Brown Algae

C

captainhook

AC Members
Dec 26, 2005
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Pittsburgh, PA
Is this normal?

Recently I have noticed brown algae growing on my fake plants and it is increasing day by day. I have a minimum amount of green algae on the stone, and this has never really increased of decreased.

Do I need to follow the normal algae treatments or is there something different with brown algae?

Thanks
 
if your tank is new it is a fairly common thing to have a brown algae bloom the best thing to do is mannually remove as much as you can and wait for it to take it's course. when the green algae starts taking over the brown the worst is over- keep doing frequent water changes and don't over feed and all the algae will be kept at a minnimum.

lots of people leave the back glass surface of thier tank alone and only clean the front and side pannels - it's suposed to keep the algae off the ornaments.

the idea is that there are a certain amount of extra nutrients in your tank, if they are all taken up by the algae on the back glass there are none left to facilitate more algae growing on your ornaments.
 
Just get an algae eater, like a plecostomus. Sometimes when a slight film of blown algae developes on plastic plants, it gives them a really natural look. I've had people think my plastic plants were live because of my plecostomus keeping the algae down.
 
You should never suggest a fish to take care of a problem. Especially when you have no idea what size tank or what inhabits the tank. I think suggesting a pleco is one of the worst ideas without knowing the tank. If you're going to suggest fish then you need to suggest a smaller non aggressive species like Otocinclus catfish.

Like kyle said, if its a new tank brown algae is normal, the tank is maturing. If you've had the tank a while it could be high phosphates.

If you can't beat algae the natural way the next best thing is the algae brush. IF you have room for a few small fish then otos.

But without knowing tank size, inhabitants and water parameters you won't get any real help.
 
Fake plants tend to collect some brown algae. I usually suck it off when I change my water.

IceH2O said:
You should never suggest a fish to take care of a problem. Especially when you have no idea what size tank or what inhabits the tank. I think suggesting a pleco is one of the worst ideas without knowing the tank.
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Esp. since not all plecs are great algae eaters.

For the record, my plec doesn't touch brown algae. But he will make the sides of the tank sparkle. I've never seen any green algae in my tank. :)
 
I had a 10-gallon tank and I put in a common plecostomus that was about an inch and a half. He did great in there and took care of the algae wonderfully. It's been almost 3 years now and he is about 3 inches in length. Mine takes care of brown algae, but I don't think I've ever had green algae before. :huh:
 
Sorry for not giving the details of my tank.

Start date = 01/2006

Size = 20 gallon

Filtration = power head filter?? (charcoal filter that is rated to 30G)

Water Change Rate = 50% once per week at the minimum, usually twice

Occupancy = (4) Zebra Danio, (3) Black Skirt Tetra, (4) Neon Tetra, (1) Black Molly, (2) Spotted Catfish (just added the catfish this weekend as a bottom feeder

Moving forward, I am going to leave the tank light off when we are not at home.

Other thoughts?
 
test4echo said:
I had a 10-gallon tank and I put in a common plecostomus that was about an inch and a half. He did great in there and took care of the algae wonderfully. It's been almost 3 years now and he is about 3 inches in length. Mine takes care of brown algae, but I don't think I've ever had green algae before. :huh:
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A common pleco that is only 3" in 3 years? *boggle*

Either it is not a common pleco or he is horribly stunted. He should be well over 12" by now.

Commons shouldn't kept in anything but a minimum of 75g long term.

Roan
 
the other thing to consider about brown algae and what will eat it is that sometimes it is actually a bacteria not an algae- it's not dangerous and it is caused by the same sort of thing and you should get rid of it exactly as described above- but you might not be able to get anything to eat it

unless it's starving and stunted as described above
 
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