Help I Have 2 questions about my new tank

[jade71301]

I just started my first tank about a month ago now, and it is giving me a lot of problems. I recently bought a big snail for my 5 gallon tank and my fish (feeder guppies) keep attacking the snail when out of the shell, that he is afraid to come out of its shell. Now I noticed two days ago there is green stuff on the glass of my tank which i removed with the galss cleaner. Except now i see green stuff on my gravel now. What is it and how do I get rid of it? I clean the gravel every 2 weeks and I just did it last week, I don't know what to do. Is there a chemical to get rid of it or something? I am using waste control and cycle every week is it that causing the problem? Tried Pclear and it did nothing. SO Please tell me what else I can do.

 

[FroggyFox]

the green stuff is algae in your tank. It can be caused by overfeeding, too much sunlight or artificial light in the tank...or lots of other stuff. The snail should eat some of the algae, but you need to try and get it under control.

pclear is really only for clearing cloudy water....not sure what kind of waste control you're using...but its probably not doing anything. You really ought to try doing weekly (or more) water changes and since your tank is probably still cycling after only a month the extra nitrates in the water is probably one cause to your algae issues...

 

[FisheyLisa]

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/

also www.plantgeek.net has a section on algae, link is at top of page. It has pictures and appropriate solutions.

 

[jade71301]

Well that might be the problem too much light. I put my light on from 10ish in the morning till 12 ish at night. Is it too much? I feed my 7 fish once in the morning and once at night. Should I only then feed them once a day? If there are other things I should know please let me know cause i want to keep my fish alive and healthy.

 

[FroggyFox]

yep...I only feed my fish once a day and usually only about 5 out of 7 days of the week. Only feed them about as much as they'll eat in a few minutes.

If you dont have live plants in the tank thats way too much light for the tank...fish dont need lights, the lights are really only for our enjoyment of them or for any live plants that are in the tank. I think you'd see a huge improvement in the algae issue by cutting your light time in half or less.

 

[jade71301]

Ok I will Try that and see what happens, Thanks a lot for the tips, is there anything else i should know? Should I perform another gravel cleaning before trying this?

 

[FisheyLisa]

Don't be afraid to skip feeding fish for a day or two (even more they will survive). feed lightly (enough to "fill" their eye is a bit of a guide). After the tank settles, and you get the hang of it, you will be fine.

Gravel cleanings...sucking up debris on surface of gravel, is good and I prefer to do this after a feeding and possibly release of excrement. If their systems work like tortoises, they may evacuate waste after taking in fresh food. anyway I figure doing this allows the tank to be it's dirtiest before I vaccuum and change water.

Until your tank cycles, you may want to do daily partial changes of 25-40%...fresh water is always welcome. Make sure it is the same temp etc blah blah. Right now, if uncycled, lots of toxins are suffocating your fish. Don't freak about it, just keep it fresh. Also changes you make take a little while to take effect. So it may take a day or two for something to happen depending on what you do. Just be patient. give things time to work and fix the most urgent things first. I would freak if there was a problem and try multiple solutions when I didn't think one worked fast enough. That caused more problems!

Also algae is unsightly but not itself unhealthy. The problem that caused it is unhealthy and the algae is trying to "fix" the water a bit. And no direct sunlight, only a sm. amount will trigger algae.

good luck! Sounds like your fishies have a good mommy