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Green Water

littlelegs83

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Hi all
I have my axolotl Sid in a 60L tank measuring 80 cm x 40 cm. He is the only axie in there. He's about 18 months old. In the tank I have 2 filters which are both on a low flow. I do water changes every 1 - 2 weeks of between 10 - 20 %. The subsrate that I use are pebbles that are too big for him to swallow, not sure what type of stone they are (picture attached). I have no plants in the tank, just a piece of driftwood for him to hide behind and a stone shelter.

The problem is that the tank water is incredible cloudy and green. I washed the pebbles thoroughly when I put them in (about 6 months ago) and I use a sponge to clean the green algae from the side of the tank. I also when I do his water changes use a gravel cleaner / sypohon to make sure I get his poo up. He is hand fed earth worms and if he spits them out I take them away straight away.

He is otherwise healthy, he is quite active, eats well, the water temp is about 18 - 20 and he has no visible signs of being unhealthy.

Does anyone know what could be causing the green water and how I can get rid of it? I know its not doing him any harm but it looks ugly.

Claire
 

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daremo

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maybe the driftwood or there is algae in the tank

I would get rid of those pebbles, they trap a lot of dirt, you can go bare bottom, its easier to clean, maybe there's algae between them
 

Opacum

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It's most likely algae... try reducing the light the tank gets, do 10% changes weekly or 25% changes every other week, try breaking the surface tension of the water either from the exhaust port of the filter (just make sure that the exhaust is not under the water but an inch or so above) or with an airstone. Just make sure you don't create too much of a current or bubble the living daylights out of the tank. Make sure you do NOT overfeed. Make sure you are changing your filter carbon monthly if you have that type of filter. When you siphon make sure you don't stir up your gravel too much as you siphon. Just stick your siphon into the gravel, twist and lift gently. If you constantly turn the stones over, you are going to have cloudy water from the tank continuing to recycle. Algae is a plant life... give it fertilizer (food and waste from the axie) and light, it is going to grow! Good luck! ;)
 

carsona246

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algae needs nutrients and light to grow, I'd limit both. I'd limit your feeding and cut your photoperiod down. I'd also do a large water change, this will remove whatever algae is in the water you remove, but it won't get rid of the problem. Green water might also be a sign that your lights are too powerful.
 

littlelegs83

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Hi thanks for the advice

I forgot to say, I do have an aquarium light but I don't use it, however the tank is next to a window so i'll cover the tank during the day with a towel or something. I don't want to take the pebbles out and replace them with nothing as I've heard this can be stressful, i'm wondering if sand is any better?

He is fed by hand so I wait until he has swallowed what he has and if he doesn't I get it back out, earthworms so there wont be any waste from that, just his poo. I'll give the light thing a go and see what happens.

I take it theres nothing I can add to the water to get rid of it?

Claire
 

carsona246

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If it's right by the window, it's probably the light from the sun. How much water movement do you have? There are things you can add to the water that gets rid of algae, but I know they're tough on shrimp, and invertebrates so I'm not sure if it's axolotl safe.
 

LadyJ

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you could look into some moss balls, they compete with alge for nutrients so dramaticly lessen the alge's growth. i have some in my tank and iv never had an alge problem and my axolotl loves playing football with them lol
 

carsona246

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water wisteria is also another low maintance plant that will help compete for algae
 

blackdog

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I didnt get to the green water stage, but i did have some brown algae start to appear.

I did pretty much what has been listed above.

My tank is not in direct light, i experimented with a light timer to work out how much light i need to use to keep my (low light) plants alive, but not have enough light to encourage algae growth.

I have a small tank at my office which gets a lot of natural light, and i also left the light on for a whole weekend once (oops) - after that it had a terrible brown algae problem - for that tank, i cut the light down to barely 3 hrs a day (it seems to get enough natural light to keep the plants going) - added a heap of other plants and mosses, and increased the cleans.

this seems to have cut the algae back a lot, but i still have a hair algae issue in there. My next step is to try some Seachem Excel Flourish - i have cherrie shrimp and white cloud in there - not sure how the shrimp will react to it, i'm also not sure how the axie would react to it.

Bren
 

littlelegs83

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Hi guys

I have a fair bit of water movement as I have two filters on a gentle setting, one is a suction one that sticks to the intide of the tank, I currently have the spray nozzle under the water pointed towards the glass as not to cause too much current. The other is a hang on the side one that has a nozzle that creates a steady stream into the tank, again on a low setting.

I defo think i'll get some moss balls, I think Sid would like playing footie, maybe he could get a game for England or his native Mexico hahaha. Can you just get these at aquatics shops or online? I'll try some wisteria too, his tank needs livening up a bit.

