Help with tank decision

[gligor]

Hi all, I'm struggling with a few things in my fish tank and I am unsure what the right move is so I thought I'd ask for some help in making my decision.

First of all, I've got a lot of snails in my fish tank. I did manage to get their numbers down by syphoning them out when doing water changes as well as getting a few yoyo loaches, but I think only one of them is big enough to eat the snails at this stage at least. So this is my problem number one. It's a problem because these snails eat my plants and my fish tank has half eaten leaves floating to the surface.

Next thing is, not quite sure if the snails are the reason for this, but my plants seem to have really died down. A few months ago they were nice and lush, with great colours etc. Nowadays they look really shrivelled and weak. The leaves are a third of the size they used to be and they just start rotting in the bottom of the stem and then eventually die off or cut off and float to the surface. I am guessing the reason for this might be that I don't use any plant tabs in the soil/gravel, but when I started the tank more than a year ago I put a layer of soil (the Manado product) and then put the gravel on top. The plants were doing really well for more than 9 months. Do you think there is not enough nutrients in the soil anymore? I thought the poo from the fish produce a natural nutrient. Given I don't ever vacuum the gravel, I thought this would provide enough nutrients for the plants. Any suggestions are appreciated?

So I've got a couple of options:

- Live with the snails and keep syphoning them and wait until the other two loaches grow up a bit more and hopefully they will take care of the rest. Also, buy some plant tabs and put them in the soil so the plants perk up a bit, or even go to the extend of buying new plants and plant tabs and grow a new under water garden. Any suggestions on plants that don't get eaten by snails (as leaves with holes on them don't look very attractive)?

- Second option is quite extreme, try to sell off or give away all the fish (or if someone is helpful and is able to house my fish for me while I sort the tank out this would be even better!), buy the copper product that kills off snails and run the aquarium with this product for a month or so to kill off everything in it. Rip out all the plants from the tank.Thoroughly clean the filter (as there is snails in there as well). Dry out the tank completely perhaps (do water snails survive in dry conditions???) Once (hopefully!) all the snails are gone and all the plants are out of the tank, start from the beginning again...

I'm not too keen on either of these options, but it seems like I only have these two. Anyone have any other ideas or suggestions? Thanks for the help!

[ghostknife]

I.had my plants look dead too so I used flourish iron and flourish and they growing slowly but look good  or I can lean u a.four foot if u can pick up and empty 

[ghostknife]

Sorry also what type of fish and lighting

[gligor]

Oh that's right, I forgot to mention. I've used Fluorish Excel and it hasn't really helped.

In regards to fish, I've got various, it's a tropical community. And lighting I have AquaOne AR980 so I've for three tubes, one is white, one pink and one blue. The pink one is the small one, the white and blue are the longer ones, not sure on Wattage.

[Shilo]

The light tubes might be past their use by date.  Fluorescents need to be replaced every 6 months to 1 year as their brightness starts to dim and stop putting out enough light for the plants.  Because its a very gradual process you might not notice it until you put a new bulb in there.  I would just live with the snails and keep them under control by plucking them out and scraping of any egg patches you find once a week with the water change.  They are probably eating the plants as they start to die off and because there is not enough algae in the tank (low light brightness) which I think they prefer.

 

[Ira]

Oh that's right, I forgot to mention. I've used Fluorish Excel and it hasn't really helped.

In regards to fish, I've got various, it's a tropical community. And lighting I have AquaOne AR980 so I've for three tubes, one is white, one pink and one blue. The pink one is the small one, the white and blue are the longer ones, not sure on Wattage.

What are your plants?  If you've bought them at a pet shop a lot of them probably aren't even aquatic plants.

[gligor]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Shilo, I think you are right, I probably need to get some new tubes, that might be part of the problem. Well the blue one is fairly new, but the other two probably need replacing.

And Ira, my plants are hygrophilia, but yeah and I got them from Hollywood Fish Farm.

[camtang]

Cut the stems down regularly and replant the cuttings if you want, this allows light to get to the bottom to keep them growing.

Also get  bottle of flourish comprehensive (or an equivalent)  to continue to give ferts to the plants, use this with the excel as per bottle instructions for best results.

Growing plants is all about balance, picture a triangle with light, fertilizer and co2. Keep the balance right and you will be away laughing. If you do not have a light timmer, I suggest you get one. They are a planted tanks best friend.

[gligor]

Thanks camtang, yeah I do trim regularly and replant. The plants were doing really well for quite some time and I had grown heaps. I think Shilo is right about the lights though, I might go and get 2 new tubes and see if that helps. Then next step will be fertilizer.

[zombieworm]

Hi gligor.

