Is Algae Bad For Your Fish?

[tropicallover]

I have a 20 gallon tank. I have soem brown stuff on my sunken pirate ships sails that wont come off. The sails are a fabric. Its storebought but i have rinsed it, scrubbed it but it wont come off! Is this bad for the tank? Also on some of my fake plants they are brownness. It looks like algae but its hard to get off. Help!

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

Brown algae is usually the aftermath of a cycle. Have yo recently cycled your tank?

 

[Noahs ark6]

It is not bad for your fish, just bad for the look of the tank, mind you, some people like the look of algae in their tanks

 

[watertown28]

It is not bad for your fish, just bad for the look of the tank, mind you, some people like the look of algae in their tanks

Yes I know a guy just told me today that his friends train of thought was the more algae, the more better your tank is. I guess he had it all over except on the front.

 

[zigzagabout]

Hi I think there is a fish that eats this algae, but haven't found any locally yet, it is called a Siamensis Algae Eater. It might be worth checking.

 

[phoenixgsd]

Hi I think there is a fish that eats this algae, but haven't found any locally yet, it is called a Siamensis Algae Eater. It might be worth checking.

do you mean siamese algae eater, i have one of these, he will go upside down to get under something, quite funny, he will also jump out the tank if the lids off

 

[pinkash]

Brown algae is usually the aftermath of a cycle. Have yo recently cycled your tank?

Glad I read this post! We've had our tank for probably 6-8 weeks now, and brown algae is definitely starting to make an appearance in our tank. I was wondering if it had something to do with the cycling process.

 

[NeonNeptune]

If you plan on getting plants in your tank, avoid common plecos to eat algae, also 20 gallons would be to small in a few years if it survives. I have mollies and they work great for preventing new algae growth, but won't touch the old stuff. Some other members told me bristle nose plecos are good and remain small and won't eat plants so one could be okay in a 20 gallon.

 

[Liz1993]

hehe, as NeonNeptune said mollies make great work of eating up the algae, they are like little hoovers!! my dalmation mollies also have a habbit of eating up my plants!

 

[Fish4]

hehe, as NeonNeptune said mollies make great work of eating up the algae, they are like little hoovers!! my dalmation mollies also have a habbit of eating up my plants!

My tank is covered in brown algae. It's been set up only six weeks so all that algae shows that it has now cycled maybe?. We got 4 danios and then 4 Ticto barbs initally.
Today we bought six salt/pepper platy, and they instantly went about eating all the brown algae. They've eaten so much from the plants and rocks, even cleaning the glass.
It was funny watching our Ticto barbs trying to copy them, as they thought they were missing out on something.

 

[NeonNeptune]

hehe, as NeonNeptune said mollies make great work of eating up the algae, they are like little hoovers!! my dalmation mollies also have a habbit of eating up my plants!

My tank is covered in brown algae. It's been set up only six weeks so all that algae shows that it has now cycled maybe?. We got 4 danios and then 4 Ticto barbs initally.
Today we bought six salt/pepper platy, and they instantly went about eating all the brown algae. They've eaten so much from the plants and rocks, even cleaning the glass.
It was funny watching our Ticto barbs trying to copy them, as they thought they were missing out on something.

It some times appears that they are eating the plant but are actually eating microscopic algae off of it. But I suppose they could go after plants if they found it tasty enough! But I have anubias so even if they tried they couldn't handle it! Platies and other live bearers eat algae to, but I have always heard that mollies are the best of the bunch!

 

[citrus-squid]

Some kinds of algae can be harmful, but I'd be surprised if you ever got some of those in your tank! The brown algae are most often diatoms, harmless little guys (or big guys, depending on the species!). I got myself 3 oto catfish when the brown algae started appearing, they worked wonders. I preferred them over plecos because my tank is only 20 gallons and plecos get BIG, but otos don't (1-2 inches). They're cute little guys too, very diligent at keeping the tank clean, and don't need too much extra care, just pop in a few algae wafers when I feed the other fish. Sometimes leftover veggies from the fridge Maybe consider some for your tank!