Whoa that's the point of no return?? Dang most of the plants in one of my tanks looks just like that 😂😭

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Well for quick growing stem plants, yes just for convenience

Omgosh, that is so much work. If I had to do that in my entire fish room I'd die lol. It is good to know all this for a special "show" tank that has no cleaning crew. But a lot of it relies on having a secondary "worker bee" tank available. I just spread my worker bees around the fish room, and that works fine too...if you're not doing a biotope, like Alex is maintaining.

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Totally. I wish i could get my hands on some copepods or carp the 4 fish species in the lake that eat algae..but the siamese algae eater in there temporarily eats a few hundred grams of algae a day while growing out :)

@harenthiran

Ай бұрын

What are the 'worker bee'?

This video could not have come at a better time-- one of my tanks has a sudden algae bloom, and I have plenty of shrimp in one of my other tanks to do this trick! Thank you, and as always you make the best videos

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

So glad to hear it! (It seems counter intuitive that you'd toss algae into a stable tank...but if you do it in small bunches floating, it seems to work like a charm! Best of luck!

Great video! Since my algae infestation a couple of months ago, I rarely use liquid fertilizers. I occasionally use root tabs though. I appreciate your tip a while back on the Reticulated Siamese Algae Eaters. I removed as much of the soft green hair algae as I could by hand, then added the SAE. All traces of algae were gone in a day! I had ordered some Neoaradina shrimp online, but they arrived way too small for my display tank, and now have a tank of their own with some Chili Rasboras. I think the rasboras may be too small to go in with my other nano fish in the display tank, even after a couple of months.

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

So glad to hear it John! Right on. Haha I love when I'm not making crap up and it actually works for people other than myself too! Haha

I really, really needed this video! I have spent so much time and money on my tank getting back into the hobby and I have this algae! I was feeling so discouraged and heartbroken! This video gave me hope when I was starting to feel only despair. I don't mind putting in the work at all, just the guidance and encouragement was what I needed. Thank you!

@Fishtory

Ай бұрын

You can do it! Good luck. Let me know how it goes

I had a nice thick amount of algae on the out take(?) of my aquaclears and it disappeared. I loved looking at it. Idk what happened but I wish it didn't disappear. I also have a skull in my tank slanted a bit sideways for fish to hang out in that very slowly started to grow a small smear is algae at the top and it is gone. It looked so natural and I bought a clown pleco and it is gone.

Thank you so much, I’ve wanted so many videos & this was the most clear example & explanation. Really appreciate your sharing.

@Fishtory

2 күн бұрын

Of course. Welcome!

Love your videos!!. Thank you again!!!❤

Nice save with the full service cleaning tank to the rescue lol. Good trick. I was having a big problem with nitrites for awhile (finishing a long cycle on a new tank) and I tossed in some frog bit and mini water lettuce, sucked up the nitrites for me, but left the tank with a crutch. When I took the floaters out, the nitrites spiked again… So I had to take 25% a day out giving the bacteria time to consume the extra nutrients. After 5 days of good levels, finally moved all the floaters out of that tank 🖖😅

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Right on! That's so much nicer than harsh chemicals!

Excellent video again @Alex.keep them coming mate. I've a siamese algae eater but it's getting a little rough on my plants and a good size at 5" in length.I'm seriously considering a swap out for some otto's and shrimp,my main stock is cardinals and dwarf neon rainbows.

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah they are only good from 1-4 inches or so...then they start ripping holes in plants and also getting cranky with other fish

My breeding tank for my fry is full of algae. The fry grow so fast its silly. I feed them multiple times per day because the algae and plants are able to keep up with the food and poop waste Update: i woke up today and one of my guppies got 30 fry. I had to take it out of the breeding tank. 30 fry is more than enough

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Great point... live bearers like green algae more than plecos Even.

