Fish tank water question?
I have a twenty gallon with one 5 inch comet, one 3 inch oranda, and one 3 inch black moor goldfish. My 10 gallon has five 3/4 inch neon tetras and two 1 inch albino catfish. My 6 gallon has a male betta. These tanks have been running for about 3 months with seemingly no problems. However, in the last week or so the 10 gallon has experienced an excessive algae growth and the betta is battling "pop eye". The goldfish are happy and healthy. All tanks have 40 gallon, 20 gallon and 10 gallon filters respectively. Problem is........testing the water says all levels are "within" safe zone (borderline readings) but the Ph is 8.4 at least. Normal tank maintenance is performed weekly and AquaSafe chemical is always used.
Why do I have the sudden change in the 10 and 6 gallon tanks?
Normal weekly maintenance is 25 percent water changes and filters are changed about every other water change.
I would check the temperatures of the 10 and 6 gallon tanks if you are using heaters. Warmer water encourages growth. Algae takes a few weeks or months to incubate and develop, so it’s likely a gradual problem, not a sudden one. I would also check how much water change you are doing, you say you are doing ‘normal maintenance’ but it’s not clear what this means. Finally I’d just buy some cheap water snails to eat the algae for the 10g if your tetras and catfish look okay. For the betta, I’d treat pop-eye as a separate issue, and buy the appropriate medicine. If the fish in the 10g tank are okay then the pop-eye probably is not related to algae.
Check if sun light or even day light falls directly onto your tank. This enhances the growth of the algae in the tank. The only reason for algae growth.
this is going to soud strange but have you done a water change lately and if so have you tested the tap water? the other thing to look at is the types of rocks and plants youhave in the tank as some of them will raise or lower the ph. lastly what you shoulddo is get some ph down and slowly return the ph to its neutral leval once you do that buy some ph 7.0 that stuff is a life saver. again make sure any new rocks or plants that may be causing the ph to jump are taken out though
If you have a tank with alot of lighting that could cause all the algae. also i have some goldfish that had pop eye as well as your betta and I used "BINOX" (a type of medicine ) andit cleared up fast. you can prbavly find it at a local pet store.
Not sure about your betta, but the algae could be either from excess lighting or excess nitrates (over-feeding). I would try turning your lights off earlier, sheilding the tank from any external sunlight and reducing the amount of food you put in the tank. Although nitrate tests tell you that anything under 40ppm is okay, less is better (10ppm or under)
That PH of 8.4 is worrisome. I am getting my water out of the Great Lakes, which are almost as hard and alkaline as the Rift Lakes in Africa and my PH is nowhere near that high. Have you checked your water hardness levels? I am willing to hazard a guess here and say that you have either some kind of shells or some chalky rocks in your water. Shells are bad, bad news in freshwater tanks as they will send the PH and the hardness soaring. Same with any rocks with high levels of lime. If you have either remove them and do a 50% water change three consequetive weeks and see if the PH and hardness drop. If not, check your tap water, although I’ve never heard of any tap water that is that alkaline. Another possible cause (and this could also be a possible cause for algae) is that you have introduced something into the water that has made the Phosphorus levels jump. Again this points at either a chalky kind of rock or possibly detergent contamination. Phosphorus has a lot of the same negative effects as Nitrogen, at lower levels. I just went through a problems with some of my tanks that I finally got solved by taking care of high phosphorus levels. High P can highly stress many fish, as can the very high alkalinity you are experiencing. Since Bettas come from swampy water that tends to be acidic it is not surprising your betta is having some problems. I would hazard that if you get this water quality problem in hand your betta’s problems will go away too.
i don’t know about your betta but your 10 gal. tank w/ excessive algae growth may be getting too much uv light try either moving your tank away from direct sun or reduce the amount of time you leave your tank light on
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