Betta Fish Forum banner

Algae?

904 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Otterfun 
#1 ·
tank 5g cycled (0 ammonia, nitrite; and 10 Nitrate 1 week in a row with 20% WC once, Day 45 of my cycle log).

4 amano, 6 RCS & 4+/- newly hatched babies, 1 golden mystery snail.

this tank has gone through a number of fishies and right now it's just the shrimps and the snail. my question is I saw some stringy stuff, almost like the strands from a spider web connecting from one plant to another (hygrpphilia, and pygymy chain sword) one or two strands per connection.

also, saw some white "wormies" (hydra?? or planaria??).

so i did some vacuuming and cleaned out the dead decomposing leaves on the substrate and picked up some of the old droppings from the guppies.

am i on the right track?
is this boom in algae (hope it is not hydra) and planaria a bad sign for stocking the tank with fish again?

i turned off the light and i plan on leaving the tank fish-less for 3 weeks and see if this will take care of the worms and algae, any thoughts?
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Is this a soil based tank-

Planaria are usually eaten by the fish and normally don't cause a problem for the system itself or the fish/inverts.
Hydra-these are on the fence so-to-speak....some fish will eat them and as long as you keep them in check they usually won't be a problem, however, they can sting you (doesn't hurt) and kill/eat tiny fry and shrimpletts. I have never personally had any problems with the hydra, planaria, detris worms or any of the other creatures the naturally colonize in my soil based tanks and I have them all. I look at them as part of my little ecosystem-that said, since this is a closed system you do have to keep them in check-especially if the numbers get out of control-All I do for that...water change and cut back on food for a few days....

The algae, sounds like hair algae, normal and expected, however, you can keep it controlled to a degree with-manual removal as needed, make sure the partition between the light and water is clean so not to impede light, change light bulb if its going into 12mo old, you might need to raise the light up or lower it.

I get hair and thread algae sometimes in my tanks when my light bulb is getting old or too high of watts too close to the water/plant.

Florescent light bulb intensity will be used up and color temp will change over time-The light still works/shines-but the color temp is changing/used up and the plants can't see it to use for photosynthesis/energy-but the algae can....its not as picky....lol....
 
#3 ·
Is this a soil based tank-

....
I do not believe it is soil based as I am using
"CaribSea Midnight Black Floramax Premium Aquarium Substrate" as my substrate. I am not sure what it is, it looks like very fine gravel size of 1/3 a grain of AQ salt ??


ok, so I guess it will take care of itself when livestock is present, thanks so much for you help.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top