6 Girl sority and alge

[GR34]

Is there any fish or snail I can put in with my females to eat the alge? Its building up and I have tryed everything aside from chemicals to get rid of it Would a mystery snail eat the alge and if its not too small not instantly be killed by the females? and how would I add the snail?

[Kestrel]

Depending on the size of your tank and how much room you have left you could either get a group of Otocinclus or Zebra Nerite snails. I'm not sure if the snails prefer brown diatoms though (the problem I am having), but they are quite pretty. Otos will eat both green and brown I believe as long as it's soft enough.

Guiltily I did buy a single oto recently as many people have said they kept them alone with great success, but now I've come to find that Petco would order some of those snails in. Also, the snails won't breed in your tank as they need brackish water to do so, so you won't end up with more than you want. And snails are generally fine at protecting themselves by closing up I believe as long as they are big enough. Of course, the mystery snail I had died of unknown causes so I might be wrong.

[Oldfishlady]

How big is your tank, how much and how often are the water changes and when was the last one, water temp, live plants, filter, additives used, what kind of algae is it and when did it show up and on what, does the tank get any direct or indirect sunlight, how old are the light bulbs and how long has the tank been setup.

Some algae is normal and expected in a tank of water that has both lights and nutrients, however, since this is a closed system it is the hobbyist job to keep it under control, you don't want to add another animal unless it is something that you like and want as well as compatible with the current livestock and you can meet their needs-algae eaters only eat some type of algae and a closed system can't support their nutritional needs and will need supplemented feeding and this can sometimes be a challenge with Bettas.

Find out-what kind of algae and then the root cause..algae is usually easily controlled by manually removal and water changes....

[Cravenne]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

How big is your tank, how much and how often are the water changes and when was the last one, water temp, live plants, filter, additives used, what kind of algae is it and when did it show up and on what, does the tank get any direct or indirect sunlight, how old are the light bulbs and how long has the tank been setup.

Some algae is normal and expected in a tank of water that has both lights and nutrients, however, since this is a closed system it is the hobbyist job to keep it under control, you don't want to add another animal unless it is something that you like and want as well as compatible with the current livestock and you can meet their needs-algae eaters only eat some type of algae and a closed system can't support their nutritional needs and will need supplemented feeding and this can sometimes be a challenge with Bettas.

Find out-what kind of algae and then the root cause..algae is usually easily controlled by manually removal and water changes....

+1

Adding livestock for algae removal isn't always a good idea.
Snails have a big bioload for their size. They are great, but messy creatures. They also require a food source if the algae isn't suiting them.
I'd also advise finding the cause of the algae before you go out shopping for another creature to take care of it.

If you give us the details of your tank, perhape we can help identify the cause of the algae.
Location, size, the hours you keep the lights on, feeding schedule, water change schedule..

[GR34]

10 Gallon tank 76* filterd. No live plants 30% water change every week as aq calculator advised. I have no clue where the algae came from it started as a patch on a decoration I removed the decoration scrubbed it to death (No soap just hot water and a clean new sponge scrubber) I whiped it off the sides and such then two days later it was absolutely on everything. So I re cycled my tank meaning I started over cleaned everything ECT. Now its back but not as bad. Its green alge.

Feed them every night when I get off work at 10pm then lights out around 1130 12 fasting one day usually Thurs or Friday I switch it up. Not in direct sun light at all there is 2 Meters of snow over my window.

[Cravenne]

The lights are only on for an hourish or the lights are on from when you leave work until 11:30?

I'd say for a tank with no plants, like...6 hours of lights on time is plenty. A cheap timer can help with that if you're at work.
A few fast growing plants in there might help compete with the algae for any extra nutrients. I love Wisteria, myself. I have a 10G kit and use the light that came in the hood..my Wisteria does really well.

If it's kind of brownish patches of algae that wipe off fairly easily, it's likely diatoms. This happens in newly set up tanks..it generally evens itself out as the tank matures. You just have to continue wiping it off the areas that bother you and give the tank some time.
There are so many different types of algae...a picture would help.
Some algae is normal and healthy. If you're being 'overrun', that usually signals something is off inside the tank. Larger water changes would help..50% weekly is what I always advise regardless of what aq says.