algae troubles

[gsxrwalker]

hey guys, nice site. ok heres my trouble.
i have a 55 gallon tank and latly it gets over grown with dark green algae all over the bottom. after buying 2 new sliver sharks my fish got sick and i lost them all but 1 id shark and my algae eater. what could be wrong? there is a window not to far away but we always keeop the drapes closed and it never caused a ploblem before. i'll post a pick later today any help would be great as i'd like to get the tank up and running good to put new fish in. also oscars or chilids which would be easier?
again awessome site i look forward to talking to you guys
Craig

5268
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[Tooch]

Welcome to the site! When asking a question, try to also include the parameters and set up of the tank, it'll help us try to understand what's going on a little better. What's the ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and temp of your tank? How long do you leave the light on the tank? How long have you had it set up? Is it cycled?

It sounds like you have an alge bloom, which is caused by too much light. Try to limit the time your tank light is on. Leave it off for the next several days, and perform small water changes, 10-20% over the next few days. Be sure to test your water. If you don't have a good test kit, it's well worth the money to get one. I got an API Master test kit for under $30.

You could try to get some alge eaters, either a type of small Pleco or some Oto's. You'll need to decide what you want to put in the tank before you decide on a type of alge eater. Oto's stay very small, about 2", and would probably be eaten by either the Oscar or ID shark. Do you know how big an ID shark can get? You may want to think about upgrading tanks. Mine is 20" right now.

Try to get us the parameters of your water, so we can figure out what happened to your fish as well.

Welcome to A.C! thumbs2:

[jbeining75]

use algae eaters or otos. test your water peremeters and post them here so we can help. Good luck and welcone to the site.... try to keep the tank outta the sunlight and the lights off....

[gsxrwalker]

thanks guys i have a med Pleco right now and my id shark i've had for about a year hes 5" long i know they can get huge. right now i leave the light on through the day and off at night. to be honest i have never tested the amonia but my ph is tested bi-weekly and is always good. i believe the sliver sharks i had had ick and before i could get treatment the other fish dies (white spots and there eyes turned white) but my id shark and pleco seem fine. so mabye clean the tank, get a couple of live plants and another pleco? would i be better to get a larger one or another smaller one? i've had tanks for the last 12 years and try to keep it easy and simple. thanks for the help (i took a couple of pics but don't know how to post them)
craig

[sailor]

Contrary to what most people think, very few species of plecos control algae very well. Most common pleco's do ok at the start but as they get bigger they stop eating the algae and turn to left over food or decomposing drift wood. At that point they start contributing more to the problem than helping. They turn into big poop machines. There are better choices out there such as
Otocinclus, Farlowella acus(smaller cousin of the Royal Farlowella)
Siamese Algae Eater good for black beard algae. A couple good plecos that don't get overly big and are great at algae control are bristlenose and rubberlip plecos.

Hope this helps.

[Tooch]

OK, first. Here's a link to show you how to post pictures. If you have trouble with size, look in the "How To" thread, and it'll show you how to resize your pix.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=5


As far is pH and Ammonia testing is concerned, ammonia is much more important at this stage with your fish. Fish are pretty adaptable to pH, as long as it's done slowly. With having your tank running for 12 years, and bi-weekly checks of your pH show consistant results, you don't need to worry so much about it. Ammonia on the other hand, fish can't handle nearly as well. Ammonia, NitrAtes and NitrItes should be checked weekly. In your case, much more often until you get everything situated. If any of the 3 rise above what the fish can handle, they become stressed which makes it easier for them to get disease, such as Ich. Through all this, pH won't vary, so it's not a good indicator as to how your water is doing. Definatly go grab yourself a good test kit. The liquid ones are much more accurate than the test strips, so that's your best bet. I'm guessing you'll be suprised by what the tests may show you.

Keep the lights off for several days, and try to have as little light from the window hit it as possible.

Don't go buy another Pleco. Many of them are territorial, and depending on what you'll get, you'll have 2 monster Pleco's to deal with later. Mine is 14".

There are several different ways to take care of alge on the glass yourself, such as an alge pad, or a magnetic cleaner. Clean the glass before a water change, so you can vacuum the loose alge out of the water when you vacuum your gravel. What is your water changing schedule?

[gsxrwalker]

we usally vacum the take monthyl changing about 1/4-1/3 of the water. so amonia could be making the algae? also is it true live plants help cut down on algae? my glass is oretty clean (i use a magnic pad) but the gravel is covered

[jbeining75]

algae is due to access nutrients in the water, keep the tank outta the sunlight, do water changes every week not month, keep the lights turned off and get somes otos or a pleco..... otos are a better bet...

