Help required please
- Thread starter dinsays
- Start date
Acouple of q's first:
1)what size tank do you have?
2)what do you have in tank for fish and inverts?
3)what is your temp. and water parameters at?
4)what kind of filter and what size?
5)how long do you keep your lights on?
6)how often do you feed?
7)how often do you do water changes/gravel vac?
8)is your tank planted, if so what do you have for plants, use for ferts and do you run co2?
These answers will help us to help you.
1)what size tank do you have?
2)what do you have in tank for fish and inverts?
3)what is your temp. and water parameters at?
4)what kind of filter and what size?
5)how long do you keep your lights on?
6)how often do you feed?
7)how often do you do water changes/gravel vac?
8)is your tank planted, if so what do you have for plants, use for ferts and do you run co2?
These answers will help us to help you.
if you have a decent size tank I would get a plecostomus fish at your local fish shop. It worked out great for me and cleaned up my algae problem within two days. Pleco does a better job than any snail out there IMO.
I highly advise against getting a fish to solve a problem. Get a fish because you want it not because you need it. It is best to find the cause of the algae and fix that.
Also, what type of substrate do you have? Pictures would also be helpful.
Isn't it true that most tanks have algae eaters in it? Yes you are correct in saying that this person must find the source to the algae problem but a pleco or any algae eater is a great solution after the problem is found. Majority of fish owners have some type of algae eater in their tank because algae can be a nuisance.
In general a lot of fishkeepers do have some sort of algae eaters, the problem being that most people keeping fish don't do the research or find the root cause of the problem, or don't research the "algae eaters" they are getting. if getting an algae eating fish mainly to control your algae, then you will generally not be looking to provide the "algae eater" the alternative foods it needs to balance it's diet. Not to mention, many algae eaters are picky about the kinds of algae they will eat. Another note, algae eaters generally greatly increase the bioload of a tank, soo if controlling your algae was the goal when getting an algae eater, you may only be increasing the problem and develop other kinds of algae the fish wont eat.
In short, it's better to address the root cause of the outbreak rather than turn to a fish to control your algae. A few general things can be done to control algae (mine you some algae will require more efforts to control) keep the tank light on for fewer hours a day, be extra careful not to over feed, or even go a few days of not feeding your fish (no you wont be starving them to death) water changes. Before doing the water changes though, you should test your water with a liquid test kit. Then post the results here and we may be able to give more advice on how to control your algae. Ohh What does your algae look like?
A link with pics and descriptions for algae,including brown algae(diatoms).http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm
