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The Pits
From what I have read here and elsewhere, having a tank get hit with all
sorts of problems at once is not uncommon. Well, my tank's there right now.
You may remember I was asking about BGA last week, and I thank you all for
your thoughtful replies. Someone (forgot who, sorry) commented that my tank
seemed nitrogen limited; I thought this seemed correct and started adding
KNO3 to bring the concentration up to 3-5 ppm (as suggested in
Sears-Conlin). Turns out it took quite a lot; I'd get the NO3 up to 3 ppm
in the evening and it was back to 1 ppm the next morning. Added more KNO3
in the morning; by evening, back to 1. Too many plants growing too fast, I
guess! I thought I was ok adding about 0.3 g per day to my 10G tank,
because I was measuring NO3 twice a day, and it wasn't getting out of
hand--but I forgot that I was adding K+ too, and I wasn't monitoring that.
How much K+ can one add before it starts killing fish? I did a partial
water change today to lower the K+. I guess I need to get some fish that I
can actually feed.
I was going to take the advice of Roger and just wait for the BGA to go
away by itself, but then one of my Otos started getting a red mouth. I
remembered that BGA can be toxic to fish, and I thought maybe grazing on
the mixed algae including BGA was giving the Oto a rash. So I treated with
erythromycin. The BGA is dying back, but the Oto still has a red mouth and
is looking more sluggish. I checked with my LFS; they had never heard of
the problem before, but they thought it was some kind of bacterial/fungal
infection and suggested SuperSulfa. SuperSulfa directions say to remove any
other antibiotic before use; however, I'm only three days into my
erythromicin treatment. Is a hospital tank the only option here? My Otos
seem utterly uninterested in algae pellets; what would the Oto eat in a
clean, algae-free hospital tank? Would he get hungry enough to eat the
pellets?
Finally, my tank was looking suddenly cloudy this morning. Not
green-cloudy, just cloudy. What is this stuff, any ideas? (I have a half
dozen ideas, none convincing.) I understand my options are either a
polishing filter ($$$), some of that commercial clear-water treatment ($),
or just waiting for it to go away on it's own. Any recommendations?
Thanks in advance for any advice and/or consolation.