HELP! Fuzzy Stuff growing in tank!

I removed the stone and plastic plants and bleached them. So far, I don't See anymore but watching closely. I also did a large water change and vacuumed the substrate.
 
Sorry I didn’t make myself clear, I have a split 10 gallon tank, 5 on each side. Very difficult to siphon, at least for me

The light I have is a BEAMWORKS 6500K 0.5W LED aquarium plant light,.

I use the right dosage of fertilizer every other week

Snails won’t make a difference? I was told that Nerite snails are the best, or Mystery snails ?

I actually wasn’t too worried about it until I read this post, I thought it might be normal with the live plants. This is my first endeavor with real plants. I also have not had any fish for over 30 years, so I’m a newbie. Obviously if I wasn’t that worried about this algae !
 
Hmmm, I have a split 10G also with a male betta on each side. I use a Python and have no problems at all. Perhaps my filters are smaller but I have one in each side. Good luck!
 
I’m not very dexterous and I stupidly put the tank on something that makes a little high

Thanks!
 
Sorry I didn’t make myself clear, I have a split 10 gallon tank, 5 on each side. Very difficult to siphon, at least for me

The light I have is a BEAMWORKS 6500K 0.5W LED aquarium plant light,.

I use the right dosage of fertilizer every other week

Snails won’t make a difference? I was told that Nerite snails are the best, or Mystery snails ?

I actually wasn’t too worried about it until I read this post, I thought it might be normal with the live plants. This is my first endeavor with real plants. I also have not had any fish for over 30 years, so I’m a newbie. Obviously if I wasn’t that worried about this algae !

Algae is normal and natural in any healthy aquarium; the aim though is to control it as in planted tanks it can increase to the point where it kills off the plants (smothering the leaves that die one by one).

The light sounds fine.

Snails do eat algae, but minimally. Having said that, I do not know about the larger ones like Nerites and Mystery; I have the small innocent ones (Malaysian Livebearing and pond snails). I've no idea if the larger ones will deal with brush/beard algae, but I rather doubt they will be that effective or one would see them being advised more often as this algae is a common problem species.
 
So should I be worried about this algae or not? I’m a little confused as to what I should be doing. Sorry. I’m really new at this.
Thanks for your patience
 
Both my Bettas are doing really well. They are due for a partial water change this weekend. But they are happy, eating etc. Algae doesn’t seem to bother them at all. It seems I have more of this algae on one side the the other which seems rather weird to me. Thanks so much
 
Does that side get more light? Also, I have large Japanese Trap Doors in a couple of my tanks and that help some but do not eat all of the algae.
 
So should I be worried about this algae or not? I’m a little confused as to what I should be doing. Sorry. I’m really new at this.
Thanks for your patience

No problem. You mention live plants, and this algae is on some of them. That is the issue...if it increases it will slowly kill those plants. On wood, rock, etc, it is harmless and can be quite natural and beautiful, and it does provide homes for microscopic food for the fish. But you don't want it spreading/increasing on plants. If this is happening, you need to take steps to control it. I mention not overfeeding the Bettas, weekly partial water changes of 50-60% of the tank volume, keeping the substrate vacuumed. Also rinse the filter out every water change. Organics will accumulate in all these places and that feeds algae. Keeping the light low, so you could reduce the tank lighting period by an hour and observe changes (the algae not increasing would mean success here). Having the light on a timer so it is on/off at the same time every day also benefits, not only helping plants but it is better for the fish too as it does not disturb their circadian rhythm.

The only other factor here is the fertilizer...which one is it? Some are better than others at promoting algae just by their composition (the nutrients). And rather than every two weeks, it would be better dosed every week, on the day following the water change, using less perhaps. This evens out the nutrient supply and this too discourages algae because it benefits plants and they use the light/nutrients first.
 
Hi
Yes! It does get more light. I put more dwarf water lettuce on the tight side because Clarence really loves it. Left side lives Colter, with less water lettuce and more algae.
Colter has turned into my problem child, he doesn’t eat nearly as much as Clarence. He spits out a lot of the food I give him, I have every possible type of food for them.
He tends to play “aggressive” with Clarence through the partition holes. In fact I’m moving him to a solo 5+ tank once it’s cycled and moving my female, Fenella, to the partitioned 10 with Clarence on the other side.
Would Colter’s excess food also help this black algae grow?

