Hi - my husband and I have recently started up a new tank - about a month and half ago - and when we put everything together, we bought white gravel rock. For some reason now, it looks like it has rust stains on some of the rock. Does anyone know anything about this? It seems to be progressively getting worse - they're like little rust-colored spots. Is this just part of having the fish bacteria? It has just recently come out of the New Tank syndrome, or is almost there if nothing else...
Sounds like it may be brown algae or the rocks are losing their color, which does happen with colored rock. I have blue gravel in one of my tanks and pieces of it are now natural, brownish, colored after various cleanings and vaccummings.
Can you take a picture of it? I'm curious to see myself.
Hi - thanks for the info. Here is a picture of it - it's kind of blurry because you can't see all that well w/the light reflecting (but not at all w/out the light on) so i had to get closer which made it more blurry but hopefully you can see it.... Let me know what you think!
sounds like it can be diatoms, a type of algae that is not harmful to the fish. It happens alot, as it did in my tank and still there. Started about the same time in the cycle as yours.
So is there a way to get rid of it, or not really? We have 1 bottom feeder - need to get another one but were waiting for the cycle to finish first so we didn't kill it. It's a 20 gal tank if that matters...
Since your tank is new it's without a doubt diatoms which are aren't really a form of algae, but rather tiny organisms...They are compelely harmless to the tank and fish and may disappear on their own as the cycle progresses....The bottom feeder you have may not be an algae eater....Many bottom feeders don't eat algae and feed mainly on leftover food. Can you tell us what type of fish it is?
You can see if it goes away or you can get some Otocinclus catfish. They LOVE diatoms and will eat algae as well. They like to be kept in groups of 3 or more and stay under 2".....However, they are very sensitive to water conditions and the parameters have to be maintained. I wouldn't recommend putting them through the rigors of a cycle....But what you have is very normal for an upstart tank.
Hi - I'm honestly not sure what type of fish the bottom feeder is - i know it's not a catfish though. I wasn't with my husband when he got it but he said the Petsmart employees told him it could get to 2 feet long (lovely!). It's the weirdest looking fish I think I've seen - spotted, brown, has a suction-cup looking mouth and a very wide head, kind of looks like a mini sting ray to me because it's so wide and his body gets so narrow, and just has some fins on the top and bottom...probably not much help. But the fish is a Tropical Community Fish becasue that's what the rest of them are (mollies) so the tank doesn't have any semi-aggressive, etc.
He does climb all over a couple of the ornaments and plants as well as the bottom so I think he does eat algae, although he only likes one or two of the ornaments and leaves the other one alone so it's getting gummy looking on some of it...
I'll take a look at the catfish mentioned and see if that will help. Thanks!!
Hi - I'm honestly not sure what type of fish the bottom feeder is - i know it's not a catfish though. I wasn't with my husband when he got it but he said the Petsmart employees told him it could get to 2 feet long (lovely!). It's the weirdest looking fish I think I've seen - spotted, brown, has a suction-cup looking mouth and a very wide head, kind of looks like a mini sting ray to me because it's so wide and his body gets so narrow, and just has some fins on the top and bottom...probably not much help. But the fish is a Tropical Community Fish becasue that's what the rest of them are (mollies) so the tank doesn't have any semi-aggressive, etc.
He does climb all over a couple of the ornaments and plants as well as the bottom so I think he does eat algae, although he only likes one or two of the ornaments and leaves the other one alone so it's getting gummy looking on some of it...
I'll take a look at the catfish mentioned and see if that will help. Thanks!!
Sounds like a plecostamus to me. Which is good, because they seem to like that stuff...or, at least...mine does. I have the same stuff growing everywhere in my tank...on the plants, the sand, caves...you name it, this stuff was everywhere. Last weekend I got a pleco and 2 mystery snails..and the problem is being controlled now.
Do snails help clean the tank as well? We got a bonus snail - maybe the same thing you have... we didn't buy it, it just one day appeared in the tank. Probably tagged along as an egg or something on another fish we bought a few days before we found it. Never had any snails or anything so never thought to have it, but the little guy makes the rounds thru the tank pretty well. Just wasn't sure what he was useful for...
Snails are garbage disposals...They'll eat left over food....What you described sounds like a pleco as we call them....They get HUGE....Great fish for algae, but unfortunately he will outgrow your tank.... You may want to look into a smaller variety and think about bringing that guy back to PetCo...Unfortunately we've found that they'll pretty much sell you anything you want without actually informing the customer of the fish's needs and requirements.....
Yeah, let me tell you when my husband told me about how big they got I couldn't figure out for the life of me why he bought that. His answer was it was a dollar cheaper. My response is, you're paying more in the end because we'll have to get rid of it when he gets big and buy another one anyways!! Oh well... live and learn.
Thanks for the info on a snail. I'd never thought to get one and then he just magically appeared one day so worked out well!
Yeah, let me tell you when my husband told me about how big they got I couldn't figure out for the life of me why he bought that. His answer was it was a dollar cheaper. My response is, you're paying more in the end because we'll have to get rid of it when he gets big and buy another one anyways!! Oh well... live and learn.
That is a common problem, people just can't see past the price tag.
"I could have bought the right stuff, but the wrong stuff was on sale".....This just kills me.....
Depending on the pleco, it could be a foot plus when it gets big. The one that I got should get about 12in. Which is good, because I have a 55 gallon tank, and I'm not worried about how much room he'll take up....he just too cool.
Yeah we only have a 20 gal tank so he won't last long in there if he starts growing. He reminds me of the weird guy from the new star wars movies - what was it, jaja binks or something? his face looks more like a frog than a fish.
One of the theories running on why Brown Algae (diatoms) show up in newer tanks is because of ammonia converting products such as Ammo-Lock....
Are you using any products such as that?
Do you mean ammonia removers? If so, yes, we just use the Top Fin Ammonia Remover when we put new tap water in the tank along w/a dechlorinator and sometimes a pH increase as our water is a little on the softer side.
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I have the same stuff growing everywhere in my tank...on the plants, the sand, caves...you name it, this stuff was everywhere. Last weekend I got a pleco and 2 mystery snails..and the problem is being controlled now. 
