Yucky Brown Stuff Growing On Ornaments?

[CoryLover95]

Hello!
I have a 2.5 gallon cycled MiniBow Betta aquarium, temp about 80 degrees.  I noticed a brown growth starting on the rocks and spreading up to the ornaments.  One of my fish died from dropsy, so I completely unassembled and cleaned the aquarium with hot water, then put it back together again.  All fine until I noticed the growth again about 2 months later.
One problem that I've had is extremely high pH.  It's something that I'm always fighting with in my betta tank.  Could this be the reason for the growth?
I've attached two pictures--one of the growth on the rocks and one of the growth on the ornaments.  Any comments or suggestions welcome!
-CL95

 

[maurizio]

I wonder why nobody has yet replied to this.
I'd bet it's diatoms. You'll find a lot around about them, but mainly, it's a sort of algae, with an exoskeleton based on silicates.
Blooms are said to happen typically in immature tanks, but you don't wanna see a pic of my own tank right now, after more than a year...

They need silicates to grow, so one way to starve them is checking your water for them, and act accordingly, if needed (it may come from sand or from tap water). Also, a good algae feeder will help you a lot, like my nerite snails did until they started striking. Still trying to find the reason. I have a low-brackish water, though, but I'm pretty sure nerites can stand freshwater, too.
 
Cheers
 
Maurizio

 

[fatheadminnow]

I agree with what was said above.  Nothing harmfull by any means so don't worry. 

 

[CoryLover95]

All right!  Thank you so very much.  So my only concern is that it looks bad...

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yeah.  Get an otto and he will clean it up.  Just to be safe, check ammonia levels, too. 

 

[frapadoodle]

Yeah.  Get an otto and he will clean it up.  Just to be safe, check ammonia levels, too. 

In a 2.5 gal tank?
You said you broke the tank down and scrubbed it with hot water. That kills the bio film, and you now have an immature tank again.
It is unsightly, but should run it's course. But has been suggested, your tap may have high levels of dissolved silicates.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I had a mature tank with this same algae problem (so it isn't always a new tank thing). I finally solved mine recently (it was a brightness of the bulb issue but the bulb was so expensive to replace)... I did a diy shade and after 2 weeks I have very little algae left... I'd say 90% has disappeared. I had a condensation lid between my tank lid and light and there was a space so I found some transparent blue plastic (um... actually a bath mat), cut it to size and put it inbetween. It is weird but working well!

 

[CoryLover95]

OK, thank you!  And my tank has been set up now for more than 6 weeks.  It's only recently that I noticed the algae again.
PrairieSunflower, I'll try it!!  Thanks!