Help, rusty brown stuff growing in my tank!

[goosefork]

A month ago, I thought one of my plants had been burned by too much
light. It was dark brown/black on the top of the ferns. It had the
problem with no ill effects for over a month, but I decided to moved
it to a corner of the aquarium hoping it would do better, fool me. At
the same time, I bought two small eels and have been feeding more
blood worms than usual. Nothing else has changed. Now, I have this
rust coloured stuff all over the place and all of my other plants are
dying. I pulled the original plant out in a desperate attempt to stop
the flow, but to no avail. Any ideas on what I can do? My farlowella
and ottos seem uninterested in it and it is now covering decorations,
rocks, bog wood….you get picture. The aquarium is 50 gallons and I do
a 25% water change each week. I have noticed there is more gunge in
the filters lately, but I assume that is this brown guck.

[Tom Otvos]

(goosefork) wrote in message >...
> A month ago, I thought one of my plants had been burned by too much
> light. It was dark brown/black on the top of the ferns. It had the
> problem with no ill effects for over a month, but I decided to moved
> it to a corner of the aquarium hoping it would do better, fool me. At
> the same time, I bought two small eels and have been feeding more
> blood worms than usual. Nothing else has changed. Now, I have this
> rust coloured stuff all over the place and all of my other plants are
> dying. I pulled the original plant out in a desperate attempt to stop
> the flow, but to no avail. Any ideas on what I can do? My farlowella
> and ottos seem uninterested in it and it is now covering decorations,
> rocks, bog wood?.you get picture. The aquarium is 50 gallons and I do
> a 25% water change each week. I have noticed there is more gunge in
> the filters lately, but I assume that is this brown guck.

I have recently set up a new 12 gallon Eclipse tank, and had a similar
problem. I wrote about it at length in my blog at
http://members.rogers.com/tom.otvos/2004_05_01_blogar.html#108489862813771017.
The problem in my case was red/brown algae, which I fixed with five
otos, and a substantial (33%) water change. I would have said that is
your problem too, but you mention the otos are not interested. I guess
I would ask, do you have enough otos? Maybe they are interested but
overwhelmed...

[Tom Otvos]

(Tom Otvos) wrote in message >...
> (goosefork) wrote in message >...
> > A month ago, I thought one of my plants had been burned by too much
> > light. It was dark brown/black on the top of the ferns. It had the
> > problem with no ill effects for over a month, but I decided to moved
> > it to a corner of the aquarium hoping it would do better, fool me. At
> > the same time, I bought two small eels and have been feeding more
> > blood worms than usual. Nothing else has changed. Now, I have this
> > rust coloured stuff all over the place and all of my other plants are
> > dying. I pulled the original plant out in a desperate attempt to stop
> > the flow, but to no avail. Any ideas on what I can do? My farlowella
> > and ottos seem uninterested in it and it is now covering decorations,
> > rocks, bog wood?.you get picture. The aquarium is 50 gallons and I do
> > a 25% water change each week. I have noticed there is more gunge in
> > the filters lately, but I assume that is this brown guck.
>
> I have recently set up a new 12 gallon Eclipse tank, and had a similar
> problem. I wrote about it at length in my blog at
> http://members.rogers.com/tom.otvos/2004_05_01_blogar.html#108489862813771017.
> The problem in my case was red/brown algae, which I fixed with five
> otos, and a substantial (33%) water change. I would have said that is
> your problem too, but you mention the otos are not interested. I guess
> I would ask, do you have enough otos? Maybe they are interested but
> overwhelmed...

I should be a bit more precise, as "overwhelmed" is kind of a silly
thing to say. In my 12 gallon tank, it took three otos about 2-3 days
to make a noticeable dent in the algae, and the better part of two
weeks for five to really clean things up nicely. I did notice that
they each latched onto a source of the stuff pretty quickly. I have a
sloping piece of slate that one was working over, and it would leave
trails of clean rock where there was "rust" before. So, the point of
my comment was that in a 50 gallon tank with "some" otos, you may not
notice significant change. Now, if they are completely ignoring the
stuff, then I am way out of my league and my point
is...well...pointless.

Like another poster here a while back (and I wish I had checked
before) I do lament the lack of good algae resources on the web. I
think nothing beats good photos to help people diagnose their problem,
which is more than half the battle.

-- tomo

[goosefork]

> I should be a bit more precise, as "overwhelmed" is kind of a silly
> thing to say. In my 12 gallon tank, it took three otos about 2-3 days
> to make a noticeable dent in the algae, and the better part of two
> weeks for five to really clean things up nicely. I did notice that
> they each latched onto a source of the stuff pretty quickly. I have a
> sloping piece of slate that one was working over, and it would leave
> trails of clean rock where there was "rust" before. So, the point of
> my comment was that in a 50 gallon tank with "some" otos, you may not
> notice significant change. Now, if they are completely ignoring the
> stuff, then I am way out of my league and my point
> is...well...pointless.
>
> Like another poster here a while back (and I wish I had checked
> before) I do lament the lack of good algae resources on the web. I
> think nothing beats good photos to help people diagnose their problem,
> which is more than half the battle.
>
> -- tomo

Thanks for the ideas. I feel like a total idiot saying this, but my
dh just pointed out that I also added a new aquarium hood with grow
lights. Perhaps this is the problem, though why it would effect this
brown algae is a mystery to me. The rusty coloured brown algae (or
whatever it is) appeared only on one plant quite sometime ago, though
I did not recognize what it was at the time. I think it spread when I
moved that plant or when I bought the new hood (about the same time).
I have removed the plant and I think the algae has stopped spreading
in other areas of the tank. Perhaps I am just deluding myself here,
as the evidence is not overwelming.

