Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:07 am
I had a major MTS infestation in my 75G planted tank, more towards back when it was newer. The plants weren’t doing spectacular, had lots of plants that died or dropped leaves - basically a lot of organic waste in the tank. Not to mention I was overstocked with fish as well. And I fed well more than I should. Massive amounts of MTS. But I did some rigorous cleaning over the course of a month, getting rid of algae and pulling out dead and dying plants, even got rid of my largest nitrate factories like a common pleco and synodontis catfish. Did some rescaping, and things went pretty well. I cut back my feeding by 50% at least, and also only fed every other day for a few months. I never removed any MTS by hand, but over the course of a half year they vanished (also with the help of the loaches I am sure).
MTS seem to thrive in poorer water quality with lots of leftover food and such. This isnt always the case, but I'd look there first. Do you have test kits? Have you measured things like nitrate (or nitrite and ammonia as well but you definitely shouldn’t see those unless there is a serious problem)?
I do have one question though... when you say you swapped your filter for a less powerful one, did you remove your old filter? Or at least swap some 'dirty' media into the new filter? If not, if you just started up a new filter from scratch, you could have your tank doing a cycle since the beneficial bacteria in your old filter are gone and the bacteria in the tank might not be enough to keep up with your high bio-load. You do understand about beneficial bacteria and the nitrogen cycle right? Sorry I dont mean to treat you as a new-b but with only a few posts we dont know what your skill level is so I'm kinda just making sure. In any case, with the experience of the forum if you hang in there and get some advice I'm sure you'll get through any problems...
MTS seem to thrive in poorer water quality with lots of leftover food and such. This isnt always the case, but I'd look there first. Do you have test kits? Have you measured things like nitrate (or nitrite and ammonia as well but you definitely shouldn’t see those unless there is a serious problem)?
I do have one question though... when you say you swapped your filter for a less powerful one, did you remove your old filter? Or at least swap some 'dirty' media into the new filter? If not, if you just started up a new filter from scratch, you could have your tank doing a cycle since the beneficial bacteria in your old filter are gone and the bacteria in the tank might not be enough to keep up with your high bio-load. You do understand about beneficial bacteria and the nitrogen cycle right? Sorry I dont mean to treat you as a new-b but with only a few posts we dont know what your skill level is so I'm kinda just making sure. In any case, with the experience of the forum if you hang in there and get some advice I'm sure you'll get through any problems...
