how do i get rid of algae?

[Roniman]

i have two calico ryukin, and one calico telescope fish in a fresh water aquarium. however, lately the algae has been growing like CRAZY! i would wash the tank and days later, it would return. this is the first time i ever raised fish. how can i get rid of the algae? please help!

TIA

[poseidon]

algea is caused by many different conditions in your tank. That being said, there are also many different ways to rid your tank of the problem depending on what kind of algea you have growing. My recommendation would be to clean the tank as well as you can during a waterchange.

Once thats done, then I would limit the amount of light you give your tank on a daily basis. Also, if you allow natural sunlight to hit your tank then my suggestion would be to block it somehow atleast until you get your algea problem under control. Not that I'm trying to steer you away from talk pets but a forum dedicated to fish (and only fish) is fishindex.com I am a member there and I would suggest you join for more help than you could ever want with maintaining your tank ;)

[Roniman]

thanx.

the only thing is that it tank does not get any natural sunlite. it's all fluorescent liting.

[DarkFury]

One thing that helps in getting rid of algae is to lower the "Phosphorous levels" in the tank.

Algae feeds off of Phosphorous... and pretty much most of the "average" pet foods have a high content of Phosphorous in them.

Personally, I use "NutraFin" brand food... which has a much lower phosphorous content... along with regular 2 week partial water changes, this has drastically reduced the amount of algae in my tank.

Good luck to ya... :D

[Birdmanmontana]

Have you thought of getting an algea eater like a pecostomus (sp.)? I have one in every tank i own and dont have any algea. I have also put a pecostomus in a tank full of algea and he had it cleaned in less that a day and it has yet to grow back.

[Milly]

I have a lot of birds, but I also have a turtle tank and I big tank that has 2 types of sharks that I have had forever and they are big, had them for about 8 years. There is also three gold fish and a rope fish. We have pecostomus in our tank and never have a problem, you should really get one, they are neat.
Jennifer

[phgsd]

i had a similar problem in my tanks and got a pleco and haven't had a problem since. They're great...although the ones I got are butt ugly...but there are more attractive plecos out there!

[DarkFury]

One thing to be aware of with plecos....


When they are young, they eat algea like nobody's business... but as they get older, they tend to slack off on their algea eating, especially if their "native" food source or driftwood is present in your tank.

Most plecos will eat driftwood over algea... for the cellulose content. Just a heads up for y'all on that. :)