Help Identifying Algae And Removal Tips?

[daffodille]

Hey guys!
 
So I'm pretty new to the whole cycled tank game, and am having a little trouble with some algae.
 
I have a five gallon planted tank with CaribSea Ecocomplete substrate and one betta. The lights are on a timer which has been cut down to 8 hours a day but that hasn't made much of a difference with the algae. The algae itself is pretty thin and weak, but it covers the leaves of most of the plants and is on almost every facet of the big rock in the middle of the tank. The algae appears to be dark olive green when on the glass, but appears almost black on the rock in the tank. 
 
I do ~45% water changes weekly and the betta is not overfed as he eats anything that hits the surface immediately. Any suggestions for how I can get rid of this mess?

Ok I did a little more looking around the forum and I'm thinking part of the problem might be diatoms. I'm going to try blacking out for two days I think. Ahh I hope this works.

 

[fishy_wishy]

Does the algae appear slimy?

 

[greenmumma141]

Diatoms are brown, and dusty. 
 
Anyway you could take a pic, that would really help us identify the type of algae so we can determine the cause.

 

[daffodille]

Ok I'll try and snap a picture. There is evidence of a weird brown dust on some of the anubias, as well as a dark kind-of-slimy algae on everything else.

 

[daffodille]

Here you can see it on the leaves and the rock next to them.
 

 
Here you can see it stuck to the thermometer.
 

 
And here you can see how dark the rock has gotten; it used to be light grey. I can't believe I let it get this bad.
 

 
 
I've read that certain kinds of small suckerfish can be helpful with this problem. Can you recommend any that would get along alright in a tank this size? Jarvis is pretty nice; I don't think he'd bother it.

 

[fishy_wishy]

For some reason I cant get onto those links. It sounds like the slimy dark algae might be blue-green algae, one of the bad kinds im afraid, its also very hard to get rid of, scrub everything its on, get as much off as possible then turn the lights off in your tank and cover it up with a blanket, you want NO light, leave it for 4 days and the algae should be gone, do a water change straight away, the decomposing algae will cause an ammonia spike. sucker fish like octo catfish are very useful, you would only need one, you will buy them very small but trust me they grow (mine is a year old and is now 4") if you don't want one of those you could go for shrimps or snails.

 

[daffodille]

Oh that's strange. I just posted the image codes so they'd show up in my post but I guess you can't see them? The algae looks a lot more like brown algae than blue-green algae, based on the pictures I've seen others posting. Are the instructions the same for dealing with brown algae?
 
How good are shrimp at handling algae? I'd rather get something with a small bio-load but if they aren't as effective as a oto then I'd get one of them instead. I wouldn't mind getting a buddy for Jarvis.

 

[greenmumma141]

If your tank were bigger, I would certainly recommend ottos, but not for a 5 gallon. I wouldn't even really recommend them for a 10 gallon....... BUT!  A snail or two certainly would love it in there!!! Mystery snails are readily available and cheap, and as long as you only get one, you won't have any snail population explosions

 

[fishy_wishy]

oops, I'm sorry daffodille, I didn't read you question very well and have only just noticed you have a 5 gallon. oto's can get fairly big.
I have zebra snails which I've found work very well, and I've heard good things about mystery snails but any algae eating snail or shrimp will be great  

 

[greenmumma141]

For some reason I cant get onto those links. It sounds like the slimy dark algae might be blue-green algae, one of the bad kinds im afraid, its also very hard to get rid of, scrub everything its on, get as much off as possible then turn the lights off in your tank and cover it up with a blanket, you want NO light, leave it for 4 days and the algae should be gone, do a water change straight away, the decomposing algae will cause an ammonia spike. sucker fish like octo catfish are very useful, you would only need one, you will buy them very small but trust me they grow (mine is a year old and is now 4") if you don't want one of those you could go for shrimps or snails.

 
I think your otto is actually a chinese algae eater. Otocinclus (ottos) stay small and need to be kept in groups. Again, 5 gallons is way to small of a tank for ottos. 
 
I can't seem to bring up the algae identification board on here   I knew it was here somewhere......

 

[daffodille]

I think I'll just do what I can to get rid of the algae myself before bringing in any new stock. I've heard good stuff about H2O2 in algae removel. I called my LFS and he said the only species of shrimp that would do more than just regular maintenance is the amano and I'm hoping to get my hands on some fire reds. It's kind of 50/50 whether Jarvis will think they're food or not.
 
Thanks for all the help you guys. I was planning to get an Otto or two but fortunately y'all have talked me out of it.

 

[greenmumma141]

Yeah, an otto in that size tank (and any really not in a proper sized group) will do more hiding than cleaning

 

[daffodille]

I bought a couple of shrimp. Jarvis had the time of his life hunting them down. Poor little dudes. :'( I think I'll just keep cleaning by hand until my tank matures some more. 
 
 
Those poor shrimp. ;_;

 

[greenmumma141]

Try a snail!!

 

[fishy_wishy]

Snails are really good
As well as that try using the method I mentioned earlier, algae needs light. It is a plant after all, without light the algae will die.