changing decor of tank

Question
Hi  Chris!
Please accept my apologies for constantly bugging you with my fishy questions!  As many newbies to the aquarium world, I quickly put together my aquarium without much thought about the decor of my tank.

We purchased a 20 gallon tank for our daughter's 5th birthday.  Although we did everything right (with your awesome advice) in cycling the tank, I now regret some of our choices for the decor of the tank.  Also, brown algae and/or iron deposits from our water tend to congregate on our silk plants.  As you know, we currently have no algae eaters, but are in search of some Oto Cats.

My daughter chose and I foolishly bought blue and white substrate (what was I thinking?!?!).  Looking at the tank now, with all the pretty fish and plants, the substrate looks tacky and down right nasty in my opinion.  I am thinking of changing to a more natural colored substrate.  Our local petstore has a wide variety of substrate to select from, I am eyeing one that looks like river rock, only on a much smaller scale.  Question number one...How do I go about changing over?  Would it be best for the tank to do sections at a time, say one fourth to half then wait for a mini-cycle?  The reason I am asking is that I am thinking of moving the tank into the livingroom so all can enjoy our  beautiful fish, but simply cannot stomach the blue and white gravel!  (Doesn't go with my decor, LOL!)  Or should I not tempt fate and just leave it alone?

Also, we have brown algae and our water is high in iron content.  I do my scraping of the walls whenever I do a water change and try to clean the plants off periodically.  Out of curiosity, I let the plants go.  After about four weeks, the plants are covered with this rust/brown colored icky nastiness.  It rinses off fairly easily, but tends to stain the lighter colored plants.  So I do the bleach thing and all is pretty again.  My question is....can I purhcase extra plants and decorations and switch them out every three to four weeks.  Will this stress my fish out if they are not the same ornaments and plants?  I know this seems like a goofy question, but I don't want my fish to suffer just to make life easier on me.  Also, I think it would be a great idea to let the plants sit for a good length of time so that I do not kill my fish.  After soaking in the bleach mix and rinsing for a long time, I do soak the plants in water containing water conditioner to remove any clorine left over and let them dry over night, but am not certain if this is enough.  I would like to buy ornaments and plants that are different from the ones we already have to keep things interesting, but not if it is at my fishes expense.

Bad news, as I have told you previously, we purchased three new platys.  Two of the three have died, no apparent reason.  We bought them at the same store, they were all from different tanks.  Our water is good, no ammonia, no nitrites, I do not let the nitrates get higher than 10ppm (I'm obsessed!).  One day they were eating and being pretty fish, next day, hovering at the bottom of the tank never to rise again.  No fin clamping, nothing, until they were close to death.   So far, (crossing fingers here), the rest of our fish are looking and acting perfectly healthy.  However, I treated the tank with melafix just to be on the safe side.  Cross your fingers for me!!!  I called the store and they would refund my money, but the lady just callously said "that just happens sometimes, get over it".  My daughter cried and cried about losing her "fish friends".  Needless to say, I will NOT purchase fish from this store again!  We had one fish for 11 days and one only lasted 5 days.  We have purchsed one fish from this store prior to this and have had no trouble with her, she is thriving.  Have any clues?  Do you think that because this store is 40 or so miles away that the water conditions are to different for an easy transition for the fish?  Which leads me to another question (you poor thing!), I keep reading about this "drip method" for introducing new fish to a tank, but no one goes on to tell how to do it!  Can you please explain to this newbie what and how to do the "drip method"!!!

That's all for now! Have a wonderful weekend and if you tell me to keep the blue and white substrate, I promise, I will!  Take care and thanks for being such a patient saint!

Cathi

Answer
Hi Cathi;

I am so sorry it took so long to get to your question! I have been incredibly busy so it's been hard for me to get here lately. Don't worry about asking  lots of questions. You certainly aren't 'bugging' me! You can't learn about stuff if you don't ask.

You can keep a second set of decorations if you want to so they always look fresh. Changing the decorations is a lot of trouble though. I am certain it does stress the fish too. If the chlorine wasn't coming out of them enough you would know it by now.....your fish would be telling you by, um...going belly up. If you get a couple of otocinclus algae eaters they will keep them clean too. They stay small, about 1.5 inches, and are very docile. Little cleaning machines! Here is a page on their care with photos; http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Otocinclus.htm
Avoid the traditional 'chinese algae eaters'. They are nasty little devils. If you can't find otocinclus you could get a small variety of plecostamus instead. Bristlenose, rubbernose, clown, are all varieties that stay under 8 inches and will be fine for you 20 gallon. Avoid the regular plecostamus. They get over 18 inches long. Yikes! Here is more on what many plecostomus look like;
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Plecoctomus.htm

Isn't that colored gravel just hideous?! Blech! And it shows crud so much more too. There is a process by which you can change it out without depriving the system of beneficial bacteria. Get a few knee-high nylon stockings and rinse them out. Fill them with your new gravel, tie off the tops and lay them on the old gravel in the tank. Leave them for 2 weeks and then you can remove the old ugly stuff without letting it mix with the new one. Open the nylons and let it all go freely on the bottom. The 2 weeks gives the beneficial bacteria time to grow on the new stuff.

The lack of sympathy for your dead fish is unfortunately all too common. It may be telling though, that she is far too accustomed to it. You are wise to shop elsewhere. I have done the drip method of acclimation, but usually it's used for saltwater fish and other more delicate animals.  It really is a pain in the neck though so I just mix a little water from the tank to the bags every couple of minutes instead. Float the bags for no longer than 10 minutes once you get them home and do the mixing thing during that time. I usually add 1/2 cup or so every 2 or 3 minutes. It is important not to let the bag water go into the tank when you are done. There is ammonia and stress hormones in there that you don't want in your tank. Here is a good article about both methods; http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=0&siteid=6&acatid=415&aid=...

Melafix is a great product to keep around. I probably would have used it that day too. Aquarium Salt is a good one to keep on hand as well. If your fish ever show those symptoms again add 1/2 teaspoon of salt per gallon and raise the water temperature to 80 degrees. Higher temperatures weaken and sometimes kill parasites and bad bacteria. It helps the fishes' immune systems and metabolism though so they can fight off the weakened pathogens.

Keep up the good work!

Followups Welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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