antbfc

Hi there,

i keep getting orange looking algae growing at the bottom of my tank on the gravel and on my ornaments rocks etc. It was first iun my 120 litre tank and it appeared in my 28 litre betta tank as well.

I bought 3 ottos for my betta tank and it does seem to have gone down a bit since they have been in there (3 days) i also bought a bristlenose catfish to go with my butterfly plec to help combat it in my 120 litre, which doesnt seem to have made much difference. Obviously since having the problem i havent dropped any algae wafers in the tanks because they arent eating all that is availible to them anyway. IS there certain types of algae eater that eats certain types of algae? any help appreciated

mathas

Orange is a fairly unusual color for freshwater algae. Can you post a pic by any chance?

A variety of cyanobacteria would be my first guess, but pictures would help. If that does turn out to be the problem, I'm not aware of anything that eats it, since it's not truly an algae.

antbfc

**** my cameras playing up :-s what is that that you think it could be?

MizRamzi

By any chance are you adding *aquarium salt* to your tank?

antbfc

no i'm not. and its not in direct sunlight

mathas

Cyanobacteria is a type of photosynthetic bacteria. Sirdarksol wrote an article about it found here, or you can browse Google for even more information. I've never seen orange cyanobacteria, but I know it can be red (though blue or green is more common)... and red things can sometimes look orange in the right circumstances/lighting

I discussed a few possible cures last year (Can anyone ID this algae?), but those don't always seem to work for everyone. There's also a product called Blue-Green Algae Remover that is supposed to be fairly effective (BGA algea).

I think the first step should probably be to ID what you do have, before you waste time/money on treatments.

redlessi

Or is it browish, maybe diatoms? How long have you had the tanks set up? If the tank is fairly new, this brown algae growth is quite normal. How long do you have the lights on, how often do you feed your fish?

ynaggo

Yeah it could be brownish. I had the same thing, it looks like hair and it grows on my ship and fake plants. I usually just do a water change using the siphon over the gravel bed not to disturb it and take the props out and rinse em in the siphoned water.

MizRamzi

I had that real bad in my brackish tank. I cut down the feedings and limited the lighting to 6hrs a day, you could even go as far as keeping the lights off for a couple of days. As with any algae (I am thinking this is what it is, Diatoms) you have to take away it's food source. Starve it out! Remember that as the algae dies off, it will create nitrates which also feeds it. Test your water, lets us know what your readings are. Together we'll figure it out.

aquarist48

Good morning. If you are experiencing brown algae or diatoms it will eventually go away on it's own. It's very common in newly established aquariums. Ottos should take care of it as well..
Ken

I have moved your thread to the "more freshwater aquarium topics/ aquarium water/Algae" section of the forum.
Thanks!
Ken

antbfc

i think it could be that too.. my lights are on for 10 hours a day.. should i cut that down? i feed my fish roughly one flake each per day

antbfc

gonna test my water now and i'll get back to you

redlessi

diatoms can also be caused by not enough light so if you cut back at least have 8 hr a day.

antbfc

water parameters all normal... its definatly looking like brown algae. I'll leave the lights off for a day and see how it goes. So it should go on its own?

grimtongue

Brown Algae (diatoms) can grow in very low light. If that's what you got, leaving the lights off will do nothing. It will eventually go away in a month or two.

antbfc

i've been searching through old threads any they say if you are getting brown algae it means they are not getting enough light... Reccomending 12 hours a day? mine are currently on 10 shall i turn up to twelve?