Help with algae eaters

[ckrause]

How many options are out there for algae eating fish? And how aggressively do they attack the algae?

Are plecos the only option?

Thanks

Chuck

[tai95]

There are as many options for algae eating creatures as there are algaes.
Besides pleco's (a lot of which don't only eat algae) you could get snails, shrimp, SAE, Flagfish, mollies, even some cichlid will pick at algae.

It's never a good idea to get a fish to try and rid a tank of algae though. Your best bet would be to try and find the source of the algae. To much light, to much nutrients, overfeeding, not enough water changes the list goes on and on. Once you determine why you are having an algae problem you shoud be able to rid your tank of it.

[Rbishop]

http://www.planetcatfish.com


And...there are some that only eat it in the early years but not as much later on.

[Mr SnailZ]

I'm a little partial to snails since I sell them but they really are a great choice. With the correct number of snails you should never have to scrape algae from glass again. Snails come in a variety of types, colors, and sizes, and add a neat variety to a tank.

[jm1212]

how much algea do you have? if you have a mslall ammount or close to none, it may be better to just scrape it off yourself.

if you have alot of algea, there may be underlying causes that may be agrivated by the addtion of an extra fish.

how long do you ahve your light on for?

what are you nitrate readings?

[ckrause]

It's a very small amount of algae, it's not even on the glass. It's a brown algae that is starting to form on my driftwood and other decorations.
Nitrate is at about 30 ppm and I leave the light on from 4-6 hours a day.

[echoofformless]

You should do a water change...that's a moderately iffy nitrate level.

The brown algae is often found on newer tanks. It doesn't really cause much of a problem. I would just clean it off myself. Otocinclus will happily eat it. But there is no reason to introduce a fish just for algae eating.

[ckrause]

Ok I did a water change and scrubbed the algae off the rocks and decorations. The algae doesn't come off easy at all, is thre a cleaner that you can safely use that rinses off very well so you can put the item right back into the tank? I only use water and elbow grease. What about hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, or bleach?

[echoofformless]

Yikes. Alcohol?

It's just a little algae. Scrape scrape. If it's really really that bad you might get results on some ornaments with a light bleach dipping...but it has to be highly diluted, and you will need to rinse the hell out of the pieces and use a bit of dechlorinator before putting them back.