What is this?

[Cypilk]

There's brownish, copperish colored spots on the windows of my tank. What is it? They are kind of smeared, not fully round and in random places, kind of a rusted colored ink blot. Should I be worried?

 

[Guest]

i found something similar in my tank. it seems to appear where my dojo loaches rest, along the bottom of the tank. im not sure if it has anything to do with the dojo's, but it is a copper colored smear.

 

[malkore]

brown diatoms

 

[hc8719]

agreed

 

[Cypilk]

Brown diatoms. Hmm. Maybe I should consider getting a few snails to eat them up!

 

[malkore]

they'll fade on their own. very very common in tanks less than 6 months old.

 

[JDogg]

brown diatoms

agreed, otos love it..

 

[GlitcH]

Your tank has windows?

 

[sith j]

otto cats will clear your problem up over night if you have enough room in the tank. jmo

 

[zacusmaximus]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=84869 That's another thread about diatoms. My new tanks always get some diatoms for a while. I've had them for as little as a week and as long as a month, I think. No harm though, I always just cleaned up any unsightly areas and left the rest be.