green water - can I just buy Daphnia?

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pwilk

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See picture. I found some folks on eBay selling daphnia and wonder if I should give that a go.
 

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Whoa. That's bad. Before you go out and buy anything, let's cover the basics.

How often do you change water and how much do you take out?

How long is the light on for? What light is that? Is that the nicrew one? Is the tank near a window?
 
Also, don't buy live daphnia, they won't help you.
I'm going to disagree with that statement.

You can have Daphnia in a container of green water and the Daphnia will eat the algae over time. However, if you put Daphnia in with the goldfish, the Daphnia will get eaten. The way to get around this is to use a breeding net. Put the Daphnia in a breeding net that is in the tank. The green water will pass through the netting and the Daphnia will eat it. If you get too many Daphnia, you can let some out of the net and the goldfish can eat them.

Having said all this, algae grows from excess light and or excess nutrients. Try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Reduce lighting by an hour a day. See how the algae goes over the next couple of weeks. If there's no improvement, reduce the lighting by another hour and monitor for a couple of weeks.

You can add more plants to help reduce algae. Duckweed is a fast growing plant that grows on the surface. Goldfish eat Duckweed and it's good for them. Another good floating plant is Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
 
Whoa. That's bad. Before you go out and buy anything, let's cover the basics.

How often do you change water and how much do you take out?

How long is the light on for? What light is that? Is that the nicrew one? Is the tank near a window?

Thanks!

Aqueon light, usually on for 4 hours, but I think the plants don't like this little. The tank is not near a window.

The water was fine for about 6 months with the plants and the goldfish. Then it seemed the pH was drifting acidic, so I put a little RQ-Vital that I dug out from old supplies. The water started getting cloudy immediately so I've been doing 1/4 water changes weekly and vacuuming. It is green water. I reduced the food to the fish, but they now just eat salad.
 
I'm going to disagree with that statement.

You can have Daphnia in a container of green water and the Daphnia will eat the algae over time. However, if you put Daphnia in with the goldfish, the Daphnia will get eaten. The way to get around this is to use a breeding net. Put the Daphnia in a breeding net that is in the tank. The green water will pass through the netting and the Daphnia will eat it. If you get too many Daphnia, you can let some out of the net and the goldfish can eat them.

Having said all this, algae grows from excess light and or excess nutrients. Try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Reduce lighting by an hour a day. See how the algae goes over the next couple of weeks. If there's no improvement, reduce the lighting by another hour and monitor for a couple of weeks.

You can add more plants to help reduce algae. Duckweed is a fast growing plant that grows on the surface. Goldfish eat Duckweed and it's good for them. Another good floating plant is Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).

I figure Daphnia couldn't hurt and might be fun. And easy.

I'll check out those plant suggestions. However, reducing the light will make them unhappy though?

Right now I only have a backpack filter. Does more water movement help? I can chuck in a little pump to move more water around.
 
The solution is to find the cause and resolve that. Even if you get daphnia and even if they did clear things to some extent, the cause is still there and that means something is wrong and band-aiding it to make it less noticeable does not fix the issue. Green water is caused by unicellular algae which feed on nutrients/organics in the presence of light.

Water changes on a regular basis need to be more substantial in volume. Goldfish are very messy and have a high impact on the biological system. Water changes should be 60-70% of the tank volume once a week (if all was well, this is minimal).

Reducing the light isnot the answer because the plants need it, and they will help once the balance is restored. It is the food source of the algae that must be eliminated.

The RQ-Vital -- what is this? I cannot find it online. This may be a major problem, depending.

What is the tank size?
 
Then it seemed the pH was drifting acidic, so I put a little RQ-Vital that I dug out from old supplies
This sounds as though RQ-Vital is something to raise the pH? What is in it, does it give the ingredients on the bottle/package? And does it have a use by date?
 
Yes it is, not my choice, moving on. Let's say for the sake of argument I am not going to toss any of the fish.

No one is suggesting you toss fish...but at the same time, there is clearly a major problem and this is not good for the fish. They are being detrimentally affected, and we are trying to help you improve things so they will be healthier.

Questons have been asked but not yet answered, so we are rather at a loss.
 
No one is suggesting you toss fish...but at the same time, there is clearly a major problem and this is not good for the fish. They are being detrimentally affected, and we are trying to help you improve things so they will be healthier.

Questons have been asked but not yet answered, so we are rather at a loss.

yeah, probably just an overloaded thank. they are happy fish and been living in that fog for a couple months so clearly not killing them

my question was daphnia - yes or no, and I have gotten both a yes and a no, as well as the note that the fish will eat them and how to avoid this with a breeding container (which I have)

which questions have I not answered? I will immediately endeavor to do so; I appreciate the help! (and humor)
 
yeah, probably just an overloaded thank. they are happy fish and been living in that fog for a couple months so clearly not killing them

my question was daphnia - yes or no, and I have gotten both a yes and a no, as well as the note that the fish will eat them and how to avoid this with a breeding container (which I have)

which questions have I not answered? I will immediately endeavor to do so; I appreciate the help! (and humor)
The questions are what size tank? And what is the ingredients in the RQ vital and what is it used for?
 

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