What is this?

[Shana0310]

It's an orangish brownish looking something that is in my beta tank. Does anyone know?


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[ImACoolguy]

Looks like brown algae. How long do you run the lights every day?


Caleb

 

[Shana0310]

About 8- 9hrs I'd say. It's on a timer comes on around 3-4:00pm and turns off about 1am.



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[ImACoolguy]

About 8- 9hrs I'd say. It's on a timer comes on around 3-4:00pm and turns off about 1am.



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A water change, 8 hours of light max and cut back on feeding a little and it should go away.


Caleb

 

[Shana0310]

I give him 4-5 pellets a day. Is that too much? 100% water change? Gravel vacuum? I just did an 80% change and vacuum
2 weeks ago. 20% water change last week.


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[ImACoolguy]

I give him 4-5 pellets a day. Is that too much? 100% water change? Gravel vacuum? I just did an 80% change and vacuum
2 weeks ago. 20% water change last week.


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Just a 50% water change and your feeding is fine as long as you see him eat all the pellets. Gravel can trap detritus so vacuuming is very important in gravel tanks.

Brown algae is the most common algae and its main source is too much light. Lack of water changes, high nitrates, and over feeding are all possible causes that's why I asked. It's not a major problem and the stuff usually wipes right off if you want to clean it.


Caleb

 

[Shana0310]

It's got to be the light then. I'm diligent about weekly water changes. The nitrates were 5 as of last Sunday, and he eats all his food. So no more than 8 hrs of light? I'll give that a shot and do a good cleaning tomorrow.

Thanks so much for your help.


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[Matt68005]

Goldfish are very messy, even with frequent water changes, their tanks will be over taken with nitrates and brown algae. Why i use them to cycle tanks. While nitrates wont hurt anything, best bet with most fish is to go bare bottom.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Goldfish are very messy, even with frequent water changes, their tanks will be over taken with nitrates and brown algae. Why i use them to cycle tanks. While nitrates wont hurt anything, best bet with most fish is to go bare bottom.

With a proper water change schedule their tank can be very clean. Many keep healthy goldfish for years with enough effort to clean the tank often.


Caleb