Algae

[Michelleuk]

Hello

Green and black algae is growing on the items in my tank.

Has anyone one got a good idea how to get it off, as it is making the tank look dirty.

Thanks

 

[fish_mania]

I took some of the water out of my fishes tank and scrubbed all the items clean in the water, you may have to do this a few times until the algae has completley gone!! hope this helps!!

 

[Michelleuk]

I forgot to metion that when I took the tunnel out of my tank to clean it before, my loach started to panic as she treats it as her den.

Is there any way of cleaning it without moving it??

 

[fish_mania]

Can't help you there sorry hope the other information helps though!

 

[- kT]

pleco's help

 

[avirex]

i jus got a farlowella cat

to take care of my algae problems =)

 

[samyboy]

is the tank in direct sunlight at any time of the day ?

 

[Spader]

otos are great and small. so are amano shrimp

 

[Bignose]

Rather than treating the symptom, why don't you try treating the cause. That is, rather than just get a fish to eat the algae, why don't you discover why there is an overabundance of algae in the first place.

Are you overfeeding? This is among the most common causes. Someone above asked if the tank gets sunlight. Have you been doing the necessary water changes to keep the nitrates down?

Even then, rather than adding fish to a tank (which may be overstocked or the current inhabitant simply imcompatible with the current inhabitants), maybe you can beat the algae at its own game. Plants will be great at out-competing the algae for their resources. Get some fast-growing plants, especially emergent (breaks the water surface) or floating plants. Hornwort comes to mind, or even duckweed or water lettuce. Once the plants take hold, they won't even allow the algae to grow.

 

[Michelleuk]

Thanks for your response.


The tank is not in direct sunlight, and I only feed the fish once a day.

Are the fish metioned above that eat algae ok with a chinese algae eater.

Before you ask, my algae eater eats some algae but likes eating of the stones best. I think there a microsopic bugs or someting on them.

I have been doing water changes every week.

Any ideas?

 

[chinadoll]

I forgot to metion that when I took the tunnel out of my tank to clean it before, my loach started to panic as she treats it as her den.

Is there any way of cleaning it without moving it??

You could always try "green away" which you get from fish places, i got mine from a garden centre which also do fish stuff. my tank was so green you could not see through it. put some green away in and it took about 24 hrs to completely clear, but it is so clear now it's great.
hope this helps?

 

[aspuded]

i had the same problem and tried green away which resulted in me losing quite a few fish. first try this- cut the time your light is on down- i suggest 8 hours a day. whenever your light is off cover the tank with a blackout curtain. i tried everything, i reduced the food right down,got more plants, got algae eaters, cleaned and cleaned, changed to different filter media and nothing worked. my tank isnt in direct sunlight but it is in a room with haolgen spotlights that are on along time during the day- i think maybe this was the problem. after 4 or 5 days of covering my tank with the curtain i awoke to find a crystal clear tank and some extremly happy fish!
let us know how u get on, just remember to remove the curtain and let the fish adjust to the light before turning ur hood light on,
good luck

 

[Bignose]

Feeding once a day has nothing to do with it, you could still be overfeeding. The real question is, is all the food gone in just a few minutes? If there is any leftover food, it is too much.

Secondly, you will really want to look into whether you want a chinese algae eater. These things have a reputation that as they get older they lose interest in eating algae and acquire more of an interest in bullying and even eating the other fish in the tank.

Have you taken a nitrate reading in your tank? Compare that with a reading from your tap water. Either way, high nitrates almost inevitably lead to increased algae.

This is why I recommend again getting live plants. The plants, if healthy, will outcompete the algae for their resources. That is, the plants will be better at taking up the nitrates and ammonia than the algae is. The algae effectively starves, and you end up with a nicely planted tank. Diana Walstad's Ecology of the Planted Aquarium explains all of this in exacting detail. She even dilberately overfeeds her tanks so that the plants take up the nutrients from the uneaten food... and she has no algae. Plants are really the natural way to go.

 

[Tropical Fish Breeder]

You can try a product from Tank Buddies. It is a large white pill that disolves in the water. This should work on the green algea, but the black algea must be scrubbed off. If you have black algea on your gravel, the only way to kill it for good is to boil the gravel on a stove for about ten mins. I have about six albino algea eaters in my 20g tanks but they cant even get rid of it most of the time. Be careful with a liquid algea killer and use it as the directions explain, because algea destroyers take oxygen out of the water and as we all know alges relies on oxygen. When I first started out a few years ago with a 10g tank I got a bit of algea and put in a double dose of algea killer and guess what? The algea died and so did about 70% of the fish. Only afterwards did I discover that these products remove vital oxygen from the water to kill the algea.

 

[Scootie]

If the algae is on the side of the tank you could use a Mag-float

Hope this helps

and there are always chemicals u could buy to reduce algae, but i dont know whether they work or not