Dirty dirty fish

[marx404]

Last year I changed out the gravel in my large GF tank for larger decorative
rocks. I am very meticulous not to overfeed my Goldzilla. Yet I am finding
that now I have to thouroughly clean his tank every month. Everythign is
getting brown algae all over, it's disgusting! When I had gravel, the tank
never needed this much maintenance.

I am tempted to go back to gravel, but my fish is over 10 inches big and I'm
afraid he'll swallow it and die. What can I do?

--
marx404

[Charles]

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 21:54:34 GMT, "marx404" > wrote:

>Last year I changed out the gravel in my large GF tank for larger decorative
>rocks. I am very meticulous not to overfeed my Goldzilla. Yet I am finding
>that now I have to thouroughly clean his tank every month. Everythign is
>getting brown algae all over, it's disgusting! When I had gravel, the tank
>never needed this much maintenance.
>
>I am tempted to go back to gravel, but my fish is over 10 inches big and I'm
>afraid he'll swallow it and die. What can I do?


If the gravel is not large enough that it gets stuck in the fishes
mouth, and not small enough that it compacts and forms an anoxic
substrate, then it is okay, that's what I think. Commercial aquarium
gravel should be fine.


--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

[blove]

if hes over 10 inches, what size tank is he in? the smaller the tank the
faster i gets gross and icky. for the gravel question tho ya want something
thats big so he cant swallow it. even with gravel tho it would just helped
hide the poo n stuff and algae would grow all over that and youd have to
thoroughly vaccuum that when its cleaning time.


"marx404" > wrote in message
...
> Last year I changed out the gravel in my large GF tank for larger
decorative
> rocks. I am very meticulous not to overfeed my Goldzilla. Yet I am finding
> that now I have to thouroughly clean his tank every month. Everythign is
> getting brown algae all over, it's disgusting! When I had gravel, the tank
> never needed this much maintenance.
>
> I am tempted to go back to gravel, but my fish is over 10 inches big and
I'm
> afraid he'll swallow it and die. What can I do?
>
> --
> marx404
>
>

[marx404]

Goldzilla is just over 10" and in a 10 gallon tank. I fear putting him in a
larger tank as he may grow larger. I do keep it clean and nice for him to
swim around in. I use a siphon hose and do vaccum up the rocks when I do a
water change, so it gets most of the poop and brown algae. Just with the
larger rocks, now I have this annoying brown algae on the rocks and on the
glass. I didnt have this with the gravel. I wont go back to gravel because
he will swallow it. He likes to pick up 1" rocks and toss them about the
tank, if he can fit THAT in his mouth, I dare not return to gravel!

The rocks are from a Pet store and labelled safe for use in aquaruims, but
could they be causing some kind of reaction which invokes the brown algae?
Chemical balance is checked once a week and ok. I just want to rid the algae
from the tank or reduce it. Do I need an additive?

marx404

[blove]

when a fish outgrows the tank it just dies or gets deformed then dies. and
goldfish can live well over 25 years if properly cared for. 12 inches is
like the normal maximum size for comet shaped bodied goldfish where as the
fancy varieties witht eh short fat bodies usually get 8 or 9 inches. id get
him a bigger tank so he can actually have some room to swim good and stretch
out. a 10 gallon tank is only 20 inches long and 12 inches wide wich isnt
very comfy to turn around in for a almost ft long fish. it is to my
understanding i could be wrong tho that brown algae is caused by not enough
light, whereas green algae is caused by too much light and excess phosphates
in the water.

"marx404" > wrote in message
...
> Goldzilla is just over 10" and in a 10 gallon tank. I fear putting him in
a
> larger tank as he may grow larger. I do keep it clean and nice for him to
> swim around in. I use a siphon hose and do vaccum up the rocks when I do a
> water change, so it gets most of the poop and brown algae. Just with the
> larger rocks, now I have this annoying brown algae on the rocks and on the
> glass. I didnt have this with the gravel. I wont go back to gravel because
> he will swallow it. He likes to pick up 1" rocks and toss them about the
> tank, if he can fit THAT in his mouth, I dare not return to gravel!
>
> The rocks are from a Pet store and labelled safe for use in aquaruims, but
> could they be causing some kind of reaction which invokes the brown algae?
> Chemical balance is checked once a week and ok. I just want to rid the
algae
> from the tank or reduce it. Do I need an additive?
>
> marx404
>
>

[T]