I had algae in my tank I could see it looked like fine hair what I did was get a chopstick and twirled it around I could feel it on the chopstick and pulled it out wiped the the stick and carried on until I got it all out I'm now using eSHa PROTALON-707 Algae treatment plant friendly I found it very satisfying using the chopstick to twirl round n pull out the algae now doing a weeks treatment just started it today if all else I'll get some shrimps in my tank I have Neon tetra wild Green tetra elder Guppies n Lampeye all babies there all happy swimming around nicely they've got lots of plants to play hide-and-seek very relaxing to see the playing thanks for your adive on your video I'm smiling because I should have thanked you first for you're very informative video's I've subscribed to them so I get them all so a big thank from me here in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧

The algae in my aquarium look exactly the same, but my Malawa shrimps don't eat them, neither do the ramshorn snails. When I rip them off with my fingers (they are tough for their thinness), they just grow back a few days later. I've pulled out some 30 cm long threads of these algae. Either I'll try chemicals or I'll have to turn the tank into kind of a Dutch Style, getting rid of all driftwood, stones, Carpets and slow growing plants (Anubias and Bucephalandra). Anything that grows faster seems to be fine.

@Fishtory

8 ай бұрын

Do you feed your fish? Shrimp and snails will prefer scraps of fish food over algae , all day long. But usually if you don't feed anything for 4 or 5 days, they'll be all over the algae grazing

@tim_koch14

8 ай бұрын

@@FishtoryThanks for the tip! There are no fish in this tank because it's quite small (25 L or 6.6 gal) and unheated/subtropical. It's mostly a plant tank. How much do I feed? It's hard to say exactly, but the snails are growing much slower than they could, so not very much. There are always a few brown leaves in the tank though, so hopefully nobody is starving. Shrimp food is amost down to zero. So before going full Dutch or the chemical route, I'll try feeding even less for a while and see what happens.

Boosting for the algorithm 🙌 Love your work, keep it up! 🌻🐝

@Fishtory

5 ай бұрын

Thank you! Will do!

Rachel O' Leary used to do that. She would put her algae ridden plants and put them in her ammano tank. Especially anubias, buce and mosses attatched to wood or rock. How cool the Malawa do the same thing. And the other tips you gave were so useful too. If I had a really bad entangled algae mess, I would just get brutal and rip everything really slimed out, out of the tank and throw it away. Chop val down to almost nothing. Do water change after scrubbing the glass and rocks and then replace and plant what I ripped out with a nice new, healthy plant and add a big wad of hornwort and heavily rooted pothos, along with some floating anacharis, add in 20 or so more ramshorn snails and that has always worked to keep the normal cycling algaes in staying in smaller patches and under control until all the various algaes cycle thru, along the way to a good balanced tank. Since Rachael hasn't been around much these days, thank you for bringing the... move the algae covered plants to a shrimp tank, and thanks for the other tips too. I really don't think people understand that even at 6 months a tank still hasn't found it s complete balance yet, or that it's totally normal for a tank to go thru a series of various algae cycles. Normally newbies that just had kind of a quasi interest in having a fish tank, end up looking at everything covered in algae and all slimey with algae all over the glass and substrate and they just say...uh NO. This has got to GO, it's just disgusting. It's just gross and you can't even see the fish well, and it stinks too, this keeping an aquarium is not fun or enjoyable at all. Screw this, and they tear it all down and shove it in the garage or basement or give it away, while mumbling, gonna get that kitten the old lady wanted to begin with, at least they're clean, and she's the one dealing with the litter box, yeah, should have gone that route instead of this disgusting stinkin' mess. I'm so glad you address all these things and show your own tanks going thru the less pretty phases and how to handle it. You're getting a lot of new folks to your channel, some of them inexperienced or first time, first aquarium people, and when you put content out that addresses their problems with a new tank and show ways to fix it or at least keep it under control until the next algae form has it's phase, I honestly believe a lot more people will be motivated to stay in the hobby and try out different fish and aquatic critters and plants and end up with a few tanks that they are truly into. 👍❤👍

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Whoa as usual... you summed up things better than I could have haha

I put guppy fry and juveniles in my new set up along with ramshorn snails and they clean it up in a couple of days. They aren’t always fans of hair algae so I use a tooth brush. I don’t get much algae tho because I always add floaters even if I eventually remove them after I get things balanced

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Usually my tanks are similar to what you're saying, however this one has such intense lighting and fertz/co2

Thank you for another great vid. Where can one find caridina malawa shrimp? My search came up empty for both "caridina malawa" and parvidenta. Thanks in advance!