[gsxrwalker]

pics added at top

[sailor]

Holly Algae Fest Batman

[Tooch]

Wow, it looks like you're actually growing grass! 5 or 6 oto's would have a field day with that... But you may be better off trying to gently remove the substrate with alge growth from the tank and cleaning it, then putting it back in.

[digital3]

hmmm... Is that Algae kind of slimy? It may be blue-green algae. If that's the case, there is no known fish that will eat it because it releases toxins. Here are a couple of links for Algae ID:

http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Algae-Common-Types/3/
http://www.rexgrigg.com/Algae1.html

Hope that helps!

[jbeining75]

whoa that may be classified as outta control...... hmm alot of otos or a really big net and scrubber

[gsxrwalker]

really appericate all the help, i picked up a amonia test kit and mines perfect no amonia at all. i also picked up a few plants so tonight i'm cleaning her again and keeping the light off more

[jbeining75]

also try to keep sunlight out and do water changes once a week to keep down nutrients in the water.... good luck with it.. take some pics when its back up looks like an awesome tank...

[gsxrwalker]

ok the tank is clean i bought 4 Amazon Sword plants, tested amonia (perfect) tested ph (perfect) (thats all thats in the tank now) along with my id shard and pleco. can anyone suggest some easy fish that might do/grow well in my 55gal? thanks wish me luck

[jbeining75]

well test your nitrites and nitrates and make sure they are good also before you put anything in there..... don't put any big south american cichlids..... the plants won't make it...... cardinals, maybe gourami, some otos, black skirt tetra?????? there's a million fish that can go with plants. What really interests you?????

[gsxrwalker]

well i was thinking oscars cause i'd like to have some larger low maintance fish but my wife wants to have a large guppy tank which i'm not huge on my last tank was a 30 gallon with alot of guppys i'd kinda like to go for bigger active fish.

[shockshockshad]

1 oscar needs a 75 gallon, 2 need a 125 gallon. The biggest fish you can have for 55 gallons a are 6-8". Maybe some firemouths, or BP, or something else (if you like cichlids). remember, that ID shark will get 16" and will need a 125 gallon tank.

[Blue Ram]

If your water is fine I would suggest otos. They eat algae like crazy. Ive recently decided to get some. Of course they do need peacful tankmates! Good Luck!! Welcome to AC!!!

[Tooch]

1 oscar needs a 75 gallon, 2 need a 125 gallon. The biggest fish you can have for 55 gallons a are 6-8". Maybe some firemouths, or BP, or something else (if you like cichlids). remember, that ID shark will get 16" and will need a 125 gallon tank.


My ID shark is about about 20" now. The 150gal I have is too small for him with my 10" Oscar and some other fish. They are schooling fish, and can be skittish if kept alone.

[gsxrwalker]

checked my nitrites there perfect i cleaned the tank and in 1 day the algea is growing back i bought a raphele (algea eater that grows about 10" long there sposed to be really good) and 3 african chilicds i'm hopeing the algea will get under control

[Dave66]

checked my nitrites there perfect i cleaned the tank and in 1 day the algea is growing back i bought a raphele (algea eater that grows about 10" long there sposed to be really good) and 3 african chilicds i'm hopeing the algea will get under control

Raphael cats aren't algae eaters. I suspect you bought Platydoras costatus. If he's black with a pair of yellowish stripes, that's what he is. They eat snails, shrimp, small fish, insect larvae . . . in other words, whatever they can fit in their mouth. They are very nocturnal, and do their foraging at night. They'll suck up little fish like neons while they sleep. Whoever told you it'd eat algae was telling you a falsehood so you would buy the fish.

Dave

[gsxrwalker]

yepp thats what i bought........dame it i hate pet stores somtimes...so my apple snails in trouble?

[gsxrwalker]

and no shop around here know what a oto is? weird huh? i'm in Nova Scotia (canada) but i should be able to get the fish shouldn't i? do they go by any other names?

[Tooch]

I have both a Spotted and a Striped Raphael in my Piranha tank. They definatly don't eat alge. Actually, they don't even move until well aftet the lights are off...

[gsxrwalker]

well so far so good algae wise it came back alittle but not bad my i.d. hsark was dead this morning...the chiclids we're picking on him. hopfully it keeps going good i'm going to pick up some more african chiclids this weekend hopfully