HELP!! Orange-Brown Growth Taking Over our Tank!

[Gennifer]

Okay, first off, we're completely NEW and dumb to our tank, so bare with us. A couple of days ago, we noticed some spots starting on our decor in the tank. (Plant leaves etc.) We have a freshwater tank with tropicals, only 10g.

Just overnight it seems, this brownish-orange STUFF has grown all over our rocks, our fake plants, and is beginning to cover the sides of the tank as well. I mean this stuff GREW FAST!! Our last Molly is swimming vertical now and is struggling. We've also lost a Guppy and our pregnant Molly as well since this started.

It's just slimy stuff that is taking over!

My hubby has done well with our tank so far - we got it for Christmas and it has been thriving and sparkling clear now since we set it up. This just happened all at once. We cycled our tank before adding fish, and he's changed the water too to keep things nice and clean. What is this stuff and what do we do to keep it away? Our tank looks BROWN now with this gunk all over!! ACK...

The fish have been happy and thriving well until now.

Thanks for all input and help!!

** We've also successfully treated ick when we first got the fish, and that's all but gone. My hubby also adds Ammonia Chloramine Elimantor when he changes the water for the water quality, and EasyBalance to stabilize pH and KH.

 

[Gennifer]

Okay...let me clarify something. We did NOT cycle our tank like many of you talk about here, for a long period of time. The paperwork that came with the tank said you can add fish after 2 days of letting things "run." Basically we got the water to the right temp. and let the filtering system run for 2 days. We had NO IDEA about REAL cycling for 4-8 weeks etc.

So now I see that we need to invest in a water testing kit, because we have no way of testing pH and all that. Our tank is in front of a large window, however, our drapes are fairly thick and not much light comes in onto the tank.

How are we suppose to clean this brown growth off of our rocks?? We can scrub the sides, but our plants are covered in it as well as the rocks.

I'm sitting here feeling helpless that I can't help my molly. I'm trying to keep her away from things that would suck her up, while she struggles to survive. I guess it's inevitable. We have much to learn and I wish now we had never started this whole tank thing. I don't think it's fair to our fish, but up until now, they all seemed happy and lively!!

Hopefully someone will come along and tell me what this brown stuff is. Will simply overfeeding cause this? We were just feeding once a day, but everyone seems so hungry, we started feeding twice, just small penny size pinches.

In our tank we have:

1 Small Angel
1 Neon Tetra
1 Headlight Tailight Tetra
1 Swordtail
1 Red Eyed Something

and 1 Dying Molly

** All fish are VERY small and about the same size except for the Neon Tetra of course.

 

[Gennifer]

Okay, from what I gather, too many nitrates & silicates cause this brown algae to grow. Along with poor lighting, although I don't think lighting is our problem. We have a very bright flourescent light in the tank, and we are in front of a window, although not a BRIGHT window. I'd rather think it's the nitrates & silicates.

We're going to clean our tank tonight, and look into what we need to get to fix this problem. I'm guessing we're overfeeding, and the excess food has caused this? Such a delicate system all this is....

Since no one gave me FAST INSTANT advice, I've researched this some myself, but I'd love to hear from anyone who has any input or advice for us, PLEASE!!!

I've learned this is a common problem with new tanks, and I guess it's more cosmetic frustration than anything - in other words, I'm sure this isn't why we lost our Molly.

Thanks to anyone who replies - what do we need to do to get the nitrates & silicates in check??? I've heard of RO and some other chemical ideas....ANY

 

[yvez9]

Don't kick yourself for beginner mistakes.
It's not your fault you bought this tank at a store who told you nothing about fishkeeping.

that algea is probably unsightly but right now, it should be the last of your worries.

Your main worry should be water quality.
Do 10-20% water changes with dechlorinated water everyday for a few days. Keep the lights in your tank on for about 10 hours a day and keep your curtains closed. You could also just feed every other day and don't overfeed (like i think you said before). Your fish will be fine just eating one out of 2 days.

Go buy an ammonia and a nitrite test kit. You will most likely save some of your fish. Also, ask the store if they will take fish back (or trade them. If they trade, get some zebra danios or guppies if they don't have zebras). They got you in this situation in the first place! If they don't know what cycling is, they shouldn't be selling fish!

Follow the guide as to how to treat New tank syndrome in the beginner's section here and all should strat going better!

And remember, it is not your fault! You're doing the right thing by coming here!!!

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

 

[bigfish]

ok well first of all it sounds like an alage problem which could stem from high nitrate levels and maybe overfeeding (is there any flake left floating around?)

Did you add all these fish at once??? or over a period of two weeks in between?

Most likely your molly is suffering from a water quality problem, i would suggest a 25% water change as most likely if you haven't cycled your tank the correct way as you said in an earlier post.

Could you give me more info on size wise and how often you do water changes......

 

[Gennifer]

Hello and thanks for the replies!

We have a 10 gallon tank, and all of our fish that are left, are from our original purchase 3 days after Christmas. They have all been troopers and stuck it out with us! But like I said, our tank has been crystal clear and lovely until now. I take that back - we have 1 guppy that was added about a week ago - we bought him and another just like him, and the 2 mollies. 3 of these 4 fish have been our latest casualties, and I'm wondering if maybe they were just a sickly batch. (Purchased at Wal-mart which we'll NEVER do again!) I don't think Wal-mart keeps their fish up the way they should - it's sad really!

My hubby has worked hard keeping an eye on things, and attending to it. As far as I know, he's done a water change twice since - and this last time is when we noticed the algae and we lost 3 fish - 1 guppy and both mollies.

When he changed the water, he all but emptied the tank with one of those python cleaners - I'd say there was about 3 inches of water (just enough for the fish) at the bottom, and we've since learned that partial changes are best - not complete.

I know we're overfeeding, so that will change ASAP. Thanks for any and all help - we're learning FAST just by reading in the forums. All input is greatly appreciated!!

~ Gennifer

 

[yvez9]

Glad to help

Firt things first
Partial water changes are a good thing! Keep them up every other day if possible.

Please go and have your water tested or buy your own test kits for ammonia and nitrite!!! This way you can follow your cycling period and know when it will be safe to add new fish!