Goldfish

[evilchild]

my friend has a smallish tank with gold fish (4 i think) he gets a fair bit of algae in his tank and there fore is forever taking all the rock and plants out to clean them. the fish seem quite happy, but can he get some kind of loach or something that will eat it, that won't get too big or picked on by his fish?

 

[community begginer]

im not sure. but there is this stuff that you can buy that kills algea. its called wadly algea killer or sumfing like that. if works a treat. if he doesnt want to buy it. there is bound to be something else on the market. how long has he got hios light on? this may be a playing factor in his algea problem. also if it is only a small tank why doesnt he just put up with it and vclean the decore with every water change?? also if it is a small thank. how small are we talking and what sort of goldfish has he got. goldfish dont do too well in small tnaks. they create too much waste and there growth is stunned.

just some thaughts to think upon.
community

 

[LukeFishwalker]

here is a link to algae control in a planted tank but there is a lot of good information on Algae and what makes it grow as well as how to limit it.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=106371

 

[merry78]

whatever you do, be careful about getting your mate to get algae eating fish. There are some lovely peaceful ones, but don't get a chinese algae eater (sometimes sold as suckermouth catfish, sucking loach, golden sucking loach etc). I made this mistake and after a few months they were sucking great holes in my goldys. Not nice. You could try snails, although the goldys might peck at them and harm them, or, depending on your (his) temp range and stocking capacity, you could even research a Bristlenose (as long as the tank is heated to an appropriate 'middle of the road' temp where both species would be healthy).
Also, as an earlier poster mentioned, goldys need heaps of space, and the high concentration of nitrates that may be in the water could be a factor in algae growth. A large tank would dilute the nitrates, as would more frequent water changes and live plants. Plants will also compete with algae for nutrients, particularly fast growing/low light ones like Elodea....direct sunlight and high lighting levels will also increase algae.
Actually, just as i finish typing this, i realise that the Wolf's thread/link probably has all of this in it, and you have probably just read that. Oh well.