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slakey wrote:The last two Bn's i've had have had white tips on tail and top fin.

Like this:
? Then you may want to consider something else - this is a strict blackwater species. Their natural habitat is super-soft water with nearly no minerals. Hard water, high nitrates and other tough conditions are unlikely to be tolerated by this species.

General, common, A. sp(3) is what you want. They are "bullet-proof".

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Mats

Sort of like that but not as much white...

This is the same as what my bn plec looked like:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... age_id=939

Should I try a group of otos for the algae cleaning?

slakey wrote:This is the same as what my bn plec looked like:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... age_id=939

Should I try a group of otos for the algae cleaning?

If you can't keep Gus's [that's my Gus in the picture, which is the breeding female I've had for over four years, currently living in my Eheim 96 tank] relatives alive, then you are probably going to have less success with Oto's, as they are generally wildcaught, which makes them less tolerant to bad water quality and such things.

I think we should try to find out what is causing your problems with Ancistrus before "trying something else".

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Mats

Well not sure if this is normal or not, but I did notice big light brown blotches on their body the same colour as they're little spots... not sure if that's a sign of anything? It's been on all three of them that have died.

They all seemed happy to be cleaning the glass etc.

There's plenty of oxygen going in the tank, I have two Hydor Ario 3's running.

The only thing I can think of is the nitrate or

I need to get some new blue sponges I think they haven't been changed in a while *nooby me didn't know there were two more sponges below the first 3).

What do you reckon?

but I did notice big light brown blotches on their body the same colour as they're little spots... not sure if that's a sign of anything? It's been on all three of them that have died.

That's the stress colouration, which is normal in a fish that is unhappy/dying.

What are the conditions that the bristlenose are kept in the shop? Ask about temperature, pH, nitrate and hardness. Were they on a soft water system? Do the LFS add salt? Many do!

Nitrate shock can kill fish when they go from low nitrate in a store into high nitrate in a home aquarium, even if the fish in the home aquarium are fine (they have adjusted to the levels).

I suspect dodgy stock, and/or significantly different water parameters from the shop to your tank.

Norfolk tapwater will be at the very maximum legal limit (30mg/l, I think) for nitrate the UK. I recommend you adopt a biweekly water change regime of 30-40% to get your tank water to the same as that of the tapwater.

Try a bristlenose from a different supplier, one that is using the same tapwater as you are. Make sure the bristlenoses have been in the shop for at least 1 month and are feeding and not diseased.

Were you specifically feeding the bristlenose or letting it fend for itself on the algae in your tank?

racoll wrote:Norfolk tapwater will be at the very maximum legal limit (30mg/l, I think) for nitrate the UK.

This from Defra says 50ppm.

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Mats

Jeees. That is very high.

I think I am right in saying that legal limits for much of the US is 10mg/l ???

racoll wrote:Jeees. That is very high.

I think I am right in saying that legal limits for much of the US is 10mg/l ???

This agrees. So when do we emigrate...

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Mats

The PFK tapwater mapper lists Norwich as average 28.7mg/l.

As far as I know, it is 50 mg/l all over the EU

Problem is, agriculture does leak nitrates into the groundwater, and farmers 'thus' insist they can not produce without a level they consider acceptable. This is a result of the way meat is produced: animals are put in stables, and fed very rich fodder. In fact it is so rich, the excrements contain nitrogen (as the urine does) which all ends up as nitrates in the soil - and then leaks out.

A Dutch professor once even claimed that it would be a better idea to provide mineralwater to people sensitive to nitrates (babys, infants, nursing women, pregnant women, elderly people) and raise the legal limit even more.

However, the fool must have been retired by now

Well the nitrates from the fish store I got the plec from is at 15ppm and she says it comes out there and over norwich at 60ppm, yes that's from the tap!!!

I do about 50% water change every Thursday as the lady says it's better to do water changes during the week rather then the weekend as people test the water during the week and computers do it on the weekends.

I will try and ask them how they got their nitrate low and other things like pH, also where can I get a hardness kit?
I keep seeing people mention it, but I've never got one as some fish stores say you don't need to test for it...

