Pacosstamus

Question
Hi, I am kind of a new tank owner. I have a ten gallon tank with freshwater community fish in it. I recently had high ammonia levels cause of the whole nitrogen cycle jazz and one of my guppies died. I also noticed that my paccosstamus has started to have grey spots, almost like stripes on him, and i'm worried he might be sick. I've lowered the ammonia level and continue to check it, but i'm not sure if he has a disease or it's because of the water quality.

Also, i'm having a snail problem and i'm not sure what to do. I've been taking out as many as i can see and also i have an underwater catfish that i'm told will eat snails although i haven't seen him eat anything.

Also, i have neon tetras and one guppy now and they don't come to the top to eat the food they only wait until it falls down in front of them..

I'm just wondering if this is normal behavior. sorry to bombard you with questions i'm just a little new at this all.

I'd really appreciate it! Thanks! :D

Answer
Hi Heather;

Since the snails are being so prolific the trouble is probably from overfeeding. We all do it from time to time. In smaller tanks it can be especially devastating. Ammonia should always be "zero" in an established tank but excess organic waste from overfeeding will cause it to go up. To get your tank straightened out and healthy, make a series of 25% water changes and gravel vacuuming. Do the water changes and light vacuuming every day for 3 or 4 days and then twice a week after that until the fish are doing better. A 25% change and vacuuming once a week is good once the tank becomes healthy. Be sure to use a water conditioner every time and be sure the new water is the same temperature as the old water. The vacuuming will get waste out of the gravel that is causing ammonia and that the snails are thriving on. Vacuuming the gravel will also remove a lot of baby snails. Cut back on food too. Fish don't eat as much and don't digest properly when the water chemistry is off. Especially if ammonia is elevated. This means a lot of extra food could be polluting the water without you realizing it. When everything looks better, feed once a day an amount of food that your fish can totally consume from all areas of the tank in less than 5 minutes. If there is food left anywhere after 5 minutes you are overfeeding. Even if they eat it all after a little while, they are getting too much food.  

There could be a toxin called nitrite present now too if the ammonia has been going down. Ammonia converts to nitrite as your tank balances and goes through the break-in period. Nitrite poisoning causes fish to act shy, stop eating and fade in color too. You might want to have the nitrite and nitrate tested to see how it's progressing. Here is a link to my page on new tanks to help you know more about what's been going on in there;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

Plecostomus really get too large for a 10 gallon tank so instead of keeping him you might look into getting an algae eater called an Otocinclus when the tank is finally balanced. They stay small and are good algae fish.

Followups welcome....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins