Diatoms

[Dakota]

Hey.,

Ive had my 65g tank setup for over 3months now and im still having a Brown algae issue. Its everywhere. Ive Lowered my lights down to 50% Blue light to 0% and not dosing any extra ferts. I have fluval stratum., and plenty of plants.

2 big Water wisteria plants
1 Pothos which is dying
8-10 clumps of Microsword
3 stems of Scarlet temple (which is looking terrible)

I do put NilocG roottabs in the substrate once a month

Change water once a week and feed every other day. I use the hakari Micro pellets and sinking wafers

Im using Nitrasorb., Purigen, and Chemi-pure Elite for phosphate removal. It is also CO2 Injected.

I don't understand what to do please help

[KentFishFanUK]

I think diatom algae is the favourite of many algae eating fish/snails/shrimp so maybe add some algae eaters? 

I actually wish I knew how to grow it because of that, once it was all eaten in my tank it never came back. 

Also, how comes your pothos is dying? Had some issues with my pothos but even after all the roots came off it didn't die and is now growing really well. You know to keep the leaves etc out of the water right? (Sorry if you already knew that, don't want to be patronising or anything but can't think how a pothos would die off otherwise, thought they were bullet proof!) 

[Dakota]

On 10/27/2021 at 9:17 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

I think diatom algae is the favourite of many algae eating fish/snails/shrimp so maybe add some algae eaters? 

I actually wish I knew how to grow it because of that, once it was all eaten in my tank it never came back. 

Also, how comes your pothos is dying? Had some issues with my pothos but even after all the roots came off it didn't die and is now growing really well. You know to keep the leaves etc out of the water right? (Sorry if you already knew that, don't want to be patronising or anything but can't think how a pothos would die off otherwise, thought they were bullet proof!) 

yeah its just the roots that are submersed. I do have Otocinclus in there just 4. And a bunch of bladders snail. So the algae shouldn't be an issue. Ive got this Brown stringy algae  everywhere. Even the amano shrimp i have aren't doing anything about it. I have even done a blackout for 4 days and still it persists.

[Guppysnail]

This won’t be reassuring or of much help but it may point to something in your source water  

live owned this house for 21 years and tanks on and off the entire time. My brown diatom lessens but never completely goes away. I switched to using jug spring water in 4 of my tanks and the diatom was gone in 2-3 weeks. It was the only change I made. I went back to my tap and it came back. It usually only resides on the walls hard scape or plant leaves that are doing poorly. I used stratum in 1 tank and that one was the worst for diatom. 
 

pull your pothos sit in a jar heavily fertilized keep rotating fresh water and fertz with lots of indirect sun it may perk up. 

[Dakota]

On 10/27/2021 at 9:56 AM, Guppysnail said:

This won’t be reassuring or of much help but it may point to something in your source water  

live owned this house for 21 years and tanks on and off the entire time. My brown diatom lessens but never completely goes away. I switched to using jug spring water in 4 of my tanks and the diatom was gone in 2-3 weeks. It was the only change I made. I went back to my tap and it came back. It usually only resides on the walls hard scape or plant leaves that are doing poorly. I used stratum in 1 tank and that one was the worst for diatom. 
 

pull your pothos sit in a jar heavily fertilized keep rotating fresh water and fertz with lots of indirect sun it may perk up. 

ive thought about getting an RO system for water changes. Maybe, i should go ahead and invest in something like that with a 55g tashcan.

[KentFishFanUK]

On 10/27/2021 at 2:23 PM, Dakota said:

yeah its just the roots that are submersed. I do have Otocinclus in there just 4. And a bunch of bladders snail. So the algae shouldn't be an issue. Ive got this Brown stringy algae  everywhere. Even the amano shrimp i have aren't doing anything about it. I have even done a blackout for 4 days and still it persists.

Wait brown and stringy? I think diatom is normally a brown dusting like coating surfaces but stringy makes me think maybe it's something else? 4 Otocinclus and a bunch of bladder snails would make short work of brown diatoms I think. 

Edited October 27, 2021 by KentFishFanUK

[Dakota]

On 10/27/2021 at 3:58 PM, KentFishFanUK said:

Wait brown and stringy? I think diatom is normally a brown dusting like coating surfaces but stringy makes me think maybe it's something else? 4 Otocinclus and a bunch of bladder snails would make short work of brown diatoms I think. 

Yeah im thinking the Brown stringy algae isn't the diatoms, but i really can't find anything about it and it grows very long. It is slimy and easy to come off but if i take it off it just comes right back.

[murphy lover 101]

plants need the phosphate to grow, so I would remove the pads. I think an RO system would be a great idea as well, as long as you are able to afford it.

[Guppysnail]

I agree with @murphy lover 101 I think you are removing the things that plants need to grow and outcompete algae with all the removing media. I run sponge media only on my hobs and canisters in all 7 high waste overstocked tanks and only struggle with some glass diatom and hard scape or a dying plant leaf

[KentFishFanUK]

On 10/28/2021 at 12:11 PM, Dakota said:

Yeah im thinking the Brown stringy algae isn't the diatoms, but i really can't find anything about it and it grows very long. It is slimy and easy to come off but if i take it off it just comes right back.

Post some pics! Someone here will be able to identify it for you

[Torrey]

On 10/27/2021 at 7:23 AM, Dakota said:

yeah its just the roots that are submersed. I do have Otocinclus in there just 4. And a bunch of bladders snail. So the algae shouldn't be an issue. Ive got this Brown stringy algae  everywhere. Even the amano shrimp i have aren't doing anything about it. I have even done a blackout for 4 days and still it persists.

Does it look like this?

[Patrick_G]

On 10/27/2021 at 12:58 PM, KentFishFanUK said:

4 Otocinclus and a bunch of bladder snails would make short work of brown diatoms I think. 

I think so too

 

On 10/28/2021 at 4:11 AM, Dakota said:

Yeah im thinking the Brown stringy algae isn't the diatoms, but i really can't find anything about it and it grows very long. It is slimy and easy to come off but if i take it off it just comes right back.

Maybe hair algae with diatoms on it?