help?!! Brown film on plants.

[jax]

We have a brown film over some of our plants. Our water tests come up as:
Temp79 degrees, pH 7.6, KH 14, GH 10, No2 0, NO3 25-50 . There is a 10% water change done weekly and the gravel is vacuumed at the same time. Can anyone tell me what this is and advise?

 

[OrionGirl]

Does it wipe away easily? If so, it's probably a diatom bloom. If this is a fairly new tank, it should wear itself out without anything special done. You can manually remove it during your regular water changes.

 

[Leopardess]

It is just brown algae. It is very common and happens in just about every tank. If you have space, you can add a couple of algae-eating otocinclus - they love slime algae. You can also just wipe it off with your hands

Also, you may want to increase the amount or frequency of your water changes. Perhaps to around 25% per week.

 

[aquariumfishguy]

Brown "algae" is caused by a problem, commonly from overfeeding, or not enough light, etc. It's not really algae and should be prevented.

 

[Leopardess]

The point is, though, that it is not harmful and it happens a lot. Lack of light isn't something pressing that must be changed right away and if the tank is new, things should be brought into balance soon. A good way to get rid of it is as mentioned.

Take a look here. It explains some different kinds of algae.

http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=4006090712&f=8796060812&m=3256098022

 

[aquariumfishguy]

No, the algae itself isn't harmful but the reason it's there could have leathal effects on your fish. It's not always because of poor lightening. In fact, quite often its because of overfeeding or overall poor water quality. By all means, scrape it off right away to take care of the symptoms, but I would also cut back on the food you feed, or possibly upgrade the lighting system if thats whats wrong.