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

So aquatic arts often has them, but they are not as common in the USA as in Europe and Asia (yet). Later once it warms up, I'll be selling them (if you still want some in a month or so, just let me know and we can sort something out. )

@Hazel-Hill

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory Thank you :) I called Zen, they said they normally have a few. I keep my tanks in a sunroom because they look so beautiful scattered among the plants. Comes with a price though! Lots of sunlight=lots of algae

great video, will definitely be using your suggestion😊

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

I think you'll love it lol

Red glass barbs are pest algae eaters, they don't require Heat, they're colorful and happy and eradicate the hard crusties beautifully, great video

Great advice, thanks 😊

what kind of plant is that that you pulled up at the beginning? had some faintly reddish tinted narrow leaves... some type of rotalla?

@Fishtory

Жыл бұрын

It's a rotala H'ra

Brown algae has over run my plants, the ludwig repens have it on the leaves and every blade of dwarf hair grass is brown with algae. Love the vid just need some guidance.

@Fishtory

Жыл бұрын

Probably water changes are needed... a few 50% ...2 or 3 a week for 2 weeks, turn the lights to 6 hours a day and if you wanna truly speed things up, get some nerite snails. Best of luck

Luckily I've never had blackbeard algae yet. Note to self buy a Turkey baster. Some great info and tips, thanks Alex👍what was the name of the shrimp you mentioned?

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Sure thing :) they are called caridina malawa shrimp

@alisonnicholson

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory thanks Alex, much appreciated 👍

Alex I just recently scored some cabomba, The tank does not have fish in it yet. Why would the needles all the sudden fall off of the cabomba?

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Your water is likely too hard or extremely soft. It ideally needs 60-200 tds and ph of 7 or lower

@pa.fishpreacher6166

2 жыл бұрын

just checked the TDS it is below 200 I have some stratum in that tank so that could lower the ph. what can i do to raise it a bit? @@Fishtory

@pa.fishpreacher6166

2 жыл бұрын

the GH is 25 should I try to raise it? @@Fishtory

Shisho!! I hope you're doing well!! I haven't been but I'm trying to catch up on vids when I can between lupus flare ups and a dog that tore her ACL. Question re not algae... I have a cyanobacteria bloom ONLY in the substrate of my deep substrate natural light tanks. What are your thoughts on battling this in the most Shisho natchy way possible??? Any help is appreciated!! Rock on w/ your bad self!! ✌️

@Fishtory

3 ай бұрын

Hey there. Sorry to hear you have been in pain. Hugs. Um I allow any deep cyano that stays in the Substrate. There are a few common kinds that seem harmless in the tanks I keep...it'll stay growing for years and actually move minerals into pockets and lines as the colony moves and grows. Then over time the plants feed from those areas... but if it's in the water column I hit it with a 1/4 dose of erythromycin these days...and 1/2 the fish dose if that doesn't nuke it all. From my guess, there is cyano that likes something in the substrate....nutrient wise, and some that like light and oxygen rich water. The annoxic substrate kind hasn't ever caused health troubles for me, but the stuff on plants or glass etc... that has poisoned fish in extreme cases. So whereas I used to be anti- using antibiotics...now I'm lazy I guess and I just kill it with antibiotics in low doses.

