Death! and algae

[hrothgarblue]

We were on vaca for 10 days and had a nephew stay at our home. Before we left I lost my albino cat to a strange "hole" that grew larger and larger. Now I am down two red platys, a gray mickey mouse platy AND my beloved pleco! Algae seems to be everywhere! Perhaps my nephew left all my blinds wide open for a few days (which I do not do). My alkalinity and nitrates were off the charts when I got back, which I attributed to one of my dead platys that had been there for who knows how long. I started immediately doing water changes which has been bringing things down... but then my pleco died.
I have always had hard water... the nitrites are not registering, nitrates are still around 40, and the alkalinity is still high, although it has started coming down.

I gave the tank a good scrub on the sides and below the gravel line because the green algae was everywhere. I took out two of my rocks to soak and scrub, but I did leave one in there to keep some algae in there. My plant looks like crap - it seems to be covered also.

My question: I need some "cleaner fish". I was thinking of looking for ottos, since plecos get so big. Do you think I can get a couple new fish? I mean, the water conditions are not horrible. I definitely need something to keep the algae in check.

Also - should I probably add another plant?

Any advice would be welcome - I still am far from being an expert on this stuff.

Thanks!

 

[VirgoWolf]

Sounds like there may have been some overfeeding going on as well. When my niece dumped a whole cup of fish food in the tank, despite vacing out as much as I could get, I got TONS of algae, expecially below the gravel line. I say get another plant to help battle the algae and level things out a bit, then worry about adding more fish. I would suggest a rubber lip pleco, bristle nose pleco, or a school of ottos. Definitly keep an eye on things for a while since the cory was sick, I'd wait at least a month (while observing the fish closely) before adding any other fish.