I got pretty destroyed on another post so I'm asking for help here.
I have had my betta boy Finnigan and his tank for a little less than a year now. Things have gotten pretty bad in life but I still do my best to care for him. The only problem is how the tank looks. The algae has SERIOUSLY taken over my tank and just looks terrible.
I change the water weekly, scrape the algae often, and vacuum the gravel. The filter is somewhat broken (it randomly outputs less) but it doesn't seem that fixable. I can't afford a testing kit right now, but the ammonia strips say there isn't any issues.
I seriously don't know what to do with my baby. He means the world to me and I need help making his life a bit better. Any suggestions to make things work and get him happy? Absolutely any tips are appreciated. Thank you.
Posted by Internal_Quote2259
6 Comments
do a blackout for a few days and reduce light overall
Reduce light, continue doing manual removal. How often do you feed? Even without a test kit there’s a lot of evidence your nitrate level could be pretty high. Also when is the last time you rinsed your filter media? If you can afford it, some larger shrimp can help too. Idk what size tank you have but some Amanos could be good since they are big enough where your betta likely won’t mess with them much
A bit of movement in the surface of the water will allow for some gas exchange which might help.
Lower the amount of hours you have the light on, and if possible you could dim them a bit.
If Finnigan does not eat while the water surface is moving, you could disconnect the filter for a moment until he is done eating and connect it again afterwards.
Feed a tiny piece once every 3 days only.
Try to remove filter, impeller, wipe off any slime using paper towel and tank water only.
Remove any dead plant matter.
Scrape algae off as much as possible and do a 50% water change.
Reduce light to 4h a day. A blackout may likely cause an ammonia spike as the algae dies off. Can do a blackout and water changes with twat strips to keep an eye on that.
Algae means the tank is cycled well and just has too much nutrients and/or light.
Definitely what other people are saying with the reducing the light and the manual removal.
You could also try adding a bit of a cleanup crew some shrimp (amano would be best) or some snails. Nerite snails will be your best glass cleaners, but even getting some pest snails (which are normally cheaper) I think would help. I personally like trumpet snails for my pest snails.
Edit: if you add some snails, do a bit of research on what kind. For example, mystery snails have a high bioload and probably wouldn’t help much.
Do some or all of these things:
Reduce light (amount of time or intensity or both)
Reduce nutrients like uneaten food.
Scrape it off.
Add critters that eat algae, like snails or other types of fish.
Add competition (like other plants.)