Question: Help, Brown algae problem.

Hello, I have had two eastern red spotted newts for about four months now. About a week ago I started to see brown "stains" all around the tank, accumulating on rocks and on the sub strait. I have done some research and came to a conclusion that it was brown algae, that is making my tank have a distinct, bad odor. I want to know if its dangerous to have with my newts, and how to remove it if possible. I have read some information about this algae and it said store bought algae killers don't work all that well if at all, on the other had it said snails are great to have to get rid of algae, I just want to know what snails would be safe to have in my tank that will eat the brown algae, and not harm the newts, and if there is an alternative method to get rid of this algae it would be appreciated if you could list them.

Thank you

Here are some pictures of my tank setup w/ the algae.

A previously white rock being turned the color brown by algae.

This is my current tank setup, w/ the algae.

I had some growing like you several months ago and snails took car of the issue... Anyway, I am not sure what snails I have but they are safe to newts. I would advise you to grow plants in your tank such as anacharis (elodea) and / or cabomba, they clean the water and provide a lot of oxygen.

Its very typical that the first type of algae to grow in a new setup is the brown stuff. It is actually diatoms, not strictly algae. I have never noticed any smell from it, so I'm wondering if the smell may be from something else. I consider the brown algae to be normal. Once the green algae get going, the brown stuff will be reduced. Your best bet would be to put in brown gravel and brown rocks. Then you just won't notice it!

Is there a rock above the water level where the newts can emerge if they want to?

Yes there is , the middle rock is above the water level. Its slightly submerged though in that picture because I did a water change and added a little to much.

FRANCOIS said:

I had some growing like you several months ago and snails took car of the issue... Anyway, I am not sure what snails I have but they are safe to newts. I would advise you to grow plants in your tank such as anacharis (elodea) and / or cabomba, they clean the water and provide a lot of oxygen.

Click to expand...

Thank you, i will try to get some Elodea as soon as possible, and try to find out what snails do eat this stuff.

Try reducing the light as well and don't overfeed. Also it looks as if you have a piece of coral in the corner. Watch the Ph with that as it tends to push it up quite high with that little water in your tank. I don't think those shells are real or they'll raise your Ph as well.

I have removed the coral, but it proceeds to get worse, I'm trying to find a place that sells snails, but do they even eat these diatoms?

Hi, sorry I don't know anything about snails.
I've had problems with brown algae for a long time and did a lot of reading about it in online forums etc.
I understand that it should just disappear if you don't disrupt the tank too much...it might take some time but it will go eventually. Until then try to leave the tank be and only clean one piece of decoration at a time. You can turn the affected stones upside down, then the algae will disappear.
My tank just recovered from this and it's wonderful when you notice the stuff is gone. Good luck with your tank.

Unfortunately, algae is present in all of my tanks. Algae represents an imbalance of nutrients in the tank. You have algae because there are excess nutrients (light, newt waste, uneaten/decaying food) in your tank. the algae is using those nutrients to grow. It will keep growing until there are no more nutrients available to it.

Generally the answer to annoying alage is either to reduce the nutrients entering the tank:
1. not letting the tank get as much light
2. feeding the newts less (not really an option)

or removing nutrients from the tank:
1. making sure you remove all uneaten food
2. increase the frequency of water changes

Other options available:
1. try to get something that eats algae like snails (works to a point, but there will always be some algae left)
2. try killing the algae with chemicals (probably not a good idea for the newts!)
3. use a large quantity of fast growing plants to out-compete the algae for nutrients (in my tanks that are brimming with plants the growth of algae slows down, but never stops completely. I occasionally still have to scrub it off my glass and rocks etc.)

I am interested that your algae produces an odor, i have blue green algae in one of my tanks that smells weird whenever I scrub it off the glass, but the tank itself does not smell whenever it's just sitting there. Like Jennewt says, it may be something else that smells.

Your algae growth will eventually slow down, especially if you try one of the above methods to slow it down. While it is ugly, you should not worry about it too much. it won't harm your newts, and it is probably helping your tank try to maintain some sort of balance to its water conditions. Good luck with your tank!

It was producing an odor as of a couple days ago, but it seemed to go away, I believe it was my water conditioner I used for the water change i did it has a distinct odor.In addition, Im going to the pet store tonight to get some plants and maybe a snail. I have heard though that newts cannot eat plants, because they can not digest them, would having plants put my newts in danger? Also I use Novaqua plus and Amquel plus as water conditioners.

Live plants are great for newts. The only thing to watch out for is if the plants don't do well, they'll begin to die off, and the dieing plant material can cause water quality issues (and can even spur more algae growth). I have small snails in all my tanks, and they do eat brown algae. But they never clean it up 100%, I still have to wipe some off the glass.

For water conditioning, my preference is to use the simplest possible product, one that just gets rid of chlorine and metals. I don't trust water conditioners much because they don't have to list their ingredients, and they are optimized for fish not 'phibs.

Research what your newt need, their natural habitat etc... it's common sense. Do you picture a newt living among corals? No! Then don't add anything to the tank that does not make sense. Do your homework and you will have a great set-up.... check Jen site.... tons of good info!!!!

Hi, there was another thing about brown algae - some light tubes can cause it to thrive, and sometimes when your tube is old this can happen. I think brown "algae" is different from the rest of real algae (where the issues are usually nutrient and light related), it's part of the so called "new tank syndrome".
Regarding water conditioners, I've asked Seachem if "Prime" is safe for amphibians and they said yes. It's supposed to help with algae.

If you are going to buy plants, do some research first to see which ones are ok for your parameters (light, temperature, water hardness). Plants are really fussy. For me it's been trial and error until I found out which ones can live in my tanks.
After you buy them, make sure to clean or disinfect them properly so you don't drag something nasty into your tank.

I have had brown algae in 2 of my tanks; the first was solved by adding live plants; the second I added live plants but nothing (newt tank), so I cleaned it every few days for ages and still nothing and as I had been wanting a nerite snail I thought what the heck and went for it. The tank is algae free; but IF you get a snail you need to remember you need to give it additional food to eat and that they do produce a lot of waste.