Anything I can do?

[Phreaxer]

Hey guys, when I got back into my office this morning, I noticed that the algae grwoth I was seeing for the last couple days in my puffer tank has gotten pretty aggressive. It is all over the plant, and there are some "smoke" looking wisps hanging off. There is also some buildup on the inside of the glass... Is it too late to save the plant? Should I just pull it out and replace it? With a non-living one?

 

[Pufferpack]

I'm not sure about live plants, but with the plastic ones I occasionally get right in there and rub the algae off each leaf with my fingers as I'm doing a gravel vac., and we occasionally see a white whispy slime on parts of the driftwood, but it gets sucked up at cleaning time with no apparent problems. With your puffer being in a smaller tank you might want to invest in a battery operated vac. so that you can vacume without changing draining the water at the same time.
I think you will keep having algae problems with just the puffers in there because they seem to go after the food vigorously when it is free floating, but will ignore a lot of it in the bottom of the tank. If you have room you might want to look into a few Otos, or a large snail to help clean up the waste.

 

[dolphin]

Hi Phreaxer

A large snail will also help remove the algae. Once the algae is under control, you will need to feed the snail, to avoid it eating all the plants.

 

[Phreaxer]

Hi Puffer and Dolphin


I have a snail in there right now, but he isnt too effective... Anytime he tries to move, the puffer swoop in on him and he stops moving and hides again.. He is about the size of a dime... little smaller...

 

[wetwetwet]

wont the puffer be rather interested in the snail? - or will they not touch them if they're on the large side

 

[Pufferpack]

Ya, they get harrassed by the puffers pretty regular, I have 4 with my Dwarfs. They are about the size of golf balls but they still have to send one out front to take the harrassment while the others try to clean in the background