Out with the Shrimp, In with the Otos

I discontinued the AlgaeFix treatments when I bought the ghost shrimp for the 30 gallon tank. This was mostly OK, but there was some algae growth on the surface of the substrate. After switching to the Greg Watson ferts, I saw soem additional algae growth at the tops of the rotala indica and the edges of the temple. One of the foxtail plants actually developed some green fuzz, too. I'm going to optimistically chalk it all up to the tank chemistry being knocked slightly out of whack, and hopefully in a matter of time it will settle back down.

In the meantime, to help it along, I'd like to use AlgaeFix to prevent trouble. However, shrimp cannot tolerate the treatment, so I had to remove them. I got as many as I could find over two days and moved them to the bucket. After a day or two of treating the aquarium with AlgaeFix, I spotted a ghost shrimp perched atop a water sprite. I found this curious, but just in case it would eventually succumb to the medication, I went ahead and put it in the bucket.

I went to PetsMart hoping to add a Siamese Algae Eater to the tank, but all they had was the unsavory Chinese Algae Eater. A pleasant surprise, though, because they had otos available. I got three of them to go with the one I already had. Hopefully, between the four otos, the AlgaeFix and my new ferts, I will have the upper hand once and for most of the time...