Brown Stuff??

[nene]

I have a 10 gallon tank with 4 white clouds and 2 panda corys. Lately in about a 6 inch area in front of the tank something brown is appearing on the white gravel. So far this is the only place I have found it. It looks like a brown discoloration on each individual piece of gravel and it is kind of slick or slimey. The tank has been running for about 8 weeks now. It otherwise seems healthy. Does anyone know what this is??

 

[dolphin]

Hi nene

It's Brown algae. I had the same problem, when I striped down my 88 gall tank. Mine went when the green hair algae took over.

 

[zeo]

i'm not too sure, but from your discription i'd say thats it prob just alge growing.

if you'd like to control this you can either get an primary alge eating fish like a placo (aka suckerfish) or a more drastic measure would be getting a special uv light avalable from most lfs that will kill the alge in the water and stop it from growing whereever the light shines.

 

[dolphin]

Hi Zeo

UV sterilizers will not stop algae growing in the tank. They only stop free living algae from growing, the type that turn the water green.