I have 3 ottos which always seem to have fat tummies so they are
getting enough food. Perhaps they are eating the algae, but they
appear to prefer eating off the glass (the one place this brown gunk
has not gone yet. And now that I think of it, perhaps that is because
the ottos are eating it.) I will consider buying more ottos to see if
there is any difference. I am getting desperate as I have had this
problem for weeks now.

[Gordon]

i was having the same problem in my 55 gallon. i added a golden algae
eater and my tank is pretty much clean and he has doubled in size. i
have heard this fish can become aggressive in adulthood and quit eating
algae but the juveniles sure do a good job on it.

"Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens."

[TwoBells]

I may be wrong guys, but it sounds to me that you have been infected by the
insidious 'red bush algae'.
However, please do a google for the above and check photo's to confirm
diagnosis first.

I have just moved back from the front lines in a fight with this invader and
can tell you its a nightmare, it gets onto everything, rocks, bogwood,
heaters, filters, plants (esp roots) usually introduced by plants purchased
and introduced into your tank.
I had to go the bleach road as a solution. (19 parts water to 1 part bleach)

Once contemplated, genned up and acted upon you WILL win.

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/bleach.html

Steve Page

[TwoBells]

Opps update, once you have won on the battlefield, buy around 6 'SIAMESE
ALGAE EATERS', these little guys will munch up the new shoots and keep the
enemy at bay.

Latin name: Crossocheilus siamensis

Steve Page



"TwoBells" > wrote in message
news:imXtc.421$QA.39@newsfe6-win...
> I may be wrong guys, but it sounds to me that you have been infected by
the
> insidious 'red bush algae'.
> However, please do a google for the above and check photo's to confirm
> diagnosis first.
>
> I have just moved back from the front lines in a fight with this invader
and
> can tell you its a nightmare, it gets onto everything, rocks, bogwood,
> heaters, filters, plants (esp roots) usually introduced by plants
purchased
> and introduced into your tank.
> I had to go the bleach road as a solution. (19 parts water to 1 part
bleach)
>
> Once contemplated, genned up and acted upon you WILL win.
>
> http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/bleach.html
>
> Steve Page
>
>
>
>
>
>

[goosefork]

" Opps update, once you have won on the battlefield, buy around 6
'SIAMESE
> ALGAE EATERS', these little guys will munch up the new shoots and keep the
> enemy at bay.
>
>--clip--
> > I may be wrong guys, but it sounds to me that you have been infected by
> the
> > insidious 'red bush algae'.
> > However, please do a google for the above and check photo's to confirm
> > diagnosis first.
> >
> > I have just moved back from the front lines in a fight with this invader
> and
> > can tell you its a nightmare, it gets onto everything, rocks, bogwood,
> > heaters, filters, plants (esp roots) usually introduced by plants
> purchased
> > and introduced into your tank.
> > I had to go the bleach road as a solution. (19 parts water to 1 part
> bleach)
> >
> > Once contemplated, genned up and acted upon you WILL win.
> >
> > http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/bleach.html
> >
> > Steve Page
>
----------------
I did a google for red algae and got quite a number of hits of
pictures at the microscopic level. No real help. The one picture I
did see suggests red algae is hairy. My algae looks more like Tom
Otvos' pictures, only much worse. I did buy more Otos and now the
algae is not spreading, but its not disappearing either. The Otos
don't appear to be eating it -- maybe they do when I'm not looking.
My farlowella who used to ignore algae tablets is now the first one on
the bottom when I drop them in. ALL of my plants are dying. My eel
is looking very sad (I will post on this separately). Water is clear,
and ammonia and nitrates at zero or near zero. I am afraid to add
another algae eater as I have 6 ottos and one farlowella now. Do you
think another algae eater could be tolerated in 50 gallons?

[Dick]

On 2 Jun 2004 10:55:51 -0700, (goosefork) wrote:

>" Opps update, once you have won on the battlefield, buy around 6
>'SIAMESE
>> ALGAE EATERS', these little guys will munch up the new shoots and keep the
>> enemy at bay.
>>
>>--clip--
>> > I may be wrong guys, but it sounds to me that you have been infected by
>> the
>> > insidious 'red bush algae'.
>> > However, please do a google for the above and check photo's to confirm
>> > diagnosis first.
>> >
>> > I have just moved back from the front lines in a fight with this invader
>> and
>> > can tell you its a nightmare, it gets onto everything, rocks, bogwood,
>> > heaters, filters, plants (esp roots) usually introduced by plants
>> purchased
>> > and introduced into your tank.
>> > I had to go the bleach road as a solution. (19 parts water to 1 part
>> bleach)
>> >
>> > Once contemplated, genned up and acted upon you WILL win.
>> >
>> > http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/bleach.html
>> >
>> > Steve Page
>>
>----------------
>I did a google for red algae and got quite a number of hits of
>pictures at the microscopic level. No real help. The one picture I
>did see suggests red algae is hairy. My algae looks more like Tom
>Otvos' pictures, only much worse. I did buy more Otos and now the
>algae is not spreading, but its not disappearing either. The Otos
>don't appear to be eating it -- maybe they do when I'm not looking.
>My farlowella who used to ignore algae tablets is now the first one on
>the bottom when I drop them in. ALL of my plants are dying. My eel
>is looking very sad (I will post on this separately). Water is clear,
>and ammonia and nitrates at zero or near zero. I am afraid to add
>another algae eater as I have 6 ottos and one farlowella now. Do you
>think another algae eater could be tolerated in 50 gallons?


I read an interesting message where the person had solved her algae
problem with a fish called "American Flag." The fish is not too big
looks a bit like a platy and loves algae.