Brown Algae Eaters?

[shaloric7]

I've got an outbreak of brown algae...It's on the glass and the decorations, including the silk plants. Will anything eat this, or do I just need to clean it off?

 

[Grumble69]

Otos will eat it. They can be a little hard to acclimate, depending on where you get them. They prefer to be in schools, as opposed to just getting 1 for algae duty. And you'll want to look into other foods for when the algae gets scarce. e.g. blanched zucchini, algae tabs (if you can get them to eat it), etc.

 

[shaloric7]

Hard to acclimate? Are they sensitive? I'm pretty new to the aquarium scene.

 

[Grumble69]

It's a matter of getting them through the first month, particularly that first week. Once you're over that hurdle, they should last a long time.

I've read different things about why they can be so fragile during this time period. They're shipped all over by the time they arrive in the LFS. The LFS has these clean tanks with no algae to eat and they're not all that keen on wafers. By the time you get them home, they're starving. And I also read there is a bacteria in their gut to help them process the algae the eat. But it can die off. So even if they get to munching on the algae, it may not be digestible to them any more.

Not sure. All I know is I got 6 a while back and only one lived out of that bunch. I just got a few more today from online (Gunpowder Aquatics). These look a lot better than my first purchase. They're a little bigger. They're schooling together and not hiding. I've got higher hopes for these guys.

 

[jamesyboy11]

Get a plecostomus, they are bottom feeders, theyll just eat all the algae

 

[Khuligirl93]

You need to find out the source of the algae problem before purchasing more stick to fix it. How long has your tank been set up? How long do you leave the lights on? If you do not have live plants, start by leaving your lights off all the time except when feeding or viewing the tank.
I would never suggest a common plecostomus (unless the tank is at least 200 gallons) because they grow to two feet long and have an enormous bioload...

 

[shaloric7]

Tank has been set up about 10 weeks. I do leave the lights on too long.

Would a bristlenose pleco eat brown algae? I had one a few weeks ago for about two days before the little guy up and disappeared. I have driftwood.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Brown algae is called diatoms and it is very common in new tanks, but usually goes away on it's own in a few weeks as long as lights are not on too long.
What size is your tank and what other fish do you have? Any pleco has a fairly large bioload (I had 2 BNs in my 36 bowfront for 2 years until I gave them away due to the huge amount of waste that they produced- very unsightly on my nice clean sand). They were very efficient algae eaters, but will need veggies and algae wafers once your algae is gone.
I would say if you have a low stocking and at least a 20g tank, you could try again with a BN though. They were very hardy in my experience even before I got driftwood.

 

[jamesyboy11]

You need to find out the source of the algae problem before purchasing more stick to fix it. How long has your tank been set up? How long do you leave the lights on? If you do not have live plants, start by leaving your lights off all the time except when feeding or viewing the tank.
I would never suggest a common plecostomus (unless the tank is at least 200 gallons) because they grow to two feet long and have an enormous bioload...

Depends what kind of pleco you get, some grow 4" other grow 7" and common plecos grow about 2' but catfish might also clean up the algae

 

[shaloric7]

I have a 36 gallon bow-front with:


- 9 Tiger Barbs
- 1 Buenos Aires Tetra (lone survivor of a chlorine poisoning accident, he actually schools with the barbs)
- 2 Bolivian Rams

 

[shaloric7]

Also, if I do get a BN pleco again, which algae wafers are best? I got some before that just turned to mush in a few hours.

 

[Khuligirl93]

The pleco should find them faster than a few hours.. I don't know of any wafers that would not be mush after a few hours of sitting in water. Mine always devoured them within 15 mins. If they're not getting eaten try breaking it into quarters and just put one quarter in.