Fish/aquarium peeps! Rusty slime?

[NotabitaiI]

Does anyone know what's going on with this water? There's a rusty substance developing on the sidewalls and gravel. I'm removing the fish at the moment.

 

[NotabitaiI]

This aquarium has only been running for about two weeks and already two fish have died and another was permanently disabled by the water intake so I'm hoping I can convince the owner to chuck it.

 

[Squawkers]

@OnlySympathy

 

[Yardmom]

Was this a newly started tank? How was it cycled? Some algae can be rust colored. In general algae is not harmful to fish.

 

[NotabitaiI]

Was this a newly started tank? How was it cycled? Some algae can be rust colored. In general algae is not harmful to fish.

Yes it's newly started.
They didn't cycle it. They bought it used, treated the water and chucked the fish in.

 

[KimbosKluckers]

Algae can be different colors, usually not harmful to fish. May be over feeding or intense light. What killed the fish is most likely from not cycling the tank.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

I had a 29 gallon aquarium for two years, and a 10 gallon before that. I found that the less I did with the water, the better, but I also had an ecosystem of live plants and I supplemented with liquid CO2. It takes a minimum of two weeks for things to settle, as the water filter all by itself can't do that until it has microbes living in it.

When I had brown slimy algae like that, it was usually due to high nitrates, which comes from waste and a lack of oxygen.

Bubblers help, but live plants are the best way to go if the owner can keep up with them.

 

[NotabitaiI]

I had a 29 gallon aquarium for two years, and a 10 gallon before that. I found that the less I did with the water, the better, but I also had an ecosystem of live plants and I supplemented with liquid CO2. It takes a minimum of two weeks for things to settle, as the water filter all by itself can't do that until it has microbes living in it.

When I had brown slimy algae like that, it was usually due to high nitrates, which comes from waste and a lack of oxygen.

Bubblers help, but live plants are the best way to go if the owner can keep up with them.

Okay, I'm going to get live plants on Monday so hopefully that helps the water. Mine is too fragile to be in a tank with much water movement so I was already picking up buddy plants to help him out.

 

[FunnyBunny89]

Okay, I'm going to get live plants on Monday so hopefully that helps the water. Mine is too fragile to be in a tank with much water movement so I was already picking up buddy plants to help him out.

Hopefully the people at the store are knowledgeable and can recommend the best plant for a small tank with that kind of lighting. Shrimp and snails (not the tiny invasive ones, the reputable ones) are great at eating unwanted algae, but they also need hiding places. You can get tiny ghost shrimp, as long as they have a hidy hole and plants to climb around on.

ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: Inspect your live plants for tiny snails and transparent snail eggs. They look like little jellies stuck on the plants leaves and stem. If you find any, wash them away. Those mfers will destroy an ecosystem in days because they reproduce like crazy and poop a ton.

 

[NotabitaiI]

Hopefully the people at the store are knowledgeable and can recommend the best plant for a small tank with that kind of lighting. Shrimp and snails (not the tiny invasive ones, the reputable ones) are great at eating unwanted algae, but they also need hiding places. You can get tiny ghost shrimp, as long as they have a hidy hole and plants to climb around on.

ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: Inspect your live plants for tiny snails and transparent snail eggs. They look like little jellies stuck on the plants leaves and stem. If you find any, wash them away. Those mfers will destroy an ecosystem in days because they reproduce like crazy and poop a ton.

Okay tysm!