# Diatoms!!!! :(



## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

Bah on these foul fickle creatures. They're covering my plants. New growth gets them in a week or 2. Old growth looks like it went through a mud bath. This is not a new tank, just newly planted. The tank itself has been setup for 6+ months, planted heavily with c02 for the past month and a half. Otos aren't doing the job, I have 4 or 5 in my 29. What can I do???


----------



## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

You can scrub with your fingers or wait it out. When you re-planted the tank, it likely released lots of stuff into the water and it's like starting over (only not as bad). 

Spend some time scrubing (gently) the leaf surfaces with your fingers to kock off some if it and then do a water change. Other than that, you'll just have to be patient. :wink:


----------



## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

Ahh, that makes sense. Not what I wanted to hear, but makes sense   Well, hopefully it will go away soon, it makes my tank look really, really gross.


----------



## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi TarantulaGuy,

One Ottocinclus per 10 gallons have cleaned up two of my tanks that had major diatom infestations.


----------



## Stimz (Aug 18, 2009)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi TarantulaGuy,
> 
> One Ottocinclus per 10 gallons have cleaned up two of my tanks that had major diatom infestations.


My ottos must be lazy, my tiny SAE's seem to eat more than they do.


----------



## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

My otos are lazy too, they ignore it most of the time, but so does my flying fox, silly algae eaters. Although I'm really not sure how many otos are left in there, I added 5, I may only have 2 or 3 that made it though.


----------



## Stimz (Aug 18, 2009)

I figured I would follow up on my own diatom problem.

I looked through a bunch of older posts and I think it was plantbrain who suggested a 3 day blackout no c02 with excel(correct me if I'm wrong). I did a one day blackout with c02 off and dosed excel after (didn't have it till then) and pretty much all non-surface algae was either dead/dying and easy to remove or gone completely.

I did have an army of algae eaters which may have contributed to the fast clear out of the algae while covered - 2 1.5" SAE, 7 Ottos, 2 Red Neons Gobies - 18 gallon tank. It was probably that since they all attack anything that starts to melt almost immediately.

I also dosed the recommended excel for the next 2 days and have had no unusual problems since even when running my 4/4 bulbs of my T5 setup, usually only ran 2 for most of the day and 4 for about an hour due to algae problems.


----------



## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

That is definitely a thought, actually, *most* of my diatoms have since gone away, but I'm battling GSA right now, so have to do some reading up on that. Damn algaes. Still, my 29 is better than my 10, which looks like a sludge bomb went off in it.  Maybe a blackout is something I should consider doing. I just don't want to go out and buy more excel :/


----------

