After moving to my dorm and setting up Tobys tank, everything seemed to be going fine.
However, after a week or so, my plants and fake driftwood started getting some type of brown algae on their leaves. As I just set up the tank, theres little to no nitrates or anything like that in the tank.
My camera is having difficulty picking it up. Its really thin, it is not the muchy brown gunk that pops up when I look up brown algae, cuz unlike brown algae, its really hard to rub off my plants.
Anyone know what this is and how to deal with it?
Comments (4)
Those are called diatoms! They grow under the right lighting conditions. I have four nerite snails in my 75 gallon goldfish tank to combat diatoms. Nerites are one of the few snails that eat diatoms, since diatoms are separate from algae.
That may be so, although when they talk about it on the internet, its said that its slimy and comes off easily when you rub it. This stuff fits neither description, so I am unsure if it is the case... wanted to see if anyone had a similar experience.
If it is diatoms, how can i get rid of it? Should i keep the light off? Im not exactly sure that I want a nerite snail in my tank, especially cuz its a 5 gallon.
Reply to: wildriver1084
I would try scrubbing it off, and keep the light on for your betta if s/he needs it.
I’ve kept fish in many states. Georgia is the only state algae or diatoms grew, but the lighting never changed. I think it has to do with the humidity outside.
Reply to: ❥ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦
Maybe. I think I figured out why I have it. I cannot measure the amount of phosphate in my tank, which is basically what is released when something dies or when food rots. When moving my tank, my decor driftwood had some algae growing on the top (tank was next to a window, had a ton of algae till i put up a sheet behind the tank). When I moved to my dorm, i emptied all the water from the tank, leaving the decor in there, until i moved in the next day. All the algae at the top (very little fuzzy greenness, it stopped growing but looked really nice after i put up the sun blocker. Didnt have the tools to scrape it off and didnt really care either) had died, and im guessing released a ton of phosphates into the water, cuz my other tank is perfectly fine and never had an algae explosion