Removing Algae cloud

sillypony

sillypony

Fish+College=BROKE
Mar 27, 2008
267
0
0
39
WNY
So I went away for 5 months and left my planted tank in the care of my little brother. And now it is a complete and royal mess.

There is a giant green cloud of what i'm pretty sure is some kind of algae. I'm not worried about what kind it is or why it is there. (my bro neglected the poor fish horrendously.) What I'm worried about is taking it out without crashing my tank. The cloud is massive, taking up most of the water space. I'm certain it is a huge part of my cycle now.

I could just rip it all out and check water parameters daily, but i'm not always the best at such things, and i'm worried about how high ammonia and nitrites would spike during the day.

I could try to rip it out slowly, a large chunk every so many days. But would that be worth doing? Would it grow back faster than I took it out?

Is there another option i'm not thinking of?

And would it be better to do filter maintenance and after a short period of time, deal with the algae, or the other way around? I know I shouldn't do both at once, that would totally destroy any semblance of a cycle.


Thanks for any opinions. I'll take a few pics soon and share the depressing state of my tanks.

LeeAnna
 
Is it solid algae or just green water? Pics always help.

I would test the water to know what you are dealing with. Unless your brother did regular water changes I would expect nitrates to be through the roof, at the very least, although it depends on the stocking.

If your params are out of whack you would be in the beginning stages of OTS (old tank syndrome) however it wouldn't be as severe as most cases at this point. Small, frequent water changes are needed to bring parameters down without shocking fish that may have grown accustomed to less than ideal water.
 
Here is a picture. It is like a plant, or a huge mass of ... cotton or something. Like a typically fluffy cloud. The betta has to actually work to swim through it, making little tunnels... I'm surprised the tank can support such a massive amount of it, there are only 4 fish in there to make waste, and some snails. Not a heavy bio-load at all.

I forgot about the multiple small wc's instead of one big one thing. I'm glad you mentioned it.

I feel so bad for my poor fishes :( I fed them some peas last night cuz the betta was bloated, and today they were all frisky and playful. I think they were missing fresh veggies.

100_4545.JPG
 
HOLY:lipssealedsmilie:
Im sure you could just take the whole thing out. It shouldn't mess with anything.
 
that's neat. i've never seen anything like that before. it looks like a plant of some kind. can you get a closer up pic of it?
 
That is really pretty. It looks like green hair algea. I get it in my ponds and my tanks. It has something to do with too much light I think. It will just lift right off and is fairly easy to remove from your plants if you are patient.
 
holy cow that is something else. Never seen one like that before, dang my algae eaters would have a field day in that lol.
 
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