There's a brown girl in the ring - tra lalalala

[soulmia]

I have been watching my aquarium 22 hours a day after the monday massacre where I lost 5 neon tetras and 6 hockey stick tetras
I have since become paranoid if I can't find any of the 4 corys or 1 neon that's left in my tank.

Yesterday, while I was looking for one missing cory (who I found later, sucking stuff off the underside of my large driftwood piece) I noticed that a couple of my plants have a very fine brown fuzz on the leaves and the filter looks like it belongs to the titanic (it has more of the brown stuff on it)
I also noticed that a couple of the leaves of certain plants are becoming brown at the tips and the more delicate leaves of a plant that resembles, but is not the cabomba are completely brown (dead).
The other plants are doing great and the lilies are even sprouting new leaves...

What's goin on?? and what the brown stuff?

[Willyleigh]

That brown fuzz is just algae, try some shrimp to remove it.

As for the leaves dying, just cut them back with some scissors and they should regrow healthily.

[Lady Hobbs]

Prevention:
Use of RO water forget this one
Regular water changes
Regular aquarium cleaning
Good lighting
As with any algae, keeping the tank clean and performing regular water changes is one of the best preventative measures. Unfortunately it is still possible to get algae in spite of regular maintenance, especially in a newly established aquarium. Prompt attention to sudden algae growth will prevent more serious problems.
Not over- feeding the fish should help control this some. Fish stomaches are about the size of their eye so a very small amount of food is sufficient for them, anyway, a couple times a day. This is obviously not true with larger fish that are big eaters but your fish won't eat much. And excess food will raise the ammonia in your tank.

Your problem will probably go away when you get your new lights set up but a catfish (pleco) will remove it as well ....or as Willy mentioned, shrimp.

Make sure you remove any dead leaves you see on your plants or any soft, mushy leaves.

Soulmia, Soulmia, Soulmia. What are we to do with you? Some fish die, most fish live. Starring at them hours on end does not make them live longer. Get some sleep, pay attention to your boyfriend, and stop fretting. Your boyfriend is gonna hate those fish if you keep ignoring him. :)

I have added 3 of my angels to the tank I cycled this week. It only took 5 days to cycle it so I was very happy as two of my "kids" are due to spawn again this week and I don't want herds of angels. They look lonesome in the tank, however, and are used to lots of activity around them. Now they have a very quiet tank. b-o-r-i-n-g

Are you from India originally? You certainly have perfect English so I was curious. Do any of your friends have fish tanks?

[soulmia]

The brown stuff is weird .. it looks more dusty than slimy and on the leaves, it looks like little hair... is that still algae?? The fish seem to be doing fine now... but the vigil continues... I know what you mean about not paying attention to the boyfriend though LOL!! He came upto me yesterday and made littel fishy faces at me - hoping to get the same attention. He's a sweety though. He helped me with the "mass funerals" - while I sobbed, he dug little holes for each of my finned babies:41:

But I can't help it - I just want the fish I have to be ok now.

I haven't overfed - there are hardly any fish to feed!
About the shrimp - what kind of shrimp can I add? and can I add it already or should I wait Hobbs? How many shrimp should I add and how will it affect the tank once I start adding other fish?

By the way, how do you know your angels are going to spawn?

[Lady Hobbs]

You could add shrimp now and hold off on any more fish for a week. You said your gravel had fluorite in it. Could it possibly be fluorite dust on the plants? I had it everywhere everytime I tried to mess with a plant! I did notice your gravel appears white, however, so where the fluorite is, I have no idea.

India is nuts! They have fluorite but no test kits! sheesh Now that's messed up.

Angels are cichlids and act like cichlids when spawning is near. Two will become inseparable and no others are allowed to be near (the male will keep them away.) It caught me by surprise as I had no idea this juvie male was nearly old enough to be a papa. I got him in Nov and he was no larger than a nickle so to have him take a mate less than 5 months later was not expected. I knew he was getting very bossy with everyone in the tank but suddenly there they were.....eggs all over and he was attempting to fertile them. The eggs all died by the following morning, however, so he may not quite to ready. I don't want babies right now. I need to get things set up for them first. Tank with no gravel, sponge filter, etc.

[Gelo_USA]

buy a test kit on ebay or anyother online store.....
it will be alittle more expensive to ship it internationally but it still worth it...

[Chrona]

It's brown algae (diatoms) caused by the new tank/new substrate and low lighting. Increasing the lighting to 2 watts per gallon, scrubbing of plants/tank walls before water changes will get rid of it quicker. In about 2 weeks, it should go away by itself since the silicates leeched from the tank glass and substrate will subside, and silicates is the usual reason for a brown algae explosion.

If it's not gone in 2 week, you can get 6x Otocinclus catfish for your next group, it will go quickly

This pretty much happens to every planted tank with a planting substrate upon startup. Very rarely do people bypass this stage. I dealt with it for about 1.5 weeks as well. The cabomba is probably not dead, but just covered in the stuff.

Don't add any shrimp yet. They are more sensitive to water parameters than the fish you have in there. Only hardy fish for now.