Beginner - New To Fish Keeping, Would Like Some Help And Advice :)

I’ll admit the red one isn’t going as good. But it seemed to be a green one as well which has been in there a while and doing very well. I’ll probably have to take the red one out and put something else in as it’s not doing well. I’ll try and attach some pictures

I honestly didn't expect to see what does indeed look like your plants are being eaten... I'm stumped... they are both quite soft leaves species too which makes sense that it would be these being eaten over any others.

What are you feeding your fish, how much and how often?

How long ago did you add the plants?

Are you dosing the plantamin at the recommended level and frequency?

I believe Alternanthera is tasty to Amano shrimp but I know you don't have any of these...

 

I honestly didn't expect to see what does indeed look like your plants are being eaten... I'm stumped... they are both quite soft leaves species too which makes sense that it would be these being eaten over any others.

What are you feeding your fish, how much and how often?

How long ago did you add the plants?

Are you dosing the plantamin at the recommended level and frequency?

I believe Alternanthera is tasty to Amano shrimp but I know you don't have any of these...

 

It was worse when I checked today too but I didn’t get pictures.

I feed once a day, I add in small doses until they stop coming to the surface so readily so they shouldn’t be hungry and very few flakes are wasted and if they are then the fish tend to clean them up though the day. I also add an algae wafer every two to three days.

I added them 2 weeks ago (the 17th Of July)

I’ve been adding the plantamin at the correct dosage (which works out as about 15ml (5ml per 20 litres x 3)) and have been doing it every month on the same date (I have a reminder in my calendar) for a few months now.

Whilst I don't doubt the initial problem is snails, see through leaves and the recency at which you added your plants suggests they are adjusting to underwater growth. The plants we buy have been grown out of water by the nurseries (faster and cheaper to grow) we then dump them in our tanks and crypts are one species which very obviously "melts" off it's leaves and replaces them with ones readily adapted for underwater growth. Your red plant may be doing the same. Are there any signs of fresh growth on the plant? If so, don't give up on it yet, just cut off any unhealthy leaves.

Are you just doing the plantamin monthly or topping it up at each water change as well?

I like assassin snails. Mine are very good with pest snails, to the point I now breed pest snails in a spare tank for them.
Just to let you know that they are tropical and won't do very well in a cold water tank.

Ok good that your dosing post water change but are you only doing water changes on a monthly basis? You should look to do around a 50% water change weekly. If your on this schedule you will also need to do a 50% dose each week too of course to maintain the right levels of the fertiliser in the tank.

I have been told that fertiliser should only be added the day after a water change. Most dechlorinators also contain something to bind metals and if you add dechlorinator and fertiliser at the same time, the dechlorinator removes all the trace metals in the fertiliser.

It's often 2 or 3 days later by the time I remember.....

Just because he's kept fish in the past doesn't mean he won't over feed the fish. Buy one of those pill dispensers with a compartment for each day, and place a day's worth of food into the relevant compartments. Then hide the food tubs. Tell him all he needs to do is empty the compartment for that day into the tank.

To be honest, I would hide everything that can be added to a tank. Better safe than sorry.

So I’m back from holiday (it was only a few days but long enough for a good tan!) and all the fish seem fine, just as I left them. My sister now has her tank set up, with some plants and a filter for her blackmoor and she wanted my white gravel so I got some black sand and mixed it with some white sand I also brought and washed it before putting my fish into a bucket (with the heater in it) filled with their water plus all the plants. I then drained the whole tank, having taken everything out. After that, I took the gravel out and my sister now has that in her tank then replaced it with sand (more sand than gravel so the plants have a bit more to hold them in) and I also hooked up my Captain Jack Sparrow compass to the air pump and put my wood and plants back. I got some stones/pebbles too (which I gave a thorough wash) and so I put them in the tank as well before slowly filling it with water (I cleaned the glass of the tank before all this as well as having cleaned the heater, filter outside and thermometer) by filling a jug of water and carefully pouring that onto one of the pieces of wood. Once it was all full, I put my fish back quickly as I could and cleaned my water sprite of all the algae on it (as well as doing some ‘deadheading’ so to speak) and put that back. The lights are off and have been for a while now, I left them off when I put the fish back. One thing I might mention though is that I had a fish (not sure if it was the same one) jump out of the bucket twice however they were quickly rescued and the first time was when I had just put the plants back so I put the floating water sprite over the top and the second time was when I went to move the bucket closer to the tank to put them back. They seem fine though, the first baby fish who’s grown up quite a bit now is also fine and even the two newest babies managed to be ok as they were transported! I’ll attach photos of the tank now to a post so you can see what’s changed