That does it for the Cories

I moved the last, biggest, strongest, most-resilient, yet lethargic, sick, fin-eroded albino cory to the 5 gallon tank in hopes of nursing him back to health. While he was getting moved away from the possibly harrassing and stressful DG, he was getting moved closer to the definitively aggressive albino buenos aires tetra (from the kettle to the fire?).

While the water quality is probably worse in the 5 gallon (higher nitrates without plants), I wanted to remove him from whatever was negatively affecting him in the 30 gallon. I also feel better about medicating the 5 gallon for whatever reason, and I threw some Melafix in there, because it's supposed to help with fin regeneration.

Well, whatever it was, it was not fixed by the movement to the "QT" tank. In fact, he did not last more than a week and eventually passed away (peacefully I hope?). It stinks, because cories are definitely my favorite fish I've kept, but I cannot seem to keep them alive.

I'd like to eventually try again in the 30 gallon with the following qualifications:
* a school of at least 6 to help dilute any agression/stress arising from the DG
* stable water params that provide a plant-friendly, algae free environment
* bigger forground plants, providing more cover
* a relatively secluded cave that can be a safe-haven from DG, light, or other stressors

The Tide Turns

Well, the war against algae is finally beginning to take a turn in my favor (I hope I don not upset the aquarium gods with such bold proclamations). The tank has looked about as good as it has for a long time. Among the successes are:

* green-hair-algae-free plant growth
* new shoot of the Cryptocoryne wendtii (up to 3)
* strong, algae-free growth of the smaller, green-leaved foreground plants
* genuine pearling of plants (not of algae growing on the plants)

The only problems are the persistence of this green-white film attempting to cover several plants' leaves. Vigorous thumb-rubbing has been the only way to beat it back against the amazon sword, red-leaved rotala, and Cryptocoryne wendtii.

To record this historic moment, I took a look at the water parameters, to see if they would lend any insight:

* pH: 8.0 (surprising it's this high with the pearling I'm seeing)
* nitrate: ~6.0-7.0 ppm
* kH: 9 degrees (definitely lower than out of the tap)
* GH: 18 degrees
* iron: ~0.05 ppm

According to my trusty calculator, that pH / kH combination means I'm running at 2.7 ppm CO2, which is far below what the plants and I would theoretically like. This leads me to consider the possibility of aquiring an actual CO2 tank that could deliver it much more consistently, reliably, and in higher doses than I'm getting right now. I will go by a local welding supply store, sometime and see what can be done.

The iron's a little lower than the "ideal" of 0.1 ppm, so maybe I'll up the dosage a bit. I have been doing about a quarter-capful of Flourish iron every day, as well as a full capful of Flourish Excel, which has seemed to help beat back the beard algae on my temple. I'll dose Potassium occasionally, or more often in the nitrates are high, and Flourish gets dumped in once or twice a week. Obviously I'm not being too scientific here (that's why I'm an engineer...), but if I get some powdered ferts in (i.e. KSO4), maybe I'll be a little more diligent about dosing.

Time for Drastic Measures

Ok, I'm not really sure quite how drastic they are, but it certainly runs contrary to what I've been doing up to this point. I've been staying away from certain anti-algae products, under the premise that they're a temporary fix, they're not fixing the underlying problem, they can't distinguish between plants and algae, yada, yada, yada.

Whatever.

I'm now subscribing to the philosiphy that you can fix the underlying problem, but as long as there is algae in the tank already (green algaes, not necessarily beard algae), it will not disappear, you will just retard its spread. So the plan is to cut down all the plants with hair algae, remove all the leaves with hair algae, and generally reduce my beautiful plants to smithereens. To help them grow back (algae free), I've gone ahead and thrown some more Flourish tabs in the soil as well as refreshed my yeast factories.

I've simply tired of seeing new growth come in in fairly good shape only to (hypothetically) catch the "algae bug" from neighboring leaves I had previously left alone. We shall see how this progresses.