Windows 7: Strange aquarium growth

I keep freshwater tropical fish and ever since I started using a different brand of fish food flakes (from China that smelt rather rank a real strong fishy smell) my tank is gradually being taken over by a growth of what looks to all intents and purposes a dark green / grey growth of cat's fur.

It grows just about on any surface including some of the air tubing and has reached the stage where I have to clean the hang on filter inlet twice a day.

Have tried anti fungals and change water etc etc to no effect.

Anyone got any idea what this pest is and how to get rid of it please?

Hi,

Its probably beard/brush algae, and notoriously difficult to get rid of. Treatments and water changes will not help at all.

The Siamese Algae Eater (SAE) is one of a very few species that eats it...a word of caution : only the true SAE (Crossocheilus siamensis) eats this type algae. Many species get sold as the SAE, for example the Chinese Algae Eater, but these do not touch bearded/brush algae at all and have a nasty habit of sucking large holes out of the slime coat of large bodied fish (e.g. Discus) eventually leading to their demise. Do your research carefully - use a fish shop of repute! The SAE does well in a peaceful community aquarium.

Apart from that, start cutting down on the lighting in the tank. If you don't have live plants, try a week of no lighting to inhibit growth, but longer term its manual cleaning and a pair of SAE's to do the job.

Regards,
Golden

I suppose you've stopped using the food that started the problem ?

A few snails thrown in might help control it too, although snails tend to multiply, so you'll have to keep your eye on those.

have you tried a system restore

Hum did find out after a long Google and yes I used to have two Flyers but will have to get a couple more - trouble is they fought quite a bit but anything is better than this mess it's made.

The food heaven knows what was in it probably ground up offal as it was definitely after using that food. They get el cheapo stuff now plus live mosquito larva which brings out such beautiful colours in the fish particularly the neons and Cardinals.

I did see that Bristle noses do the same job so might try a couple of them too. Jeez I could kick myself for doing that

The snails are going to be a last resort as I had them before and they went wild.

System restore only if you come and haul the ruddy great rocks out for me Boobah

Thanks all anyway

Florida Flag Fish eat the algae also, but you need to avoid the males as they can be aggressive

ps , my last post was a link

Hi,

BNC's (Bristlenose Cat Fish) are good algae eaters....but they will definately not touch the beard/brush algae. Flag fish are an option, but I've yet to find them in Australia.

SAE's are your best bet.

Regards,
Golden

Whenever I got some kind of hard to get rid of infection like that (which was rate, thank God!), I had to remove the fish themselves to a quarantine tank, rinsing them off with clean water, then shock the infected tank and water with chlorine bleach to kill off the infection and replace the water afterward.

The city I live in has minute traces of thread algae in the drinking water. Although the water easily meets Federal standards, whenever I started a new tank, the water would develop a colorless scum on the surface that would keep growing until the scum would start to hang down in streamers from the surface. Water from the adjacent city where my parents lived at the time didn't have the problem so, for smaller tanks, I would take a few plastic five gallon jugs to their house to get water for a new tank. The two bigger tanks I had (65gl and 75gl) were too big to cart enough water for so I would fill them with tap water, then shock them with chlorine bleach. After the chlorine had dissipated, I could then start introducing fish. Once the biological filter was established, I could use tap water to replenish the water after cleaning and the "bugs" in the bacterial filter with take care of any algae that came in.

If I wasrunning a salt water tank, I didn't have to worry about the freshwater algae.

Holy Thread Revival Batman!!!

Its since been established that John's tank has excess nitrate (due to a lack of water changes) which will promote algal growth. Chlorine will temporarily kill algae but longer term its the condition of the tank (water chemistry) that requires attention. I don't recommend using chlorine as it destroys the nitrosoma and nitrobacter necessary to maintain the biological filter. Nitrosoma and nitrobacter thrive on ammonia and nitrite, not algae...they aren't capable of managing algae occurrence in tanks.