It's not my tank but I think it's in trouble

[zimmia]

Greetings,

Let me start by saying that I'm so happy that I found your forum and site. It's been a lot more informational than others I have found. As you can probably tell, I've just registered. I promise that I've been through past threads to see if my question had been asked before

This is not my tank. It belongs to my roommates who went on vacation and left their 15 year old son in charge. He's now not going to be home until Sunday and it was left to me to 'take care of the tank'. I've got some instructions but I think we've got bigger problems than that.

I don't have a digital camera so unfortunately I can't post a pic. On the bottom of the tank, lying in a film above the gravel is a layer of ruddy brown... material. It looks like the bottom of the tank has plague.

The grandmother, here to watch the children said that she thought that was normal and that the snails eat the stuff on the bottom. I don't know from snails, but I'd say there would have to be 250 of them to eat all that stuff on the bottom. There are a couple of snails in the tank, and they are slurping stuff off the side as I've seen them do before.

From my oh-so-eloquent description, is it possible to tell just how much trouble the tank is is? The is a shrimp, and a clown fish, and a crab, and a '6-stripe something' and they all seem to be alive. I don't remember those little white shells randomly scattered on the bottom of the tank and my roommate is out of cell phone range to ask properly.

Short of getting someone who knows what they're doing actually IN my house to see the status, I would be very appreciative of any help anyone can offer. I don't want to see all of his work setting up this tank completely ruined.

Thanks so much in advance, and I'll bake cupcakes for anyone who can offer help!!

Zimmia

[Joe Fish]

If it looks like rust it could be a diatom bloom. Do you have any test kits to use? What kind of water is used in the tank, tap or RO/DI?

[Lorna]

if it is slimy it could be cyano algae which is really a bacteria and not a true algae, usually it is dark red and some call it red slime alage. This is usually the result of overfeeding (high nutrients) and not enough flow.......the start to tackle this should be as Joe suggested, get some of the water tested and give us the exact parameters, not just that an lfs said they were fine......Nitrates, phosphates, ph, temp, salinity, akh, calcium. What kind of equipment is on the tank, size, powerheads, lighting etc. You should try to remove as much as you can by siphoning out and doing a major water change......matching the existing parameters as far as ph, temp, salinity and akh as possible, mix the water 24 hours ahead of time and do about 25%. then reduce the lighting period, increase the flow if possible and don't feed anything for a couple of days, then start feeding again, every other day......they wont' starve, they will scrounge for food amongst the rocks etc.......good luck and let us know what happens...

[TRe]

doesnt sound like that big of a deal.... listen to lorna, she knows what shes talkin about!