I feed all the fish Aquarian Tropical Flakes, JMC Catfish Pellets and even specifically bought some Hikari Algae Wafers for the BN and broke two up and put them in the tank after lights out... So there was food for him/her.

slakey wrote:I feed all the fish Aquarian Tropical Flakes, JMC Catfish Pellets and even specifically bought some Hikari Algae Wafers for the BN and broke two up and put them in the tank after lights out... So there was food for him/her.

Unless the fish is SEVERLY starved at the shop, food should not be a problem. Even fairly small bristlenoses will probably survive several weeks of no food.

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Mats

As to testing hardness - for tapwater, in most areas, there's little point. Hard water is not a problem as such. Going from soft to hard or hard to soft is. But if the water is from the tap anywhere south of York or so, and east of Plymouth or so, then it's hard. [There are a few exceptions, but Norwich isn't one of them, AFAICT].

I use a TDS-meter, cost me £15 at the LFS. But that tells you TDS, not GH and KH which are both keys to what your water is doing - but again, not terribly important if you are using general English tapwater - it's high in both GH and KH. There's no two ways about that. If the shop is using RO water (which I suspect they will do if their tanks are lower in nitrate than the tap-water), then they will use some measure to know that they have sufficient KH to keep the water stable. They would know what that is.

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Mats

Could it be that the blue sponges need changing then?

slakey wrote:Could it be that the blue sponges need changing then?

The blue sponges are inert [meaning they don't change anything by themselves] - so they shouldn't be changed (at least not very often) - they should be cleaned whenever the filter isn't flowing very well (about once every 2-4 water changes unless you have very messy fish).

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Mats

Your meant to get new ones every 6months it says on the boxes, and considering I didn't know they were they're until yesterday, and I've had the tank running for more the 6months, would it be a wise thing to do?

I currently have two Nitrate Removal Sponges in the tank... so it should be doing a little something.

I could fit some more plants in possibly, some foreground plants.

I doubt that the sponges are at fault. If you clean them regularly (in tank water), they will last more than 6 months. I think I replaced my set of blue sponges once or twice until my pump gave up after 3.5 years.

As discussed earlier, I doubt the nitrate removal sponges will actually make a big difference when the nitrate is in the tap-water already. They are probably OK if you have really low nitrate levels already in the tap-water, and only need to remove what the fishes produce.

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Mats

So I guess I'm stuck with 40ppm Nitrate then?

also where can I get a hardness kit?

You don't need a hardness kit, you just need to know if the bristlenose were on a soft water system or on a tapwater system in the shop.

even specifically bought some Hikari Algae Wafers for the BN and broke two up and put them in the tank after lights out... So there was food for him/her.

Hmmm, this I think is far too much. For a baby bristlenose, you need no more than 1/4 of an algae wafer every other night and a slice of courgette on alternate days.

Did you say you had a small common plec too?

No I only had a bn plec at the time, a baby.

The guppies, Kuhli Loach ate the wafers too.

slakey wrote:So I guess I'm stuck with 40ppm Nitrate then?

Yes, I thought we decided that in a previous discussion. The only way around that will set you back a fair bit of money, and involves an RO system - and that will bring with it a whole new set of problems. Only switch to RO if you can keep fish in tap-water.

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Mats

If I cut off the leaves on my plants that have algae on, will they grow back, and should I just cut off the leaf, or the stem aswell?

will they grow back, and should I just cut off the leaf, or the stem aswell?

Cut off all manky parts as far back as you can with sharp scissors. The plant will not regrow the same leaf, just grow a new one in a different place (the growing tip). Depends on the type of plant though.

It's a Anubias Nana.

Nice start, I have a tank exactly the same, check the link in my sig ;)
Good luck and keep us posted ;)

Well on the newest Anubias Nana one of the little buds has opened up and has revealed something that looks look a pollen thing...

Hard to explain what it looks like lol...

Is it the early stage of a flower?

slakey wrote:Well on the newest Anubias Nana one of the little buds has opened up and has revealed something that looks look a pollen thing...

Hard to explain what it looks like lol...

Is it the early stage of a flower?

It IS a flower. Mine does that every now and again. It's similar to:
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/photo/view/1194537

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Mats

Ok just wondered