I’m sorry. I’m so new at this.

Thanks for your patience.
 
I’m sorry. I need to answer questions and clarify things. I apologize I missed most of them (!)el
The fertilizer I use, that was recommended by a Betta person is aquarium co-op Easy Green. Now, I will add it after water changes. I was doing it in between.
The tank has two sponge filters. I have not rinsed them out because I read you shouldn’t remove the good bacteria. Wow! I’ve really screwed up....
I do partial water changes every week to 10 days, they are due, but never that much, I usually do about 30% water change, obviously not enough!
I’m really bad at siphoning the substrate I have not been able to do this properly. I also think I might have too many plants, cholla wood in the tank. I have such a difficult time siphoning. I seem to make a mess and not suck up the debris. Incredibly frustrating.

My light is on a timer. I was going to go manual, because it has a nighttime light, which I’d prefer to wake them up with and also put to sleep with, instead of big light jolts. They are in my bedroom which is pretty dark. But I’ll keep on the timer as you suggest and remember to change nighttime light before going to sleep etc. Hope that makes sense.

Everything I have in the tank is natural, apart from a small aquarium resin Buddha. Therefore apart from the plants, the algae is good?

I am going to get a couple of the Mystery snails Anyway and see if that helps a bit.

Thanks for your patience with me!!!
 
Would Colter’s excess food also help this black algae grow?

Yes in that it is more organics entering the system, but on its own not significantly, but you want organics at a minimum. When fish sdpit out food, it is not necessarily because they are not eating it; they may take off little bits and spit out the rest, and continue doing this. So I would reduce feeding.

The fertilizer I use, that was recommended by a Betta person is aquarium co-op Easy Green. Now, I will add it after water changes. I was doing it in between.

I looked this up and it has most of the nutrients that are needed, so this should be OK. You might want to reduce the amount you use though; excess fertilizer means algae, just keep an eye on the plants to ensure they are still doing well.

Use fertilizer the day following the water change; this is suggested because most conditioners detoxify heavy metals, and these include some nutrients (iron, copper, zinc, manganese come to mind) so there is no point in detoxifying what you are adding. A minor point, but one suggested to me by Seachem a couple years back and now that I have been doing it there was no detriment so seems OK.

When you do a water change, you are usually increasing the CO2 as there can be CO2 dissolved in tap water; those are the tiny bubbles you see. I have even had plants pearling (releasing so much oxygen because of photosynthesis) for a few hours following water changes due to the increase of CO2 driving photosynthesis faster. So adding fert the day following is getting it to the plants quicker.

The tank has two sponge filters. I have not rinsed them out because I read you shouldn’t remove the good bacteria. Wow! I’ve really screwed up....

Bacteria live on surfaces, and being very sticky it is not that easy to dislodge them. I rinse my sponge filters under the tap at every water change. You don't need to worry about chlorine; for one thing if chlorine only is added to your water it is likely it would not kill these bacteria anyway (chloramine is a different story) but even if it does, there are more bacteria in the substrate than the filter, plus the plants. Keeping filters free of organics is important in my view.

I do partial water changes every week to 10 days, they are due, but never that much, I usually do about 30% water change, obviously not enough!
I’m really bad at siphoning the substrate I have not been able to do this properly. I also think I might have too many plants, cholla wood in the tank. I have such a difficult time siphoning. I seem to make a mess and not suck up the debris. Incredibly frustrating.

Increase water change volume to half the tank or so, that's OK. You really cannot change too much water, provided the parameters (GH, pH and temp) are reasonably similar, and the more water changed the more stable these will be so a double benefit.

I don't dig into the substrate around plants or under any wood or rock, just open areas; in some tanks I don't even do this, and I have sand. It is only one factor in organics, but plants need these, so I wouldn't worry.

My light is on a timer. I was going to go manual, because it has a nighttime light, which I’d prefer to wake them up with and also put to sleep with, instead of big light jolts. They are in my bedroom which is pretty dark. But I’ll keep on the timer as you suggest and remember to change nighttime light before going to sleep etc. Hope that makes sense.

Yes. There must be ambient room light when the fish tank light comes on, and when it goes off. This can be diffused daylight or a lamp. The light should remain for say 40-50 minutes after the tank light goes off. Sudden bright light on/off will seriously stress fish.
 

Most reactions

Back
Top