Diatom Algae

[mitche8359]

Does anyone have or can anyone point me to a picture of diatom algae in the eary stages? I have a brown/grey hairlike algae growing on the sides of my tank since removing a lot of plant material. I thought it was the stuff otos liked to eat but they aren't exactly feasting themselves apon the infestation.

[deeni0z]

I wish I took a picture before I cleaned my tank today!!

Well.. the diatom algae I have experience with just grows on the glass for me. I first noticed it as tiny, tiny, tiny speckles of brown on my glass. Later, it looked like a bottle of brown ketchup exploded on my glass.

HTH. If the algae shows up again, I'll be sure to take pictures this time.

[mitche8359]

Yeah I've found a plethera of pics online of the ketchup exploding on the glass stage. Thanks for the description of the early stage. I think the sides of my tank are 'covered' in it. Hard to notice unless you look close. Now I have to train the otos.

[deeni0z]

I think I can describe it when it first appears: it's like a spray bottle set on very fine.. except you sprayed your whole glass with it. ...and it's brown!

And you hate it!

[mitche8359]

Yes that's pretty much exactly what I'm seeing. Probably doesn't show up very well in photos of early stages. I might try to get a pic of it tonight.

Now what can you do about training the otos?

[deeni0z]

I'm no expert on otos. TankGirl seems to have plenty o' luck with them.