Bless him, he's so sweet. What do people think about the pebbles issue? Should I try sand? If so would it be best to fridge Sid for a day or two until the sand settles?

Claire
 

Grete

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I think they were referring to marimo balls, which are just balls of algae that kill the competition/nutrient source for the annoying algae. Alot more pet shops seem to be carrying the them, although I've heard that ebay is by far the cheapest route.
 

littlelegs83

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Right guys, after all of your advice I have decided that i'm going to buy a new tank, start afresh with sand as a substrate and i'm going to move him to a darker place away from the window so he doesn't get so much natural light.
I've bought this tank and it is getting delivered at the weekend. I'll keep him in his old tank whilst I cycle the new one and i'm going to put some of the moss balls and plants in from the start so hopefully the aglae wont develop this time.
Then i'll give his old tank a scrub and move my tropical fish into that one, as currently they are just in a little **** one.

Can't wait, so excited!!

Does anyone have any tips for moving the axies? Sid is fully grown now and I think a net would stress him out. I'm toying with cutting the top off a plastic bottle in the hope that he'll swim into it and then I can just lift that out and transfer him to the new tank. What do you think?

Claire
 

twistedfisher

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One of the best ways ive found to stop green water is to run a couple day black out period. It is easily done with cutting paper bags and attaching them with a bit of masking tape to the outside of the tank.

LOL a new tank i can never say anything about getting another. My motto is " If it was me ide just get another tank!"
 

twistedfisher

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I didnt get to the green water stage, but i did have some brown algae start to appear.

I did pretty much what has been listed above.

My tank is not in direct light, i experimented with a light timer to work out how much light i need to use to keep my (low light) plants alive, but not have enough light to encourage algae growth.

I have a small tank at my office which gets a lot of natural light, and i also left the light on for a whole weekend once (oops) - after that it had a terrible brown algae problem - for that tank, i cut the light down to barely 3 hrs a day (it seems to get enough natural light to keep the plants going) - added a heap of other plants and mosses, and increased the cleans.

this seems to have cut the algae back a lot, but i still have a hair algae issue in there. My next step is to try some Seachem Excel Flourish - i have cherrie shrimp and white cloud in there - not sure how the shrimp will react to it, i'm also not sure how the axie would react to it.

Bren
You may also want to try some otos for the "brown" algae. This is more then likely diatomic algae and they are one of the few fish on this earth that actually eat this stuff.

I have a tank with a foam and Drylok back ground in it that went crazy with diatomic algae after it was sat up even with live plants in it. 2 otos and nothing but clear water and glass ever since.
 

littlelegs83

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One of the best ways ive found to stop green water is to run a couple day black out period. It is easily done with cutting paper bags and attaching them with a bit of masking tape to the outside of the tank.

LOL a new tank i can never say anything about getting another. My motto is " If it was me ide just get another tank!"

Hahaha to be fair, I was going to get a new tank anyway for my tropical fish who are just in a little tank, so I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to move him, clean it up, start afresh and get rid of the algae!
 

twistedfisher

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Hahaha to be fair, I was going to get a new tank anyway for my tropical fish who are just in a little tank, so I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to move him, clean it up, start afresh and get rid of the algae!


But also keep in mind if you do not do anything different you will have the same results!

You may want to consider painting the sides of the tank that are on the window side.
 

carsona246

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another solution i can't beleive I didn't think about is a uv steralizer
 

twistedfisher

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I personally don't use UV sterilizers for fear of it killing off the beneficial bacteria. Thats my personal opinion on it and you know what they say about opinions.
 

carsona246

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I know uv steralizers can kill bacteria in the water column, but I'm pretty sure your safe with one. The majority of the beneficial bacteria isn't actually in the water column, so any amount of beneficial bacteria that is killed with a uv steralizer would be pretty insignificant to your tanks ability to convert ammonia to nitrate.
At the same time uv steralizers are pretty unnecessary and theres usually a natural way to solve the problem which is usually better in my opinion.
 

dragonlady

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UV sterilizers are not recommended for use with amphibians.

Painting the window sides of the tank is a good suggestion and some others have done this. I blocked the window in my case...it faces my neighbor so works on a couple of levels for me...;) You can also cover the tank temporarily with a big towel or something similar that will block out all light to kill the algae.

You can fridge your guy for a couple of days until you get things settled, it won't hurt him.

As far as moving him, I use my hands as my guys are used to them being in the tank and a net or cut bottle could injure your guy. I slip my hand in and usually, the intended will eventually swim into it or I gently slip my hand under the belly slowly and gently. Others have used a small plastic container to dip their guys out.

Good luck, algae can be a real pain!
 
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