Brown filmlike algae/hillstreams

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 6:50 pm

...anyone has a good way to eliminate it?

somehow I got it in the newest hillstream tank (weird--different tanks develop different types of algae) and I'm not certain if it represents a danger to hillstreams. At the moment this tank has only danios and schisturas, who probably don't care, but i was planning to move gastros there too, and it is not clear if I risk it (?) .. in all cases, if drugs need to be used, I'd rather use them before putting the gastros in.

The stuff looks dark-brown, perhaps even rust color, forms thin film over mostly glass but also stones, and can be easily scraped off -- but keeps coming back fast.

QueenDustBunny · Post by **QueenDustBunny** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:16 pm

I have some in my 10g tank. It started while on vacation for a long weekend. I scraped the sides of the tank twice and the stuff kept coming back. Mind you, I thought it looked interesting on the fabricated rocks so I left that alone. I then got 4 Otocinclas to handle the problem. They cleaned the front on the first day and both sides shortly after that The back of the tank is about half done and all the plants are clean now. However, they have cleaned "spots" on the rocks which looks odd, but I shouldn't complain. I will proobably move them if there is no algae left for them to eat. I have tried to feed others in the larger tank but they don't seem to care for it and I don't really want to cultivate algae.

Dr. Momfish · Post by **Dr. Momfish** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:22 pm

as new aquaria 'settle in' all sorts of things grow and then get outcompeted. perfect doesn't happen right away, if ever. stuff grows in response to the ratio of nutrients present and the other competitors in the tank.

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:24 pm

A-ha. So at least otos eat this....maybe gastros would to (or at least would not die from it.)...or may it is the time to get some otos...

(I used to rely on BN's for algae problems, but the tank has large sword plants and they like eating them more than algae...)

Thanks a lot!

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:29 pm

Dr. Momfish wrote:as new aquaria 'settle in' all sorts of things grow and then get outcompeted. perfect doesn't happen right away, if ever. stuff grows in response to the ratio of nutrients present and the other competitors in the tank.

Yes, this has been noticed. The real question is if I can influence the competition to kill this particular thing....not only it is really ugly, I'm not sure what kind of chemical it may produce....

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:41 pm

If you are concerned about it, why don't you just give the tank more time to settle in. I personally, doubt it is anything that would hurt gastros, but it is always better to let a tank get settled before putting in hillstreams.
Maybe if you wait, you will get a good crop of the green stuff that hillstreams love.

Dr. Momfish · Post by **Dr. Momfish** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:55 pm

agreed on that Jim.

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:56 pm

Thanks, Jim, but giving more time is not going to help.

The tank was cycled for two months. It appears that once a tank develops one kind of algae, it will not develop another unless you somehow destroy the first kind, and I don't know how to...

(What happened here is that I wiped out the Green Film algae with antibiotics. In other tanks, it was quickly replaced by green dots -- perfect. In this one, this brown junk which I never saw before...

)

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:06 pm

Check out the second pic of one of Martin's L. disparis.
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/li ... paris.html
Is this the stuff you are talking about? Its a reddish-purple in color.
If it is, its an algae that seems to grow in high oxygen tanks, in other words hillstream tanks. I have it in some of my tanks and there is no problems with the hillstreams.

pedzola · Post by **pedzola** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:34 pm

I have brown filmy algae in all my tanks. It's the only kinda algae I get. It's gross. Covers EVERYTHING in brown... hard to scrape off plastic plants, gravel, etc, but easy to scrape off glass w/algae scraper.

I have never once seen any other type of algae grow in any tank I have had except when I had a very small tank with very powerful lights. In that case I got long green strands instead of the brown stuff.

PS no fish I have ever had has shown any interest in eating this brown stuff.

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:36 pm

I don't think it is the same:

it is brown, not read, and grows only on stones and glass -- not the ground. These were supposed to be white stones...

(but this is indeed the tank with highest amount of O2...)

JoeKuhlii · Post by **JoeKuhlii** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:47 pm

Those look like diatoms (not really an algae), and indeed go away with some time. They are common to new tanks.

As said earlier, Otocinclus love the stuff. Your Hillie should munch a little on it. Snails eat it.

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:03 pm

Thanks a lot, Joe,

as long as this is not something dangerous, just ugly, I'm already happy. Will find out before long if Gastros eat this, and I'll start looking for oto's...wanted a couple for a while anyway.

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:26 pm

BTW, this is why I don't want to use BN's to clean up this tank:

All the damage was done by the big yellow snail on the left and her boyfriend...

shari2 · Post by **shari2** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:31 pm

Otos definitely eat it. And my mts do too.

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