seem to be dying, the leaves are getting large brown spots on them and falling off the plant (I remove them as soon as I have noticed they have separated from the stalk).
I am looking for some help, I'm at a loss of what to do. I am thinking about maybe getting several standard-sized cories to help with cleanup, as well as 3-4 otos. Should I do water changes more frequently? Or should I remove a larger portion of water when I do them? Is something perhaps wrong with my filter? I rinsed the filter media in tank water when I first noticed the tank becoming dirty, and it was a very muddy-brown colour, could this be a problem?
Thanks in advance, I really love my tank and want to get it looking its best again.