@Fishtory

3 ай бұрын

I'll do a video on it

@laurabustos6560

3 ай бұрын

@@Fishtory thanks Shisho!! I think I'll, as per your thoughts and observations, just keep an eye on it. In one tank I tried that product Chemi Clean because I'm in California and no stores carry fish antibiotics, so that's the best I can do. But it didn't touch/ reach the cyano in the substrate at all! And the tank has delicate critters, Exclamation Point Rasbora and shrimp, so I'd rather not add more chemicals. Unless it gets up in the water column of course. A vid on this stuff would be wonderful!! Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week and a restful and healthy weekend. 🙏✌️

@laurabustos6560

3 ай бұрын

Let me know if you'd like pics to add to your research and vid. 😉

I haven't had algae for a while... I'm not sure why but I'd like some for the shrimp. I have to feed them algae pellet pieces. Also I want to note that your sunset gourami are so beautiful. I tried to keep a duo of them twice... both times they gasped at the top of the water for days. I couldn't find anything on-line to tell me what was going on and they all passed away. Do you have some idea what that was about? I'd love it if you could make a video on the smaller gourami someday. I have a couple of honeys who are thriving. Both males i n the same tank. They chase each other sometimes, and other times, they just hang out together. Take care! Best wishes to you and Laura.

@Fishtory

Жыл бұрын

So they are pretty inbred sadly. They tend to just have health issues and not live that long since they all travel here from farms in asia to florida and to local shops ...getting stressed each stop and meds at several stops too. Gasping is normal for them, but if gills are red then the waterhad ammonia or they had flukes or ich at some point...sometimes that scars the gills and they slowly succumb. Sorry to hear that though

@CarolynnMc01

Жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory Thank you, Alex! I'm certain it wasn't ammonia, because I take care to test aquarium water frequently. I won't be getting anymore Sunsets, They're such beautiful little fish. It was a shame they died. They were youngsters. (sad face!) I appreciate the help you give! You sure are generous. Take care!

I have green hair algae in small amount in my aquarium. Every week i remove them manually detailed but after few days i see more of them. They just won't disappear..

@Fishtory

7 ай бұрын

Are your nitrates over 20ppm? Is the light on more than 8 hours... id adjust those issues if they exist, first. If still it persists, you can always use 2 OR 3 doses of seachem flourish excel.

Cool tips as always! Are seed shrimp a threat to an aquarium? They've been eating my hornwort plant

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

They'll eat weak and tiny fish fry or shrimp babies/eggs off the mother shrimp. But for the fish...no they're harmless and tasty plus they eat algae and fish poop 1 or 2 cycles lol

@mraquaticnews5676

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory Really? They're microscopic in comparison to fry. BTW don't see them anymore think the Super Blue Tetra ate them all! Thanks Alex!

are you not releasing excess nutrition into your water column when you pull a plant out from the roots.

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

You do definitely release some....and that's why I always do a 30 to 50% water change after also

I have 2 nano tanks done the Father Fish way. And the 7 gallon cube tank has a ton of hair algae. Its taking over on my bonsai tree that I topped with Christmas moss. I have a Betta and 10 Neocardina shrimp and a bunch of tiny Ramshorn snails with one bigger one. (My Betta eats a lot of the tiny baby snails.) And a dwarf Ottocinclas cat, but non of them eat the hair algae. I heard somewhere to get some glass feeder shrimp as they eat hair algae. The other tank is a 10 gallon which I put together a month after my 7 gallon. The 10 gallon has very few plants, and no hair algae....yet. I keep picking out as much hair algae as I can. But its overwhelmed my little tank! HELP!!

@jodip719

28 күн бұрын

I know this is older, but my mollies cleared an entire 29 gallon tank of hair algae in a few days. I had 5 juvenile mollies.

@dchkerries1

10 күн бұрын

@jodip719 Thanks for the advise! I'm not sure how well Mollies would do in soft water. Plus they would get to big for my little tank. But I will certainly keep Mollies in mind if I get a bigger tank, as I really do like the Sail fin Mollies.

@jodip719

10 күн бұрын

@dchkerries1 you're welcome! They would not thrive in soft water. They like hard water with a higher pH. My tanks run at a pH of 8.2. Crushed coral can help harden your water if you ever need it.

between the amano shrimp and bladder snails , algae doesnt last long here

When things get out of hand, i like starving scuds... I swarm my tank with them...

I’ll love to have ammono shrimp again they were great cleaners and a lot of fun.

