Blanket Weed - what to do?

[13wynton]

Hi we have a small cold water aquarium with 8 cloud mountain minnows happily in residence and 3 thriving plants. Over the last few weeks however we have experienced increasing amounts of blanket weed. I have simply removed it on a weekly basis, but now find that it is so thick the fish are getting caught in it. Where are we going wrong and what should we do to remedy the situation?
many thanks x

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi!
I'm not sure what you mean by blanket weed. do you mean a floating plant like duck weed?

 

[CharAsh]

Or are you talking about string algae (I think that's what it's called).

 

[OBEYtheFISH]

Does any light hit this tank?

 

[Alkane]

guppy grass? aka Naja Grass

Najas guadalupensis

 

[13wynton]

Blanket weed?

Thanks for your responses, the problem resembles blanket weed that is found on ponds. In the water it is like cotton wool floating on the surface and around weed. When removed it is considerably reduced in volume and appears like green string? is there a good website where I can identify? The tank is away from any natural light, but we do have the tank's light on from about 7:30am - 10:30pm. We have also noticed that the water in the tank is quite warm to the touch - tepid rather than room temp.

 

[Alkane]

Try this. Only keep the light on 8 or 9 hours a day. 15 hours is a little much. I keep my main lights on for 8 hours and then use a small light for mornings and late afternoons. Keep removing the weed by hand and keep up with water changes 20% twice a week if possible.

Also feeding too much may be causing it to over grow.


Good luck!

 

[13wynton]

Blanket weed

Thanks for your great, practical advice - we have significantly reduced our use of the aquarium light and replaced the charcoal in the filter. Already algae growth has pretty much stopped, the tank is much cleaner & our fish are happy!
thankyou! x