i have a BLANKET of algae in my fishtank!?

Question

It bugs me so much! i get this weird algae that acts like a thin membrane over my sand and my plants and my rocks. I can pick up pieces of it with my hands but it's not very effective. I've tried syphoning it out but i can only suck up so much before my tank loses too much water [i have a 10 gallon].

But ya, can anyone identify this type of algae and prescribe possible solutions?

Answer 1

Tikitiki posted a good site, the one below is also a good site. sounds like you may have brown algae or blue-green algae, if it is blue-green I would read up on how to remove it on these sites because it releases toxins in the water that can be toxic to your fish..

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/algae.htm

Answer 2

What you have might not be algae, but cyanobacteria (this used to be called blue-green algae, but it's a bacteria, rather than an algae). Here's a link to a photo: http://www.aquamax.de/Shop/Artikelbilder/Zusatzbilder/Algen%20im%20Aquarium_Blaualgen%20-%20Cyanobacteria_STUG_cyano1.jpg

In order to eliminate it completely, you might need to do a series of water changes over a few days. Scrape off and siphon what you can doing a 50% water change (more is not so good for your fish as it can change the water chemistry too much at one time). If you still have a lot of large pieces left, use an aquarium net to get them out before you add the replacement water.

If this is growing on rocks or ornaments, remove them and soak in a diluted bleach solution (1 part bleach to 19 of water) and rinse well and air dry before you put them back in the tank.

Take a sample of your water to a pet store, or call your water company (if you're on tapwater from a public supply) and request results of their water testing. If you have nitrate or phosphate in your water, these will fertilize the algae growth. You may need to use a resin pad made for removing these chemicals (which will need to be replaced periodically) or switch to reverse osmosis water.

Cyanobacteria also doesn't like to grow where the water movement is strong, so adding a powerhead to your tank and aiming at problem spots might help.

Turn off lights (unless you have live plants). If you do have live plants, increase the amount of time you have the lights on. This may seem to be the opposite of what you want to do, since the cyanobacteria also uses light, but plants are more efficient at getting nutrients out of the water for growth, so they will compete with the algae and help remove the chemicals it uses for food.

The bad news is that snails and fish (even algae eaters) generally won't touch cyanobacteria, so anything you do will have to be done by you.

Algae-removing chemicals won't work against cyano, since it isn't an algae. Antibiotics should only be used as a last resort, because these will destroy the beneficial bacteria in the tank as well - the ones that convert the ammonia your fish produce (which is toxic to them) to nitrate which is less harmful.

If that's not it, try this link for other "true" algaes: http://www.floridadriftwood.com/algae_identification.html

Answer 3

Here's a link that explains a bit about algae, and towards the bottom she lists several different/common types of algae, what causes them, and cures:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/algae/a/attackalgae.htm

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Answer 4

You need to clean the tank and change the water. Make sure you use water that is the same temperature so you do not kill your fish.

Answer 5

Idk what the algae is but when I used to have fish I had that seme situation happen to me and my parents bought me a sucker fish!!! It's a weird little fish that sticks to the side of the fish tank and eats the algae. You could probably find one at your local pet store or even at a local wal-mart. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

the only way to remove this is to completely drain your tank and give it a thorough cleaning,discard your sand,plants, as far as your rocks are concerned you can buy algae remover were as you can soak these in,i know it sounds drastic but this is the only way to remove this type of algea.if you try any other way it will only come back because you will leave some trace of the algea behind and it will only come back.sorry to inform you this way but it is the only way to get rid of (BLANKET WEED)

Answer 7

Here's a great article:
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/algae.html