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Will brown algae harm bettas?

777 Views 8 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  RussellTheShihTzu, 
neptunethebetta
I have brown algae ALL OVER my betta's tank. It's on the glass, gravel, and decorations. I am gonna do a water change after I create this post, but I was wondering if the brown algae harmed my betta while it was inside the tank. The brown algae was there for about 3-5 days. My betta right now has torn and "bleeding" fins (which I THINK is ammonia, I didn't test the water yet), but I don't know if it's from the algae.

This is off-topic from the brown algae, but if it is ammonia, I haven't start treating it yet.
This isn't really "treating" the fins, but I did start doing more frequent water changes ever since I noticed the fins being like this.
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Eridanus
Brown algae won't hurt your kid! A lot of people deal with it, most of my tanks certainly have it.
You can always get an algae scraper (most pet stores have them) and can scrub it off that way.

The best way to get rid of ammonia is daily water changes, you can also use ammonia lock, it's by API I believe. Seachem also has something out for it.

Fin wise. Daily water changes should help that too.
Do you have a picture by chance though?
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neptunethebetta
Eridanus said:
Brown algae won't hurt your kid! A lot of people deal with it, most of my tanks certainly have it.
You can always get an algae scraper (most pet stores have them) and can scrub it off that way.

The best way to get rid of ammonia is daily water changes, you can also use ammonia lock, it's by API I believe. Seachem also has something out for it.

Fin wise. Daily water changes should help that too.
Do you have a picture by chance though?
Click to expand...
Thank you for replying!! That's good, because I have a lot of brown algae.

I don't have a picture of my betta because he ALWAYS moves around a lot when I try taking photos if him and I can never get a good angle, but I found a photo on Google that's really identical to what my betta has.
Grass Terrestrial plant Art Tail


I have been begging my parents to get a water testing kit, but they said its not nessecary for my betta and he'll be fine. But hopefully I'll get one !!
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Eridanus
They're certainly necessary, and hopefully you do!

I would think that'd be ammonia, just keep up on the frequent water changes!
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neptunethebetta
oh no, okay I'll do more frequent water changes! My tank is a 3.7 gallon and I clean it every week, should I clean it more often because of the ammonia?
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Eridanus
Normally you want to do daily water changes until the ammonia gets back down to 0. But we don't know parameters, so try daily changes for a few days and see if that does anything?
40-50% is good.

Your cleaning schedule is fine, is there anything in the tank that could be raising it maybe? Dead plants, uneaten food? I'm not sure if you use a vacuum/siphon or not but that'll help get stuff.
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neptunethebetta
Alright, I will do daily changes! Will it stress my betta out because he's not used to this? Or is it fine? Sorry I have so much questions btw : )

I do have a vacuum and I use it for water changes- no, his tank doesn't have any dead plants or uneaten food. He does have some waste in his tank but I use the vacuum to clean it out.
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Eridanus
He'll be alright! It might stress him out at first but he'll be okay.

No need to apologize, asking is how we learn :)
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RussellTheShihTzu
If your parents will allow you to buy it, SeaChem Prime, used at two drops per gallon, will convert Free/Toxic Ammonia (NH3) into harmless Ammonium (NH4. Dose every day. It won't substitute for good maintenance practices but it will help keep your boy comfortable.

Most pet stores will check your water if you take in a sample.
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