White gravel taking on slightly yellow tinge

[vaygirl]

I've read tons of stuff about it due to my trouble with it. Usually it's a new tank thing. I imagine that because an uncycled tank is always 'new' that it's a persistant problem for them. Hate the stuff. Most of the advice I've read about it and other algae trouble is to starve, starve, starve them into oblivion. So I don't use fertilizer anymore either. Hate the stuff. Hate it! :D

[ScuitoAmi150]

Maybe take out the gravel and scrub it

[TokyoBetta]

I scrub the gravel a lot when I changed it.
I put it in a bucket with hot water and really grab it and try to crush it in my hands and swirl it around, then run it through a spaghetti colander and repeat 4-5 times till the water is as clear as possible. I suppose even if the water is hot, bacteria will remain and gradually proliferate.

This time I'll try boiling water, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[TokyoBetta]

UPDATE:

Well today we did his water change.
I boiled the heck out of everything in the tank... the gate, the bridge, the tera cota pot, the gravel, the whole works. I'll post pictures later.

I was gonna do it tomorrow but I came home after work and he just wasn't doing well. He woulda made it to tomorrow but I couldn't bear to see him like that. He'd gotten a little more lethargic and the algae problem I was experiencing was clearly affecting him.

I added special mineral salts and the usual water treatment, fresh water at temperature of course..
I just put him back in now..

Hopefully this sorts things out.

I had some kinda, rotting old grass in there... that stuff probably wasn't helping either.
It was originally doing well but the roots just didn't take and it slowly started dying.

Killed the light too, I think his tank was getting way too much UV, something I added to help the grass but probably contributed to my algae/bacteria/whatever it was, outbreak.

We'll see.
Fingers crossed for lil Sam.

[vaygirl]

The diatoms really shouldn't affect him adversely. I mean, they're a mess but none of my fish were ever made sick by it and I had it on EVERYTHING. What's he acting like?

[TokyoBetta]

He was looking a little 'itchy', some minor darting and bumping into things.
And some minor lethargy when he wasn't doing that.

But he was eating well the whole time though, and I noticed him looking a little 'dusty' but I really had trouble figuring out if that was the light playing tricks or what. Under intense light he looked slightly dusty but in normal light he looked fine.

To be safe I did the above, as I was worried about him getting 'velvet' or just generally getting covered in gunk/algae. I have another post in the disease forum.

He seems well today, no more erratic behaviour. But I will monitor him closely. And I found an anti-parasitic recipe that was created by a breeder with over 20years experience so I will implement that as well just to be safe, because its so easy to do and apparently quite effective.