@Fishtory

Жыл бұрын

They are... but my two issues with them are: agressive to other shrimp and 2. They are escape artists

Hi, i really like your intelligent videos and general lack of advertising. I have a question, where can i find malawa shrimp? it's like they're nowhere and the internet doesn't want me looking at them. Would you be willing to ship some? also I'd like to discuss aquarium stuff with you as well.

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

I will be shipping some in the next month or so (when freezing night Temps are totally done here). But sometimes aquatic arts carries them as well

@bijanmozafari3826

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory awesome! let me know what are your recommendations for micro organisms to intentionally culture in a tank? in other words besides scuds, shrimp, and snails what are some smaller or lesser known detritivores that can help balance a near cyclical ecosystem and food chain? or am i getting this wrong and all of them just come in time. follow up question (sorry for so many) i hear people on the forum griping about deep substrate and anoxic pockets. are you saying those issues are less relevant when managed correctly? how can i better manage it? i plan to mineralize my soil and make diy fert balls. which forums do you use?

I think shriumps are the best and easy ways to get rid of algeas.

Well i finally find my way to do i think. Of course - trim the infested plants, but what i guess you need is to cut amount of matter in your water column. Add good soil, so plants can have food mostly trough their roots. More often water changes remove all debris you can, add, some floating plants to dim a light for a bit and use excess food without using co2,, and then ad just a bit of fertilisers so plants that doesnt take food from soil have enough. Maximize co2, so plant can take over. Carefully use some hydrogen peroxyde and easy carbo on algae hotspots. Clean up your filters from residue. Of course wash it only with aquarium water. Optimize size of the filter to your aquarium size and number of fishes. Buy lot of shrimps, and cleaner fishes. Aaand eventually you will come to the point that you cant find hair algae any more and it will stop ruining your plants and what hurts the most - the mosses!

@Fishtory

8 ай бұрын

Lol yes all of the above

Hey I Love ❤️ Bob the Fish 🐟 🙏

The shrimp trick really appeals to me! Would you recommend a seller?

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

I buy from 3 places. Aquatic Arts. (I have a code SECRET15 for 15% off) tgoeshrimp.com (the Garden of eder..... and code secret10 for 10% off) and LRB Aquatics for neocaridina. Message me in a month or so, if you still can't find malawas, and I'll sell some of my spring babies

@thebeigesheep6132

Жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory will malawas breed with my neocardinia and mess up the color?

Do you sell Malawa shrimp? I’d love to find some! None of my LFS carry these.

@Fishtory

Жыл бұрын

Yes i do. I have a wild strain for 750 each up to 10 ct. And its $60 for 10 and 6 a shrimp above 10 + about 16-20$ shipping and packaging. Then my red line morphs are 15 each. My blue Malawa are 10 each and i have spent 8 years selectively line breeding them ... theyre guaranteed the easiest shrimp in the hobby, yet theyre usually brown, green or clear...so they have been ignored, but im the only breeder to have stable blue color lines and also gold nebula (white speckled) morphs. Which are 12 each. They also breed faster than any shrimp in the hobby currently

@candysworld4u

Жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory I will email you!

What is the spelling of the shrimp used in this video. I am totally getting some! Awesome video 👍

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Malawa caridina

Wow amazing ideas.

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it. It sort of surprised me when I saw aquascapers doing it...but if you have enough shrimp or fish that munch on the algae, just let up on the fish food for 4 or 5 days and tada...clean plants hehe

Awesome stuff mate

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! This is a trick I see a few lfs doing, especially if they have a community or amanos for sale or whatnot.

@brushitoff503

2 жыл бұрын

For sure! I need to get my Shrimp levels back up & put some in my bigger tank

Is this the type of Sulawesi shrimp you are speaking of? They have red patterns. This website makes it appear that this type of shrimp is very difficult to keep and breed (while also being exceptionally beautiful). I have a few short nose shrimp which eat so many types of algae including BBA. They look very similar to Amano shrimp.

@Fishtory

10 ай бұрын

So Sulawesi has over 106 shrimp species. The cardinal aka denerle cardinal is probably the one you saw...and yes, they're difficult. But the malawa sulawesi is from freshwater streams and can live in diverse waters (Caridina parpare dentata i believe).

