algae in a planted bichir tank

[Mondego]

what do people do to get rid of algae in a bichir tank. I've heard pleco type sucker fishes will often suck the slime off of a bichir and cause problems. Snails don't work that well and prefer to eat my Wisteria plants instead. and because it's planted I can't use thos anti-algae tablets as that will kill my plants.

anyone have any suggestions?

(not sure the kind of algae, it is brown and can be seen on my rocks and sides of the acrylic wall. there is also bright green long algae that flows in the current)

 

[astroboy]

For a temporary fix, you can scrape it off your glass and wipe it off decor.

But,

You will want to determine the cause of the algae so you can fix it for good.
Algae is caused by a nutrient imbalance.
You are either feeding too much, not changing water often enough (or not enough at once) or not cleaning substrate or filters well enough.

 

[BichirKeeper]

If it's brown, it's probably diatoms and not algae. I used the wrong kind of sand when I set up my first Bichir tank, and since diatoms love the silicates in sand, they went to town and spread like crazy. Crappy tap water (especially hard water) can also provided diatoms with the minerals required to survive and spread.

Hair algae stinks too, hard to kill and when its long, snails and plecs wont eat it (not like you can have plecs with Bichirs anyway) so your best bet is to scrape it off your plants, filters, whatever its attached too. Shorter lighting time has helped me in the past.

I stopped my diatom problems by first changing the substrate, then gradually changing the water with R/O water and properly adding trace minerals. I scraped the whole tank down for starters, and only had it come back once. I had help when it did, in the form of malaysian trumpet snails. They cleaned the entire inside of the tank, not one diatom was spared. I should add that I never plant my Bichir tanks, my Senegals (primarily) uproot everything and can really knock things around when they're fully grown. I dont know if trumpet snails are plant destroyers, but I wouldn't take my chances.

So get scrapin!

 

[Black_Ghost_Guy]

Bristle-nosed plecos or otos should be fine, I've never had a problem with them grabbing on to other fish. If it is indeed a diatom problem, diatom filters also work very well.

 

[Mondego]

thanks for the help.

the rocks are a pain to scrape. i am adding fertilizer for the plants and that is when the problem really took off. it is also when the plants stopped dying.

i have flourite as a substrate. it seems to help the plants. it is not as fine as sand, but finer than the fine gravel.

will the bichir attack the oto? i thought those were pretty small. i will definitally look into diatom filters as well.

 

[lucky62]

will the bichir attack the oto?

Na , just eat it "lunch time "

You just may need to step up water changes as well as some of the other advice given . IME , It never hurts .

 

[Black_Ghost_Guy]

will the bichir attack the oto?

Na , just eat it "lunch time "

Depends on the size of the bichir. If it's a larger bichir, a good sized bristle-nose should do a great job.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i wouldn't mess with a pleco -- better safe than sorry, you know? plus i've never had even the SLIGHTEST luck getting a pleco to eat hair algae.

the malaysian trumpet snails are really good about not eating plants and are actually beneficial to the root systems with the way they burrow. smaller ramshorns are generally pretty good about not devouring plants, but are somewhat difficult to find.

also, ramshorn and trumpet snails require one snail of each sex to reproduce. so if you get one of each type from a friend, you won't have to worry about any colonies starting. and if you think someone's started chowing down on your plants, just flush 'em!

 

[Mondego]

i had a larger ramshorn once. he was slow at cleaning and caused damage.

how effective are trumpet snails? i don't want them to reproduce. i dislike the looks of them rather highly, but i hate algae worse. i'll try them out if they won't eat my plants.

lol @ flushing snails.

 

[Black_Ghost_Guy]

I have not found trumpet snails (of any type) to be very effective, though plecos often don't get hair algae either. Ramshorn snails are quite effective IME, but I've never really had any hair algae problems with them around. One fish that works wonderfully with hair algae is the rosy barb. They eat it like there's tomorrow, and get rid of it quickly.

 

[mwm]

will the bichir attack the oto?

Na , just eat it "lunch time "

You just may need to step up water changes as well as some of the other advice given . IME , It never hurts .

HA you beat me to saying that Ottos are only like 1" a small birchir could eat one easy. Just get a magnafloat magnetic algea scrapper they are so easy

 

[Mondego]

I have not found trumpet snails (of any type) to be very effective, though plecos often don't get hair algae either. Ramshorn snails are quite effective IME, but I've never really had any hair algae problems with them around. One fish that works wonderfully with hair algae is the rosy barb. They eat it like there's tomorrow, and get rid of it quickly.

rosy barbs eat hair algae?

perhaps i'll get one or more of them.

 

[Black_Ghost_Guy]

will the bichir attack the oto?

Na , just eat it "lunch time "

You just may need to step up water changes as well as some of the other advice given . IME , It never hurts .

HA you beat me to saying that Ottos are only like 1" a small birchir could eat one easy. Just get a magnafloat magnetic algea scrapper they are so easy

It's been my experience that most large predatory fish seem to leave oto alone, I haven't had many problems with otos being attacked.

As for the rosy barbs, yes they do eat hair algae. I can't beleive that I forgot about them.

 

[Mondego]

i'll go and get one oto just to see what happens.

thanks for all the help

 

[Mondego]

will the bichir attack the oto?

Na , just eat it "lunch time "

You just may need to step up water changes as well as some of the other advice given . IME , It never hurts .

HA you beat me to saying that Ottos are only like 1" a small birchir could eat one easy. Just get a magnafloat magnetic algea scrapper they are so easy

It's been my experience that most large predatory fish seem to leave oto alone, I haven't had many problems with otos being attacked.

As for the rosy barbs, yes they do eat hair algae. I can't beleive that I forgot about them.

hot damn it worked! Thanks Black_Ghost_Guy

I've had an otto in there for like 3 weeks and he's still alive! (and unscathed) I will probably get a few more.

i've found "Algae Fix" kills the hair algae leaving my plants are undamaged!

My tank is a lot cleaner now