Algae

**John Hoe** · 19th Oct 2009, 14:22

Hi

I notice some greenish item growing on my 3 weeks old planted tank.
What could be the cause of it?
Also is it necessary to off the CO2 if the light is off.

When will be the right time to use liquid fertilizer or pellets fertilizer?

**Foxtrotperv** · 19th Oct 2009, 15:56

Hi John, algae growing is very common.
Longer CO2 period actually helps in reducing algae.
Perhaps, you might need to add in more friendly bacteria like Bacter 100.

**John Hoe** · 19th Oct 2009, 21:10

Thanks for your advice.
Now i got another problem.
My fish has got white spot.
Anything to recommend?
Can i get bacter 100 in any fish shop?

**Tristan** · 19th Oct 2009, 22:59

Hi John, it might help if you provide more information about your aquarium like how much light you use, what kind of plants you grow, the number of fish you keep etc.
you can look at this http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=15348 for a better idea.
I don't think bacter 100 will help with algae. I don't think anyone can tell you why you have algae without any information on your aquarium set up though. Usual reason is too much light.
you can do a search on 'white spot' or 'ich' to find lots of threads about it. most people use commercial medicines which contain formaldehyde and malachite green.

**jiajuen900** · 19th Oct 2009, 23:21

I am having algae problems too, try and find out what kind of algae you are having, there are diffrent ways to cure diffrent algae's. By knowing what algae you are dealing with you can find the cause which will help in the long run.

For planted tanks its best not to use medication as a treatment. Most chemical treatments for ich can kill plants. I had ich in my 20G planted tank before, i used the heat and salt treatment. Look it up on google. Salt is also not very good for plants but it is not very harmful and is much better than medicine.

C02 should be turned off with lights. Without plants to use the c02, it can cause lack of oxygen and kill fish

**John Hoe** · 20th Oct 2009, 09:48

Thank for all your advice.
I will go back and workout the light thing.

**StanChung** · 20th Oct 2009, 13:43

I think it's weird people are giving advice based on original poster's[OP] vague description of green stuff growing.
Even if it's algae, the type of algae needs to be identified before the steps to combat it.

For OP, you need to give more information before you can get sound advice.
Things like fertilisation, photoperiod, lighting, filtration, plants and fauna.
A picture also saves a thousand words.

John, for ich you can use plain salt 100 grams per 100 liter to treat your fish. This dose is not harmful to plants. Don't use salt if you have loaches. For serious case, it's better to take out the fish and treat in a bare tank where you can raise the temperature and safely medicate.
If you have loaches you can follow the steps outlined here http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=2599

**jiajuen900** · 20th Oct 2009, 20:15

Taking the fish out will not help. The ich parasite is in the water. If you read about the life cycle of the parasite. At a certain stage, the parasite is free swimming i nthe water and then lays eggs in the subtrate. Increasing heat to about 32 to 35 degrres will kill the parasite or at least speed up the life cycle for salt to kill. So when dealing with ich it is best to treat the whole tank. For planted tanks salt and heat treatment is best

**StanChung** · 21st Oct 2009, 02:24

I've never had any lingering ich in the tank when it's hostless for more than 2 days. I presume most would have been sucked up by the filter by that time or I've just been lucky who knows.

The benefit of taking out the fishes is that you can use a more effective and safe medication like methylene blue[MB]. I've done something as idiotic as putting in MB into the planted tank before. LOL.[ the great stain came and started the great melt]

That said, taking the fish out is not a great idea when the fellas are hard to catch and may cause more bruising/scratches.

Up till now, I still don't like turning up the temperature of the tank because some of the plants are really sensitive to heat, especially mosses. However for the love of your fishes, you have to choose how you want to treat.

**John Hoe** · 21st Oct 2009, 08:57

Hi all

What i am trying now is i use UV light .To kill the bugs.
See if it helps.
Still got no time to look into my lighting system.
What i just change is the CO2 will be off if the light is off.
Fans to blow the water to create more movement on the surface but with my ehiem pump blowing the water out the movement in the water should be enough.