Algea or Dead Plants Making her Sick?

[flowerslegacy]

I've googled like crazy and everything I find is that plants, algea and even dieing plants are not detrimental to fish. However, my female is acting sick and I don't know what else could be wrong with her. Her water is stellar clean and warm. She's never had infections or parasites. At first I thought it might be the sudden cold weather, but her tank water is nice and warm. I can't figure it out. The only issue with her tank is the algea and dieing plants I've been fighting over the last few months. Could rotting organics make her sick? I'm at a loss. Anyone experience the same thing? Thanks for your input.


Housing
What size is your tank? 10gal divided
What temperature is your tank? 80
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Female betta on the other side of the divider

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? blood worms/pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 1x day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 1x week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime & Seachem Flourish Plant Fertilizer

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:10ppm
pH:8.0
Hardness
Alkalinity: ?

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? None
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Yesterday she was hanging out at the top of the water no moving. Today, she's hiding in her cave
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No.
How old is your fish (approximately)? 10 mo.s

[Oldfishlady]

While generally algae is not problematic health wise...dead/dying plants can cause chemistry changes and even ammonia issue....decay of organics naturally create CO2 as a byproduct and this can cause the pH to drop-while the gradual drop is generally tolerated-its when you make a water change that can stress or cause problems...when was the last water change in relation to when she started having behavior changes

[flowerslegacy]

Hi OFL, I did a water change and it was the next day that she was acting sick! I just checked the pH and it's 8.2. Normally it's closer to 8.0. I don't know what it was prior to the water change, but I'm sure this is the issue. One of the males in my other tank was acting a little strange too, and it's the other tank that I'm also having dead plant issues. I'm assuming there isn't anything I can do at this point? I've already removed *all* the dead and dieing plants from both tanks.

[Oldfishlady]

It may have been osmotic shock....if she was healthy to start-she may be fine...sadly not a lot can be done once it happens but wait and hope for the best.....I would turn out the light and hold food for now....I would even make a small water change (10-25%) and dose the dechlorinator for the full volume of the tank

Do you know why your plants are dying.......what species are they, how planted, type of substrate and how deep, how old are the bulbs, kelvin and photoperiod....

What kind of testing products do you have....

[flowerslegacy]

Dang it! I'm so bummed. She's healthy so I'll hope for the best. The Testing Kit I have is API's Master Kit. I'm assuming my plants are dieing because of my horrible bulbs. All of my tanks are Aqueon Kits and the 8000K bulbs just stink. Plus, who knows how old they are. At first I had them on for 12 hrs/day but the green hair algea was taking over. So over on tropicalfishkeeping I was advised to decrease to 6hrs and double up on the Flourish. It seemed to have helped a little but now it's returning. I know my bulbs are the main issue. I wish I could find some! I've been looking all over for 6500k but the local hardware stores only go to 5000. Walmart is my next step. I even tried to buy bulbs from Amazon but the seller never responded!! Grrrrr! My plants are mostly stems: pennywort, wisteria, water sprite w/a couple of anubias. Only the anubias are doing good. My substrate is just gravel and they're only planted about 1/2" deep. I'm such a novice. That's why I started with those specific stems. I went out and bought a few more anubias though. I have 5 tanks that need new bulbs . . .

[flowerslegacy]

I immediately did the w/c and added the appropriate amount of Prime. Lights off and no food - although she wouldn't even eat yesterday. She was out of her cave and curious during the water change, so I'm hoping she's okay. I've removed all dead and dieing plants from both of my planted tanks. I sure don't want to experience this again!

[Oldfishlady]

How is she today.....

To bad you can't find the right lights...hopefully wally world will have them...look for Daylight 6500k and then I would get on a 10h/day PP....get the plants growing well enough to out compete the algae...it normal and expected to have some algae and in a closed system we have to manually remove it on a regular basis....

[flowerslegacy]

She's about the same. She has come out of her cave a little more, but she's not acting completely normal. She's pretty lethargic, either hovering at the top water line, or hiding in her cave. When she sees you she pretty much swims away and hides. Usually she's right up at the front looking for attention. She's in a divded 10gal and her tank mate is completely normal. I have the lights out and I'm off to Wally World today to look for bulbs!

[Brian10962001]

I had something similar to this happen a LONG time ago. I had an African sword and a few other live plants in a cycled 10 gallon. I added some guppies and they killed a leaf of the sword nibbling it, the tank just went retarded after that! Even with the leaf pulled out I never could get the water under check and the tank turned fast. My male betta's fins got shredded out of nowhere too (not mechanical, it wasn't the guppies it was like an over night thing). I pulled him before the tank totally died and fed the rest of the guppies to my cichlids. Some plants decay differently or something, because I've seen other tanks where dead plants stay in them for a while with no ill effect.

[flowerslegacy]

Yeah, I'm really bummed about it. She's a little better but still wierd. I found some 6500k bulbs on ebay last night for only $3 a bulb!! I ordered 6 - that should cover all my tanks, with a spare. My males tank still smells bad, even after all the dead plants are removed. I need to do some water changes to get the pH stabilzed again. Any suggestions?