Brown Algae???

[rheann]

Hey guys,

Seem to be having a problem with my tank... It seems as though their is brownish algae stuff growing in large sections on the glass surface.
My Otocinclus will not touch it, but I am guessing this is because they might be too afraid to come out and try and eat it because my tank is so large and they are so small. Otocinclus do better in groups of 4 or more I think, and I only have two right now.

I'm going to get 4 or 5 more and hopefully that will encourage them to eat the algae more often.

This alga however is not killing any of my rooted plants, but it is killing the duckweed and is sucking up all the oxygen in my tank, and my Axolotls it seems have to go up more frequently for air. I have not had a snail in my tank for a long time, so I might try to get just one and also the Otocinclus and see if this helps.

Many of my plants have grown so big that they are stretching up and across the surface of the water. When I get the algae problem under control, I will post some more pictures

. It's too embarrassing right now at the moment lol.

My tank is under serious construction right now trying to remove all the dying duckweed and algae and what not.

 

[sharn]

some brown algaes can be caused my low light. i have a brown algae in my tank, its nearly impossible to scrub off unless i catch it early. its on the floor though by my bed so is quite shaded. maybe if you increase the light a bit?

 

[rheann]

Hmmm... That could be what it is. I do have lights in my tank, but they don't shine much past the water's surface because of the duckweed, so the low light probably fed the algae.

I removed most of the duckweed again tonight, there is only a small amount now because I was afraid that more would die and just clutter up the tank. Tonight all of my adult axolotls are in a big bucket and will be in there overnight and tomorrow I will put them back in and all the plants. I moved everything out to help get the algae to go away. It is somewhat difficult to scrub off the sides of the glass, and I cut open my knuckle on the tank frame trying to scrub it.

Hopefully things will be better in a day or two for me

 

[rob]

Hi
i have my light on 12hrs a day and get this same stuff. have u tried one of them magnetic glass cleaners Rheann ? cause thats what i get mine off with "cpl of swipes and it gone

"
the one i have is like a rough velcro material on the internal side and foam pad on external.
is it ok to have suckermouth catfish with axies ?
is saw em the other day in a shop

they look cool...

 

[maja]

i also have it, i just removed it all yesterday, and now its everywhere again. i turned my timer down so i have under 10hous of light. you can also put a black sack over the tank for some days so its all covered and dark - NO light at all, that would also help...

 

[maja]

btw the axies wont get harmed if they dont get any light in some days.. ;P

 

[rheann]

Thanks Maja and Rob

I'll try the magnetic algae scrubber if the Otocinclus don't do the trick, and if that doesn't work, I'll try the black bag lol.

Rob - I don't know if that would be a good tank mate for your axies. Pleco's can get really big. You want something that will stay small and won't if any cause too much harm to your axolotls. Otocinclus are hard workers and stay under 4 cm's, but when they are in small numbers in wide areas, they get scared and tend to hide. The more numbers, the braver they are lol. about 3 -4 for a small tank will make them comfortable.

If you want to try getting some of those, they are very cute, stay small, and are hard workers. They are also vegetarians, but make sure to feed them either cooked canned green beans, or summer squash, or cucumbers, don't let them just eat the algae or they will starve.

Snails also work, but they also tent to leave Hydra and other things behind, and they also might suck the slime coat on your axolotls. I haven't had that problem yet with any snails that I have had, but all the snails I ever had ended up dieing, for reason I do not know.

 

[sin]

wow, i must have a freak of an octocinclus then, i've got two and one is 4 cm and hasn't grown any more, the other is 8 cm in length. Simon (my little one) doesn't bother my axies but my big one, because the small tank that everyone was in started sucking on my axies and i had to take him out because he was getting really aggressive, the other one makes a fantastic vacuum cleaner however.

 

[andrew]

I had a small problem with that brown algae, more light definatly helps. I think high levels of nitrate can cause it to grow more rapidly.

A few hitch hiker snails that came in on plants seem to love it though!

Can you post a piccy of your Otocinclus Rheann? I don't think i've ever seen any in a pet shop round here - well the name isn't familiar anyway, i'm hoping a piccy may help.