Water is turning yellow-green

M

Maaso

AC Members
Jan 1, 2011
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First time fish keeper here,

I've had my fish for about a month now, maybe a bit longer. And I'm noticing my water is starting to turn a yellowy/greeny colour. I noticed it started to happen after I put a pleco in. I just did the first half-water change on the tank, and I felt slimy stuff all over the decor. I'm wondering if this is the fabled "algae outbreak" I've read a little about?

Is there something one can do to counter this and get my water clear again?
 
jpappy789 said:
Tank size?
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>Mmmm, 10 gallons I think?

jpappy789 said:
Complete stock?
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>Some kind of small bichar, slender and snakey
>Dragon Goby (been in freshwater all of his/her life)
>Two baby banjo catfish
>Pleco
>Three ghost shrimp

jpappy789 said:
What is your lighting like?
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>I'm using a reptile light, UVB 5.0 spirally bulb. It's bright and doesn't put out a lot of heat.

jpappy789 said:
How long are the lights on?
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>8~8.5 hours, maybe longer some nights.

jpappy789 said:
Is the tank by a window?
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>Nope



And I don't know what my nitrate levels are, I'm going into town in a couple of days though and I'll pick up a kit to test everything.
 
That's quite a large bioload for a small tank. Did you cycle it before adding fish?

I highly suggest getting a liquid test kit (API is recommended) and start thinking about a larger tank or rehoming most of those fish.
 
jpappy789 said:
That's quite a large bioload for a small tank. Did you cycle it before adding fish?

I highly suggest getting a liquid test kit (API is recommended) and start thinking about a larger tank or rehoming most of those fish.
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I personally didn't cycle it, no. But before I inherited the tank it was setup with a million guppies in it. It was my sister's tank and the guppies reproduced so much she just gave up on them. I didn't do anything to it except rearrange the furniture and clean the filter.

And I am upgrading soon, I'm in the process of putting together a 75 gallon. I'm finding this fish keeping stuff is kind of expensive.....so it's going slow.
 
You can do a temporary band-aid fix and turn off the lights from some days. This will kill the algae in the water column. But you'll always have this problem until you lessen the bio load and get to the root of the problem.
 
jpappy789 said:
How did you clean the filter? It may have been enough to kill of all the beneficial bacteria.
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Just ran it under some water and rung it out until water was able to flow through it.

Is the light part of the problem? This reptile light is pretty much artificial sunlight. I think I'll turn it off for a couple of days like Plague recommended. These fish are all nocturnal bottom dwellers, so I don't think it will affect them much.
 
Maaso said:
>Some kind of small bichar, slender and snakey
>Dragon Goby (been in freshwater all of his/her life)
>Two baby banjo catfish
>Pleco
>Three ghost shrimp
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Hopefully it is a Senegal Bichir. Even they get too big for that tank, but at least it won't be bigger then the tank itself. It'll probably eat the ghost shrimp when it gets bigger. The pleco is definitely trouble if it is a Common Pleco. They get big and have a big bioload. The Dragon Goby can also grow pretty big (they can survive in freshwater better then most brackish fish but brackish is better for them).

The banjos and ghost shrimp you could probably get away with though.
 
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