Problem with algae

J

Jcreppel

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I've seen where some algae is supposed to be a "good" thing I guess, but I have it all over my ornaments and fake plants. Also it's making a slime coat on my filters and I can see it floating in the water sometimes. Is this normal, should I be concerned? And if I should be, how do I get rid of it? I've seen where algae eaters are not good tank mates for my axolotls so I'm kind of unsure where to go from there?
 
Is it green or brown algae? Green algae can be killed easily with lack of light and a clean, poo and leftover food free tank. Brown algae has to be scrubbed off, or eaten by algae eating creatures.
 
Honestly, it doesn't seem to have ANY color whatsoever. But I guess it might be green? It's mostly just a see through, slime look. I guess that's also what's got me so confused is I can never figure out what kind of algae it is.
 
Does it look cloudy or wispy at all? Also, do you have any kind of driftwood in your tank? My own tank has driftwood, and there was a type of fungus that latched itself onto the wood at some point and just started growing. Harmless to my axolotl, thank goodness, but it does look a bit unsightly.
 
If you've got a thin film of 'stuff' on your ornaments, glass etc this is normal - it's the 'good' bacteria that form part of the nitrogen conversion process. Leave it, it's supposed to be there.

If you have cloudy or green water, or green deposits on the glass, that's algae and usually means you have too much light and nitrate. Turn any lights down or off, and change the water more frequently.

Algae eaters generally don't mix with axies - shrimps get eaten, snails can harm your axie if he decides to try and eat the snail.
 
This is the pic of it. It makes everything kind of fuzzy. It had covered my filters too.
 

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What kind of dechlorinator are you using? And how much? What are your water changes like?
 
Hmmm, hard for me to see it in there...
What filter are you using?
How many gallons is your tank?
How many axolotls in there?
What do you feed? (Could it be from your food??) maybe left over pellets that are hiding?
 
I tried posting other pics but I'm not very tech savvy and my phone likes to play games on me. Lol. Ill try to post another. But it's 60 gallons, two axolotls, and I'm sure it's not left over pellets. I've got a light I shine in the little hidey holes they have to make sure I clean everything in the mornings. I'm not sure what kind of filters they are(I don't have the boxes any longer) but I do know we got ones that are equipped for the size tank we have.

(It was easier to see the film on the ornament with our led light on, but the fuzz on the plant where it looks kind of blurry is the stuff I'm talking about. It's on EVERYTHING.)
 

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my best guess is that is some form of hair algae, it can kill your live plants if you have any and it isn't pretty. even if it isn't hair algae and is some form of algae at all the best solution is to just turn your lights off and keep them off for longer than normal.

your axolotls won't mind and the algae should start to go away. algae thrives on light, so just take it away.
hope this helps, friend. keep us posted on your the situation!
 
Update...I've had my aquarium covered for about two days now, but my water is getting super cloudy. I just did about 20% water change on Tuesday and my ammonia levels are around 1%. I don't know what to do, or if whatever this junk is is causing this. How do I correct this???
 
it's sounds like your tank is in the middle of the cycling process. I have a lot of experience with freshwater aquariums. this is common during the cycling process. the cloudiness is a form of algae and will go away once the good bacteria start growing in your tank, this will also take care of your ammonia problem too. just change about 15-20% of your water and if the ammonia is still high, change some more. keep a close eye on your ammonia levels though. it is common for them to spike during this period so check it at least everyday until it levels out and the cloudiness goes away. as long as you stay on top of it and changing your water you will be fine:)
 
As said above, your tank is cycling, do a 20-30% daily water change and keep checking for any spike as 1ppm of ammonia is too high for axies, you dont really want to let it get above 0.5ppm, and the same for nitrITE.
 
I'm going to do a change in the morning and keep on for a few days! I knew my ammonia shouldn't be that high, I just wasn't sure how much/how often changing the water would be safe. I'm still so new to this aquarium thing and most of the time I don't know what I'm doing! All my research hasn't alleviated my fears of doing something wrong! It's always nice to have experienced people to give advice!
 
I wanted to give an update and see if there was any more advice out there. I tried covering my tank for about two weeks, but never seemed to make a difference. I've kept my levels where they need to be, done 20% water changes twice a week but I can not seem to get rid of this algae, if anything it just seems to be getting worse!! Any suggestions? Im moving this week (only about 2 or so miles down the road) so Im wondering if I should try something like taking my sand out to help keep the algae at bay when I do set up at my new location? I just do not know what could be causing it at this point and it's trying to take over!
 
The algae is caused by an over abundance of nutrients. The algae is appearing to eat these. When you remove the light, algae dies and water gets cloudy because free floating bacteria multiplies to use these. Have you tried introducing live plants? I usually get algae in my tanks until the plants have establish themselves ater which the algae disappears. Try scrubbing your ornaments clean, them putting them back with some plants to clean up the water. Plants mop up extra nutrients and provide more surface area for good bacteria. Try and put in two plants per gallon of your tank at first ands see how it clearsup!
 
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