"blove" > wrote in message
...
> when a fish outgrows the tank it just dies or gets deformed then dies.
and
> goldfish can live well over 25 years if properly cared for. 12 inches is
> like the normal maximum size for comet shaped bodied goldfish where as the
> fancy varieties witht eh short fat bodies usually get 8 or 9 inches. id
get
> him a bigger tank so he can actually have some room to swim good and
stretch
> out. a 10 gallon tank is only 20 inches long and 12 inches wide wich isnt
> very comfy to turn around in for a almost ft long fish. it is to my
> understanding i could be wrong tho that brown algae is caused by not
enough
> light, whereas green algae is caused by too much light and excess
phosphates
> in the water.
>
> "marx404" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Goldzilla is just over 10" and in a 10 gallon tank. I fear putting him
in
> a
> > larger tank as he may grow larger. I do keep it clean and nice for him
to
> > swim around in. I use a siphon hose and do vaccum up the rocks when I do
a
> > water change, so it gets most of the poop and brown algae. Just with the
> > larger rocks, now I have this annoying brown algae on the rocks and on
the
> > glass. I didnt have this with the gravel. I wont go back to gravel
because
> > he will swallow it. He likes to pick up 1" rocks and toss them about the
> > tank, if he can fit THAT in his mouth, I dare not return to gravel!
> >
> > The rocks are from a Pet store and labelled safe for use in aquaruims,
but
> > could they be causing some kind of reaction which invokes the brown
algae?
> > Chemical balance is checked once a week and ok. I just want to rid the
> algae
> > from the tank or reduce it. Do I need an additive?
> >
> > marx404
> >
> >
>
>


Get a larger tank.. Goldzilla needs the space, and it would help with the
"algae" problem.. I am suprised he has yet to break the glass on the tank...
At that size I would bet he is very strong.. At least its not an adult
Pacu.. * tank buster deluxe* Obviously a fish of that size is going to
produce a large amount of waste, which is probably not helping with thebrown
icky stuff.. If you lived close to me I could try to set you up with a
larger tank ( not quite large enough but considerable more room..) for a
decent price..

Tim..

[Jon Hedge]

"blove" > wrote in message
...
<snip>

.. it is to my
> understanding i could be wrong tho that brown algae is caused by not
enough
> light, whereas green algae is caused by too much light and excess
phosphates
> in the water.
>

Is there an ideal time amount per day in which a goldfish tank should be lit
(artificially or other)?

--
Jon Hedge

"A wild boar is not domesticated" - Denver and William M (Official grade 2
classmates)

[MartinOsirus]

>Everythign is
>getting brown algae all over, it's disgusting!

Brown algae is caused by either not enough light, excess silicates and
phosphates in the water, or excess nutrients, nitrates in the water. Increase
lighting time and do more frequent water changes and feed less. This will
"starve it out".

[LoaderLady]

I was just wondering... how long ago did you change the gravel? The gravel
housed a lot of your good bacteria which helped rid the tank of algae, so
you got rid of it when you got rid of the gravel. This could be part of the
problem for the sudden change.

I don't blame you for not wanting to use gravel on a fish that size. What
about sand? I use sand in my bigger tanks. It's really a personal
preference. Some people swear by it and some swear it's the worst possible
thing, so you have to do your research and decide what you like best. I
like it because it's just as clean as a bare bottom since food, waste, etc
doesn't settle into it like gravel. It floats around and then goes into the
filter. AND I don't have that bare bottom look, which I just can't get used
to.

JMHO

[Geezer From Freezer]

MartinOsirus wrote:
>
> >Everythign is
> >getting brown algae all over, it's disgusting!
>
> Brown algae is caused by either not enough light, excess silicates and
> phosphates in the water, or excess nutrients, nitrates in the water. Increase
> lighting time and do more frequent water changes and feed less. This will
> "starve it out".

Got to agree with Martin here. The gravel had nothing to do with the brown algae
(diatoms).
Diatoms are not harmful - infact they are good for removing nitrates. I try and
encourage
diatoms and algae, especially if I am going away for a long time - the fish can
feed on this.

If you don't want them, try a UV sterilizer or something like algone (which I am
told is supposed
to be good - I have not tried myself as I don't fight algae or diatoms to
rigorously).

[marx404]

Thanks all. Actually, I believe I mis-measured. It's hard to measure thru a
tank! My fish is only 8" long (6" body, 2" tail, approx.), The tank is
plenty wide enough and he has much room to swim and play.

I keep his tank clean and feed him only 2x a day, measured amounts of
flakes. I think that light may be key, as this winter I was keeping the
window shades closed. I notice that this week I have been keeping the shades
open to let sunlight in on his tank and thus no brown algae yet. I have
always had a 15w bulb on a timer from sundown to sunset, so it must have
been the lack of sunlight then.

Oh, he's almost 5 now and has been in the same tank. I have this group to
thank for helping me to keep my gf healthy this long.
marx404