Thanks for all the help. What is "GW"? Also, I use the Python cleaner that
you attach to the sink, and then I suck up the gravel into the
tube and let it settle. I do this each time I do a water change. No
lighting changes has occurred - I have two compact fluorescent
10w lamps. My air stones are clean and I get a good stream of bubbles. I
will try the partial water change daily and see how that works.



"Steve" wrote in message
...
Leor Amikam wrote:
I have a 10-gal. tank that has been up for about 10 year now.

You must have been doing a good job, to keep the aquarium running that
long.

This last
month, I have been having
major problems. Maybe someone can offer suggestions? The tank has an
udergravel filter and one of those
"auqua-mini" filters w/the foam and charcoal filter inserts. I
started
getting real bad algae problems - not much on the
tank itself or on any items in the tank. Mostly it was in the filter.
After
a week or two, the foam insert and charcoal bag
are totally green and full of green particulates of algae (not long
stringy
kind). Also, my tank water was continuously cloudy.

Algae need light and nutrients. Have you been getting sunlight on the
filter, to cause the algae there? Have you changed/ removed the curtains
in the room, thus getting more sunlight in the aquarium?


Also, I have had live plants in the tank for a long time. They got too
big,
so I removed most of then. I tried using one
of the "algae fix" solutions. Has not helped much. Also tried solution
to
"clear" the water. Sometimes it worked after a few days and the take
was
very clear.

Removing the plants could cause algae to grow, because the plants use up
nutrients that the algae otherwise thrive on. I think plants are great,
and I merely trim them or remove only a few, when they prevent fish from
swimming .

I would avoid "magic" chemicals as much as possible!


During this time, I had a Cory and Pleco die, and I have an dwarf fog
that
got some sort of disease- it's body became covered
in white bumps all over and it died.

I have been doing a water change/cleaning every week using a Python
cleaner
hose.

Also, I have checked all my chemical values - Ph, Ammonia, nitrate,
nitrite,
and they are all within tolerance.

So, how can I get my tank back to a healthy state?

Thanks



I agree with another poster that daily partial water changes for a week
may be good, along with gravel vacuuming. In your hang-on filter, please
try to keep the media when cleaning. That is, rinse the media in water
from the aquarium (not chlorinated tap water) but do not replace. This
is to preserve the helpful bacteria in the filter, that keep your
aquarium healthy. Please do make sure that the filter stays fairly clean
and has good water flow through the media.

You're probably aware that the undergravel filter is also a biological
filter. Is the airstone or bare air hose delivering enough air to the
u/g filter lift column, providing good water flow?

If all else fails, you may try a breakdown of the aquarium. This is sort
of a last resort. Use buckets that have never had soap/ detergent in
them. Place fish with some aquarium water in a bucket. Place your
hang-on filter media in there too, to keep the bacteria alive. Remove
your gravel and wash with aquarium water or dechlorinated water, to
preserve your bacteria. Then remove the filter plate, rinse the grunge
out of the aquarium and clean the filter plate. Then put everything back
together with mostly new, dechlorinated water. Make sure temperatures
are similar, add "new" aquarium water 50/50 into the bucket with fish
and give them 20 min to adjust, then add the fish to the aquarium. Oh,
and please unplug the heater before you begin tank draining - I've had a
dry, hot heater melt a fishnet, and I also had a heater crack upon
filling the aquarium with water while the heater was plugged in partly
dry and super hot.

Another thought: perhaps your fish have finally grown too big for your
system? An inch of smaller fish per gallon is the usual rule, although
with the two filters you might safely exceed that a bit. Maybe it's time
for a bigger aquarium? If so, please re-use your gravel and filters to
preserve those bacteria : ) .

Good luck and don't panic! I'd favour trying to improve things slowly
before attempting a tank breakdown; however 10 gal aquariums are easy to
empty/ clean/ fill.
Steve