The Diatoms Persist...Please Advise

[Mark Hewitt]

Oh yeah, I've seen these flexible types...these actually floated up to the surface on you, Mark? The marketing claims they are "weighted down"...

No no, not to the surface of the water, but to the surface of the gravel. As I wanted the bubble wand to remain out of sight and having it under the gravel produced a nice bubble pattern, while it was on the surface it was an unsightly black tube which made a dreadful hissing noise!

Didn't help that the connector on the end kept coming off too!

So now I use the single diffuser that came with my Eheim 3701 pump which is effectively only a single point but creates a nice effect, you can see it in this somewhat blurry picture

Ideally the diffuser itself would be out of sight, but I can live with that!

 

[Osage_Winter]

Complete Attack of the Diatoms!

The brown algae/diatoms that have colonized the cloth sails of my tank's ship ornament seem to have gone from horiffic to disastrous -- no improvement whatsoever in all the time I have reported the last outbreak.

In fact, the spread has gotten worse -- they have almost completely consumed the sails, making them look nearly all brown now, and have spread to the skull ornament and surrounding plants...quite aggressively. The diatoms are all over the eyes of the skull decoration, and tips of different plants are turning brown now...

What is going on here? Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to slow this down or get rid of these things? They're really unsightly...

I will post pics if anyone needs or would like to see them.

 

[Osage_Winter]

Anyone know of any ways to get rid of these diatoms? Will they eventually burn out?

 

[adeebm]

From what I've heard, the best thing to do is wait it out. Silicates, which seem to fuel diatoms, can't last forever(hopefully). Unless your tap water has silicates in it... Pics would be good, it might be brown algae from overfeeding and not diatoms.

--Adeeb

 

[Osage_Winter]

From what I've heard, the best thing to do is wait it out. Silicates, which seem to fuel diatoms, can't last forever(hopefully). Unless your tap water has silicates in it... Pics would be good, it might be brown algae from overfeeding and not diatoms.

--Adeeb

Thanks so much for the reply, Adeeb...

I know our tap water is terrible, and we have to add salt to a softener machine to soften up the hard water...could this be contributing to the silcates, or diatoms, if that's what they are?

I will post pics as soon as I can -- but these things have spread horiffically since the last batch of pics I posted. They've consumed the ship sails, and have spread to plants and another ornament.

Will these ever go away?

 

[adeebm]

I know our tap water is terrible, and we have to add salt to a softener machine to soften up the hard water...could this be contributing to the silcates, or diatoms, if that's what they are?

You're not using softened water for the fish are you? I'm pretty sure that's bad for them. Household water softeners don't actually lower the TDS which is what you want out of soft water. They just replace calcium and magnesium ions, which are considered "hard" with sodium or potassium. Also, some fish are sensitive to sodium/potassium so it would be best to use your plain tap water.

The softener shouldn't be adding silicates though.

--Adeeb

 

[Osage_Winter]

You're not using softened water for the fish are you? I'm pretty sure that's bad for them. Household water softeners don't actually lower the TDS which is what you want out of soft water. They just replace calcium and magnesium ions, which are considered "hard" with sodium or potassium. Also, some fish are sensitive to sodium/potassium so it would be best to use your plain tap water.

The softener shouldn't be adding silicates though.

--Adeeb

I am using the tap water -- but it's automatically filtered with the machine in our garage...

Wow. I didn't expect this. This isn't good; I think the Sears installer who was here to install the softener machine said that our kitchen sink isn't affected by the softener -- so perhaps I'll take my water for the tank from there...

Let me ask you this: Is there something I can add to the water, chemical-wise, to either kill or eliminate the brown algae/diatoms? I read something about a "diatom filter"...do you know anything about this? Is there some kind of media I can drop in the filter that will get rid of these things?

They really look bad now...

 

[uscamaro]

Wow. I didn't expect this. This isn't good; I think the Sears installer who was here to install the softener machine said that our kitchen sink isn't affected by the softener -- so perhaps I'll take my water for the tank from there...

Usually the only water they soften are the ones not normally used for drinking, so your kitchen sink would be fine; just don't use the bathroom sinks or tub/shower.

 

[Osage_Winter]

Usually the only water they soften are the ones not normally used for drinking, so your kitchen sink would be fine; just don't use the bathroom sinks or tub/shower.

Thanks Patrick...I suppose you would know being that you live here!

This isn't good news though...I have been using the tub faucet in the guest bathroom closest to the tank...the fish have been alive since August or possibly September -- are they not long for this world now?

Do you think the water I have been using is causing the outbreak of diatoms?

 

[mudraker]

I don't know about that, but you will certainly need to keep up with those big water changes.

 

[Osage_Winter]

I don't know about that, but you will certainly need to keep up with those big water changes.

Well, that's not happening right now -- I have had WAY too many disastrous results with water changes, and I am currently just topping off due to evaporation...I will take water readings when I can to see what's going on in there.

