2ft Shell Dweller setup/stocking advice plz

[Donnixd]

your Bristlenose will clean the glass and rocks and also eat leftovers,

kiriyama

I’m afraid this statement isn’t quite true for my BN and Peppermint, the glass has to be manually clean by me and they both produce too much waste for me to keep up..
They’re both removed to my bigger South American tank, (dw there was no Ph shock, i did drop by drop water change).

I guess in this bigger tank their waste can be more easily siphoned, it’s got wood for them and a larger tank means faster growth rate..

[robert.pope]

Oh no somethings wrong with my tank,

Well we know I’m battling with BBA, i heard overdosing Flourish Excel will eliminate/slow dwn the algae..
Yesterday I brought a bottle and gave this a try (pouring ~3-4 over the recommend use) and now my 4 occies have completely changed their healthy behaviour...
 
They’ve been inside their shell all day...and lots Malaysian trumpet snails are coming out the sand in daylight...
i can see the occies inside the shell they seem to be breathing more heavily,

Did a 40% water change then a test, ammonia is nil and ph is a high 8. It’s definitely my mistake of overdosing the Excel. Im very worried ,
i tried to be detailed, any help would be great             

Hope the fish survive!   I would add extra airstones and carry out another waterchange good luck

[kiriyama]

Oh Oh , bad sign if MTS are out on display , if you see them heading up the glass then give the substrate a good old clean as well, just makes sure nothing nasty lurking in there, hope all is ok.....

[robert.pope]

how are the fish after the overdose?

[Donnixd]

My stupid move cost the life of two of my occies, the two smallest didint make it.... 
and the bigger two are recovering (coming out of their shell), the MTS colony died out..whata disaster.
I plan to replace the two once things settle down and never repeat anything this stupid.

It always a sad feeling when your fish dies (regardless of how small it may be)       

[robert.pope]

My stupid move cost the life of two of my occies, the two smallest didint make it.... 
and the bigger two are recovering (coming out of their shell), the MTS colony died out..whata disaster.
I plan to replace the two once things settle down and never repeat anything this stupid.

It always a sad feeling when your fish dies (regardless of how small it may be)       

sorry to hear you lost those fish.
Lesson learned and put it down to experience. we all make mistakes just have to learn to make fewer and fewer as we go.

[kiriyama]

Donnixd, it was Warwick who said the plecs would eat leftovers and clean the glass, I would like to point out to anyone reading this thread that I have 2 BN youngsters in my 95ltr Multi tank and I feed them regular on carrot, potato, butternut squash, sweet potato, algae wafers and catfish pellets, true they will also eat leftovers including the odd occassion where I have put frozen bloodworm in the tank as well as frozen, krill, brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis and of course various fish flake. All devoured by the plecs, have also on many occassion seen the Juli eating the veg and algae put in for the plecs. As for glass cleaning the BN's had attempted to do there duty but the Multis usually chase them away from the front of the tank, a situation now prevented by moving the shells to rear area of the tank after a recent redesign....

[shaun]

No need to throw anyone under the bus, kiriyama.  We can all read the thread and see the advice that has been posted.  I keep BN in all of my tanks and they do a fine job of keeping the algae somewhat manageable, though it does need manual cleanup as well.  It is all about learning from others experience here.  I use Algaefix in some of my smaller tanks that get a problem with black beard algae, though I still need to take the shells or rocks out to clean the dead algae off.  In my multie tank I also get black beard algae, and I manually scrub 2 or 3 shells every week to clean them off. 

The best advice I can give when experimenting with chemicals, start off with small amounts and take your time increasing them.  I also have OD'd in a tank with Excel, and it melted some of my plants, which was a giant PITA to clean up.

[moonie]

Hi
Just curious how did you apply the excel ?

BTW I like your tank

[Donnixd]

well it's in a bottle, it's liquid. Just pour it into the tank..

[moonie]

Ah I have used excel with great success on BBA but I used a syringe and squirted it undiluted straight on to the BBA I didnt dose the tank. But from what I understand its not a reccomended way to get rid of BBA in high PH etc tanks.

Sorry to hear about your loss , I get real bummed when I lose any of my lil guys

[shaun]

Hi
Just curious how did you apply the excel ?

BTW I like your tank

you can buy pipettes from Drs Foster and Smith, but I work in a lab, so I am able to get 1ml graduated disposible pipettes.  Your local pharmacy should also have pipettes, and may give you one if you ask nice.  I usually add to the bucket when I do a water change, I don't have enough tanks to justify a python.

[Sean]

omg hi Shana!

Okay not to be stupid or anything but whats BBA  I dont speak plants. I read excel and stuff. so im guessing this has to do with plants

[tranced]

black beard algae?

[Sean]

ahh ok that makes sense 
Thanks mate!