# Algae Taking Over Pls Help!



## sleepy23 (Aug 13, 2007)

Hi,

I've had my 26 gal. aquarium for about 2 years and it's always been plagued with this algae problem that never seems to go away. My ammonia, nitrite, and phosphate levels are undetectable. I have a 96W compact fluorescent light on for about 8hrs/day and weekly fertilize my plants with Seachem's comprehensive plant fertilizer. I do not have a CO2 system set up. Although I do weekly water changes and feed my fish every other day, every week this algae seems to reappear. I've lost lots of plants because I have to prune back the plants with algae so much that they are too weak to grow back. Please help me ID this algae... Any thoughts or advice on how to prevent it would be appreciated. 

I'm sorry for the fuzzy images, but the camera has a hard time picking up the details. The algae looks brownish/black and can't be rubbed off at all. It looks like blackish smears or blotches of ink. It seems to grow on the older leaves.
Please look at the pictures below to help ID this algae
Attached Images


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## mcdanielnc89 (Jun 7, 2007)

hmm. that's exactly what mine is doing in my tank.. I'd like to know how to control it as well...


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## parkey2006 (Aug 13, 2007)

*!!*

i myt b able to help u with tht u 2 guys but i need sumfing bk in return, lol do u no by any chance wen u can tell weather a platy is pregnant if so post a comment on ( is my platy pregnant, its posted by lamby1358 ) wb as soon as u can and i will tell u hoiw to get rid of most of ur algy) thanks!


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2007)

If you have a reply to this thread that is helpful, please feel free to reply. If you need help with something else, make a new thread, or just wait for someone to help you in the other one. 

Thanks.


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## cichlid (Aug 14, 2007)

Maybe you should try to lessen your light bulbs intensity, and you try to fertilize your plants every two weeks because excessive fertilization will promote algae growth. Try to stop your lighting for 4 days and dont let any light get into your aquarium, fishes will survive for up to 2 weeks without food so dont worry, try to increase aeration because algae also takes in carbon dioxide which is also essential to plants, by increasing aeration, oxygen levels in the tank gets high and CO2 gets depleted, so less CO2 would be used by algae. Try adding flying fox, a very good algae eater


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## Guest (Aug 14, 2007)

all i can think of is otto cats. they are the best algae eaters IMO. livebearers, espcially mollies and swordtails are also good algae eaters. you couls also scrape it off and do a 3 or 5 day black out.


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## starsunmoon (Oct 25, 2007)

imo, the algea comes from over lighting and overfeeding .... is your tank near a window>? i would do the black out for 3 days with lots of air in , no food..... see what it looks like then...............


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Hard to tell from the pics but it looks like bba on the swords. Lack of co2 is normally the direct cause. Your lighting level really requires co2. Ambient levels is not enough. Cutting back on your lights might prevent any new growth but you will have to either bleach dip your plants or remove infected leaves. H2O2 might work as well and much safer than bleaching your plants.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

If the algae is on the leaves try oto cats they get it off and keep it off.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Otos do not eat bba. mainly only good for new gsa growth and diatoms. SAE's and Flagfish will eat bba. Hit or miss though as some wont touch it.


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

sleepy23:

The following may be of some help.

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/fyi-your-info/17334-algae-fighting-west-texas-style.html

TR


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