It has been years since I have set up an aquarium. So I was excited when a friend of my son's gave me a 45 Gal aquarium for free. I cleaned it all up and had it running a few days before adding 8 guppies, 5 Neon Tetra's, 4 Red Tetras, 4 Black Tip Tetras, 3 Mollies, 2 Cory-cats, and some live plants. Everything seemed to be doing just well. The live plants I purchased had some bladder snails and at first I thought they would be great, until they started to take over the tank. My son's friend suggested Assassin snails, so I purchased 4 of them and I have seen the Bladder snails decrease quite a bit. However I have noticed that I have white film building on the bottom (that I think may be from my son trying to make sure all the fish get enough food) of the aquarium and have used a gravel cleaner, but it is not pulling all of it out. I purchased 2 Red Cherry Shrimp thinking they would help with the cleanup.
Should I do more gravel cleaning to help eliminate the white film, that looks like tissue attached to the rocks and plants? I am just concerned about upsetting the fish by doing too many cleanings, because with each gravel cleaning I have to also add new water in . How many gravel cleanings are too much?
I noticed one person cleans after every feeding, I was thing maybe once or twice a week, once I get the white film taken care of. I just don't remember having this problem with the fish before.
Any suggestions?
The pic attached is from my aquarium, I had to send it to my self by messenger.
Should I do more gravel cleaning to help eliminate the white film, that looks like tissue attached to the rocks and plants? I am just concerned about upsetting the fish by doing too many cleanings, because with each gravel cleaning I have to also add new water in . How many gravel cleanings are too much?
I noticed one person cleans after every feeding, I was thing maybe once or twice a week, once I get the white film taken care of. I just don't remember having this problem with the fish before.
Any suggestions?
The pic attached is from my aquarium, I had to send it to my self by messenger.
The substance on the bottom looks like plant matter. By any chance did you seed the filter with bio media from another aquarium filter. If the filter hasn't completed the nitrifying cycle you may lose some fish. If you don't have a aquarium test kit to test your parameters Ammonia, Nitrite, PH, and Nitrate go pickup one.
