Diatom Algae?

[jaysono]

Hey all,

It's been a little while since I last posted, but hopefully not to many noticed...

Having sorta an algae issue. I believe that it is of the Diatom variety...brwnish/rust in color....disentegrates on touch...

Anway, my water seems to be in normal parameters, as it should be. My wife and I have been trying to sell our house and that includes the idea of opening our blinds more often resulting in much more indirevt light within my house. While my tank is not in direct sunlight, I can only imagine that the increase in ambient light may be contributing.

I have a sizeable decoration inside my tank, and it has turned almost completely rust in color. The fish don't seem to be bothered, and my ghost shrimp don't appear to be doing much on the cleanup side.

The glass doesn't get much algae, and when it does I have my algae sponge/scraper...but goodness, my decoration is rust. I plan on cleaning it tonight, and was wondering if anyone had suggestions on: A) How to clean properly, B) Why only the decoration and not the rest of the tank?, and C) Is it indeed the extra light causing this issue? I'm not feeding any more than usual. Only thing I can think of.

 

[TankGirl]

I did wonder where you had gotten to! Glad to see you surface

Is this a new(ish) tank? This is relatively common, and as the tank ages it generally becomes less of a problem. It is thought that an increase in light is what will get rid of diatoms, but I don't have any science for you on that.

What I would do in your case, since you have the perfect setup for it, is to find some otocinclus catfish, 3-4 of them, and they will keep diatoms completely at bay for you. Once the diatoms are gone then you will need to supplement with raw veggies occasionally as well as a quality sinking algae wafer.

 

[jaysono]

I think my tank may a little small for them. I only have a 16 gal tank with already 9 -1" fish in there already and a ghost shrimp. Don't they grow a few inches?

 

[AtodaJ]

I agree on the Oto suggestion. Your tank can support a couple and they'll make short work of that brown stuff if it is diatoms.

 

[TankGirl]

I definitely think they will be fine in your tank - they are small fish with a small bioload. They are somewhat delicate, though, so see if you can get some that have been at the LFS for a couple of weeks, and have nice rounded pale "puppy bellies."

 

[papastew]

The brown algae is very common in newer tanks do to the hgih amount of unused silicates in the tank especailly the gravel. Ditto to what tankgirl advised about ottos. They are excellent for dealing with brown algae.

 

[Guest]

Can anyone recommend an algae eater or other course of action that I could use in an african and central american tank for this same problem?

 

[Guest]

I forgot to mention that I have been using the stock lighting, which is 40 watts. I had some other lights laying around and added them thinking this would help, but that was only yesterday. This brings it up to around 75 watts maybe 6 hrs a day.

 

[Corydoras4Ever]

Loaches

I actually bought a couple of Clown Loaches, thinking that they would get rid of the 'brown algae' in my tanks (that was not the only reason why I bought them), but they hardly touch the algae. I guess I was totally misinformed and should have done my homework better. LOL

 

[TankGirl]

Right - clown loaches are not algae eaters. You need a "suckermouth" type catfish for jobs like that.

 

[chasgood]

I resently started a 20gal. 3 Platies are in it for the cycle. I moved a ornament from the 37 to the 20 that was covered in brown algae. The platies picked it clean in 1 night.

Worth a try.

 

[Guest]

Yes, my platies tank is algae free now that I think about it. I picked up a 5 inch common pleco for in with the africans. Unfortunatly, I couldn't swap tanks between the platies and africans. 55 inches of fish. I think I will just wait out the algae in the 20 gal to see what happens.