Everything in my tank is going green and furry, fish stay on bottom, water very cloudy, snail has fury shell?
I have a 28 UK litre tank (Aqua One 320) it has gravel, two plastic leafy ornaments, one deoration of marvin the marshan and one green shell ornament.
I have four fish: 1 fantail, 1 black more, 2 comets
I have 1 apple snail
The two comets and teh black moore spend a large amount of time sitting on the bottom of the tank looking very sorry for themselves, one of the comets has white spots all over it, am treating with white spot treatment, only been 6 days and only just put in 2nd dose so not much change in the amount of whitespots (the fantail had white spots too but treatment worked).
The gravel is covered in green furry stuff that i assume to be algae, which wont come off when i vaccum, ornaments are also covered in it and also so is my snails shell (how do you clean a snail??)
The sides of the tank are slimey but i guess thats a mix between snail and algae.
I had a bad set up when first got fish as pet-shop owner gave me bad advice (ended up loosing a fish 
). I bought the tank, fish, ornaments, filter, food etc in Bournemouth, took it all to Northampton and, going by his advice, set the tank up for a few hours with the filter on, then put the 5 fish in their bags in the top of the water for half an hour and then one by one, over the course of five hours released them all into the tank.
At first they were all fine and happy, but by the morning the tank was cloudy so I wnet to my local pet shop, got a vacuum, some sinking food, some tap safe (was only given enough for one tank) a water testing kit and told that I should expect to loose the fish because the tank was probably severly poisoned with amonia.
Went home, did water change every three days, things were fine, then they took a turn for the worse. I lost a fish. So I took a radical course of action, set up a bucket of water, left it to settle for two days, put the fish and the ornaments in it, did a complete water change, rinsed down the sides of the tank, squeeze the filter sponge out (in the water from the tank) filled the tank back up and left it for a full 24 hours, the fish were fine in the bucket.
I put them back into the tank, am doing a 50% water change everyday (following instructions on whitespot treatment) and the tank is now all fuzzy, the fish are miserable and I don’t know what to do.
I’m not expecting them all to survive, I know the tank is over stocked and I know that they will all grow fairly large, but currently I’m making do with what I have and can afford.
If you know how to solve my fuzzyness issue and also how to make my fish happy, or know what I should say to the idiot pet shop owner that gave me the oh so wonderful (excuse the sarcasm) advice, I would be more then greatful as I like my fishskies.
I know the tank is over-stocked but the problem is I cannot afford a new one as I spent all my money on this set up and noone else I know wants the fish. So I am stuk with thecurrent set up and the fish, I just need to know how to keep them going until I speak with the guy that sold me the tank. But short of your a moron who doesn’t knwo what your talking about and has just cost me £200 and potentially five fish, I don’t know what to say.
How do you transport the fish 140 miles?
I need to take them back I can’t afford the tank they need.
zip-lock bags or clean bin, got it. I know it’s a stupid question, but you do think he would take back the full set up, tank and cabinet included do you?
I sound so incapable, I’m sorry, The second I found out the stuff I have wasn’t right I’ve been a regular visitor to the shop here talking to everyone who will listen trying to find out what to do, I haven’t just left the fish to it, I am trying I just cna’t afford the bigger tank . And now I’m waffleing, sorry
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1. Your tank is nasty because of how it was set up, stocked and maintained:
- The best thing you could have done was return all the fish. Cycling an aquarium takes 6-8 weeks. Allowing a tank to run for 24 hours fishless does nothing except make sure your equipment is functioning. You need to research the nitrogen cycle.
- For your fancy goldfish alone you should have at least a 30 gallon/115 liter aquarium and the comets should have at least 75 gallons/285 liters. Even as juveniles, I don’t recommend keeping them in anything less than 20 gallons. Seriously consider returning all of them.
- The massive amount of waste produced by the fish in the small space is feeding algae and contributing to seriously bad water quality.
2. The algae sounds like stubborn brush or beard algae. If you want to get rid of it you need to brush it off the ornaments.
3. If you return the fish, and cycle the tank, then you can house a single betta with a snail and a few dwarf shrimp.
~ You know it’s not entirely fair to blame the pet store employee. You made a decision to purchase an aquarium and with that comes the responsibility of learning how to care for an aquarium and fish.
-Perform daily 50% partial water changes on the tank in an attempt to keep harmful levels low.
-Scrub off the algae.
-Cross your fingers.
