Idk What This Algae Is, Need It Off Plants.

I have been battling this algae for 2 years. I had it before live plants. I thought adding live plants might help. It has not. In fairness, I don't think it has gotten worse either. Api algaefix doesn't really help. Blackout didn't really help, helped a little, but not much. It comes off easy, in huge patches. Just comes back fast. Sometimes, as you can kind of see in the pics, it just comes off by itself. It grows everywhere in the tank. Literally there is not a single area or surface this stuff will not grow on-decor, plants, walls, filter...everything. My cory cats and neon dg will eat it. I know my tank gets too much light. And I'm trying to figure that out. But it is a little difficult with the schedule I have.

Now, I'm not trying to eradicate it from the tank. I will soon be tearing down this tank(37 gallon) because I hate it, I no longer have space for it, and I've got a 55 cycling. I am describing this to figure out what it is, so that I can get it off the plants because they will need moved to other tanks. And I don't want this stuff making its way into my other tanks.

Any help on an ID or at least a way to safely get it off plants is appreciated. Plants are crypts and java fern.

 

Looks like a severe case of diatoms. Try a packet of phosphiltrum or something similar and see if that helps. It will take a few days to start noticing results. It wont kill the diatoms, but will remove their food source.

 

I’m guessing you have other tanks and this is the only one affected. If so remove the plants clean off as much as you can under runnnng water than do a peroxide dip for about 3 min on each plant. Than put them in a holding tank or bucket for a week or so just to make sure it’s all gone. The java fern should be fine though the crypts are hit or miss. Some come through fine others melt but may still come back

 

What is phosphiltrum?

 

I have some standard looking green algae in my other tanks. And not nearly the problem that this tank is. I have washed them and peroxide dipped before. It kind of worked, but not fully. However I didn't leave them in it for any length of time. I will try again. If I put them in a bucket, should I use water from another tank? Also, do I need to add an airstone or anything to it?

 

Ok so I looked up phosfiltrum. It removes phosphates and silicates correct? Well phosphates barely register on my test for it. And idk how to check for silicates. But I see it usually comes with tap water. And this tank has had exclusively ro water. Though I do remineralize with this powder stuff from seachem, can't remember what it is called right now. So maybe that stuff has too many silicates? Idk. I'll research it some later.

 

I've seen that type of algae before, I'm following cuz I'm not sure what it is or how to deal with it besides the obvious.

What type of lighting do you have on this tank? Is it different than the others? Can you get a timer for this light? I get my timers at Walmart.

 

Water from another tank should be fine. Don’t think they need an air stone but I would try to keep them at temperature. I don’t get diatoms much. Maybe a little when starting a new tank but they are usually like dust and a water polisher removes them. If those are diatoms than a rinse and dip should work fine.

 

It is probably a little bright on the lighting for this tank. And I know for sure I've been having it on too much. But I have the same lighting on for the same amount of time in my other tanks and they don't have this type of algae problem. My issue with my lighting schedule is that I wanna turn them on in the morning so I can see and feed my fish. But then I'm gone at work all day. If I turned them off right when I got home from work it would probably be the right amount of time. But then I'd have hardly any time watching and enjoying my fish. Not sure if it is ok to put them on a timer and have lights on for a few hours in the am and few hours in pm. Idk if that will mess with the fish.

 

No worries. I have the light turn on for two hours in the morning so I can feed them before work. Then they come again at 5pm to 12am so I can enjoy my fish when I get home.

What's the brand of lighting? Is your other tank deeper?

 

Ro water probably means no silicates then. Unfortunately, you cant remove silicates without removing phosphates as far as I can find.

My only other guess is it's a bacteria, not an actual algae. Is it powdery or slimy? If its powdery I have to wonder if something just keeps leeching silicates into that tank somehow.

If its slimy, I suspect its bacterial and would try a controlled experiment. Take the plant out with tank water and put it in a bucket. Add red slime remover, blue slime remover, or erythromycin. If its bacterial, any one of these products will kill it within a day or two.

You using to water, and only having this problem in this one tank leads me to believe it's likely one of these two scenarios, with bacteria being the most likely, unless you can figure out a source for silicates.

Edit: just re read the part about it coming off in patches and sheets. It's not diatoms. I would try red or blue slime remover. They are the same product. If it works in the bucket, I would dose it a week before tear down. The second dose will likely be unnecessary.

 

Good to know. I'll probably start doing something similar. I get these digital timer strips from home depot. They are only $16 and work great for my reptile tanks. So I'm assuming they'll work great for my fish tanks. Lol!

 

It is definitely slimy. I'll have to try those experiments. Thanks for the info!

 

That should do the trick! The ones I get are plugged directly to my regular power strip, they are only 6$ or so.

I'm thinking it's bacterial as well.

 

Ya I know what kind you're talking about. I have one of my house plant lights on one of those. I just find the digital one easier to deal with. Lol! It has 4 outlets that are always on and 4 outlets that are on timers. And the timed ones are very customizable. And I always have a need for more outlets and space saving. I currently have 5 aquariums, 2 gecko vivs and 1 bearded dragon viv. Lol!

 

I have 8 aquariums, 2 leopard gecko vivs haha! Love my animals

 

Crested geckos for me. But I want a leo sooo bad. Was planning on getting one. Then kind of fell into a giant tank. And bf has always wanted a beardie. And so we're getting a beardie. Sadly it will be a bit before we have space for me to get my leo.

 

I have 3 leos. They are just the regular variety, but I got a male and female as babies from a breeder. They had a bunch of babies! I used to hatch the eggs and how I got my 3rd gecko Stub. She dropped her tail as a baby and I nursed her back to health and kept her. She lives with her mama in one viv, my male Morrison has his own viv because he's crazy when he wants to breed and climbs glass lol right over the barrier I used to have in place to devide them. My pair of geckos are over 15 years old now!

 

Wow that is old! Like impressively old for leos! I know there are cases of some living 20 years or more. But it is my understanding that most pet ones only live about 10 and wild ones about 15.

 

We actually settled on a beardie over a crested gecko for my daughter due to the shorter beardie lifespan. I was all for a crested gecko instead until we looked up lifespans. We are much more into a shorter lifespan. (Seems weird, I know, but it's a sweet spot for life lessons, much like a dog, and I dont want to take care of her lizard during the college years.)