Rusty looking algea

[ccross]

I have this rusty looking algae covering nearly everything in my tank. My pleco seems to love it, and my danios pick at it too. Trying to figure out what it is. My tank is not in the sunlight at all. Any ideas what it is and how I can get rid of it? Makes my clean tank look scummy, lol.

 

[barterking85]

Looks like diatoms it's common with new tanks it will go away with time of it bothers you wash the items and put them back in just use hot water and scrub them

 

[ccross]

Looks like diatoms it's common with new tanks it will go away with time of it bothers you wash the items and put them back in just use hot water and scrub them

So its nothing that will hurt my fish in anyway? And when you say it will go away, do you mean just to keep doing my normal water changes and it will slowly go on its own?

 

[barterking85]

So its nothing that will hurt my fish in anyway? And when you say it will go away, do you mean just to keep doing my normal water changes and it will slowly go on its own?

It won't hurt the fish at all you may see some picking at it (eating it) and yes regular water changes and wipe things down at it will stop coming back

 

[Bearchumjs]

Diatoms won't hurt your fish. I had an outbreak just after my tank finished cycling. It drove me insane. I can't stand a scummy tank! LOL! My diatoms were a light brown and wiped off of my tank decorations and glass very easily. So I just did pwc's every few days and rinsed my plants and driftwood off in the tank water I had removed. They eventually went away after a few weeks.

 

[danpas]

Had the same thing in my tank. Yes it will go away with time.

 

[ccross]

Great. I dont have it on the glass, just the plants and gravel. I hate removing stuff from the tank because It takes me so long to re-position it, lol. So I think I'll just keep with my water changes and let nature run its course. Thanks for the help!

 

[phoenixkiller]

Great. I dont have it on the glass, just the plants and gravel. I hate removing stuff from the tank because It takes me so long to re-position it, lol. So I think I'll just keep with my water changes and let nature run its course. Thanks for the help!

I found out that I have the exact-same thing in my tank. The only thing that efficiently cleans it is my Red Cherry Shrimp. If there is a decoration with a particularly large amount of it on there, I just take it out and put it in the RCS tank. I give it 24 hours, tops. Diatoms: gone. No problem with it, but it's not too pretty. My RCS get good and fat on this stuff, and it grows so fast there is an endless supply.

 

[Jess1ca]

I have that too! Was just talking about it with a friend. I kind of like the look and he said it was ok so I'm gonna leave it

 

[ccross]

I might just add some RCS to my 20 gallon and let them keep it clean. My danio's wouldnt bother the RCS would they?