algae

[Cutiewitbooty]

Ok first off i dont have a pic, sorry But in a friends tank there is this whiteish slimmy algae all over the place and i was hopeing somene might have an idea to what it could be. Its a 120 FO with base rock and has been set up for a long time(years) and there is this stuff covering everything, its espically noticable on the glass and overflow boxes. I'm guessing some sort of bacteria? Any ideas on how to get rid of it? Thanks for any help you could give

Amber

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

anyone?

 

[zhenjw]

If its white I doubt its algae. Probably some kind of bacteria, protist, or microscopic invertebrate that has taken over due to bad water quality or contamination from a fish that has not been QT.

I would say because it is a FO tank, QT the fish and during QT, break down the tank, sterilize everything with diluted bleach and completely replace the sand.

If you can get a picture, consult the guys at www.wetwebmedia.com. They are excellent with diagnosing problems with tanks and procedures on how to remedy them.

 

[dmo]

That seems to be a pretty extreme solution to a problem with bacteria..

It seems to me that you can often take care of a bacteria bloom in much the same way as an algae one.. good husbandry practices should reduce its food source.

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

yeah breaking the whole tank down seems a little extreme and imo i dont think it would work because the stuff is down in the filter and unless i want to kill all the ben bacteria in the bio balls then i wont be able to get rid of it down there, the steralizing the main system almost seems pointless. The water quality is pretty good, there is a little nitrates, but its a fo system. Everything else is perfect abd it gets a good water change no less than once a month with ro/di. I do wonder aboput the overfeeding though, that could be contributing to it and i think he overfeeds. Also no new fish have been added and have been in there for a long time.