Tipskey - Algae On Freshwater Aquarium Walls

Written: 9 Aug 2006; posted: 2007-01-22; updated: 2008-10-20

Algae On Freshwater Aquarium Walls

An alga is a single-cell vegetation. When there is direct light, there are algae. When there is extensive light (such as direct sunlight), the water will even turn green. It is merely an appearance problem. In fact green algae are good for the tank environment. You can either clean up the algae yourself or buy a special fish to do the job. A used toothbrush and a sponge are effective algae cleaning tools. Basically if your tank is small, you do not need to buy algae-eating fish because you can clean away the algae yourself quite easily and quickly. If you do not rub away the algae once they appear, they will attach harder on the tank wall and finally you may need to use kitchen wire scourer or a slice of tender coconut shell to rub them off.

Having some plants in the tank will stun the growth of algae to a certain degree because the they compete with algae for ammonium, nitrite and nitrate. Anyway algae are very good in scavenging trace of nutrient. If there is plant in the tank but algae still grow vigorously, control the nutrient to the algae by
1) not overfeeding the fish. Even plants cannot eat up that much nutrient. Unabsorbed nutrient will be fully utilized by algae.
2) switching off aquarium light (and ambient room light) before going to bed. If the water is green, do not turn on the light at all even there is plant. You cannot see the fish clearly anyway in green water. Wait until the water becomes crystal clear again before turning on the light.
3) changing water more to decrease the amount of nutrient in the water. How frequent? Whenever you see algae on the tank wall and you rub them off. This will reduce the number of alga cells too. If the water is green, change some water and wash the filter floss (in the water taken out from the tank) everyday until the water becomes clear.
4) controlling the number of fish in the tank. Both nutrients and CO2 needed for algal photosynthesis will be less.
5) ensuring effective filtration. Try stopping the filtration and you will see that the water becomes cloudy and then two weeks later becomes green.
6) Put the tank away from the window that has daylight.

Another manual way to reduce alga cells is to put in a few beautiful rounded stones (size about a chicken egg). When algae grow on them, take out the stones, brush and rinse off the algae. By the way do not put the stones back to the same spot. Put them at the another end of the tank. This is because dirty things may accumulate under the stone so it is better to let the previous spot aerate itself. Clear away some dying plant leaves too while you are at it.

If you prefer to use a special aquatic creature, you should add it in only when there is algae so that the fish will not get used to fish food and does not work on algae.

I recommend Bristle-nose Plecostomus (Ancistrus species, e.g. Ancistrus temminckii). Unlike other Plecos, Bristle-nose Pleco will not grow to more than a half-foot long and will not suck on the slime coat on other fish. But like other Plecos it is as messy as Goldfish and it may need a small piece of wood at the bottom of the tank to play with. When starving it may target on live plants. Like other Plecos, it can clean very thin hard attached algae layer on the tank wall. It also likes some fresh kitchen waste (cucumber etc). There is an albino variety. If you cannot get the Bristle-nose, you may get a common Pleco first since it is commonly available and cheap. The smaller the common Pleco the better because it will grow. Some common Plecos may not effectively clean away algae anymore if it gets used to fish food.

Oto (Otocinclus affinus) cleans up hard attached algae effectively but it may suck on your slow-moving big fish (for example fancy goldfish) due to its small size. It is less hardy than Pleco. Choose oto if algae grow even on your plant and there is no fish that can be sucked by the oto. If you keep a guppy tank, then you can use oto.

Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus siamensis), in short SAE, is also known as Siamese Flying Fox. It eats hair algae and it is the only fish that eats red algae. SAE may nip other fish with flowing fins. To recognize an SAE is a little tricky. Rough description: 1 pair of barbels, small non-sucker mouth, reticular upper body, no white stripe above the black stripe.

Borneo Sucker (Gastromyzon borneensis) aka Butterfly Pleco, Stingray Pleco or Hill-stream Loach snacks on algae but they need wood and strong current.

Molly (all types including Black Molly), Platy and Butterfly Goodeid (Ameca splendens) snack on algae. They cannot wipe the wall clean like Bristle-nose Pleco. I have seen my Red Albino Sailfin Molly picking on the tank wall (male a lot more frequent than female). You buy them because they look good, not because they eat algae.

Amano Shrimp (Caridina multidentata) eats algae. It will not feel helpless in the net out of water but on the contrary they crawl out of the net and drop to floor and run like a cockroach. It will eat your plant and may attack your fish if there are no algae and other food. Cherry Shrimp (Red Neocaridina denticulata sinensis) is even hardier, smaller, prettier and more effective than Amano. So I prefer Cherry Shrimp. Note that the inexpensive Ghost shrimp (Palaemonetes spp.) does not each much algae.

Malaysian Trumpet Snail (Melanoides tuberculata) or MTS is nocturnal critter. It cleans up some algae. It also scavenges on dead plants and leftover food. You can keep one but you should be ready of overpopulation because it is a livebearer. In case of population explosion, control them with a Clown Loach (Chromobotia macracanthus). They may eat a little bit of live plants when there is nothing else to eat but the damage is minimal. It may not on purpose uproot newly rooted plant because it constantly aerates the gravels.

Red-fin Shark (Epalzeorhynchos frenatus) is also known as Ruby Shark or Rainbow Shark. It sometimes rasps on tank wall. It only snacks on algae and cannot do the clean-up effectively. It needs a place to hide so the tank must be heavily planted or there must be a cave.

Chinese Algae Eaters (Gyrinocheilus aymonieri), in short CAE, just SNACK on algae when fish slime and fish food are abundantly available. They tend to prefer to rasp at (or latch onto) the sides of slow moving fish. They are usually seen at a small size and many die within a short time of purchase. They stay under 6 inches. The Albino Algae Eaters or Gold CAEs are albino variety of Chinese Algae Eaters.

Note that only fish with sucker-mouth and snails can clean hard attached thin algae layer on tank wall.

There are algae scrubbing tools in the market. One of them is called floating "algae magnet".

Do not use algicide to control algae. Use of chemical is unnatural. Remember the mindset in keeping an aquarium is to mimic the nature. Do not use UV sterilizer too because it may affect good bacteria.

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