Algae Outbreak :(

[Cornstar]

Since I am normally away on the weekdays due to college, I have my mom look over my tank during the time I am away.

My mom fell in love with my fish and loved looking at them. So she left the lights on for very long period of time. She also enjoy watching them come up for food, so she overfed my cichlids and left a lot of nutrition in the tank.

When I came back this weekend, there was heavy algae on all my rocks and some green spot algae on my glass.

I now am not sure how I should go about removing the algae. I have two nerite snails in my 10g that I can transfer over. I also have mbuna which are vegetarians which may feed on the algae. I also have a BN pleco that may eat the algae off the ornaments.

Should I leave it to the fish, or should I take the ornaments out and scrub the algae off?

 

[calfishguy]

Since I am normally away on the weekdays due to college, I have my mom look over my tank during the time I am away.

My mom fell in love with my fish and loved looking at them. So she left the lights on for very long period of time. She also enjoy watching them come up for food, so she overfed my cichlids and left a lot of nutrition in the tank.

When I came back this weekend, there was heavy algae on all my rocks and some green spot algae on my glass.

I now am not sure how I should go about removing the algae. I have two nerite snails in my 10g that I can transfer over. I also have mbuna which are vegetarians which may feed on the algae. I also have a BN pleco that may eat the algae off the ornaments.

Should I leave it to the fish, or should I take the ornaments out and scrub the algae off?

I say scrub most of it off yourself. It will probably take your clean up crew quite a while to eat all of it anyway.

 

[Sillyfishies]

Or get like 10 Otos and watch em go mad

 

[Cornstar]

I say scrub most of it off yourself. It will probably take your clean up crew quite a while to eat all of it anyway.

Thanks. Should I clean it in hot water or scrub it in tank water?

 

[Cornstar]

Or get like 10 Otos and watch em go mad

I do not think it would be a good idea since it is a cichlid tank haha

 

[Willem B]

Just leave it to the fish and do a 25% water change to get rid of the nasties in the water.

 

[Cornstar]

Yikes. I am getting so many different responses.

 

[dmolavi]

Kill the lights, dial back the feeding, and check your phosphates.

Change the water, as suggested earlier, and try to keep up with it for a week or two if possible...

And keep your mom away from the tank If she's the only person there, put the lights on a timer, and prefill a weekly pill box with the food for each day, then take the food with you, or hide it so she can't toss in extra.

 

[Cornstar]

Kill the lights, dial back the feeding, and check your phosphates.

Change the water, as suggested earlier, and try to keep up with it for a week or two if possible...

And keep your mom away from the tank If she's the only person there, put the lights on a timer, and prefill a weekly pill box with the food for each day, then take the food with you, or hide it so she can't toss in extra.

haha. I think the pill box is definitely a great idea. I will definitely do that! But will the food turn stale if placed in a pill box? I currently feed kensfish spirulina flakes, cichlid flakes, NLS pellets, hikari excel and hikari for carnivores.

 

[Sillyfishies]

My moms the same way. I seperated the food per day for her. Then on Saturdays I showed her what the correct amount looked like. Now she's pretty good at feeding

 

[dmolavi]

haha. I think the pill box is definitely a great idea. I will definitely do that! But will the food turn stale if placed in a pill box? I currently feed kensfish spirulina flakes, cichlid flakes, NLS pellets, hikari excel and hikari for carnivores.

Not for a week at a time, if it's one that snaps tight for each day of the week. I use this when I go away on vacation and have my brother in law watching the tank. Everything on it is automatic except for the feeding, so he just pops the top and dumps it in.

You can get ones like this: Walgreens AM/PM Detachable Pill Box | Walgreens that have multiple slots for each day if you want to separate different types of food.

 

[Congoman]

If your not opposed to temporary planting your tank try some java moss it stands a good chance of out competing the algae or like everyone else said scrub it off do a good sized water change and kill the lights for a week.

 

[Cornstar]

If your not opposed to temporary planting your tank try some java moss it stands a good chance of out competing the algae or like everyone else said scrub it off do a good sized water change and kill the lights for a week.

I have a bunch of anubias nana and java fern in my tank.

The java moss would not last a week with my cichlids unfortunately.

I had set aside a feeding schedule for my mom. Hopefully it'll be fine :x

 

[Congoman]

Yeah that is probably your best bet. Best of luck