 

[Osage_Winter]

Can anyone else tell me if diatoms will eventually go away on their own? These things are consuming my tank...

I am going to take pictures of the current status shortly if I can...

 

[Osage_Winter]

The Diatoms Have Returned...NEED SOLUTIONS

Well, what I was hoping wasn't going to happen has happened -- and rather quickly, I'd say, not really giving us any chance to fully relish the clean look of the aquarium with all diatoms gone and the water clean and nearly transparent in quality...

The diatoms are growing yet again on the tips of plants and rock surfaces, after we yanked all ornaments and plants out about a week ago and soaked them and washed them down with hot water, getting rid of them on the decorations...we returned all plants and ornaments to the tank and the water looked immediately better and cleaner. Now, about a week later, we have noticed that the brown spots have appeared once again on the tips of the plants and on some ornaments, and this has gotten me to the point of utter frustration. I'm NOT yanking all the decorations and plants out again to clean them -- it was a BACKBREAKING procedure. Further, I just don't know what is causing this...it MUST be our water supply...I have cut down on feeding, the tank doesn't get much sun if any at all, and I'm at my wit's end trying to figure this out...

There were some areas of the tank we couldn't get to in order to clean the diatoms -- the gravel and the surfaces of the bubble wands, to be specific. So I'm thinking that maybe the cells from those diatoms "jumped over" and attacked the surrounding clean ornaments making them brown once again...is this remotely possible? At this point, is it the silicates in my tap water that can be doing this, or maybe the lack of constant and regular water changes?

Someone please help me solve my diatom issue because my tank is turning completely brown once again, and I'm so angry because we got all the decorations sparkling clear and new looking when we washed them down, and the water was even looking great...now, it's turning back to the way it was again, and I can't seem to get a handle on it...

Thanks in advance for your attention and thoughts.

 

[Fishies86]

I've got the same problem I've tried less lighting, more lighting, more oxygen in the water, and plants (to provide competition for nutrients), and I've still got it. I'm hoping that once the plants get established and my tank ages, it'll start reducing the diatoms. It makes the tank look so dirty!
Hope someone else has lots of suggestions!!

 

[aqua7]

I'm not experienced with diatoms as I've never (and hopefully never) had to deal with it, but I understand they should die away by themselves after a while especially as a tank ages.

There is one kind of fish that will feast on diatoms and those are Otocinclus catfish. They're known to really rid a tank of diatoms. You could buy some (preferably 3 or more) and hopefully they'll get the job done. Good luck!

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

 

[Osage_Winter]

I've got the same problem I've tried less lighting, more lighting, more oxygen in the water, and plants (to provide competition for nutrients), and I've still got it. I'm hoping that once the plants get established and my tank ages, it'll start reducing the diatoms. It makes the tank look so dirty!
Hope someone else has lots of suggestions!!

Thanks Fishie!

That's too bad about your diatoms -- I know EXACTLY what you're going through...

I would have thought that my tank was "aged" by now, but I am beginning to lean towards the possibility that my tap water is simply feeding these things each time I pour more in...the water may be loaded with silicates.

I hope others respond to this, as well; do you have any pictures of your diatoms in your tank to share?

 

[Osage_Winter]

I'm not experienced with diatoms as I've never (and hopefully never) had to deal with it, but I understand they should die away by themselves after a while especially as a tank ages.

There is one kind of fish that will feast on diatoms and those are Otocinclus catfish. They're known to really rid a tank of diatoms. You could buy some (preferably 3 or more) and hopefully they'll get the job done. Good luck!

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

Thanks Aqua 7...

I wanted to believe that they will just die away by themselves -- but they keep coming back in my tank. Is it possible something is feeding them, such as the quality of my tap water perhaps? Is there anything I can use in the water, chemical wise, to eat these things up if it is my water causing it?

With regard to the catfish, I was so advised on this -- but can catfish like the ones you mentioned mix with goldfish?

 

[aqua7]

It seems that some tap water may cause this. Also the wrong lighting or many nitrates or phosphates in the water. Try using water from a different source and see how that goes.

Goldfish are messy fish and they could also be the cause if the right filtration is not in place. As to Otocinclus mixing with Goldfish, I wouldn't do it since goldfish are cold water fish unlike Otocinclus who are tropical water fish.

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

 

[Fishies86]

Here is a picture of my diatoms, taken looking straight down into the tank. There's not much at the moment because I cleaned it all off with a toothbrush a few days ago. You can see it on the cave (which is a purpley bluish green colour) and on the leaves of the purple plant (which I'm fairly sure is not aquatic :/ )
Is it anything like yours?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

They just need less nutrients. Whether they are getting that from you overfeeding or from something in the water supply I don't know.

You will never get rid of them completely, I certainly can't, but I reduced them by feeding my fish less. They only grow a little bit now and I just clean the glass.