Long Green hair algae problem

[gizmo]

Hi,

quick question. My tank is now full of green algae, to the point where i can't even see my nemos anymore. Since there was so many i removed the green algae from my fish tank and only left a little bit in there. Now will this cause the water to have high ammonia? or disrupt the water at any way? was kinda worried cause i've had my tank for 7 months and the water has been perfect. My tank is only 26Litres.
Reason why i removed it because i've been waiting for the fish store to order my lawn mover blennies for like 3 months now...too slack..so i just decided to remove the algae. please let me know if wat i did was right. if its wrong let me know a way i could fix it. thanks!

Nanci

 

[mojoreef]

Hiya Gizmo. Having a lot of hair algae usually means you have a nutrient problem that is feeding the algae. A blenny will eat the algae but will then poop out 90% of what ever it eats, so not a real good way to try to battle it. The best way to get rid of an algae problem is to kill its food source. So a couple of questions. What do you use for top off water, tap or ro/di??, whats you feeding regime like??? what kind of things do you have in your tank?? and what do you use for filtration??
Harvesting the hair algae is not a real bad thing, it will cause the algae to spore a bit and might psead it a bit, but removing it removes the nutrients that it has bound up.


Mike

 

[packfan2204]

i would definitely test your phosphates and put in a phosphate sponge

 

[got bait?]

The phosphate sponge is only a band aid (still good idea), still need to find source of nutirients. Lettuce nudis are good for hair as well.

 

[gizmo]

Hi Mike,

I change water once every week, i use salt water from which i buy from the fish shop. The thing is i have already ripped the algae out of the fish tank and only left a little bit in the tank. Would that cause my water to have high ammonia because i did that? I only have 2 nemos in my tank..since its such a small tank and i have 2 turbo snails. I feed my nemos twice a day..usually fish flake and shrimp. I have a Aqua one 126 tank, so the filtration is on top where the light is not on the bottom.

Thank-you

Nanci

 

[Atari]

I dont think you have anything to worry about.. do you test your water parameters regularly? Excessive feeding (with flakes especially) is one of the major causes of nuisance algae. It's probably better to feed less often in a small tank.

 

[mojoreef]

Hi Nancy. Harvesting the algae should not cause an ammonia rise unless you left the algae in. Nancy do you have any Live rock or live sand in the tank? If your only form of filtration is the aqua one, I would say give it a good cleaning, and set up a maintence schedule for doing it in the future.

Mike

 

[Nitrate]

You might want to turn your filter off when feeding as well. Excess food will get sucked up in the filter.

Scoop out any uneaten food then turn the filter back on.

 

[Overstocker]

Alot of flake food has phosphate in it. Be careful not to over feed or trade out a few days with frozen foods...

 

[gizmo]

Hi Mike,

I took most of the algae out, however i left a bit in the tank. Yes i left the live rock in the tank which has a bit a algae growth on it. I don;'t have any sand in the tank. Should i remove the algae fully then? Or leave a little bit in? Cause i just did a water test and now there is ammonia present. quick worried now :| pls help

 

[darb2]

If there is ammonia present it is time for a water change. A little bit of the algae isn't a bad thing. Get the ammonia down, and find out where the blenny is. In the meantime, maybe a few more snails would help

 

[gizmo]

Also when i was cleaning the gravel i found 2 worms living in the gravel with heaps of tiny legs...would you guys know what it is? looks like a centipede?

 

[Atari]

Bristleworms.. they are beneficial.

 

[gizmo]

hi mike,

should i get rid of the algae totally then? been changing the water twice a day and putting ammo-lock in the tank since i have ammonia present. Are turbo snails really sensitive? just worried that they might die. thank-you!

 

[mojoreef]

Sure you can get rid of the algae completely if you wish. If thier is a food source it will grow back however. Have you found the fish yet?? you need to find the source of the ammonia, I dought it has anything to do with the algae.
Check your filter for cleaning and go ahead on the water changes and dont worry to much. A little algae is pretty normal from time to time. Sometimes if something dies or if the filters are really dirty you might get a ammonia spike. You are doing everything right to combat it. I noticed you mentioned you have CC, do you syphon clean it from time to time?? it would be a good way to do a water change.

now look for that fish, lol

 

[darb2]

ammolock can give a false positive for ammonia. I would stop using it and find the source of ammonia.
What do you have for a cleanup crew? With cc I would have some hermits, they do a better job getting between the cc

 

[gizmo]

if i stop using ammo-lock in my tank while i have ammonia present, wouldn't that harm the fish? I just cleaned out my filter, did a 60% water change (which the fish didn't like) and now the ammonia level is on 1.0. Before it was 1.5. How long does it usually take to get rid of the ammonia? I found a few Bristleworms in my tank, and i have 2 turbo snails and 2 nemos. I have no idea how i got the ammonia

 

[Atari]

I'm not sure what kind of filtration you have but it could be that the bacterial population somehow got wiped out. Do you use tank water to clean it out? Is there any LR in the tank?

 

[Overstocker]

Part of the prob with Ammo-lok is you never know when it is ammonia or just the ammo-lok giving the ammonia reading....

Do you have Nitrites? If so then you probably do have an ammonia problem, if not then maybe the ammonia is taken care of and what is left is a false reading?
Have you made any drastic changes to your tank prior to finding the ammonia problem (added fish, changed water source, added live rock, stirred up the substrate, squeezed a sponge filter, etc..)

What are your tank readings after your water changes (ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)

 

[gizmo]

I used salt water (which i purchased from the fish store) to clean out my filtration. I have no idea how the ammonia got there. I've had my 2 nemos and 2 turbo snails in there since jan 2004 and everything has been fine. Ever since i removed the algae i started noticing ammonia in the water. I got a live rock in my tank its been there since Dec 2003. My ammonia reading is at 2! Its so high, been doing 30% water change everyday. The nitrate level is also present but not as high. My ph is at 8. I have very high phosphate reading (which i think is the cause of my algae growth). I just recently purchased a Ammo-free ball (removes ammonia). The fish store told me it should help remove the ammonia I haven't done anything out of the ordinary to my tank, the only thing i did was removed the long green hair algae. I've got a small tank, only 26litres, thats why i only have the 2 nemos in my tank. I'm thinking of just boarding my nemos at the fish store till i get my water right I just don't understand how this happened, i would have thought after 8 months that my bacteria population could combat this ammonia issue.