Please help <IMG SRC="http://www.caudata.org/forum/clipart/sad.gif" ALT=":-(" BORDER=0>

Hi
have a bit of a problem
spent all this money fitting out my tank with nice plants and an extra light cause i thought that was causing the problem i had with brown algae, but it seems to have made a reapearence it's forming on the glass again + i have strange like brown worm things "dead" starting to form on my rock again and also on the leaves of my plants. i cleaned my bio tubes in my filter the other day "in tank water" after finding it was the same in there but havn't cleaned the 2 x sponges in there as i thought it would maybe be too much if i cleaned the lot and cause it too re-cycle. also took the carbon out and since then i have like really fine particles floating around in my tank also, but b4 i did this the water was nice and clear ? looks like i will have to clean the sponges too, cause i'm thinking cause it is still active in my filter it is passing through to my tank. iv'e read to kill the brown algae i shouldn't use my lights @ all for 2-3 days ? do u think this is correct ? any advise appreciated. i'm very sad at the moment cause it was looking so nice and to top it off my wildtype axie and golden have started to get a white fungus on them so gonna do salt baths tonight... 2 teaspoons per Lt dechlorinated water for 10 mins right ?
here's a pic of the stuff on my rock "hoping it's just algae"

Hi Rob,

the computer screen I'm using at the moment is pretty bad so any better diagnosis will have to wait until I get home.
From what I can tell here, the trails you are seeing on the leaves and the stones are tubes from a harmless midge larva. The larva traps detitritus and incorporates it into a tube.

With the brown algae, I have two questions,
1) what is the pH in the tank and 2) do you know if your water company adds silicate to the water supply to help protect the pipes?

The brown algae sounds like a diatom bloom (particuarly if it is a little more golden brown) which unlike some of the "brown algae" types does just fine in a higher light situation.

Ed

thx for the quick reply Ed
i keep on getting these trails ? it does come off very easily but doesn't look very nice and ended up throwing all my java ferns away a while ago because of it cause it was all over them i have really only started to get it since i introduced the woomera rock ?
my pH is 7.4 ish i'm not sure about the Silicate ? but i know we have very hard water, will try and find out..
i did find this if applicable ?
http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/reporting/human/water/quality_table.html
i'm either Hope valley supply or para river ?

the algae looks more like a poo brown ? and is very easy to get off ? just spent the last cpl of hrs cleaning the filter/glass/plants etc so i'll see how it goes again. the room the tank is in has the curtains closed all day the only intense light it gets is from my lighting @ 10hrs per day, 2 x 30w tubes, if i see it come back i will try not turning the lights on for 3-4 days and c if it gets worse or not ?
Thx
Rob...

Rob - I get the same algae. Its harmless but very annoying to clean all the time!

Rob, I think we are in the hope valley system

Hi Rob,

You would have to ask the water company as sodium silicate is nontoxic and harmless to people they do not have to report it. Diatoms can cause rapid blooms and one of the main limiting growth factors is silica which is used to form thier "shells". A pH of about 8.0 will inhibit the diatoms from uptaking the silicate and you can eliminate or control the population this way. Under ideal conditions it can form a blanket that covers everything... Usally it blooms and then crashes and then becomes a minor nusiance.

The trails are unsightly but harmless. These gnats can come in on plants or from the outside and can be hard to eliminate.....

Ed

I think you just have to wipe off the brown algae and tubeworms when they become unsightly. There will always be some kind of algae and unwanted micro-critters in any aquarium. The ones you have aren't the worst. (The worst IMO is blue-green algae - it forms a nasty slime over everything.) I find that after a tank is set up for a while (like 6-12 months), the flora and fauna become more stable, and the overgrowth of specific forms of algae and critters becomes less of a problem (assuming that the tank gets the usual water changes long-term). Your tank looks good, by the way, keep up the good work!

Dont worry Rob, Jennifer said also... your tank still looks good! And im STIL jelous of it, algae or no algae LOL

I cant help as to how to get rid of it though,
SORRY!
Bit of a set back, but im sure you will get it under control.

Thx for all the feedback guys
as i mentioned i did clean it off every thing last night was up until 5am this morning finishing it
i'm even thinking of getting spring water now and using that in my tank instead, will get some first and test the pH and c what it's like. going to add some ferts next week and c if that makes any difference too. going to get Seachem flourish excel and Flourish comprehensive and try it
if not i guess i'll be buisy cleaning for a few mths to come

P.S. what do i use to try raise my pH to 8 ?

(Message edited by kharmakazi on February 10, 2006)

Rob i dont know how algae attacked your tank. usualy fully planted tanks have less or a chance getting algae as the plants take a hold of all the nutrients leaving nothing for the algae.

Stipe, that is one of the reasons I was considering diatoms. Unlike "conventional" algae the limiting factor for thier growth is not iron as they do not use a different carotonoid for chlorophyll synthesis and iron is not a limiting micronutrient for them (this is the limiting micronutrient that typically keeps algae from blooming in a plant tank as the plants will uptake and sequester it). Silica is a limiting micronutrient for them and this is one that the plants do not use at all.

Rob, you may not have to raise the pH if you are willing to wait and see if the diatoms are going to boom and bust. This process has the diatoms pull all of the silica out of solution to form shells and then it limits thier growth by crashing. If the diatom growth is small and limited to just a couple of spots that are unsightly turn the pump off wait about ten minutes for any currents to settle down and gently squirt the algae patches with some hydrogen peroxide (right out of the bottle). It is best to use something like a syringe as opposed to a turkey baster as it gives you better control). Wait another ten to twenty minutes and then you should be able to turn the pumps back on. This does seem to work on a number of algaes and the peroxide rapidly degrades in the tank rendering it harmless to the fish and caudates. If you want to raise the pH, then there are some cichlid and reed buffers on the market (at least here in the USA) that will do the trick. If you had a reef/marine system I would have suggested taking the pH up closer to 9)


I agree with Jen, that the blue-green are the worst as one of the growth features of this type of "algae" is mat formation and once the mat is thick enough it starts to force the bacteria underneath to take an alternate metabolic pathway and produce ammonia feeding the mat and allowing for explosive growth.

Ed

thx Ed
will give the Hydrogen peroxide a go when it rears its ugly head on my rock again,thats where the Diatoms seem to always form. iv'e also read that i can mix some bleach @ 19:1 and clean my rock with that, but will give they hydrogen peroxide a go first. if i can keep on top of it b4 it spreads to bad hopefully i'll be ok ? maybe when i set up my co2 this will help too ?

Well if it always forms on the rock then I would suspect that there is some soluable micronutrient coming off the rock that the algae is able to utilize to get good growth and the changes in the water are probably not going to affect it.
I doubt that the CO2 is going to make much of a difference in its control.
H2O2 is pretty safe to use with many animals as they contain enzymes that prevent the damage it can cause preventing its damage however this is not the case with bleach solutions regardless of the strength as these can and will damage all kinds of tissues.

Ed

looks like i'm just gonna have to put up with it 4 a while and thx for clearing that up for me, will give the bleach mixture a miss.
thx
Rob..

my names brett

whats the point in adding to a post over a mth old with
"my names Brett" !!!
i am getting so sick of all this spam !
its getting very old !

And the point of complaining on the forum??
I am closing this thread.

Ed