BNP not staying on glass?

[sendthis]

I've never seen or heard of this before and wasn't able to find anything useful using Google... maybe wrong keywords.

Anyway, yesterday I noticed one of my plecos breathing above the waterline. No big deal I read... so long as he's swimming and eating. The other 20 plecos (75 gallon tank, w/ java moss and hornwort, shirmp 12 hour photo-period) were fine. No other fish.

I did dose with a little potassium sulfate and magnesium sulfate but way less than normal. I did about 4 tablespoons of each for the entire tank. I also did a water change about 2 days ago and the nitrates are reading 0.

I've had the plecos for about 6 months now but this is a new tank

Before, I had them with my discus in two different tanks (10 plecos per 75G tank w/ 4 Discus each) but I moved them out in hopes of getting my plecos to breed AND getting my discus to breed. Prior, because they were in Discus tank, I changed the water every day and at most, every other day.

The shrimp are new... so maybe i introduced a disease from the shrimp sellers site? I know I probably shouldn't have done this as my plan was to QT the shrimp.

Thanks!

 

[bigbird]

i think this pleco was used to more water changes in the other tank. I would continue to do water change in his new tank and also add an airstone or increase the flow if you have one. How often are you doing changes in your new pleco tank now ? cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[sendthis]

Thanks for the responding.

So far the tank has been running for a week and I've done two WC. I thought that was pretty reasonable, especially since my other tank was not planted. I know plants aren't a substitute for WC, but I also know plecos (especially mature ones) aren't as sensitive to the quality of water as discus and other juvenile fish.

I definitely plan to do one more WC tonight. I would have done more WC but they're a pain right now because I don't have a screen for my strainer of my water pump yet (to prevent shrimp from getting sucked). I have a MJ1200 for WC. The sponges I have are too coarse for baby shrimplets and I have plenty of them swimming around right now.

So I'm doing a normal siphon and hoping no shrimp go with it. But I guess it's not a big deal if I lose a few... :/

I'll do small WC and hope that fixes it. I thought shrimp were more sensitive to contaminants which is why I wasn't too worried about the plecos. The shrimp appear to be pretty happy.

You think the light has anything to do with it? Going from a tank that's mostly dark to a tank that's well lit?

I'll do as you suggest with adding air too.

 

[Lornek8]

How new is the tank & how did you cycle the filters?
Nitrates of 0 is typically an alarm as its nearly impossible to get 0 nitrates in a fish tank.

 

[sendthis]

How new is the tank & how did you cycle the filters?
Nitrates of 0 is typically an alarm as its nearly impossible to get 0 nitrates in a fish tank.

Worried about Ammonia? I have cycled sponges from my previous tank and I put Seachem Safe just in case too.

My other tanks are pretty good about low nitrates though without plants, so I wasn't too concerned about it not being cycled.

I figured between the two sponges, the java moss and hornwort, low bio-load to large tank, and to a small degree initally filling the tank completely with old tank water (I know this has minimal impact on nitrifyin bacteria, but even a little is better than none) I was not going to have an issue.

Although, that is a good point. I checked ammonia a few days ago, but something else might have happened to cause a spike.

You're right though, zero is normally a cause for concern, but it didn't ring any alarm bells because in my previous planted tank, I would dose with 10ppm nitrates and the next day it would get soaked up. I'm trying to grow my moss fast right now so I have a pretty good light on it (that's also why I was dosing ferts). I can see the growth too.

.... but still that is a good point. I should keep a look at the ammonia. I haven't checked nitrites either. Dang.... stupid n00b mistake.

Honestly, I've started a ton of new tanks this way (w/ cycled sponges from another tank) and this is first time I've ever had an issue. <sigh>

I purposely keep a good supply of extra cycled media just for this reason :/

 

[bigbird]

use a sock for the syphon so no shrimp get stuck. Also more water changes to get the spike down. keep and eye on him. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Joby]

I would also be adding an airstone or two in there :thumbup: