Now it looks like this:
Yes, this is some of my fault. It's mostly the fault of my mother's, though; unfortunately she got more into my aquarium than I ever thought she would, and... Well, she now considers it a piece of furniture. It's now sitting in front of a window that doesn't have blinds to go with it. My solution was to buy a UV Sterilizer; a device which is marketed to get rid of waterborne pathogens (Like Ich) and also get rid of free-floating algae particles -- the cause of Green Water. That should arrive in 3-5 days, and should take about three days to take effect. Hopefully, after the UV Sterilizer my tank will once again be clear and mostly free of nastiness.
I had to perform a huge overhaul of the tank before I took this picture. It was covered in algae (More so than it is now) and frankly looked a little bit nasty. Smelled like it too. That was the result of me not being a smart pet lover and allowing it to grow as I usually did, while sitting next to direct sunlight. Won't make that mistake again.
I've taken pains to replace the filter cartridge and have set my to-do list to remind me to do this every first of the month. We'll skip next month since we've already cut into half of this one.
There are no plants in my tank anymore; due to my mother's stupidity, I had to uproot them all. They're in plant heaven, but I"m thinking of replacing them with fast-growing plants to compete with the algae in the face of the sun. Since I have no money, however, this bit of the overhaul will have to wait until I'm done with everything else :P.
The fish themselves have gotten bigger -- about 1 1/2 inch. One of the Gold Pristellas actually grew so big (and fat) that he can't swim straight anymore; he has to continually keep himself at an upward angle in order to move forward. xD It's kind of cute. All of the females in the Cherry Barb group have long passed -- I don't know what it is, but I continually have trouble keeping those. The males, however, have both survived and are doing well. Mr. Pleco is just fine too. Honestly, he seems a little fat. So I kind of assume he's happy xD
I've also started feeding the fish something different. Instead of just flakes, I feed them THERA+, a brand that came out of my local fish store and seems to do well for their color and their immune systems; extra garlic does that, apparently.
Aside from those things, there really hasn't been a change in my aquarium. Once the water looks less nasty I'll post another Fish Blog :3 I can't wait for it to start looking normal again. xD
