Otto Catfish

[Confish]

ive got a realy bad brown algae problem and ive heard that otto catfsh are good at keeping it at bay so just wondering would my con , jewels and jd eat them? also i have a dora talking catfish and a clown pleco 4ft 55 cheers

 

[minxfishy]

They would likely eat them, unless you managed to get a full grown one (or three). Personally I have an oto (bought in a group of 4) 8-9 months now, who has lived with large severums, vieja's, bichirs, ghost knife etc and nobody bothers him amazingly, but he was full grown, whereas the others that came with him disappeared over time, Ive also found he doesnt touch brown algae or any algae actually, but quite happily lives on normal fish food, unusual I know for an oto, but he is unusal

 

[jacko32]

They would likely eat them, unless you managed to get a full grown one (or three). Personally I have an oto (bought in a group of 4) 8-9 months now, who has lived with large severums, vieja's, bichirs, ghost knife etc and nobody bothers him amazingly, but he was full grown, whereas the others that came with him disappeared over time, Ive also found he doesnt touch brown algae or any algae actually, but quite happily lives on normal fish food, unusual I know for an oto, but he is unusal

i have a group of 4 oto's and none of them eat algea they all eat the same food as the other fish ie bloodworms, white worms and beefheart they do eat the algea waffers though but i think thats because they have other things added to them not many fish i know of will eat the brown algea the only thing that eats it in my tank is my big apple snail frank

 

[Confish]

what have people found to be a gd way of removing brown algae from there gravel cheers for the info so far , dont think i will be getting any ottos

 

[minxfishy]

Cant say Ive ever had brown algae or any algae for that matter on gravel or sand. MTS will sift the gravel/sand around, but would also likely be food for the fish. Do more gravel vacs would be my best suggestion.

 

[snowflake311]

Bn plecos are the best algae cleaners IMO I have 2. They will get lazy if you feed them too much but if yougivd them a wafferevery 3 days or so they will graze on the algae.

It's always best to clean algae yourself and fix the cause . But a algae eater can be used to help with light clean up.

 

[Confish]

thanks again everyone ye i vac the hell out of it every week but no change its like random granules of gravel have a fur coat on lol. i was wondering what other ways there are to remove it as the vac doesnt seem to get it off ill try and upload a picture, i have a clown pleco at the moment would a bn cause problems in a 4ft rio 240

 

[snowflake311]

thanks again everyone ye i vac the hell out of it every week but no change its like random granules of gravel have a fur coat on lol. i was wondering what other ways there are to remove it as the vac doesnt seem to get it off ill try and upload a picture, i have a clown pleco at the moment would a bn cause problems in a 4ft rio 240

wait you have hair algae then. That stuff is a huge pain in the butt. The True SAE is the other thing that likes to eat it. this stuff can be caused by a change in CO2. Added O2 can cause Co2 Levels to go down. also poor curculation in the water can help it grow. I had to fight some of this stuff. I was useing a power hed for extra surface movement to add more O2. So I took that out and moved my filter spray bar and the stuff has slowed down growth. Spot treatment with Excel can help too I might give that a try.

I have a BN pleo living with a Clown pleco in a 36 gal with NO problems they have been together for 2 years both are female.

 

[mattlee]

brown algae is diatoms caused by overfeeding/ammonia traces and otos are the only thing that will enjoy it. wipe it off and do more water changes and feed less and you wont need any more fish.

is it on the glass, ornaments, plants etc? you will have had this during the cycle due to ammonia levels in the water

 

[Confish]

nah its just on the gravel i don't have any plants just drift wood. and i cant really just wipe it off. ill try and upload a picture when i get back home.

 

[loraxchick]

cladifora often grows on driftwood and ornaments. it doesnt really spread and can look nice if its not out of control (i keep mine on a piece of driftwood in my planted tank- and it is only on the driftwood, not affecting my plants or glass). dark green tufts that sway in the current. algae that grows on the substrate is anything from diatoms (brown algae-common in new tanks and substrate change- will go away just give it time), greenspot algae, green dust algae. if you have sand substrate id suggest getting some MTS. they are AMAZING at turning sand. just make sure they get some food and you will have a nice colony which you will rarely see all out in the open (good indicator of bad water and/or not enough food). i LOVE my snails. all of them! and frequently ask for snails at the fish stores. they happily pick me out whatever kind i need at the time for free for some reason, folks dislike the snails. to me, they are VERY important to an ecologically sound tank. but keep in mind, different snails do different things, so make sure you know what species you are buying (or asking for. feel free to ask if you have questions.
cheers!

 

[Hunterprey]

Really sorry to hi-jack, to Loraxchick I've been wanting an apple/mystery snail for awhile, will I be overpopulated if i just get one? And do they need salt in their tank for their shell? Thnx

 

[Confish]

hey at last i have some photos so if any one has any ideas on which it is and more importantly how to remove the #28### then i would be a happy chappy also my tank has no plants in it and its a cichlid tank so cant really have snails .

 

[Confish]

help anyone now i have pictures to help

 

[meguro]

it looks a lot like bba

http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm