Brown algae vs. Otos
- Thread starter Nolapete
- Start date
forgive me if you're talking about another algae but. . .
"brown"algae is actually a bacteria and none of the affore mentioned algae eaters will touch it. it's a sign of imbalance in your water parameters.
i would be vigalent about big water changes once a week for a little while and i suspect it will just disappear.
if it's a browner strain of beard algae the oto's might do a little snacking on it but sae's are the beard algae busters- just be sure they'll fit into your bioload at full size before you get em
cheers
"brown"algae is actually a bacteria and none of the affore mentioned algae eaters will touch it. it's a sign of imbalance in your water parameters.
i would be vigalent about big water changes once a week for a little while and i suspect it will just disappear.
if it's a browner strain of beard algae the oto's might do a little snacking on it but sae's are the beard algae busters- just be sure they'll fit into your bioload at full size before you get em
cheers
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
no, my otos won't eat the beard algae that much... sometimes... but they really went to town on the brown algae when I had it.
The brown algae I think most people refer to is the diatom algae. It creates a soft coating on driftwood, plants, gravel. It is so soft you can wipe it off with your fingertips. Common plecos and bristlenose plecos love the stuff and neither pleco is a big wood eating pleco like gold nuggets or clown plecos to name just two. Bristlenose will not harm your plants in any way. They stay small, and do not bother slime coats of your fish. Most articles on diatom algae say it is from silicates in the water. Check these out, I have 8 of these. http://www.swisstropicals.com/Ancistrus sp. Pucallpa.html
Debbi
Debbi
brown algae is not bacteria, but as pinkertd said it is diatoms which FYI my Otos go crazy over. diatomaceous earth is the skeletons of this algae and used in diatom filters as the media among many other things http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth
If you just have brown algae, try getting more Oto's or the Bristlenose. I think it's recommended you keep 2 otto's for every 10 gllons of water. Hopefully you'll find them for cheaper than $5/ea. I've got other kinds of algae also, not real bad, but I'd pay $5/ea for some SAE.
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
even though I may end up with more than 1 oto in my 10 gallon, I think it's reccomeneded that you use 1 per 10 gallons...
They were initially $2 each, but 3 died, so hence the $5 price tag. Maybe since there's a lot of algae to eat now they will have a higher survival rate. I'm going to go look tomorrow to see about getting more Otos and a pair or trio of albino ancistrus.
