Brown Algae

[bailey0789]

Brown algae has started to form on one of my structures. Is this harmful to the fish. Is there anything that can happen in a fishtank that is harmful to humans?

 

[helterskelter]

No it's not a problem to anyone or anything other then our view.

Having a cleaner fish like

• Bristlenose Pleco
• Clown pleco
• Oto
• Algae eater
• Butterfly loach

All these are ideal for small aquaria and will happily graze on the algae.

However if you don't want any other fish you can just simply remove it and clean it with a brush, i use a tooth brush to get into some of the difficult places.
This should remove almost everything.

 

[SlyPolak]

You forgot a Farlowella............ for some reason almost everyone forgets these interesting fish when the thought of "cleaner fish" comes to mind........ I love mine, ALWAYS keeps the tank spotless... so well that I haveto stick a fresh piece of zucchini in there every night for him.

 

[helterskelter]

You forgot a Farlowella............ for some reason almost everyone forgets these interesting fish when the thought of "cleaner fish" comes to mind........ I love mine, ALWAYS keeps the tank spotless... so well that I haveto stick a fresh piece of zucchini in there every night for him.

To be honest if I tried to list every catfish that ate algae, then I still be here now on the first post.

Yes my answer was very generalised but something it's best to try to keep things simple and the fish i listed will be found in most shops most of the time where as Farlowella (which too is one of my favourite cats) is only seen now and then, and i've been 2-3 years with out seeing any.

 

[ian]

its ok to put a fish in to get rid of the algae, however it will come back, if you don't treat the root cause.

 

[bailey0789]

what would be the root cause, just a dirty tank? And will those fish fit in a 10gal tank?

 

[ian]

it would probably come down to an Amonia spike, causing the algae to bloom. What stocking do you have?

 

[BethK]

Amano shrimp will also do the job, put 6 - 8 in, for them to have an effect. Obv depending on the size of your tank and their bio load is small.

 

[SlyPolak]

what would be the root cause, just a dirty tank? And will those fish fit in a 10gal tank?

A Farlowella gets waaay too big for a 10 gal... I would go with the shrimp

 

[waterdrop]

what would be the root cause, just a dirty tank? And will those fish fit in a 10gal tank?

A "dirty tank" is not the root cause of algae.

The short answer is that algae spores are "triggered" by light and ammonia and it takes only minute amounts of ammonia to serve as the trigger. The ammonia amounts involved are easily less than the amounts that would cause you to see even a "trace" of ammonia with your ammonia test kit (meaning less than 0.01ppm or something I guess.) Once algae is triggered, the algae cells need nutrients just like higher level plants and they still need light. So light and ammonia often play a role in solutions that go to the root cause, as opposed to animals that clean algae, which would of course be treating the symptom, not the root cause. A tank with lots of "soil" could have an excellent light balance and very low ammonia and no algae.

The long answer could get really long! If you think about it, algae hold a position in the plant world that is similar to the position that bacteria hold in the "none-plant" world, if you will. So, like bacteria, algae are extremely widespread all over our globe and they are extremely well diversified and adapted to survival in all sorts of situations. One of the things I found most interesting about algae when reading about it in various planted tank forums is that even though all the different types share this "light + ammonia" trigger, they are quite different from each other in terms of what works to rid your tank of a particular type!

Often here on TFF, one is given the link to James' algae page (its in the planted tank resources) which gives various particulars about different types of common algae. Still, there will always probably be ongoing discussion of algae, just like there is of bacteria.

Obviously, one of the most powerful tools an aquarist has with brown algae is to adjust the light exposure. Gradually cutting back on the total number of exposure hours or the amount of light intensity is a major factor. Making sure that exposure periods shorter than 4 hours don't happen is another factor. Since higher-order plants can't really get their complicated photosynthesis factories up and running effectively in less than 4 hours, any lighted periods less than 4 hours that you give the tank will just be used mostly by algae and not plants.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bailey0789]

what do you mean by a tank with lots of "soil"?

 

[waterdrop]

Well, when you said a "dirty tank" it made me think of one of the techniques we use in planted tanks that's called the NPT (Natural Planted Tank) or "Walstad Method." That's a technique (somewhat more complicated actually than my simple description will sound) where you begin a tank with non-organic potting soil and cap it with gravel and/or sand and plant it. You then allow it to mature for a few months and the bacterial activity in the soil helps to provide CO2 (not to mention other nutrients) for the plants.

Its one example of a "dirty" tank, but another of couse would just be a "neglected" tank which has not received frequent enough gravel-clean-water-changes and thus has excess debris built up in the substrate and perhaps in the filter. In either of these examples, its quite possible to have a "dirty" tank but have no algae if the light and ammonia situation doesn't promote it (although of course the lack of gravel cleaning is quite likely to result in higher trace ammonia levels which might very well promote algae.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[bailey0789]

oh ok, thanks for the info.