Angelwhispers

My tank has been set up for a while now. We currently have a Male Betta and seven Neon Tetra's. The tank is planted, though not heavily.

I have found a brownish slime growing on a couple of my plants, and also on the sides of the tank, and the water is a little bit cloudy. I thought it was Algae, but then got a little confused because I always thought Algae was green, not brown. All the water parameters tested fine, so I don't know what could be causing this

Does this brown stuff sound like Algae to you, and what can I do to get rid of it? Hopefully it's easy enough to solve. The water cloudiness I can probably clear up by doing a water change, which I do every Sunday anyway, but the brown stuff is worrying me.

Shawnie

when you say the tank has been set up for awile, how long is that? brown algae is sometimes called diatoms or "new tank " algae..and the cloudyness could be the new tank bacteria bloom....you can google it to see what it looks like...if thats what it is, its harmless...

Angelwhispers

We set it up on the 25th of August, and then started adding fish a couple weeks after. I tested the water parameters first and everything checked out, so we thought we were safe.

Now we have this brown stuff growing on a couple of the plants and on the front and sides of the tank. Is there anything I can do to get rid of it? I would prefer to go without using medication if possible.

jdhef

If it is diatoms it will go away on it's own in a week or two

Shawnie

dont use meds....your betta doesnt do well with meds...what size is the tank? do you have some room for cories? they love it.....its more of an eye sore to you and doesnt bother your fish

Angelwhispers

My tank is a 29Gal, so we do have plenty of room for cories. I was told that Otto's like eating that stuff too.

Shawnie

yep both do ..im just a cory fan especially the albino's..but either will work

Angelwhispers

Thanks. I'm going out to the store tomorrow first thing

Shawnie

I know you didnt ask about this but just wanted to let you know, it might be a good idea to test the water first to make sure 0 ammonia and nitrites and 20 or under nitrates as both ottos and cories are super sensitive to water parimeters if they are off...id hate for you to get them and then loose them...but goodluck and make sure you share some pics when you get a chance

04_si

another thing you can do, if possible is pull the rock, or decoration out and scrub it down in your sink. when I had that growing in my tank thats what I did. I never saw it on the glass, just all over a couple decorations and some of the gravel..

good luck, it should be gone soon enough!

HatchetHaven

A birstlenose or clown pleco would be nice. They are rock hard (y), and do a good job. They are also super cute!

Angelwhispers

Shawnie: I tested the Water parameters yesterday and all was fine. I got three otto's this afternoon, and so far they seem fine. They're already starting to clean the tank so I think it's Mission Accomplished. I also finished a partial water change just a few minutes ago, so things should (hopefully) go back to normal!

Hatchethaven: I only have a 29GAL tank, and I was under the impression that plecs tend to grow rather large? If there is a variety that doesn't grow too large, I'd love to have one, but so far have held off because of the size issue.

HatchetHaven

Bristlenose plecos grow to 12cm. Clown plecos (I can't remember the exact measurement) grow to a similar size.

Oh, and I forgot to say, your neons will soon discover how fun it is to nip mr Bettas fins! It's best to separate them now before any problem starts.

Angelwhispers

I've been watching the Neons with our Betta for the last 2 weeks, because someone else said the same thing and he's let them know who's boss lol. They leave each other alone and if they get too close to him at Feeding time, he chases them away.

I might have gotten lucky!

HatchetHaven

A Betta who acctualy recognises them as a threat is probably going to be one of the very rare cases which work long term! Keep a special eye on them either way - even a few little nips can easily result in fungal infections.

Angelwhispers

I will do.

Thanks for the advice!