algae issues

[fishnewbe]

ok i am having algae issues in my kids 30 gal long she has 1 long goldfish with white on the tipd of the tallfine and a black bug eyed one and the algae grows so fast it can be everywhere is days and it turns black what can i do for help???

 

[mfdrookie516]

water parameters? do you have the tank in direct sunlight? planted? how long are the lights on? if its your kids tank, do they accidentally overfeed? is it green water, algae on the glass, hair algae?

 

[sieski]

water parameters? do you have the tank in direct sunlight? planted? how long are the lights on? if its your kids tank, do they accidentally overfeed? is it green water, algae on the glass, hair algae?

and don't get daunted by all the questions lol the more you can answer the more we can help

 

[fishnewbe]

ok lets see no it is not in direct sunlight the light is off all day and on for a night light. so its on for 8 or 9 hours. feeding no they get feed once a day and i give her the amount to put in. and they have all of it ate in like 3 min. the water is clear some algae on glass and no hair some hard water stains on glass.

 

[mfdrookie516]

how bout nitrate? have you tested it? i say cut down on the lights. i actually got an actinic bulb for one of my tanks that i used for a night light of sorts, and never had to worry about algae with it, plus it gave off a very neat blue glow

 

[jsoong]

If it is not a planted tank, cut down on the light. Take it down to 5-6 hrs a day. Goldfish also make a lot of waste, and that would also encourage algae. You might try upping the water change to see if that help.

If I understand it correctly, you have the lights on at night only? With the ambient room light in the day, that tank can be getting 24 hrs of light, even tho it might be dim. You might want to aim for a few hrs of total darkness. <If you have algae that is gettign out of hand, doing 48hr or more of total darkness (blackout) will kill off a lot of algae. Just make sure you do a pwc afterwards, as dead algae can pollute the tank.>

 

[fishnewbe]

could i use some kind of small shimp or do u thank the gold fish would eat them???

 

[jsoong]

What kind of goldfish & size you have?

Generally, any shrimp is in peril with common goldfish. You might be OK with fancies & large shrimps, but that is not for certain.

It is generally better to correct the root cause of algae than to try to add livestock to eat it.

 

[fishnewbe]

i don't know what kind of gold fish but he/she is orange with white at the tip of the tallfine about 4.5 in and 5 years old

 

[jsoong]

Main difference is if the tail is single or double. The fancy double tails have the tail separated vertically, so it appears to have 2 tails fins with 4 lobes. the commons have tails like most other fish.

Here's a good pic:
Fantail Goldfish, Carassius auratus

The fancies tends to be smaller & less predatory. But a 5" fancy is still likely to make a quick snack out of shrimps ...

 

[fishnewbe]

ohhh it's a common he started life as a .10 cent feeder

 

[fishnewbe]

hey do u thank he/she is why all the snails i put in there keep dieing

 

[jsoong]

Definitely no shrimp with commons! Unless you want to feed him a snack ....

Depending on the size of snail ... my fancies eat baby snails (1/4" or less), commons can prob handle snails 2-3x that. A big apple snail (1" & up) should be safe from goldies. If it keep dying, there is prob some kind of water quality issue. Snails are more sensitive to bad water that fish in some ways.