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hello all...

I have been off of this site for a while for technical reasons but...i am back and since that period of time brown crap has grown on all my live plants leaves making my plants horrible and nasty looking...all of them...what to do????? what is this stuff and what products can i use to get rid of it???



Peter17

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

Hi Peter,
the Brown Algae you have growing on your plants is not really algae at all. It is a type of bacteria called Cyanobacter.
Now, there is no algae eater nor algae product that will get rid of this for you.
Heres how to get rid of it:
Improve air circulation by adding an additional air stone
Lessen feedings to 2 times a day and only in a small pinch, just enough for each fish to get a flake or two.
Stop any fertilizers if you are using them for awhile. Flourish fertlizer in particular if that is what you are using is very bad for causing cyanobacter.
Lessen amount of time the light is on per day to no more than 8-10 hours of light.
Do extra cleanings- remove the affected plants, rinse the brown crud off, then gravel vac your tank once a week to twice a week.
Keep your filter media clean- do cleans of filter media every 2 weeks, alternating from sponges to carbon and back.
This should attack your problem at the cause, rather than trying to find a "quick fix".
This should end your problem.
Good Luck to you!


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Brown algae is not cynobacteria. It is diatoms. They tend to prefer lower light tanks or they get outcompeted by green algaes. They also like high silicates, phosphates, and hard water. Otos absolutely love brown algae. It's their favorite food. Most algae eaters will eat because it's very soft and easy to remove from the plant. You can usually rub off the worst of it with your hands or try to remove it's reason for growth. Any chemical algae killing products will harm your plants.

[link=http://otocinclus.com/articles/algae.html]http://otocinclus.com/articles/algae.html" style="COLOR: #00C0C0[/link]

My BNs sure love the brown algae.

ty all...ill give it a try


20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

Sorry, i meant Diatoms- wrong word lol

Anyway, I have a BN pleco, an Otto, and a Inspector pleco, as well as 2 SAE's and I had a Farlowella Catfish.
Not one of them ate the brown stuff.
I would just follow the instructions I gave you, espescially to cut down on feedings and do more gravel vacs.


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I have never had brown algae be a cause of overfeeding. I get it in a tank that contains no fish or obvious nutrient source. I've also had tanks I filled with bottled water for spawning and overfed to either condition the fish or feed the fry and didn't get brown algae. It seems to be caused more by your initial water quality such as high silicates or phosphates. If you have enough light other green algaes use these nutrients instead. Those otos are very strange if they don't eat any brown algae

i just bought a chineese algea eater today...he is just staying in the same spot though....?





Peter

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

CAE's aren't the best choice. There's a post in the bottom feeder forum about them. Most eat algae when little but around 6" they stop eating algae and start attacking fish.

I hate the to be the one to say it, but i think some of you are wrong. There are some fish that will eat cynobacteria/ diatoms. In the begining, i had a common plec in my 29 gallon with a rubberlipped(bulldog) pleco. The cynobacteria was really bad, it was even present in the pink and purple form. It dissappeared. I moved the common plec to another tank, leaving the rubberelipped plec by itself. The cyano came back and the pleco left me. I was recently given 5 ottoes. They ate it all up.

Diatoms and cyno are very different. Diatoms are brown while cyno is blue-green and sometimes other colors. Most fish will eat diatoms but they won't eat cyno.

borwn algae as sham said is diatom...not cyano...and indeed..its easy to remove compared to cyano... a beeter choice of fish for this type of algae are ottos..small yet very effective.

but, instead of buying more fish...i rather treat the source of the problem which was discussed already.