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hey all i have a hare brained question. Is algae bad for fish. i have a 29 gallon planted tank and the stuff it draped all over my plands. It doesn't really look bad but i just wanna know if it could harm the little fisies?

Yes, and no. Most fish require some plant matter in their diet, while others are actually mostly herbivores.

It's good to let some algae hang around, as A) It's part of some fish's diet B) It looks awesome C) If it's green, it's a sign of a healthy tank. Most people will keep the rear of the tank untouched to let algae do it's thing, just for those fish that nibble on it.

It can, however, be bad. It depends on what colour it is, and how far it's progressed in your tank.

Algae, like any other plant will actually consume oxygen at night time, when photosynthesis has stopped/reversed. This can cause an unhealthy drop in oxygen levels for your fish and other life in the tank, if you have an abundance of algae, thus you want to limit it's growth to being not a carpet along the bottom.

If it's different colours, depending on what colour it it, can indicate a problem.

Long story short, if it's green and there isn't a LOT of it, then no, it's not dangerous.

hey all i have a hare brained question. Is algae bad for fish. i have a 29 gallon planted tank and the stuff it draped all over my plands

may or may not be bad for fish but it certainly isn't healthy for it to be draped over the plants, it will choke them out and eventually kill them if you allow it to go that far. A healthy planted tank shouldn't have any algae growing on plants at all so you'll want to get rid of it.

esandbergger

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Other than looking untidy in the long term it would adventually choke the tank and make it very difficult for the fish and therefore possibly killing all of them.

Keith

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algae can in the extremes choke aquaria (pond owners will see this regularly), but on the whole most aquaria will not be sufficiently well lit to cause this reaction. You will find that algal bloom is nearly always associated with high nitrate levels, which will mean that while your filter is performing efficiently you might actually want to consider cleaning your tank more often and try to make sure as far as possible that thee is no uneated food in the tank.Overstocking is one of the more usual problems associated with algal bloom. Algae can , in the severe extremes like most plants consume a level of oxygen at night which is potentially dangerous to fish. but as i say this is an extreme. Certain species of red algae can be toxic to fish, but again the water conditions are usually so filthy that no fish would live in it anyway- turtle owners will know something of this algae. Some green blue algae that typically grows around reservoirs in exceptionally hot conditions can be toxic to fish, but as before the water would have to be so filthy that no fish would live in it.

Try ottos, plecs or siamese flying foxes if you want an animal deterrent to algae, of which the foxes will consume the most diffent types.

But as is the most common advice- if you want to prevent algal bloom your best defence is to have a spotless tank and perform weekly water changes , and replace the lost water with preconditioned water, sometimes using raw tapwater is not only harmful to fish, but can encourage scale algae- which virtually nothing will eat for you, and really knackers your plants.