genie

I left my mother in charge of my tanks while I was away-- but we live 45 min apart and she only came twice. So she left the lights on for over a week. My tanks are overrun with algae. Green furry algae. I tried Algae Destroyer, it killed a fish. I got some ottos-- but they aren't on top of it. aside from tearing down the tank and scraping everything-- is there anything else to do

Radcliffe

You could do a thorough scrubbing of the tank with an algae brush scrubber thing, and then do a water change. It would get the algae into the water, and then some of that water out of the tank. Maybe that would give the ottos a chance to keep up? It took my ottos a solid week, but they did make short work of the algae in my tanks.

--R

Trpimp147

if you would like you can send some algae to me i need some in my tank i have two 6 inch plecos that are hungry!!

armadillo

Yeah, me too. My otos are dying for some good algae! Right now, they have the artificial stuff.

Trpimp147

maybe we could send our fish to ya to help your otos out i think they would kick that algaes butt!!

Butterfly

I imagine your Nitrates are really high(Algae loves Nitrates) right so Extra water changes and blacking the tank out for three days( cover it and make sure no light can get in at all, leave tank lights off) Then do a 50% water change will probably get rid of most of it. You may have to do a couple of extra water changes afterwards. While you were gone the fish were still contributing their 2 cents
Carol

genie

I can't black out the tank entirely because i have live plants. but i will get on the water changes and use some Amquel+. Thanks!

Butterfly

Blacking out the tanks for three days won't hurt the live plants It is the recommended way to get rid of algae . remember to do the extra water changes also.
Carol

lost2getherNAMA

Is algae bad for a tank or does it just look bad? I usually just use my scrubber (mag float) and let the filter suck it up. is that wrong?

jsalemi

Algae generally just looks bad more than does any harm, though if you have live plants, the algae could eventually block them from getting enough light.