~Presumably the same way you brought them home. If you still have the bags it’s pretty easy to trap air in them and either tie or band the top. I’ve had customers bring fish in large ziplocs before. Or I’ve used a clean bin to transport fish. Don’t fill it up too high because you don’t want the fish to jump out or water to slosh around your car.
ok so re clean all your ornaments and such, but keep half the water. DONT clean your filter out. If your tank is in sunlight, move it where there is no direct sunlight. The green stuff is algae. you can get products to kill off the algae and your fish have ick, so treat that with ick solution. Also dont over feed your fish- once a day is enough, only what they can eat in 4 minutes. You NEED to get a bigger tank, and while you are waiting to get a bigger one, keep your fish in rubbermaid containers with the filter runing. Just wash the rubbermaid containers out with hot water first. Best of luck.
I didnt read your novel sorry… but sounds like you have a pretty bad algae problem. The fish are staying on the bottom most likely because they are stressed out. Clean your tank and buy a better filter. Hope this helps bucko!
Oh my. Get them a 567 liter (150 gallon) tank with heavy filtration and you should be fine. It is grossly overstocked.
If you don’t want your fish to die, do the above or give them away.
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You should research fish before you buy them. It isn’t our fault.
Well then you are stuck with your problem. The problem is a direct result of an unsuitable environment. I’m sorry I really don’t know what else to tell you.
Unfortunately your tank is too small for 4 goldfish and a snail.
The fish are becoming sick because the waste ammonia that they produce is building up in the water and poisoning them. A side effect of this is that algae is growing, ammonia acts as fertiliser to algae, and it is in fact helping the system by absorbing some of the excess ammonia.
Short term fix, change the water, maybe 1/2 of it, every day. That will keep the ammonia level down to where the fish can survive.
Long term fix, you NEED a bigger tank. No ifs, no buts. You have fish that should grow to 6-12″ long, and live for 10-20 years. You have them in a little toy tank where they are going to suffocate in their own waste in the near future,
You can call people Morons all you want, but my fish are in 200-300 litre tanks, are healthy, have lived for years and are should live for many more. Yours are crammed in a tiny tank and dieing. So who is correct?
If you cant afford the size tank that you need for those fish, return them and swap them for a betta or some White Cloud Minnows. They are smaller and less messy fish that can live happily in that size tank. I understand not having the cash to buy a huge tank, but if that’s the case, get smaller fish.
There is no magic solution to your problem.
Ian
Edit: Best advise I can give you, give the fish away, maybe to a local shop or something. Just keep changing the water until you can organise that. Leave the snail in the tank and just let it run for a few weeks like that. The snail will eat algae, produce snail poop, and set up the natural cycles in the tank. Then get 5 or so White Cloud Minnows. They are small, cute, hardy and cheap fish that will work in your tank.
Well the good news is that your biological filtration in your tank is working overtime to convert the ammonia to nitrite and finally to nitrate. It’s the nitrate levels that are causing abundant algae growth. Nitrate is an indication that your tank is really starting to cycle, and is less toxic to your fish, but can still build up and need to be diluted with water changes.
Given the stocking of your tank though, it sounds like you have high ammonia and nitrite too, which are extremely toxic. I won’t give you a lecture on tank size since it sounds like you know it already. If you can possibly afford it, get a test kit at the aquarium store that will test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH. If you can’t, take a sample of tank water to the aquarium store and have them test it. Most will do so for free.
Ammonia and nitrite should ideally be at zero. Although 0.25 readings are still considered harmful, this is on the low end. Anything higher than that and you need to do a water change. Nitrate should be below 40ppm.
Scrape the algae off your walls and decorations and let it settle to the bottom. Then use a gravel vacuum to change 50% of the water and suck out all the algae that you just removed. Replace with clean dechlorinated tap water. Wait an hour or so and test your water again and ensure that levels have gone down to an acceptable level. You may have to start doing 25% water changes daily for a bit until your tank settles down to keep the water quality acceptable.
As a rule, I tell people that aquarium salt is of dubious assistance. It does, however, dramatically decrease the toxicity of nitrite and nitrate, and a teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon of water in your tank might help in the short term.
To keep wastes from building up in your tank, cut waaayyyy back on the amount you are feeding your fish. The less they eat, the less waste they can produce. Cut feeding back to a small amount every other day if you can, or even less frequently than that.
By reducing the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels in your tank, you reduce the amount of nitrate the algae can use to grow. It should cut down on the growth of algae, but manual removal by scraping and using a gravel vacuum is the only way to keep it down in the short term. Remember that algae is not necessarily a bad thing. It locks up the nitrate where it can’t harm the fish until you can remove it manually. If only it could do the same for ammonia and nitrite.