Algae Eaters

[Steve70]

Hi, I'm suffering badly with this stringy stuff on my plants and wondered if there was anything that would keep it at bay.

I'm aware of 'algae eating' fish/shrimps but would they munch their way through this stuff?

 

[Man of fish]

What size is your tank? What are your water stats? Is it cycled? How long has it been up and running? Do you change your filter media?

 

[HAMBONE]

buy a couple oto cats and ammano skrimps and see what happens..

What size is your tank? What are your water stats? Is it cycled? How long has it been up and running? Do you change your filter media?

bbbwwwwaaaa haaaaahahhaaa..

 

[Cazgar]

Please don't buy fish to solve the problem.
Oto's & shrimp won't eat that, it looks a bit like Blanketweed that thrives in sunny spots & high nitrates
Is your tank in a sunny spot, or do you have your lights on for long periods of time?
Manual removal is the best way to try & clear it, but unless you sort the original problem as to why it grew, then it will keep coming back.
It could be it came in on any plants you bought

 

[fishman-ale]

Hi, If you test your water you would probably find that your nitrate and phosphate readings would be up, it is a form of blanket weed as was said previously, remove as much as poss by hand reduce your lighting whether it be natural or artifical and if you was looking for fish that will consume this look towards getting some swordtails.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

buy a couple oto cats and ammano skrimps and see what happens..

What size is your tank? What are your water stats? Is it cycled? How long has it been up and running? Do you change your filter media?

bbbwwwwaaaa haaaaahahhaaa..

Kinda looks like hair/blanket-weed algae which (as far as I'm aware) isn't consumed by any/many fish or shrimp, especially in such an advanced state. This is a pretty bad recommendation and Man of Fish was asking whether the tank was cycled and about the stats because excess ammonia, nitrites and nitrates will cause algae spikes and these can be caused by an uncycled tank; changing the media too much at a time can and will reverse the cycling effect on a tank.

The answer you gave was most unhelpful and somewhat obnoxious.

 

[Aquamaniac]

Having had the unfortunate luck of facing algae problems i can say this,it's good to have a good cleaning crew to help clean your tank. But you cannot focus all your algae problem efforts on them.
They wont solve the problem of stopping what's causing the algae.

-Check how much light your tank is having. Is it close to a window?Check your light.Cutting down a few hours probably will help control it.

-Check your water,then check your tap water for nitrates and adjust your fertelizing acordingly.

-Do some water changes to get rid of any excess nutrients and do a vaccum of your substrate to take out of any accumulated rubish in there.

-If you have co2 make sure you get an even supply troughout all the light hours,unbalanced supply of co2 means algae.

I can't live without a cleaning crew. But you can't expect them to do the work for you.
You have to figure out what's causing the algae otherwise they just keep on coming and no fish or shrimp will stop it.

 

[Steve70]

Thanks for the advice.

My tank has been occupied for the last 4-5 months and has been getting a bit of sunlight at this time of the year and I've been trying to remember to close the blind on the window.
My nitrates are naturally around 40.

Fertiliser is/was below the substrate and I don't do anything with the plants except trim them down.
I'll live with it and just do a bit of weeding now and then And remember to close the blind a bit and maybe adjust the light timer.

Thanks again

 

[HAMBONE]

buy a couple oto cats and ammano skrimps and see what happens..

What size is your tank? What are your water stats? Is it cycled? How long has it been up and running? Do you change your filter media?

bbbwwwwaaaa haaaaahahhaaa..

Kinda looks like hair/blanket-weed algae which (as far as I'm aware) isn't consumed by any/many fish or shrimp, especially in such an advanced state. This is a pretty bad recommendation and Man of Fish was asking whether the tank was cycled and about the stats because excess ammonia, nitrites and nitrates will cause algae spikes and these can be caused by an uncycled tank; changing the media too much at a time can and will reverse the cycling effect on a tank.

The answer you gave was most unhelpful and somewhat obnoxious.

errrr, well, it seems to work in my tanks.. What are your stats??

 

[Man of fish]

They will only clean certain types of algae. My stats are
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
5 nitrate (just did a w/c)
7.2 ph
Hardness is soft-medium

 

[HAMBONE]

They will only clean certain types of algae. My stats are
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
5 nitrate (just did a w/c)
7.2 ph
Hardness is soft-medium

sorry, don't believe you.. unless you're using calibrated equipment, you don't know what your stats are.. your numbers has no meaning..

 

[Man of fish]

Even calibrated equipment will fail eventually. Liquid test kits are just as good imo and not as deflating on your pockets.

 

[Joseph28]

BUMPS

 

[tomtomtom1230]

They will only clean certain types of algae. My stats are
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
5 nitrate (just did a w/c)
7.2 ph
Hardness is soft-medium

sorry, don't believe you.. unless you're using calibrated equipment, you don't know what your stats are.. your numbers has no meaning..

I don't think there're words to describe how much you grate on me Hambone. So you're using calibrated equipment, without knowing what water parameters are, how do you go about diagnosing a problem in your tank?

Liquid calibrated tests wouldn't be widely trusted and used if they weren't accurate to a somewhat precise degree.

 

[David36]

Thanks for sharing.