My female bristlenose plecos anus becomes inflamed, as if their stomachs are full of eggs. They do not mate. It is as if a male fish is beating them into the cave. And after a while they die from inflammation. Can you help me?

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

It sort of sound like you may have worms or a parasite that is bloating the stomachs of your plecos. I would treat them with a de-wormer like levamisol (fritz expell p)

@saidmilani

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory oh, got it. thank you so much. I'll do it

@saidmilani

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory now I don't have access to Levamosol; I made garlic extract and used. I should buy Levamosol as soon as possible

Your tanks look brilant & fun

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks mate!

@richardbunt2278

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory Alex your one of tryers. You do well

Did the trick vice versa. I own hundreds of red fire shrimps and do not have algea problems within this tank as it's running for years now. My friend, however is new to the hobby and got tons of black algea for the last weeks over. So, we moved some hundred red's to his home. Adding an extra little aquarium to his main tank where he has the problem. We connected both tanks via a little water bridge, using a little rubber tube. shrimps cannot pass but water can, obviously. Well, day by day he moved some algea infected plants to the shrimp army one till the problem was solved. By the way, adding maximum CO2 to your black algea tank for a short time like few days only. Will make the black algea more soft so that the shrimps can eat it better. Most fish do not really eat black algea compared to the green ones... As it's too tough. Regards from Germany

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Awesome story and great tip about the co2 softening the BBA! THANK YOU!

Alex, how's it going ? How about getting some flag fish to eat up all that algae. They are amazing algae eaters... Think about it. Be Eady, stay safe...love your content 🎉

@Fishtory

5 ай бұрын

I do love them!

I stick the plants with algae in my shrimp/amano tank and let em go 🤣 cleaned in 24 hrs.

Nevermind! Found it below.

We’re can I Buy Neoaradina Shrimp for my tank thanks 🙏

@Fishtory

9 ай бұрын

Aquatic arts is where i usually get my neos ...also use the discount code FISHTORY15 for 15% more off if you decide to buy something

Neocaridina shrimp won’t eat that hair algae like that. Wish they did. The other shrimp species will.

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, but they will eat the filamentous and single cell algae, However if ANYTHING better is avaible ...even fish poop, they'll go for that.

@curtisfinn4574

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory that has not been my experience. My neo’ shrimp just won’t eat it. They will pick though it for debris though.

That’s really interesting that you threw algae infested plants into that mature tank. I’ve never had that thought even cross my mind. A clean crew tank And Bob is a great name for a fish lol. I had a betta named Darrel once

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

Hahah you can be "THE BOB" he's named after now.

Are you interested in a sterile or balanced aquarium?

So the solution for algae is to bring the algae affected plants to your shrimp tank 😂

@Fishtory

2 ай бұрын

If you can. I have like 5 other videos on how you should actually deal with it

Hmmm.............. Love the video but I'm not sure about the advice. Maybe?

Good idea. However, great fish kept distracting me. Gorgeous 😍 your tanks are nice. Next time you do a water change or clean sponges, filters etc., use the water on Boston fern either in sink or outdoor. It needs to be as gorgeous as your tanks. 😆 🤣

@Fishtory

2 жыл бұрын

So I water it daily (I think I over watered it sadly) but it did well for a month or two, then pppf, death. Maybe it needs more light? That' ret the only thing it could be

@valiaudet3415

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory you are the best👌 . From Downunder

@laurasutton4057

2 жыл бұрын

Boston Ferns are very persnickety. Try soaking them in a bucket of used tank water once a week for an hour or so depending on size of pot and let drain. They like the soil to stay just slightly damp. I could not keep them alive until I started using fish emulsion fertilizer on them by soaking in a bucket outside. They also like a good airflow on fronds. Lighting from the window in your fish room should be enough if put in front of window. Warning: Fish emulsion stinks so do outside!

You say a 12-minutes story . Boring .

@Fishtory

8 ай бұрын

Peace