I would say a combination of low light and snails are probably the problem with the plants. Quite a lot of my plants came from Hollywood and I have no problems with any of them. How long do you leave your lights on? Mine stay on for 10 - 12 hrs a day. Remember, tropical aquarium, tropical plants, and that is how long the daylight hours are in the tropics. Not enough light will stopped the plants from growing (obviously) as well as stop algae from growing which is what the snails eat, so with no algae they will resort to eating your poor not-growing plants. Also, why the blue light? That is usually for marine tanks. All my AquaOne tanks have 2 white (both the 25 watts), and one pink (the 20 watt). The pink one is specifically for plant health/growth. I never bother with any kind of plant food, and my only problem is that my plants are rampant and have to be cut back every 2 weeks or they cover the surface entirely. I drop all the excess plant cutting in the turtle tank. Then the turtles have veggies that don't rot (like when you drop lettuce leaves in), they love all the floating plants and spend a lot of time in amongst them, and when I need new plants to replace ones that have gotten too spindly in the tanks, they are right on hand, don't have to go buy more.

As for catching the snails, I  have one tank that the snails go rampant in - it is the only tank that doesn't have something that eats them. I drop a meat based tab like NovoTab at night. In the morning, when I turn the light on, lots of the snails are all congregating on it, and I scoop them out with a net immediately, before they go into hiding for the day. I then dump them in the turtle tank. The turtles love them. Do that once or twice a week, and that should keep the snails under control.

[Fishluva]

Snail population quickly explodes , then seems to settle down. Give it a bit of time. Very hard to eliminate them. I gave up, after a fairly determined effort. I think they might even be beneficial in certain situations.

[Fishluva]

You could try tweezering in a few grains of osmocote or similar on end of your tank and see if it makes a difference?

[gligor]

Thanks for the tips zombieworm and Fishluva, I think you are right about the blue light, I only got it cause I liked the reflection it gave to some of the fish but it's no good for the plants so I will have to change it back to a white one soon.

In regards to the snails, the yoyo loaches are starting to clean them up now so here's hoping they quiet down soon. I'm starting to see fewer and fewer of them. A novotab doesn't work cause my fish would eat it all lol. I'm wanting to add another 2 or 3 loaches and that should further help with cleaning them up as well.

[Pennyleigh17]

Try placing a piece of lettuce in your tank to attract the snails and pull it out once its covered in them. That and dwarf chain loaches helped me get rid of the snails in my tank.

[OCD]

I had a snail explosion ,MTS  too ( I liked them , they cleaned up ) then I got 7 chain loach ... all snails gone after two days!! 

 I love the loaches .... I need more, they are nuts! 

[gligor]

Yeah, I've got 5 yoyo loaches now, they're doing really well! They have started cleaning up some of the snails as well I think. The snails I have are very small though so I am not sure they can eat them when they're that small. I don't think they are MTS. 

In regards to the lights, I did change the blue light back to a white one this weekend and replaced the dead plants with new ones a few weeks ago so the tank is looking nice and active again!!! 

[zombieworm]

I found this on the Aqua One site when I was looking for info on something else. I thought it might be of interest to you. 

"As the red colour spectrum cannot penetrate more than 5m through clear water, photosynthetic organisms below this depth would not be exposed to red light and will have evolved the ability to use the blue colour or spectrum of light that can penetrate this depth. Consequently, marine algae and many corals need a very high proportion of blue light to survive. Photosynthetic organisms that inhabit shallower water or even grow above the surface of the water, such as aquatic plants, will have evolved the ability to use a far greater proportion of red light, and could not survive if provided with the same blue light as required by marine zooxanthellae... The iridescent colours of fish such as Neon tetras, Siamese fighting fish or even goldfish and Koi with a red pigment may be enhanced by installing a light that produces a red spectrum of light."

The 'Tropical' light tubes produce the red light. I have one of those in every tank. If you wanted to keep the blue for its visual effect, try replacing one of the white tubes with a Tropical (red), since the Tropical tubes are specifically for the plants, and the Sunlight (white) are mostly for general illumination. 

 

 

[zombieworm]

Ooo... and here is a link to the Aussie Aqua One site that gives info on the new LED tubes that are replacing the flouros. 

www.aquaone.com.au › lighting

[gligor]

Thanks for sharing that zombieworm. I already replaced the blue light with a white one and have replaced all my dying plants. My aquarium is now as vibrant as ever and I'm loving it!!!

I chose different types of plants as well so I am liking the variety as well.

I'll definitely have a look at the LED tubes and hope they get to NZ soon (or at least in 5 months time when I'll need to replace all my current tubes)

Also a question... How do you guys dispose of the T8 tubes? I have no idea where to throw them.

[Caryl]

You can buy LED tubes here as we were looking at them at a recent Home Show and plan to use them in our lounge to replace the old fluorescents we currently have.

Check your local recyclers, they may dispose of the tubes for you. This came from Zero Waste NZ website...

A good way for some of us to dispose of our old, used bulbs, is to take them to our local Hazmobile collection. (Auckland, Environment Bay of Plenty, Hutt Valley, Waimakiriri.)

For those without access to a proper Council collection, you should be aware that Medichem provides a commercial service for the collection and recycling of all fluorescent light bulbs.

At this stage, the service is not universal across New Zealand, and more collection agents are required. We need to encourage hardware stores and chain stores to take more responsibility here. If you want to know your closest collection point, contact Medichem, phone  0800 10 21 31. Please note that for these hazardous goods, a fee may be payable for their safe disposal - protecting our environment does not come free.